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Safety groups, congressmen say new poll proves public doesn’t want truckers’ hours increased; ‘misleading’ says ATA

Safety advocacy groups, The Teamsters Union, a couple of Democratic congressmen and a research group today disclosed a new public opinion poll they said shows “dramatically” and overwhelmingly that the general public would be opposed to truckers being able to increase their work week from 70 to 82 hours.

In a news conference call open to the media the groups contended that a “rider” amendment by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in a Transportation, Housing and Urban Development or THUD appropriations bill (S. 2438) which would nullify the 34-hour restart provision in the current Hours of Service law until a comprehensive study on it is completed, would allow truckers to essentially be able to drive 82 hours in a work week.

The 34-hour restart provisions that were in effect on June 30, 2013, would be the law of the land until the study and its findings were done.

The groups holding the conference are behind another amendment, this one by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., that would “strike” Collins’ amendment and leave the 34-hour restart as it is now.

In the poll, women and men of varying ages and on both sides of the political aisle were asked, among other questions: “Do you favor or oppose Congress changing the law and raising the number of hours a semi-truck driver is allowed to work in a week from 70 to 82 hours?”

Joshua Ulibarri, a partner in Lake Research Partners, which did the poll and has partnered with the Truck Safety Coalition “for years” on research, said that the poll found six in 10 adults “strongly opposed” an increase in the number of truckers’ working hours and that overall, 80 percent of adults polled were opposed to more hours across the board regardless of their race, age, gender, political party or geography.

What the poll did not explain to its respondents was that most truckers now don’t use the 70-hour driving limit and that under the previous 34-hour restart it was rare for a driver to approach 82 hours, even if it were possible.

“The biased approach and wording of the poll questions make the validity of its findings at best questionable,” said Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) spokesperson Norita Taylor.

 

“Claims based upon such leading questions are certainly not helpful to highway safety. The notion of drivers being able to do an 82-hour work week is easily debunked. A driver would have to do nothing but drive and sleep and encounter no delays whatsoever for that many days straight, which never happens.

 

“As far as a normal work week being 40 hours, that may be true for a Monday through Friday work week, but not for seven days, which is what is covered in regulations.”

Former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and chair for Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways Joan Claybrook claimed 15-20 percent of drivers do stretch their hours beyond the legal limits and are “a danger on the highway.”

The American Trucking Associations called the poll a “push poll” in that questions were leading respondents to answer a certain way.

“The results of a misleading ‘push poll’ should not be taken into consideration when crafting public policy — good data and research should be. Unfortunately, FMCSA did not have such information —  such as the impact the rules would have on increased daytime truck traffic and the corresponding elevated crash risk  — when they drafted them,” the ATA stated in response.

ATA also pointed out that Collins’ amendment would not institute a “law,” but suspend the current 34-hour restart until the study is done.

“The Collins amendment simply suspends these rules so the agency can evaluate the true risks and the net impact on highway safety.  We doubt any poll respondent would support restrictions that discourage drivers from taking lengthy rest periods, and that increase daytime truck traffic and raise crash risk.”

And, ATA noted “a recent, legitimate poll by Public Opinion Strategies” that found “800 registered voters were asked ‘Would you prefer that trucks generally operate at night between midnight and 5 am, or during late morning and mid-day hours?’ By a 67-24 margin, they said they’d prefer trucks to operate during the times foreclosed by FMCSA’s Hours of Service changes.”

“Further,” ATA added, “in prior rulemakings FMCSA has said that the excessive hours that some claim can be worked under the rules can only be accomplished in an ‘imaginary world’ of nearly perfect logistics.”

When asked about a poll from Public Opinion Strategies presented at ATA’s management conference earlier this month showing 80 percent of respondents believe truck drivers are safer drivers than four-wheel motorists, there was some back-tracking among those at today’s conference, with Sen. Blumenthal declaring that “pound for pound,” truckers are safer drivers than other motorists. But he added that “the great enemy, fatigue” must still be dealt with.

The Trucking Alliance issued a statement saying it is “futile” to debate the HOS until the mandate to install electronic logging devices (ELDs) goes into effect.

“The stark reality is that without a way to verify industry compliance it doesn't matter what the federal government's HOS rules are for truck drivers,” the Alliance stated.

The Washington-based group said it supports acceleration of the mandate to require ELDs “in all commercial trucks” to assure HOS compliance.

To see the poll click here.

The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected].

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