Letters to the Editor: Hours of Service (Cont’d.)

These letters appear in the Sept. 3 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Hours of Service

On the front page of the July 30 issue of Transport Topics, there was an article titled, “NHTSA Revises ’06 Deaths Down to Lowest Total Since 2002.” On the same front page, there was another article titled, “Court Rejects HOS Rule.” Does anyone in the government read their own reports?

Wouldn’t you think someone would see the decrease in truck fatalities and link that statistic to the new hours-of-service rules that have been in effect during that same time period? They are removing the rules that were working — the 34-hour restart and 11-hour driving rules — and did not adjust the one rule that did need attention — split sleeper berth.

You just can’t use the words logic and government in the same sentence.

Char Schwab
Safety Director
RAM Motor Freight Inc.
Cincinnati

With all the uproar about the latest ruling, I would like to add my 2 cents: I applaud our judges on this latest ruling. The only major fault I find in that ruling is they kept that 14-hour clock and the 10-hour sleeper provisions.

What we truck drivers had prior to 2003 was by far a better set of rules to work by. They gave flexibility in an environment where flexibility might be the difference in keeping or losing a customer.
As for the 34-hour restart, I never had a problem with hours before, and anyone with a cheap calculator can do the same.

I believe if the officials in the Department of Transportation rushed off the rules prior to 2003 and stamped “2007” on the old book, they would look like the smartest cats in D.C.

If our leaders used a little common sense, we would not be where we are today. Here’s a hint: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I also would like to add that, since 2003, I have seen more rollovers and big rigs in the ditch, and I am assuming the problem is tired drivers. That 14-hour clock forces you to drive tired or be punished financially if you break too long and your drive time is shortened by the clock. Under the old rules, if you were tired, you napped — and you still got your 10 hours of driving in.

I will never understand how anybody thinks you can regulate by clock the most irregular job in this nation. Maybe if the DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration consulted a panel of drivers from all sides of trucking — fuel haulers, local cartage, over-the-road common carrier, livestock haulers and so on — maybe then, and only then, they would see just how impossible a task it is to put trucking in a 14-hour box.

Richard Glenn
Over-the-Road Driver
Buffalo, Mo.

The effect of the 11-hour rule for the kings of the freight industry is not about its impact on safety but its impact on the profit margin of the economic bottom line.

Case in point — here in Milwaukee, a major union carrier has determined that the freight within this state can be better served by shutting down a break-bulk terminal and streamlining that freight from its satellite terminals to a major city south of the Wisconsin state line.

Never once was the term “safety” used, but the company representatives used the words “better service” and “profitability” numerous times. Safety should always be at the forefront within this industry but over the years, profitability and streamlining have replaced this No. 1 principle.

The basic 10-hour rule was the industry standard drivers made a living by, and still can. Transportation companies want to see increased hours of service stay only to achieve their customer goals, nothing more.

The abuse of the 10-hour rule is equal to the abuse of the 11-hour rule. Any safety auditor will confirm that fact. The letters of discipline for log violations still are part of today’s practice of the road. Younger drivers, shorter experience, longer trailers and more hours have made for major headlines in many local  newspapers.

The answers to resolving the problems of the trucking industry could be listed in a 100-page document, and the first line of the first page should state this very simple reality: “Safety should never be replaced by economics.”

Thomas Bennett
President
Teamsters Local 200
Milwaukee

Go ahead — knock yourselves out with the new-old-new hours of service. You all want to beat yourselves to death with working an extra hour, which is actually six more hours than a normal person’s job, if you take into account the total hours you can work.

This isn’t about safety or driver health. If it was, they’d be talking about normalizing the workday for drivers so drivers can actually rest — and here’s a novel idea — relax. Maybe get out of the truck and exercise a bit. Read a book, devote an hour to an online class and better themselves, call home and talk to the wife and kids for an hour.

I wish people would get a clue. There is more to life than holding that ever-loving steering wheel all day. If drivers were treated like normal people, there would be less turnover, less divorce, fewer accidents and a better paycheck. You get only one life. Choose wisely. Choose to live.

Patricia LaRue
Driver
Adelanto, Calif.