Obama administration to revise trucker rule

[chefdennis]

For your info only. I am posting this in the Soapbox if anyone want to get political over it.....so please take all political comments there....


Obama administration to revise trucker rule
Long hours of driving could pose safety risk

updated 4:34 p.m. ET, Tues., Oct . 27, 2009
Obama administration to reconsider trucker rule - Politics- msnbc.com

The Obama administration has agreed to reconsider a rule that allows long-haul truckers to drive for up to 11 hours straight, bowing to safety advocates who say longer hours could lead to greater fatigue and more accidents.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration signed an agreement late Monday with safety and labor groups pledging to revise the rule that became final in the waning days of the Bush administration.

"We believe that starting over and developing a rule that can help save lives is the smart thing to do," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

For 60 years, truckers were allowed to drive a maximum of 10 hours at a time. The Bush administration and the trucking industry wanted to let truckers have an extra hour of driving time. The rule also cut rest and recovery time at the end of a work week from 50 or more hours off duty to as little as 34 hours off-duty.

The transportation agency isn't saying exactly what it will do, but opponents of expanded hours are hopeful a new rule will be closer to the original limits.

"We are pleased that the government has decided to take seriously its responsibility to protect truck drivers and the public from unsafe driving conditions instead of bending to the interests of the trucking industry," said Greg Beck, an attorney for the consumer group Public Citizen.

The FMCSA says it will propose a new rule within the next nine months.

A federal appeals court struck the rule down twice, saying the government did not adequately explain its reasoning for adding the extra hour. But the Bush administration reinstated the rule each time.

 

[teamjdw]

won't this end up adding more trucks ,just to haul the same amount of freight? more trucks on the road more chances of accidents?you can drive 11hrs straight,work 10 hrs on a dock then drive again.no actual sleep required.trucking bozo on road dog has suggested a restricted license for newbees.who would hire someone who could only drive 8hrs a day for 2-3yrs?

 

[greg334]

I don't think 11 hours is really the issue for many on the road, I think it is more to do with a lack of a voice of reason, acknowledgement that we are professionals which means we should be self-policing and that we need some latitude to make decisions like splitting up the time to manage the time more effectively.

Regardless what these radio show experts make this out to be, they are not sitting in the cab of my truck and are clueless of what some of us go through. It is like the idea that EOBR are going to force the shipper to change their way of thinking, it won't because they have the upper hand by being the source of the work we do.

My views are not really political, it comes down to the reality of the industry we work in, we have three types of drivers on the road, and the majority of them are employees of the trucking companies who go through poor training and the revolving door that are the root cause of much of the BS we have to go through.

 

[highway star]

you can drive 11hrs straight,work 10 hrs on a dock then drive again.no actual sleep required.

You can't do that legally. You can drive 11, then work on a dock as long as you want, but you'll need a 10 before you can drive again.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

I like how this skewed article neglects to mention that for 50+ years, we had 8 hour rest periods and no 14 hour rule. They make it sound like we evil truckers only got good stuff from Bush. It was obvious he kissed up to the ATA. And now, Obama is kissing up to the Teamsters.

 

[moose]

This have nothing to do with safety , it's all about the money .
there is a new kid on the block , and he needs everyone to like him .
just you watch this one :

YouTube - ObamaHandshakeSnubbed

if this passes , it will be nothing short from another pay off .

don't expect them to come with a study showing that the 11 hours lead to more accidents , because it is not .

and don't expect them to revise the 5/5 split so teams can actually get rested between driving.

i have to admit that i drive 11 strait quit often , did it twice this week . way over a million mil. accident free , this is not about safety .

yes ,they wish for a 50 hours restart , so the shippers association can work local & regional , pocketing more off the line haul .

 

[nightcreacher]

they need to give us back the split sleeper.this system we are in now,does not allow for any midday rest without useing up your work time

 

[Bruno]

You are so right Steve. I liked running 5 and 5.

 

[jay shipley]

This Obama character is only here to ruin this whole entire economy anyway, and he's doing a great job of it. Can't believe that he's "conveniently" deaf to anything the American people want....all about his FAME and money. The FMCSA should have left the split sleeper along time ago. When you're in a traffic jam, and have somewhere to go take a nap, you should be able to do that, and log it as it happens. I think there should be a minimum on it, though....not logging and hour nap, because that never did a thing for me, but, the 34 hour reset, and the 11 never bothered me at all.....the 14 hour rule the idiots initialized is the one that is killing people....once you start your clock......you can't take a break? Wonder who is making the dangerous decisions here? I would say the FMCSA...safety, my foot.......we're over regulated now. Lose the 14 hour rule and the rest will be fine.

 

[Crazynuff]

This have nothing to do with safety , it's all about the money .
there is a new kid on the block , and he needs everyone to like him .
just you watch this one :

YouTube - ObamaHandshakeSnubbed

if this passes , it will be nothing short from another pay off .

don't expect them to come with a study showing that the 11 hours lead to more accidents , because it is not .

and don't expect them to revise the 5/5 split so teams can actually get rested between driving.

i have to admit that i drive 11 strait quit often , did it twice this week . way over a million mil. accident free , this is not about safety .

yes ,they wish for a 50 hours restart , so the shippers association can work local & regional , pocketing more off the line haul .

Studies have been done . The percentage of times the 11th hour is used is very small . If I remember correctly in the first year of the new rules there was only 1 fatality in the 11th hour . The most dangerous hours are the first 2 driving hours . When the 11 hours driving was first opposed opponents gave statistics of accidents occurring during the 11th hour of driving . BUT those accidents occurred when there was a 10 hour driving rule . The 15 hour rule was probably also being violated causing fatigue .
Less available hours means more drivers to keep Teamster membership higher . They'll use any tactic . Look at the unionizing of DHL workers . That caused the workers to lose their jobs but they are still union members .
I don't have time at the moment to find the exact quote but Joan Claybrook proved ignorance of Public Citizen by saying the rules allow drivers to drive 11 hours a day 7 days in a row .

 

[Screech]

This Obama character is only here to ruin this whole entire economy anyway, and he's doing a great job of it.

The economy is doing much better since this character has taken office.

 

[greg334]

The economy is doing much better since this character has taken office.

Where?

The last time I looked we are on a tightrope in a high wind.

The debt load from the spending hasn't hit us yet, and from all indication when banks and large institutions who hold a lot of commercial notes go under after the massive bailouts, it looks like there is going to be more problems ahead and any recovery will be further pushed into 2012 or even 2014.

 

[Str8Shooter]

I also believe our economy is improving.

 

[ShadowMaster]

Lose the 14 hour rule and the rest will be fine.

I wholly agree. I personally never could get enough sleep under the original 8/10 rule. I was thrilled when the rules changed. I was unhappy about losing the split option-although I only used it occasionally. The 34 hour reset and 11 hours has worked great. I rarely used the 11 hours of driving-but it gave me an option.

The Shippers and Receivers should be punished for keeping trucks sitting docks for more than two hours to be loaded or unloaded. They should honor their appointment times, have enough people on hand to unload/load their freight...This is the main reason why I have no interest in driving a Class A truck anymore- too much BS from shippers and receivers-especially at grocery warehouses.

 

[xiggi]

I also believe our economy is improving.

And I believe Julia Roberts wants my body.

 

[DanielCarver]

This Country is in deep dark trouble and we all know it.

 

[Darmstadter]

And I believe Julia Roberts wants my body.

ROTFL

New lyrics for Whitney Houston:

I believe that children are our future
Teach them well and let us spend away.
Let them see what Barry will decide
Give them a false sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be

Because the greatest debt of all
Is happening you see
We found the greatest debt of all
inside of our country
The greatest debt of all
Is easy to achieve
Following Barry's master plan
will bring the greatest debt of all.

I know, time to get some sleep.

 

[LeoZaphagg]

Well I am good and used to it now, So it must be time to change it.

 

[letzrockexpress]

And I believe Julia Roberts wants my body.

Hey, she was once married to Lyle Lovett...It isn't out of the realm of possibility.

 

[wombat52]

my views of the new LOG BOOK

Well lets all throw away our log books no no cannot do that i do stand to be corrected on this but canada 13 hours driving Australia 14 hours driving with a 1 hour rest period in there after 6 hours driving but here we are to stop after 11 hours driving even less if you been on duty not driving so yes to the split sleeper rule yes to having a good look at at the whole LOG book rules and fixing it yet again but this time correctly my example would be

1. does not be like big ben starts ticking once i do a pre trip
2 once i get to shipper 15 minutes later it stops ticking
3 if your a team the split sleeper rule is reinstated 5 & 5 for those who like it
6 reset the book after 24 hours not 38
5 do not make us wait 10 hours rest most folks need only 7 hours sleep or less
6 14 hours driving rule instead of 11 hours that would help those single solo drivers

but i like to see others view on this what they think would be the perfect book