Long-Haul Rules for Truckers

No one takes highway safety more seriously than the responsible men and women who make their living behind the wheel of a truck. They and the motor carriers they work for deserve credit for producing the lowest truck fatality rate in a decade and a continued decrease in truck-related highway deaths. Such credit was lacking from your July 17 editorial on reform of the federal hours-of-service rules, “Fatigue and Trucks a Deadly Mix.”

Also lacking was a full explanation of what may happen on our highways if the federal government’s proposed changes go into effect. It would force us to put 180,000 additional drivers and trucks on the road just to stay even with the shipping demands of today’s economy.

Your editorial overstates fatigue as a factor in car-truck crashes. According to the DOT’s research, the figure is 6%. A single fatigue-related death is one too many, and we plan to keep working hard every day to reduce the number.

Car drivers are cited as the contributing factor in 70% of fatal car-truck crashes. A strong, targeted driver-education program focused on motorists and truck drivers, coupled with sensible, science-based hours-of-service rules, would make our highways safer for all.

WALTER B. McCORMICK JR.

President

American Trucking Assns.

Alexandria, Va.

* Does anyone realize, or even care, that long-haul truck drivers get paid by the mile and not by the hour? Is it to anyone’s surprise that logbooks are “fudged”? The average mileage rate for a company driver is only about 30 cents per mile. So the more hours a driver keeps the truck moving and accruing miles, the more money he or she will make.

The proposed hours-of-service revisions have already been met with harsh criticism from those in the trucking industry. Truck driving is more than a job for the long-haul driver, it’s a lifestyle that involves many sacrifices of one’s time and family life. It has to be worthwhile for the driver or what’s the point of doing it? For many drivers, all the miles they can drive make it worthwhile, legally or illegally.

C.J. PUGLIESE

Rancho Santa Margarita