Four activist groups, calling themselves the Truck Safety Coalition, held a press conference in Washington, D.C., urging the U.S. Congress not to write the new driver hours-of-service rule into law.
Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Parents Against Tired Truckers, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and Public Citizen also renewed their pleas for the U.S. Department of Transportation to lower the maximum driving time.
The groups on Monday, Oct. 17 criticized the 11-hour drive times, the 34-hour restart provision and the absence of electronic onboard recorders.
The groups also criticized the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s “soft enforcement” period during the first weeks of the new rule. Until Oct. 31, minor infractions will be given nothing but a warning, but obvious violations will be cited and the drivers penalized.
The groups issued what they called a Travelers Alert, saying they wanted to warn the public they were sharing the road with tired truckers.
“In giving states the green light to not enforce truckers’ hours of service, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is also giving the green light to unsafe driving conditions,” said PATT founder Daphne Izer. “No load of freight is worth a human life.”
The regulations issued Aug. 19 by the FMCSA are “a thinly veiled attempt to undermine federal safety laws and the U.S. court system,” CRASH said in its statement. “The new rule will endanger the lives of everyone on our nation’s highways at a time when truck crash deaths have increased.”
