In a Dec. 11 BDN OpEd, Brian Parke, president and CEO of the Maine Motor Transport Association, challenged safety advocates who argued against the anti-safety language Republican Sen. Susan Collins added to the omnibus spending bill to “show our work.”
I will happily show my work to Parke. There is abundant scientific evidence — 80 scientific studies — that supports the current hours-of-service limit, and a thorough, decade-long process ensured the rule’s veracity while engaging stakeholders, more than 20,000 of whom submitted comments. This very public engagement contrasts sharply with the trucking industry’s process, in which Collins championed its position in backroom deals without any hearings, comprehensive safety reviews or public rulemaking.
It is actually Parke, who writes misleading information about the Collins rider and the truck driver hours-of-service issue, who may need help backing up his arguments.
Parke writes that the requirement that drivers include two 1 to 5 a.m. periods in their 34-hour rest period forces trucks onto busy roads during statistically risky morning commute hours.
But this argument is merely a scare tactic. The rule places no restrictions on when truck drivers must drive and when they must take their breaks. Moreover, the rule does not specify that drivers must go back on the road after the break.
In reality, this restriction only affects a portion of drivers, those on the most aggressive schedules. Night-time drivers, who might wait to get on the road the following evening, are particularly affected. Moreover, it is important to note that different drivers take their 34-hour restart at different times of the week. They do not all report for duty at the same time in the same area and, therefore, any number of additional drivers added to the morning rush hour on any given morning in any given city would be statistically insignificant.
Parke argues that the rule changes for drivers were unnecessary, pointing to a 27 percent decline in truck-involved crashes in the decade following the implementation of an hours-of-service rule.
But much, if not most, of the 27 percent decline resulted from the economic downturn during which freight shipments and commercial vehicle miles of travel went down. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration acknowledged the decline in crashes and crash rates in 2010 in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, but stated that the decline in crashes for both trucks and cars started in the late 1970s and has continued. The declines tend to be sharper during periods of economic recession. However, since the recession ended, the United States has seen year-over-year increases in the number of fatalities and injuries in truck-involved collisions. The number of fatalities has increased by 16 percent since 2009, from 3,380 to 3,921 in 2012. The number of people injured in these crashes has increased by 40 percent, from 74,000 to 104,000.
Innocent motorists are not the only ones suffering losses. Truck driving is consistently listed as one of the top 10 most dangerous jobs in the U.S. In 2011, fatalities among large truck occupants increased 20 percent and by another 9 percent in 2012.
Parke also writes that FMCSA never studied the risk of forcing more truck traffic onto the roads during morning commuting hours.
But FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro has defended the “rigorous” research that went into the safety reforms’ development. Ferro has specifically addressed the false claim that the restart limits were forcing more trucks onto the road during the morning commute. Restart limits were expected to impact only the 15 percent of the industry working the most intense schedules, Ferro testified, and approximately half of that population regularly drives at night. Furthermore, this small portion of the industry would still be able to operate at night five days a week, including a restart. Moreover, because the restarts for this comparatively small percentage of the truck driver population would occur across all drivers’ schedules and would be spread across each day of the week across the entire country, research predicted that the impact of this rule would be insignificant.
I founded Parents Against Tired Truckers after a Walmart truck driver fell asleep at the wheel of his 80,000-pound rig and crashed into my son, Jeff, and his friends on Oct. 10, 1993. As a result of this horrific crash, four teenagers, Jeff, Angie, Dawn Marie and Katie, were killed. One friend, Linda, survived. Five families suffered incomparable personal loss as a result of a single tired trucker. While I can’t imagine a single person who would not be emotional after suddenly losing a beloved child, PATT’s success has been due to facts and science. Both are on our side.
Since Jeff’s crash, I have been a truck safety advocate and have been recognized for my work by many different organizations. Earlier this year, I was named a White House Champion of Change for transportation.
There will always be emotion connected to the devastating outcomes of truck driver fatigue. In spite of Parke’s patronizing mischaracterization of efforts like PATT’s, we will continue our work to ensure that our roadways are safe in the hope that we can prevent another family — of either an innocent driver or tired trucker — from having to experience horrific loss or injury.
Daphne Izer of Lisbon is the founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers.