I made a YouTube video of the debate and vote over the Collins’ Amendment to suspend part of the Hours of Service at the Senate Appropriations Committee Meeting . You can listen to it while watching video clips of AnnaLeah and Mary.

The senators were given a copy of the amendment as it was introduced  and then expected to vote on this issue despite confusion.
http://youtu.be/JeuOqy_lOEc

Media Coverage on the Collins’ Amendment attempt to change the Hours of Service (HOS) Rules:

• Portland Press Herald (ME) http://www.pressherald.com/2014/06/09/our-view-dont-put-more-tired-truckers-on-our-roads/
• USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/06/10/tracy-morgan-truck-drivers-safety-editorials-debates/10303811/
• Baltimore Sun (MD) http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-06-09/news/bs-ed-trucker-hours-20140609_1_truck-anne-ferro-accidents
• Newark Star Ledger (NJ) http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/06/dont_weaken_sleep_rules_for_truckers_editorial.html#incart_river_default
• Bergen Record (NJ) http://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-editorials/rules-of-the-road-1.1033019
• http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2014/06/05/331145.htm

“None of the industry arguments ring true to Daphne Izer, the founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers, which has pushed for tighter rest rules for 20 years. The Lisbon, Maine, resident founded the group after her 17-year-old son, Jeff, and three of his friends were killed by a fatigued truck driver.

Collins hasn’t spoken to her constituent as she has been crafting the Senate amendment, which Izer describes as a ‘back-door way of sneaking it in.’

‘This is fighting the battle all over again,’ Izer said in an interview. ‘I’m mad, but I’m not doing this just to be angry. It’s hope for the future. It’s sparing others from going through what we’ve been through.’”

Basic Information About the Collins’ Amendment

& Its Impact on the Hours of Service (HOS) Rules (From the Truck Safety Coalition)

 Talking Points

HOS and Truck Driver Fatigue

• Every year, on average, 4,000 people die in truck crashes and about 100,000 more are injured at a cost of at least $87 billion, a large number of them due to driver fatigue.

• Truck driver fatigue has been recognized as a major safety concern and a contributing factor to fatal truck crashes for over 70 years.

• The 2006 Large Truck Crash Causation Study reported that 13 percent of Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) drivers were considered to have been fatigued at the time of a serious crash.

• FMCSA studies reveal that 65% of truck drivers report they often or sometimes feel drowsy while driving and nearly half admit they fell asleep while driving in the previous year.

• Working long daily and weekly hours on a continuing basis is associated with chronic fatigue, a high risk of crashes, and a number of serious chronic health conditions in drivers.

• Truck driving is one of the most dangerous occupations in our country, and is consistently one of the top ten most dangerous jobs in the U.S. In 2011, fatalities among large truck occupants increased 20 percent, and by another 9 percent in 2012.

• Every minute and a half of every day, there is a large truck crash.

• Truck crashes are on the rise. From 2009 to 2012, truck crash injuries increased by a staggering 40 percent, resulting in 104,000 injuries in 2012. During this period, truck crash fatalities increased three years in a row, a cumulative 16% increase, with nearly 4,000 deaths in 2012.

• The current HOS Rule will:

  • Prevent approximately 1,400 crashes each year — saving 19 lives and avoiding 560 injuries;

  • Provide $280 million in annual savings from fewer crashes and $470 million in annual savings from improved driver health (i.e., reduced mortality).

• We cannot roll-back the restart provisions in the HOS rule and cause more deaths and injuries when saving lives should be first and foremost.

• Support the CMV Driver Restart Study instead of a roll back on safety regulation.

  • The public health and safety community, the trucking alliance, and labor jointly support the Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) Driver Restart Study. The CMV Driver Restart Study directs DOT to conduct a peer-reviewed study of truck driver fatigue with specific deadlines based on objective data produced by electronic logging devices (ELDs) that will be installed in 2015.

Restart provisions:

• The restart provision ensures that truck drivers cannot take another 34 hours restart until 168 hours or 7 days have passed. 

• This provision is necessary to reduce the cumulative, chronic fatigue that results from working 80 plus hours, week in and week out – nearly twice as many hours as the regular 40 hour work week.

• Under the new HOS rule, drivers can continue to work 70 hour weeks. The restart limits the 80 and 80 plus hour work weeks to every other week.

• The 34-hour provision is scientifically valid:

  • One of the largest naturalistic field studies to measure fatigue among commercial motor vehicle drivers provided further scientific evidence that the 34-hour restart provision in the current hours-of-service rule for truck drivers is more effective at combatting fatigue than the prior version.

• The two consecutive 1:00 – 5:00 a.m. rest periods are absolutely necessary to reduce fatigue. After working 7 days in a row, and nearly twice as many hours as the 40 hour work week, truck drivers need and deserve two days off.  Even working at the reduced 70 hour work week, truck driving continues to resemble a sweatshop on wheels.

• Drivers with only one night of rest (as opposed to the two nights in the restart provision):

  • Exhibited more lapses of attention, especially at night;

  • Reported greater sleepiness, especially toward the end of their duty periods; and

  • Showed increased lane deviation in the morning, afternoon and at night.

• The restart provisions do not prevent drivers from continuing to drive at night.

Additional points:

• Senator Collins is misleading when she claims that her amendment will not make a big change.  It’s a significant change that will perpetuate fatigue, and especially the cumulative, chronic fatigue of the most overworked truck drivers.

• With one amendment, Senator Collins will undue 25 years of research and input from thousands of stakeholders representing a broad range of interests.

• Some truck drivers work 70 hour weeks – nearly double a typical American work week – and they are controlling 80,000 pound trucks. They should be given a weekend off to spend time with their families. The Collins amendment pushes truck drivers even further beyond their limits. These sweatshops on wheels must be reformed.

• Senator Collins needs to stop doing the bidding of the trucking industry and protect her constituents.

• The hours of service (HOS) rule is based on years of scientific research and this amendment is a backdoor attempt to ignore the research and evade the rulemaking process.

• There have been absolutely no hearings, no public input, and no adequate safety review of removing the truck driver weekend off provision.

• This rule is not even 1 year old. Striking it will lead to confusion in the industry and to law enforcement. If police officers don’t understand the rules, how are they going to enforce them?

• The safety of motorists and truck drivers should come before the economic demands of the trucking industry.

• Who is Senator Collins doing this for and why?  It’s certainly not for Maine families and her constituents – the people she represents – so then who?

• Senator Collins is creating a legacy of plowing over truck safety rules and regulations. She’s already assured that her legacy is bigger, more dangerous and damaging trucks.  Why is she determined to add fatigued truck drivers?