FMCSA Ignores Courts, Congress, Highway SafetyTeamsters General President Jim Hoffa today said the Bush administration is undermining highway safety with its last-minute regulation that lets truckers drive longer hours.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration today released its final rule on truck drivers' hours of service. It extends the hours they can drive from 10 hours to 11 hours.
"We will continue to fight this dangerous midnight rule through the courts and through Congress," Hoffa said. "We're currently reviewing our legal options, especially since the court threw out this regulation twice."
The rule has been struck down twice by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court.
But in brazen defiance of the court and in subservience to the trucking industry, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reinstated it as an interim final rule late last year.
"Letting tired truck drivers spend even more time behind the wheel is foolish and dangerous," Hoffa said. "I just hope this country can survive the last 61 days of the Bush administration as it goes into a frenzy of gutting public health and safety protections."
The percentage of fatal crashes that result from driver fatigue rose 20 percent in 2005 from 2004 - the first year in which the longer hours of driving were allowed.
1 comment:
As a Teamster and road driver for 39 yrs I do not find the 11 hr.driving rule to be the problem because our contracts provide us with ample time to take breaks should we become fatigued and safely complete our run.
The problem as I see it is the 10 hr.off duty rule.Our off duty time begins when we punch in at our destination then we have to wait for transportation to a motel,travel to the motel and get checked in, this alone can take at least an hour.After completing that process a driver may like to freshen up a bit and have a bite to eat before going to bed another hour lost.So now that leaves us with 8 hrs off duty but the company can call us in 8 hrs from the time we punch in so we are down to 6 hrs sleep.
All the studies that I have read say that the body should have 8hrs.SLEEP.So could someone tell me where the safety factor figuers into that.The truth as I see it is that safety and fatigue are words that don't mean a damn thing it all boils down to one thing. The Almighty Buck.
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