Republicans and Democrats have not been agreeing on much in Washington lately, but a whopping 122 Congressional delegates on both sides of the aisle have petitioned Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood to abandon plans to revise the current Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rules regulating hours of service (HOS) rules for commercial vehicle drivers.
Political dissidents are joined by both the American Trucking Association and the National Private Truck Council in opposing the proposed regulations. Both trucking industry giants oppose the new laws on several grounds:
- Cost of implementing the revised rules - an estimated $1 billion (not including the additional expenses incurred by carriers to put additional trucks on the road to make deliveries no longer possible because of the longer mandatory waiting rules or the higher costs of goods that will be passed on to consumers)
- More commercial truck traffic on the roads as carriers must split cargo into separate loads to meet delivery deadlines
- Wasted natural resources spent on additional vehicles and in traffic jams
- Inability to implement team driving arrangements because of sleeping berth restrictions
- Insufficient evidence of increased safety associated with the new rules
- Inadequate benefit to individual truckers - the proposed rule changes would result in around five additional minutes of sleep per day for a long-haul trucker and would have no marked positive health benefit
- The fact that the proposal disregards the safety strides gained in the years since the last major overhaul of HOS rules in 2004
Since the revisions have not been adopted, their potential impact upon the safety of commercial vehicles and the health of individual drivers is still up for debate. And while the commercial trucking industry is indeed the safest it has ever been, there are still over half a million truck accidents each year.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a truck accident, speak with an experienced personal injury attorney in your area to learn more about your rights and legal options.