Battle Over Trucker 34-hour Restart Rule is Over–For Now

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The Senate voted on Saturday evening and passed the Omnibus Bill which included Senator Collins’ rider to rollback trucking Hours of Service rules related to the 34-hour restart rule.

Read more here from the Truck Safety Coalition: https://www.facebook.com/trucksafetycoalition/posts/966491546711789

Bloomberg News reports on this issue as well: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-15/maine-senator-is-again-friend-to-trucking-as-rule-eased.html

A previous post spells out the facts of Senator Collins’ rider: https://annaleahmary.com/2014/12/urgent-express-your-opposition-to-longer-hours-for-truck-drivers/

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Truck Crash Moment: A truck driver’s actions forever divided time into Before & After

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , ,

AnnaLeah and Mary Mary & AnnaLeah Before

IMG_4464Truck Crash Moment

headstoneAnnaleah  & Mary After

Tug of War Over Trucker Hours of Service; It’s Not Over ‘Til It’s Over

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YOU CAN HELP in the tug of war in the battle over trucker hours of service regulations.

The Omnibus bill passed the House on Thursday evening by a 219-206 vote. Last night, several truck safety leaders took to the floor of the Senate and spoke about truck driver fatigue, the hours of service (HOS) rule and the dangers of the Collins Rider. Senators Booker and Blumenthal were passionate in their defense of the HOS rule and our families’ right to safety. The night ended with the Senate passing a two-day extension to vote on the bill.

Please join Senators Booker and Blumenthal and let your Senators know that these anti-safety riders are bad for roadway safety and bad for our families! TAKE action now:

Please contact your Senators ASAP and tell them, “We’re tired of Congress putting trucking industry profits ahead of public safety. VOTE NO on the Omnibus Spending Bill!”

You can find the contact information for your Senators here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

OR call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senator’s office.

DEMAND SAFETY FOR OUR FAMILIES – SAY NO TO TIRED TRUCKING!

Before & After Photos

An Accident or a Preventable Crash?

Truck Safety,

A crash is not always an “accident.” Here is someone with whom I can agree. Susan Baker, Johns Hopkins’ Injury Prevention Expert, says:

I learned I don’t like the word “accident.” [Former head of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety] Bill Haddon, a mentor who was a huge influence in my professional life, was the first person to make a big deal over use of the word “accident.” It suggests something not preventable when perhaps it is something that can be explained and prevented.

 Usually, when an injury occurs, responsibility can lie with a designer, planner, inventor, lawmaker … someone whose decision caused something to happen one way or another. I looked at the chain of events that led to the injury and how you could interrupt that chain. I looked for the weakest link and saw what you could do about that.

http://hub.jhu.edu/gazette/2014/november-december/what-ive-learned-susan-baker

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A Mother’s Letter In Response To Senator Collins’ Deadly And Dangerous Provision To Increase Working Hours For Truck Drivers

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Here is a letter written by another mother who lost her son due to a truck crash. She does not pull any punches when asking her senator why she only responds to the needs of the trucking industry and not the families of victims.

http://trucksafety.org/read-daphne-izers-letter-in-response-to-senator-collins-deadly-and-dangerous-provision-to-increase-working-hours-fortruck-drivers/

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URGENT: Express Your Opposition to Longer Hours for Truck Drivers

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THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS FROM THE Truck Safety Coalition (December 4, 2014). . .

Right now, Appropriations Committee Leaders are deliberating over whether to include a provision to increase truck driver weekly work hours from 70 to 82 hours, and reduce their rest time, each week. This provision was originally introduced by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) as an amendment. We sent out an action alert this morning asking you to reach out to Appropriations Committee Leaders to express your opposition to longer hours and less rest for truck drivers. Please call all if you can, but if you are limited on time, please reach out to as many as possible. I have attached their contact information at the end of this email. Each call should only take a few minutes and I have included talking points below:

Talking Points:

  1. According to the U.S. DOT, in 2012, each day, on average, 11 people died in truck crashes and 200 more were injured.
  2. Truck driver fatigue has been recognized as a major safety concern and a contributing factor to fatal truck crashes for over 70 years.
  3. FMCSA studies have shown that 65 percent of truck drivers report that they often or sometimes feel drowsy while driving and nearly half of truck drivers admit that they had actually fallen asleep while driving in the previous year.
  4. Truck driving is consistently listed as 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.

The Collins Amendment would weaken the HOS rule and:

  • Dramatically increase the allowable working hours of truck drivers from the current average of about 70 hours a week to more than 80 hours a week. This is equivalent to adding an additional work day to the work week of a truck driver.
  • Allow shippers and supervisors to once again push drivers to work an average work week of up to 82 hours every week. This is double the normal work week of the average American worker and without any overtime pay or compensation.

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).

The current HOS rule DOES NOT:

  • Restrict a driver from driving at night. In fact, the current rule places no restrictions on when a truck driver must drive. Unless a driver is absolutely maxing out their driving time and trying to drive more than the 60 or 70 hours currently permitted, there is also no restriction on when they have to take a break.
  • Moreover, the rule does not specify when that driver must go back on the road after the break. Add More Trucks to the road. Changes to the requirements for rest periods do not have any effect on the amount of freight shipped.
  • A recent survey conducted by Lake Research Partners shows an overwhelming majority of the American public is aware of the dangers of truck driver fatigue and rationally opposes legislative efforts to increase truck driver working hours. This opposition is broad, spanning all demographic, geographic and political groups.

 THE POLL REVEALS THAT: 80% ARE OPPOSED TO LONGER WORK WEEKS FOR TRUCK DRIVERS; AND, 80% SAY THEY WOULD FEEL LESS SAFE IF LEGISLATION WERE PASSED TO RAISE THE NUMBER OF HOURS A SEMI-TRUCK DRIVER IS ALLOWED TO WORK IN A WEEK FROM 70 TO 82 HOURS.   Opposition to the proposed legislation and longer hours for truck drivers:

  • has strong bipartisan support;
  • is strong in all regions of the country; and,
  • is strong across gender, and racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Thank you for all your work. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Senate Leaders: Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) brigid_houton@appropriations.senate.gov    202-224-4654

Appropriations Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-AL) jay_dunn@shelby.senate.gov    202-224-5744

Appropriations THUD Subcommittee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) carrie_gage@murray.senate.gov      202-224-2621

House Leaders:

Appropriations Chairman Hal Rodgers (R-KY) shannon.rickett@mail.house.gov                  202-225-4601

Appropriations Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) drew.jacoby@mail.house.gov         202-225-6506

Appropriations THUD Subcommittee Chairman Tom Latham (R-IA) doug.bobbitt@mail.house.gov    202-225-5476

Appropriations THUD Subcommittee Ranking Member Ed Pastor (D-AZ) doug.gascon@mail.house.gov    202-225-4065

Good news: FMCSA Announces First Step Toward Increasing Minimum Liability for Trucker Insurance

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, ,

Good news! Late last week, the FMCSA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM) announcing that they are considering a proposed rule to increase the minimum liability insurance coverage for motor carriers.

Increasing the minimum liability insurance was one of the 3 requests in the AnnaLeah & Mary Stand Up for Truck Safety Petition, which we delivered to FMCSA on behalf of over 11,000+ signers on May 5, 2014.

If this study advances to a new rule, then victims of truck crashes will have a better chance of being adequately compensated financially for their great loss.

I have written to our contacts at the FMCSA–reminding them of our petition and their promise to include the signatures & comments in the Public Comments in the Federal Register. We will keep you posted. Thank you for standing with us to be a strong voice for truck safety.

FMCSA ANPRM minimum insurance

Let’s Work Together To End Senseless Tragedies Caused by Distracted/Impaired Driving

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, ,

Before & After Photos

I recently made some comments on a facebook post (by a radio show host) about proposed Texas legislation to ban texting while driving. I was frustrated with some comments made by others that they didn’t want this curb on personal freedom and that laws were not effective anyway. The following is an edited version of my “final” comment on that post:

Here is a before and after picture of our two girls in our car.  Actually, the before photo was from less than a year before our truck crash–when we were stopped on the highway due to a traffic fatality ahead of us. The after photo shows the result of a truck driver who was apparently distracted or “impaired”–abruptly ending two lives.

The point is that this is not a matter of personal right/freedoms being violated. This is a matter of personal choices needing to bear consequences when they result in death or injury for others (or themselves). Distracted/impaired driving of any kind needs to be outlawed–for the benefit & protection of those who are its innocent victims.

Enforcement & justice must follow. Raising awareness is essential–including acknowledgement of the extent of the problem and our own culpability and vulnerability. Research is also needed in order to find innovative technologies or means to curb the behavior which is sometimes addictive. And please do not forget the impact that this problem has on the lives of those who are responsible for someone else’s death.

The inadequacies of any solution to the widespread problem of distracted/impaired driving should not stop us from trying to put an end to these senseless & preventable crashes, which are not “accidents” but the result of personal choices/behaviors. The answer is most certainly not to put our head in the sand or discourage attempts to address this life & death matter but to work together to end such tragedies–one at a time.

Find out the current laws on texting & cell phone use in your state: http://www.distraction.gov/content/get-the-facts/state-laws.html

Watch & share this Texting While Driving Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_-6EoNhitg

Boston Makes Progress With Prevention of Truck Side Underride

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Boston has taken some important steps  to improve safety on their streets by implementing vehicle-based safety measures, including side guards, for certain municipal commercial vehicles:

In his letter to Boston City Council, Mayor Walsh stated that the ordinance establishes requirements for protection equipment to be installed on vehicles contracted by the City of Boston, to be constructed and/or equipped as to offer effective protection to unprotected road users against the risk of falling under the sides of the vehicle and being caught under the wheels.

“I am pleased that this life-saving measure, a first in the nation, is moving forward as a result of the Volpe-Boston partnership over the past two years,” said Dr. Epstein. “Side guards, blind spot mirrors, sensors, and other truck technologies are all important means to prevent or mitigate deadly crashes with the pedestrians and bicyclists who must share the road with these massive vehicles. I believe that vehicle-based safety is becoming a key strategy for cities to reach their goals of reducing or eliminating traffic fatalities.” 

http://www.volpe.dot.gov/news/cities-take-steps-increase-bicyclist-and-pedestrian-safety

World’s Largest Truck Convoy

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Check out how some truckers are supporting Special Olympics with their Truck:

“The Truck Convoy® is a unique one-day celebration of the trucking industry and its support of Special Olympics. Local law enforcement makes special dispensation and escorts a convoy of trucks up to 50 miles through their town.”

http://resources.specialolympics.org/Sections/Donate/Truck_Convoy.aspx

http://fox2now.com/2014/10/26/video-mysterious-truck-convoy-has-i-64-drivers-wondering-if-theyre-in-the-twilight-zone/?utm_content=buffer4db40&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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