Lifesaving Truck Safety Rule Under Assault in Congress

Safety Groups, Victims and Survivors, and Labor Urge Congress Not to Bow to Special Interests on Life and Death Safety Issue

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Safety groups, families of truck crash victims, and labor today joined U.S. Representatives Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) at a press conference to support revising the truck driver hours of service (HOS) rule to reduce driver fatigue, a major safety issue.  A House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee hearing scheduled for today entitled "The Price of Uncertainty: How Much Could DOT's Proposed Billion Dollar Service Rule Cost Consumers?" is stacked with industry witnesses that ignore the true economic, medical and social costs of widespread trucker fatigue.

"This Committee is attempting to drive a Mack truck through the rulemaking process which is moving forward as a result of a legal agreement," said Representative Speier. "Unfortunately, the Majority has decided to hold a lop-sided hearing that pays little attention to the benefits to jobs and the increased safety of our constituents this rule will create."

Every year on average 4,000 people are killed in truck crashes and 100,000 more are injured at a cost of more than $40 billion, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Under the current rule truck drivers can drive 77 hours a week and work up to 84 hours a week. Some long-haul drivers can drive even longer hours, up to 88 hours per week, more than twice the 40 hour work week of most Americans.

Agency actions to revise the current HOS rule are the result of a legal agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and safety and labor groups while a lawsuit is held in abeyance.  The groups have challenged the current HOS rule three times in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.  In 2004, the Court unanimously vacated the Bush Administration HOS rule on the grounds that the government did not adequately consider the effects of longer driving hours on individual truck driver health and safety.  In 2007, the court once more unanimously overturned the rule because the agency did not subject its analysis to public comment.  After issuing the same rule again, as a "midnight" rule in late 2008, FMCSA was sued for a third time which led to the legal settlement.  The revised proposed rule is currently under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget.

"This Subcommittee hearing is another example of industry's pervasive and well-funded lobbying strategy in Congress to try to block a Court-ordered revision of the HOS rule," said Joan Claybrook, Chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways. "Moreover, the hearing is completely biased with special interest industry views.  It is a hearing on cost to consumers, but there are no consumers on the witness panel.  This so-called billion dollar rule is going to save American taxpayers up to $2.4 billion in lives saved, injuries prevented and reduced health and medical costs.  It also has the potential to create nearly 40,000 new jobs in the trucking industry."

Ed Slattery of Cockeysville, MD, attended the hearing with his 14-year-old son, Matthew.  Ed's wife Susan was killed last year in a horrific crash on the Ohio Turnpike when a driver behind the wheel of a triple-trailer truck fell asleep.  Matthew and his brother, Peter, were critically injured, and Matthew sustained lifelong injuries that require round-the-clock care.  "This Subcommittee wants to get information about the cost of DOT's proposed rule to consumers.  My family's crash alone cost millions of dollars and Matthew's lifelong medical care is estimated to be more than $18 million," said Slattery.  "Unfortunately, while there are five industry witnesses there is no one representing the victim's point of view about how just one crash involving a tired trucker has imposed a severe and substantial economic cost and traumatic disruption to the lives of our family, not to mention the suffering we experience every day."

"As a mother who lost her daughter in a preventable truck crash I urge Congress not to put the economic interests of the trucking industry before the safety interests my family," said Marchelle Wood of Falls Church, VA.  "The profession of driving a truck has been turned into a modern day 'sweatshop-on-wheels' where drivers are pushed to drive and work beyond human limits.  Changes to the hours of service rule that put safety first are overdue and urgently needed."  Wood's daughter Dana was killed when an overly fatigued truck driver who had HOS violations crashed into her car when she was driving on I-95 in Virginia, returning to school at East Carolina University after fall break.

According to DOT surveys 65 percent of truck drivers report that they often or sometimes feel drowsy while driving, and nearly half of truck drivers admit that they had actually fallen asleep while driving the previous year. Additionally, 79 percent of the public supports returning to the 10 hours of maximum consecutive driving time

Jackie Gillan, President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said, "Congress should be focusing on the numbers that show how pervasive fatigue is throughout the trucking industry. If half of the commercial airline pilots admitted to falling asleep while in the cockpit every plane would be immediately grounded, and Congress would take swift action to correct the problem rather than adding more flying and working hours for pilots."

Fred McLuckie, Legislative Director for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters noted, "Our drivers are more stressed than ever because of increased traffic volume, tighter delivery times and deteriorating road conditions."

The proposed rule would create nearly 40,000 additional jobs in the trucking industry and result in direct health benefits to truck drivers of as much as $1.48 billion.

SOURCE Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety