Letters: Regulatory Policies, Driver Commendation, HOS, Fatigue
Experience Trumps Expensive Studies
If it has wheels and an engine, I drive it — everything from a motorcycle to 22 wheels under a set of doubles. I have 17 years and 2 million miles from Maine to Washington state. I have to throw this out there to see if anyone agrees:
Instead of government agencies wasting $4.5 billion on studies, I think we can all learn a huge lesson from Zanesville, Ohio. There is a stretch of Interstate 70 that is two lanes through this little town, where just using signage has reduced accidents by more than half.
How? They have made it very clear that all through traffic use the left lane. Brilliant!
If you move the 70 mph traffic away from on-and-off lanes, where the traffic is slower, it naturally reduces traffic jams and accidents — billion-dollar study averted.
But if you really feel the need to spend $4.5 billion, here are three things that can provide a better solution from someone who didn’t go to college to learn how to spend other people’s money on wasteful studies, but has real-life experience: signage in English without stupid pictures, law enforcement and education. This last one is so simple. A driver has to pass a written test, a driving test and eye exam, so why not a semi-truck safety test. Just add a section on semi-trucks to the written exam. I know how big and heavy a semi-truck is. Shouldn’t everybody?
There already is a great training tool out there. It is called the Smith System. Even I had something to learn from it. It should be a requirement for all driving schools no matter how many wheels you are controlling. Truck-only lanes? Well maybe, but we don’t have to build them, they are already there. They are currently called the passing lane — or as we say, the “Hammer Lane.” The signs should read “Trucks and Thru Traffic use left lane.”
See, I have already done this study for you for free. It’s called “experience.”
So in closing, I ask that you be frugal with my money and use it wisely. For it’s lives you are trying to save.
Vickie Ledford
Truck Driver
Akron, Ohio
Trucking Organization Commends Driver
The Afro-American Truckers Association highly commends YRC Freight’s new 6 million-mile, accident-free driver, Arthur Cage.
Cage’s amazing achievement has elevated him into an elite category of professional drivers. He had extraordinary on-road skills and the determination to become a member of a group of drivers who demonstrate what can be accomplished — and is recognized — in this industry.
He also can help alleviate trucking’s driver shortage by being an example for young Afro-Americans, Hispanics and Asians considering a job as a truck driver.
(Editor’s Note: YRC Freight is a unit of YRC Worldwide, which ranks No. 5 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.)
Shakir Muhammad
Part-time Truck Driver
Afro-American Truckers Association
Alexandria, Virginia
HOS Stop and Go Rules Need to Be Revised
In the “Deregulate HOS” letter (Feb. 22), shipper Ron Hazel points out correctly that there are big problems with the hours-of-service rules.
While efforts continue to attempt to better enforce HOS regulations, and occasionally modify the hourly restrictions, the big picture is being missed: Drivers are not machines and often need to “stop” when HOS says “go,” and vice versa.
Fatigued drivers are very often so because of the HOS regs, which causes drivers to try to adjust their sleep schedules to fit a predetermined (idealistic) cycle of wake/sleep.
Danny Schnautz
Vice President
Clark Freight Lines
Questioning the Math
In the letter titled “How to Fight Driver Fatigue” (April 4), Ms. Adams asks us “to do the math.”
She cites a New York Times publication that asserts that large trucks are responsible for one out of seven highway fatalities when only 25% of the time, the truck is at fault. Then she makes the quantum leap that driver fatigue is the culprit in all car-truck crashes when the real number is about 1.5%. The mandated electronic logging device requirement, designed to attack driver fatigue, is estimated to save 19 lives annually by [the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration] in its own study.
On behalf of all industry leaders with more than a “modicum of conscience,” I resent, totally reject and am offended by this type of irresponsible hyperbole.
David Owen
President National Association of Small Trucking Companies
Gallatin, Tennessee
