Letters: EOBRs Revisited, Hours of Service, Infrastructure
These Letters to the Editor appear in the Feb. 8 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
EOBRs Revisited
Regarding the letter with the headline “EOBRs Revisited” (Jan. 4, p. 7; click here for previous letters), there was a very interesting guest commentary about electronic onboard recorders recently in another publication, in which the author claimed only 2% of crashes occur after more than 10 hours of driving time. He said the typical crash occurs after four hours of driving.
The Minnesota Maintenance Council recently had a presentation by an official from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on the new Comprehensive Safety Analysis. He claimed 2% of accidents were caused by mechanical defects.
If 2% of accidents are caused by over hours and 2% caused by mechanical defects, what is causing the other 96%? I think it is the overly aggressive and careless driving of a small number of our commercial drivers that your letter writer was referring to.
We don’t need CSA, EOBRs or a 68-point driving evaluation checklist. We need enforcement on the highway. Let’s spend our money where it will do the most good. Anyone who drives on our highways sees the same drivers the letter writer does.
Studies quoted lately say the majority of truck/car accidents are caused by the car. We shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back because of this; it takes two to have an accident, and we are supposed to be the professionals. How do some drivers go millions of miles without an accident? It can’t be luck.
Let’s hire more troopers and put them in truck cabs and unmarked cars. Let’s quit shutting down rest areas, so drivers can take a break.
I wonder how much money it cost FMCSA to plan and implement CSA and all of their other planning. They should allocate that money to the states to help enforce the laws we have, not spend it making new laws we don’t need.
Gale Libby
Maintenance Director
Wilson Lines
Newport, Minn.
Hours of Service
I am so glad that the fatality rate is down, but I believe people are misled into thinking the Department of Transportation’s changes to hours of service and more regulation are responsible.
With the increase in fuel prices, we now have fewer cars and trucks on the highways. In addition, many companies and operators have gone out of business, which has dropped the number of trucks on the highways. The drop in freight caused by the current economic situation also has meant less traffic.
I just feel like the government is putting these statistics out in order to make them look good. It’s great that fewer people are dying, and I hope it’s just because we are driving more safely and are more aware of our surroundings. But it also may be that fewer vehicles means fewer accidents.
Mark Blackmon
Owner-Operator
Gadsden, Ala.
Infrastructure
Highway infrastructure is the key to economic recovery.
Maintaining our highways is the most direct route to jobs and to future economies in growth, energy conservation and safety.
The eternal search for a magic solution to the economic problem is simple — go to work. Bulldozers and gravel are so mundane, but face it: Picks and shovels built this country and the sooner we get back to the basics, the better.
Get behind Oberstar. Get this issue into the Wall Street Journal. Wall Street has to wake up to the fact that it is the working sector of this country that makes it all happen, not sophisticated gambles.
Jack Schmelzer
Owner-Operator
Hog Bay Transport LLC
Franklin, Maine
[Editor’s Note: Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) is chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and has pursued an aggressive agenda for both.]
