Highway Traffic Safety Regulators Asleep on the Job

Eddie Farah

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Anyone who passes a big-rig on the highway knows the feeling -- your heart races, you hold your breath and say a little prayer.

You hope the truck driver is paying attention and has had enough sleep that day. But we know from experience that too many truckers on the road are pushing the limits. And federal rules now allow drivers to work 14-hour days, 11-hours behind the wheel, that's three hours longer than what's considered safe.

The agency that can crack down on too-tired drivers failed to do so in January. That's when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released weak standards for electronic on-board recorders (EOBRS) In an ideal world, a recorder can detect when a trucking company is forcing drivers to stay on the road an excessive number of hours. Just the presence of them deters violators.

Instead of mandating on-board recorders in all commercial trucks with a fair, across-the-board standard, FMCSA today released a proposed rule that would require recorders only for trucking companies that have been caught significantly violating hours-of-service rules.

In a news release, Public Citizen urged all companies be treated equally. Under present rules, many companies can fake their log books and appear to be in compliance when they are not.

We know that many more companies violate these rules because their drivers keep fake log books (which are so legendarily erroneous that they are known in the trade as "comic books"), but they are not detected. Under the FMCSA rule, these scofflaws can continue to violate the law without consequences and put the public at risk.

Deaths from large truck crashes rise when drivers spend more hours on the road. Doesn't it make sense to impose compliance on those unscrupulous enough to put profits above public safety?