Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 2 July 2019

Administration moves to ease drive-time rules for truckers

OPAL, Va. (AP) — Truck what they face on the
driver Lucson Francois was highways.
forced to hit the brakes just "How can you judge me
five minutes from his home and what I do by sitting
in Pennsylvania. in a cubicle in an office?"
He'd reached the maxi- said Terry Button, a burly
mum number of hours in hay farmer from upstate
a day he's allowed to be New York who owns his
on duty. Francois couldn't truck. Button estimates
leave the truck unattend- he's logged about 4 million
ed. So he parked and miles since he started driv-
climbed into the sleeper ing a truck in 1976. He said
berth in the back of the he's never caused an ac-
cab. Ten hours would have cident, although he's been
to pass before he could hit twice by passenger ve-
start driving again. hicles.
"You don't want even a The regulations have exist-
one-minute violation," said ed since the 1930s and are
Francois, a 39-year-old Hai- enforced by the Federal
tian immigrant, recalling his Motor Carrier Safety Admin-
dilemma during a break istration. The proposed revi-
at a truck stop in this small sions are being reviewed
crossroads town southwest Truck driver Terry Button poses with his truck during at stop in Opal, Va., Thursday, June 13, 2019. by the White House's Office
of Washington. Associated Press of Management and Bud-
The Transportation Depart- get and have not yet been
ment is moving to relax the of Advocates for Highway in all forms of transporta- powerful American Truck- released, according to a
federal regulations that and Auto Safety, an alli- tion and added reducing ing Associations, whose spokesman for the motor
required Francois to pull ance of insurance compa- fatigue-related accidents members include the na- carrier safety office.
over, a long sought goal of nies and consumer, public to its 2019-2020 "most want- tion's largest motor carriers The regulations limit long-
the trucking industry and a health and safety groups. ed list " of safety improve- and truck manufacturing haul truckers to 11 hours of
move that would highlight She said the hours of ser- ments. A groundbreaking companies. "Most impor- driving time within a 14-hour
its influence with the Trump vice requirements, which study by the Transportation tantly, the partnership with on-duty window. They must
administration. Interest permit truckers to drive up Department more than a them has not been as sus- have had 10 consecutive
groups that represent mo- to 11 hours each day, are decade ago reported 13% picious of industry as in the hours off duty before the
tor carriers and truck drivers already "exceedingly lib- of truck drivers involved in past." on-duty clock starts anew.
have lobbied for revisions eral in our estimation." crashes that resulted in fa- Trucking interests had And a driver who is going
they say would make the There were 4,657 large talities or injuries were fa- pressed the administra- to be driving for more than
rigid "hours of service" rules trucks involved in fatal tigued at the time of the tion and Congress for the eight hours must take a
more flexible. crashes in 2017, a 10% in- accidents. rule changes and last year 30-minute break before hit-
But highway safety advo- crease from the year be- The trucking industry has secured support from 30 ting the eight-hour mark.
cates are warning the con- fore, according to a May developed a strong rela- senators, mostly Republi- Breaking the rules can be
templated changes would report issued by the Fed- tionship with President Don- cans. The lawmakers wrote costly. A trucker might be
dangerously weaken the eral Motor Carrier Safety ald Trump, who has made in a May 2018 letter to Fed- declared "out of service"
regulations, resulting in Administration, an agency rolling back layers of regu- eral Motor Carrier Safety for a day or longer for go-
truckers putting in even lon- of the Transportation De- latory oversight a top prior- Administration chief Ray ing beyond the time lim-
ger days at a time when partment. Sixty of the truck- ity. At least a dozen trans- Martinez that the rules "do its. Many are paid by the
they say driver fatigue is ers in these accidents were portation safety rules under not provide the appropri- mile, so if they're not driving
such a serious problem. identified as "asleep or fa- development or already ate level of flexibility" and they're not making money.
They point to new govern- tigued," although the Na- adopted were repealed, asked him to explore im- Francois, who was haul-
ment data that shows fa- tional Transportation Safety withdrawn, delayed or put provements. ing 45,000 pounds of drink-
tal crashes involving trucks Board has said this type of on the back burner during Independent truckers in ing water to a Walmart
weighing as much as 80,000 driver impairment is likely Trump's first year in office. particular have chafed at warehouse in Woodland,
pounds have increased. underreported on police "First of all, this administra- what they see as a one- Pennsylvania, said he gets
"I think flexibility is a code crash forms. tion is not as aggressive as size-fits-all directive written 50 cents a mile and earns,
word for deregulation," said The NTSB has declared fa- the prior," said Bill Sullivan, by Washington bureau- after taxes, around $900 a
Cathy Chase, president tigue a "pervasive problem" the top lobbyist for the crats who don't understand week.q