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Jun 24, 2014

HOS RULES DEBATES * USA

* Pennsylvania - Trucking rules creating problems 

Robeson Township,Berks County,PENN,USA -Reading Eagle, by Eric Arnold -June 22, 2014: -- I have spent 24 years in the trucking industry, 13 of which were spent with the federal Department of Transportation... The new hours of service rules, which the Collins amendment proposes to suspend, are not reducing crashes and very well may be causing more crashes... The Tracy Morgan accident was a tragedy, but it had nothing to do with the 70-hour rule. The truck driver was found by the National Transpiration Safety Board to be within his limit on hours. No evidence has been produced backing the claim he had not slept for 24 hours... You make it sound as if we truckers would kill your family to make an extra dollar. That is insulting and blatantly false. We care just as much about safety as the government does... Starting in 2009, truck-crash fatalities and injuries have risen every year. During the same time, the Department of Transportation has been the most aggressive, hyper-regulatory regime. With this level of overregulation, accidents should be plunging. They are not. They are going up... You argue it is because there are not enough rules. Hogwash. This blizzard of rules is having the opposite of its intended effect...


* How to make big trucks safer: Trucker safety has improved — and can get better 

Chicago,ILL,USA -The Chicago Tribune -June 23, 2014: -- What does it sound like inside an 18-wheeler rolling down the highway? ... The truck's dashboard-mounted computer, warning in a robotic, female voice: "You have 9 hours and 22 minutes of remaining drive time" ... About 35 percent of interstate truckers use an electronic logging device that performs a critical task designed to make roads safer. This onboard computer, synched to the engine, keeps track of driving time to prevent truckers from staying on the highway too many hours and possibly falling asleep at the wheel. Plenty of drivers still fill out paper logs, which any trucker will tell you are easy to fudge. It's much harder to fool the computer: It knows exactly how much time is left on the clock before reaching the federally mandated 11-hour maximum daily driving time... 
No rule-making will eliminate accidents. The Wal-Mart driver reportedly hadn't slept for more than 24 hours, but he apparently hadn't violated driving time rules. The National Transportation Safety Board reported Thursday that he had driven for 9 hours, 37 minutes that day, less than the 11 hours allowed by federal limits. He had been on duty for 13 hours and 32 minutes, just under the limit. Other drivers think he mismanaged his off time. That's always going to be a risk. You'd hope drivers have the sense to pull over before falling asleep, but, as trucking officials say, you can't measure fatigue with a blood test... So where does this leave us? The next big argument may be about driver pay. Long-distance truckers are compensated by the mile or delivery, so they aren't paid for the hours and hours they might spend waiting at loading docks. Some propose paying truckers for wait time, with the logic being that a higher-paid workforce would be more professional and safer... How to keep reducing the frequency of bad accidents? Getting onboard computers installed in all long-distance trucks as soon as possible seems the best answer from technology. Beyond that, the U.S. is likely to rely primarily on the responsibility of drivers and their employers — and their awareness that horrible crashes like the one on the New Jersey Turnpike have grave consequences...

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