It is Obvious That Who Ever Wrote This Story , Doesn't Have The Real Fact's ! ! ! . . .
01. Max Driving Time is 11 Hours ( Behind the Wheel ) , & a Total of 14 Working & Driving For Shift , Then 10 Hours of Rest to Restart Daily Hours . . .
02. Work Week is 60 Hours in 7 Days , or 70 Hours in 8 Days ! 34 Hours Straight off Duty , Resets 60 / 70 . . .
03. Most Truck Drivers are Safe ( Get Rest as Needed ! ) , Courteous , & Very Professional !
04. Since 75% of Truck / Car Accidents are The Fault of The 4 Wheeler ( This is a Fact ! ) , The Focus Should Be on 4 Wheeler Training about How to Operate Safely around Larger Vehicles ! ! ! . . .
05. These Renegade Groups Need to at Least Get The Real Facts ! Instead of These Very Slanted & Outright False Facts !

Have a Great Day Jim The Trucker !

The number of people killed by tired truck drivers would differ with your view Jim. It's clear that there a lot of great drivers out there, but this regulation change was not needed and adds to the danger.

Hi Jim-

It's okay if we don't agree on whether letting truck drivers stay behind the wheel and on the job more hours per day makes the roads safer. We sit on different ends of the equation. But I think the rule clarifies what can and cannot be done - See the:

General Services Administration rule here -
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Summary of the Rule - A rulemaking action was initiated in response to the July 2007 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that vacated specific provisions of the Agency's Hours of Service rule published on August 25, 2005. The Court invalidated two provisions: the first relates to increasing the daily driving limit from 10 to 11 hours; the second provision permits drivers to restart their count of weekly accumulations of hours after taking 34 consecutive hours off duty. The Court's mandate issued on December 27, 2007; the Agency issued the IFR to establish what hours of service are in effect.

We at the American Trucking Associations are dedicated to improving truck safety. Mr. Farah's comments are based on PR efforts of Public Citizen, which is not a safety group, and thus neglect to note that under the latest Hours of Service rules the maximum period that truck drivers can work in a day is one to two hours less than pre-2004 rules, not more. The maximum work hour limit is a "hard" 14, as opposed to a "soft" 15 under old rules, meaning that now the workday must end after 14 hours, but previously it was 15 hours, and that could be and was extended by meal breaks. Also, the mandatory rest per day is now 10 hours, instead of 8 hours. And because the rules did not specify work or rest as a portion of a 24-hour day, actually one could drive 16 hours in a day by driving 10, resting 8, then driving 10 more, etc., through the week. For those reasons trucking is safer under the new rules, as statistics show. By all large truck crash statistics measured by the federal government, trucking is the safest it has ever been since the DOT started keeping these stats in 1975. These stats have significantly improved since the new rules went into effect in 2004. Public Citizen (which is a Ralph Nader group, not a safety group) points to a statistically insignificant rise in these stats in 2005, but those same stats for passenger vehicle wrecks rose much higher in 2005 than did truck stats, showing that the cause of the increase was not the new truck rules. Since 2005 the truck stats have declined markedly. To correct other misconceptions here, fatigue is a comparatively minor cause of truck wrecks where the truck driver is at fault (research proves about 75 percent of car-truck crashes are caused by the car driver). And, when fatigue causes a car-truck crash, it is much more likely that the car driver, not the truck driver, was fatigued. This is what happened on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge last year when a car driver fell asleep at the wheel and crossed into oncoming traffic. The driver of an oncoming truck swerved and saved the car driver's life. The truck went off the bridge and the truck driver was killed. Speed is a much more prevalent cause of wrecks where the truck driver is at fault, which is why since 2006, the American Trucking Associations has been trying to get the federal government to require that all trucks have their speed governors set to prevent trucks from exceeding 65 mph. And, since the maximum number of driving hours is irrelevant if the driver or company does not follow the rules, ATA has asked the federal government to require that companies that have a history of failing to follow the rules install electronic on-board recorders to make enforcement easier.
Clayton Boyce, American Trucking Associations

The leadership of all of these "watchdog" groups needs to pay attention here. I'm getting tired of people who've never been around or in a truck trying to "protect" me by challenging the current HOS regulations. The post by Clayton Boyce of the ATA pretty much sums it up. However, there ARE things that could (and should) be done to improve safety. Here are a few:

1. Build more truck parking spaces.

Over the last few years, states have become more restrictive about where/when trucks can park to take their HOS mandated 10 hour break. States are closing rest areas (as in Indiana), prohibiting parking on highway on/off ramps (a number of states), removing existing pulloffs (California), and other localities are restricting truck parking in various fashions. (Mokena, IL prohibits parking over 4 hours IN A TRUCKSTOP!). Throw in truckstops closing down, and others charging for parking, (without adding more parking spaces) and it is obvious to anyone that the parking situation is getting really bad. The general idea is to make it as easy as possible for truck drivers to comply with the regulations - which is pretty tough to do if they can't find a parking space. Anymore, I won't haul any freight east of I-75 because of the extreme difficulty in finding a safe and legal parking space for my 10 hour break.

There are a number of enlightened shippers and consignees who do allow drivers to park for their mandated breaks, but the majority do not. Where space is limited, this is understandable, but most large companies, with plenty of space, won't allow trucks to park - even though a driver may be out of hours, and it's illegal for the driver to go back out on the road. Frequently, it's their fault you're out of hours, since they take inordinate amounts of time to load or unload.

A quick, although only partial, solution is to require these companies to allow parking. They've got the room, but they just can't be bothered.

Another solution is to utilize the unused areas available at many highway interchanges. Not on the ramps, but the area between the highway and the ramps, or small lots at the ends of the ramps. They don't have to be huge -- Three to ten spaces each -- just build lots of them. Drivers like to park close to their morning delivery, to maximize efficiency. Areas around large cities need much more parking. For anyone who doesn't think there's a problem, just go to any truckstop around a major metropolitan area on a weeknight between 10 pm and midnight, and you'll see what I mean.

2. Educate automobile drivers.

Here's a little experiment to try. The next time you're in a group of people, ask "How many of you took driver's ed?" and get a show of hands. Then, ask "Of those of you who took driver's ed, how many of you remember them even *mentioning* driving around trucks?". In all of the times I've done this, NOT ONCE has anybody remembered anything about trucks.

In my million+ safe OTR miles, I've seen automobile drivers do some *really* stupid things around trucks. I don't think there could be that many suicidal people in the country, so it must be a lack of education. When automobile drivers renew their licenses, they should be required to pass a simple exam on driving safely around trucks. Even if it's just staying out of the "no-zones" and leaving adequate space, it would go a long way toward reducing car/truck collisions.

3. Make shippers, consignees, brokers, and trucking companies liable for HOS violations.

Australia passed regulations a while back allowing prosecution of anyone forcing a driver into an illegal delivery schedule, and have recently begun prosecution of violaters. Good companies will protect their drivers from this kind of abuse, but economics (especially in these times) can make a good company turn bad. Some simply turn a blind eye to violations so they don't lose drivers. By moving the fines for these violations away from drivers to those actually responsible for causing them in the first place, you'll see a huge increase in HOS compliance. Let's get the regulations in hand, and protect everyone on the road.

These three things are only a starting point. There are quite a number of other things that could also be done to enhance safety and efficiency, such as eliminating driver unloads, eliminating lumpers and lumping abuses, inordinate loading and unloading times, and other things.

So, how about it watchdog groups? Why not do something that will have an actual impact, instead of wrangling over regulations that happen to be a *major* improvement over the old ones?

Truckie-D
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Hello Mr. Boyce and "Truckie-D,"

Thank you very much for your comments. You are right - I learned more about trucking safety from this blog post than I did in driver's ed. I imagine other readers are too.

In a former career, I was a salesman in a different industry. I spent a few years traveling the Southeast and occasionally drove 50,000 miles per year. I became well aware of the dangers of fatigue to all drivers. I also learned a lot about driving around trucks in that time.

For the most part, given the mechanical, physical and spatial limits they are working with, I find truckers to be the most courteous and skilled drivers on the road. I think most people don't realize how less nimble and agile an 18-wheeler is, zooming between and around them in their cars like angry bees.

Of course, truckers are professional drivers. For those same reasons that make trucks potentially dangerous (physics and less manuverability), truckers should be held to a higher standard of care and safety than car drivers (although we falling are far short of the needed training, education and enforcement for car drivers as well).

Your story about the lack of parking for trucks, which I presume to be true, indicates that there is a huge dilemma with regard to the practicality of compliance with the driving time limits. Certainly legislators must be looking at this issue?

I'd still like to learn more about driving safely around trucks. It would be great to see you and other truckers comment here with examples of risk-taking behaviors to avoid and general rules of thumb for driving around trucks, etc.

We at InjuryBoard are very dedicated to improving safety and promoting discussions about safety, and we'd like to have the best input available. We thank you for your obviously experienced and heartfelt opinions.

Maybe one of you would be interested in hosting your own Trucking Safety blog here on InjuryBoard?

I'd *love* to have a Trucking Safety blog on InjuryBoard -- as long as I'm not edited.

Truckie-D
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Truckie-D – thanks for your interest in contributing to the conversation here on InjuryBoard. I see you have your own trucking blog – that's great.

We are working on providing guest blogging credentials for industry experts, safety advocates, and other stakeholders to submit quality posts to InjuryBoard.

This technology and the application process are still in development right now, but when ready, can I get in touch with you then? Thanks again for your interest.

Hi Darren,
Yes - and the sooner the better. Since there are so many myths, misconceptions, and just plain wrong bits of information circulating about trucks and truck safety, I'd like to be able to address these and get the correct info out there.

You should be able to access my email address. Alternatively, leave a comment on my blog.

Regards,

Truckie-D
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