What’s Wrong With This Picture?

If you run trucks that fall under the purview of the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) and especially if you use GPS tracking to protect your drivers and your business (if you don’t, write me and tell me why, would you please, I’d like to know) this will interest you a lot:

Feds ask for delay of trucker hours rule

WASHINGTON (AP) - Government trucking regulators on Friday asked a federal court to delay a requirement that would reduce by one hour the time truckers can drive continuously.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Friday requested a 12-month stay from a mandate of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court has ordered the daily driving limit be cut to 10 hours for long-haul truckers.
The action supports a request made by the American Trucking Associations earlier this month for an 8-month stay. The agency backed the trade group’s assertions that reducing the limit this month would be expensive and require it to retrain drivers and operating personnel, reprint logs, reengineer routes and make other changes.
The enforcement of the new requirements ‘will also be subject to substantial disruption from the confusion that will result if a stay is not granted,’ according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration filing….

The FMCSA has one important job … and that is to enforce regulations to increase safety for motor carriers and the traveling public in general. They are not a lobbying agency for the trucking industry and they don’t make and interpret the laws regarding trucking safety … that’s Congress and the court’s role.

Today truckers are allowed to drive 11 hours continuously before the must take a mandated rest break.  For many years the rule was a 10 hour continuous driving period and this was changed by the FMCSA back in 2003.  Of all people one might think that drivers, who mostly get paid by the mile, and thus one would think want to drive as many hours as possible, might welcome and extra hour … but drivers aren’t dumb and they aren’t as greedy as it appears many trucking company owners are.  The drivers themselves sued to go back to the 10 hour day … in effect taking money out their own pockets in deference to safety … and the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling ordering the change back to enhanced safety.

The ATA (American trucking Association) a powerful, well-funded lobbying group has fought continuously to force drivers to drive farther, faster and be more tired behind the wheel.  Money uber alles.  Now, the federal agency charged with the driver’s safety (and yours and mine) is spending our tax dollars to fight in court for the direct benefit of the ATA “fat cats”, and to act as a lobbying group to directly oppose mandates for safety.

The reasons for asking for the stay are about as limp and lifeless as a cat run over by an 18-wheeler.  “We will have to retrain personnel” … hello, they were already trained under the old, safer system for 20-odd years.  “We will have to print new time sheets and log books” … hello, why, in 2007 are you using paper log books (commonly called “swindle sheets” in the industry” when you should be using GPS-based electronic logs which have already been proven to save money (increasing profits) and enhance efficiency and driver safety.  I swear I can’t figure out why trucks aren’t still rolling on solid rubber tires on wood-spoke wheels … it’s hard to believe just how reactionary and backwards the ATA can be.

And it is really, really, really hard to understand why government employees are being paid to spend their time as “lackey’s” for a group who wants to put thousands more people at risk on our highways in the quest for the almighty dollar.  Geez, why not lobby for 20 continuous hours or 30?  Kill more people, but make more money, isn’t that what it’s all about?