Pushing truckers past the limit

[Conservativesux]

KANSAS CITY STAR

Posted on Thu, Aug. 11, 2005

Pushing truckers past the limit

Road fatalities are up, but new law selectively relaxes the rules

By JOHN HUGHES

Bloomberg News

Money to build roads and bridges, many in the districts of well-seated elected officials, is the primary focus of the $286.5 billion highway bill President Bush signed Wednesday. But tucked into the 1,346-page tome are exemptions from limits on the hours truckers can drive daily for several U.S. industries.

The exemptions allow propane distributors, agricultural companies, utilities and the motion picture industry to avoid rules that restrict truckers to 11 hours of driving per day and require at least 10 hours of rest.

Companies say that the exemptions are justified by the special nature of their businesses and that they will save millions of dollars annually because the companies won’t have to hire extra drivers. Safety groups worry the caveats may lead to increased traffic deaths.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Robert Baylor, spokesman for the National Propane Gas Association in Washington, which lobbied for the measure. “It’s probably going to save our industry $90 million a year.’

A spokesman for Overland Park-based Ferrellgas Partners LP, the second-largest U.S. propane distributor, said the law did not consider its special needs and those of similar firms.

More at:

www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/12353319.htm

[Wapsie B]

1. Yep by god

sleep just gets in the way of making money. If I were an insurance carrier and I got wind of a trucking co. pulling that crap I'd pull their coverage and get them off the road so fast their head would spin.

Also, none of their drivers should be able to drive without a full sleep study. That goes for bus drivers, airplane pilots,train engineers, and ship's crews too.

[sam sarrha]

2. before the new rule OTR was 4 hours driving, four hours sleeping..for EVER

you never got 4 hours sleep.. the system allowed a truck to run 24 hours a day legal time log.. the sleep deprivation and mental decline of that after a week or two was equivalent to an alcohol blood level of over 2.. when i quit driving was in October, after the 18th death in the company that year.. 68 roll-overs, 114 rear enders .. and a truck ran into a weigh station and moved it off its foundation 12"..obliterating the truck.

the local rule is basically for trucks that aren't rolling all the time.. i drove a bus that parked 80% of the time.. there are a lot of exceptions.. doesn't mean they actually roll the whole 14 hours..

but i am sure there are some that do..

[Conservativesux]

3. No way the trucking companies will do sleep studies without a law

passed into effect, mandating that they do so.

Even with drug-testing, the fatigue factor kicks in and there is no test for that.

The only reason many companies accually like doing drug testing is that it helps get them off the hook if the driver/worker does test positive for a banned drug, even if its a false positive.

[Melodybe]

9. God forbid those hauling around flamable liquids get too much sleep

WTF!

[Conservativesux]

10. Amen to that !

[Hekate]

4. Uhh -- that truck accident with major explosion in Utah recently?

The one that left a gigantic hole in the highway? Could fatigue have had anything to do with that? Just asking.

I am getting so sick of letting industries "self-regulate."

Hekate

[Conservativesux]

5. Possibly, but the driver was young and not that experienced, it

could be he just made a bad mistake. It happens to anyone who drives thousands and thousands of miles per year, sooner or later.

Trucking has been regulated since the 1930's but many regulations need to be updated for todays conditions, wages and vehicles.

Bottom line is that when a driver makes money by the mile, he/she will tend to break/bend the rules to make as many miles as they can in the time they can do so.

If people really wanted safety, they would demand a more decent pay scale for truckers, but then the cost of produce and everything else would rise proportionately.

It's lots cheaper to let people die on the highways needlessly then allow drivers to drive at a safe speed, get plenty of rest and still make a decent wage.

[Hekate]

6. "If the people really wanted safety..."

Right you are, and ditto a living wage for the people who pick our lettuce and broccoli: it would cost us more.

But damn -- some things are just the right thing to do.

Regarding the current climate of deregulation and self-regulation: we are returning to those glorious days of yesteryear when corporations were referred to as "robber barons," i.e. a century ago. They were reined in only by the rise of the unions and regulation by the federal government, both of which are strikingly absent today.

We are all relearning that self-regulation in industries and corporations isn't worth spit -- a very painful lesson indeed for us common folk, who have to bear the consequences. :-(

Hekate

[evilqueen]

7. I'd rather our money went to decent wages than to the DEA and it's...

insane "War on Drugs". Then again, I'm like that. ;)

[Sgent]

8. In ONE industry

Public utilities, I can see the reason for this, and support it. The day after a hurricane or ice storm with thousands of people w/no electricity, is not the time to start in on sleep studies. The fact is that every hour w/o electricity, a certain number of people will be injured or die (think ppl with oxygen concentrators, etc).

Other than that, I guess it would be a case by case basis. Perhaps not going by the the rule as long as you have 16 hours off in a 24 hour period, and a full 24 hours before switching back to the standard system.

[Hubert Flottz]

11. Even after 9/11 bush still pushed this...

Bush slams Mexican truck critics

Aug 16, 2001 12:00 PM

In a speech made in New Mexico late yesterday, President George W. Bush said attempts to keep Mexican trucks off U.S. roads over safety concerns amounts to “discrimination against a friend of America.”The President painted critics of his effort to open the U.S. to Mexican trucks as “anti-Hispanic.
“There are some voices that want to wall us off from Mexico. They want to build a wall,” he said, after opening a job training facility for Hispanic workers in Albuquerque. “I say to them who want to condemn our neighbors to the south to poverty that I refuse to accept that type of isolationist and protectionist attitude.”

Mexico, the U.S., and Canada are partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), established in 1994, designed to improve trade between all three nations. NAFTA also gave trucking companies from all three nations the right to operate freely within their neighbor’s borders. However, the U.S. has delayed full implementation of those rights for Mexican truckers, largely because of concerns over Mexican truck safety. Currently, Mexican trucks can only operate within a 20-mile border area in four southwestern states.

Former President Clinton supported the border restrictions on Mexican trucks. However, shortly after taking office, Bush said he would fully open the border in January 2002. Yet Congress has moved to block that effort, garnering support from both Democrats and Republicans concerned about highway safety.

On August 1, the Senate approved a bill calling for tough safety standards for Mexican trucks operating in the U.S.; a bill that echoes legislation passed by the House of Representatives in June. The President has said he will veto the measure if it is passed.

http://fleetowner.com/news/fleet_bush_slams_mexican/

So the wild stories about the Terrorists bringing in weapons from Mexico are believable. At the time this was being debated in congress the US was checking the loads on 1% of the incoming trucks, from Canada or Mexico. Not a word about the Mexican truckers not being able to read the signs on our highways. No restrictions on the amount of hours they could operate without a rest period. WHY does Bush Hate America?

[Conservativesux]

12. Because he loves Wal-Mart, Chevron/Texaco, Halliburton,ect.

Why does buch hate American truckers so much ?