This really frosts my balls
 

I don't even know where to start taking exception to this.

article here

copy for those too lazy or unable to follow the link:

For Immediate Release: August 26, 2009

Contact: Ray De Lorenzi
202-965-3500, ext. 369
media.replies@justice.org
Labor Day Holiday Travel Alert: New Analysis of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Data Shows Over 28,000 Motor Carrier Companies Have Safety Reg Violations

Violating Carriers Operate Over 200,000 Trucks; Many Lack Minimum Safety Standards, Including Adequate Insurance, Qualified Drivers and Functioning Brakes

Washington, DC― As nearly 30 million Americans travel U.S. roads during the Labor Day holiday, a new analysis of government data reveals that more than 28,000 motor carrier companies have violated federal safety regulations, operating over 200,000 trucks.

In an original analysis of data not previously seen by the public, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) found commuters are sharing roads with trucks that have incurred thousands of safety violations – such as defective brakes, bald tires, loads that dangerously exceed weight limits and drivers with little or no training or drug and alcohol dependencies.

AAJ obtained data on the safety performance of U.S. trucking companies through the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS), which is maintained by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Over a million lines of data were analyzed in an effort to pinpoint just how many unsafe trucks might be on the road.

West Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Vermont and Iowa had the highest rate of companies in violation of federal safety requirements. The effects of these violations are deadly. While truck accidents occur for a variety of reasons, many are preventable, and often a direct result of trucking companies violating safety standards to cut corners and maximize profits.

According to the FMCSA:

* More than 4,000 people die every year in collisions with trucks and 80,000 more are seriously injured.
* Though trucks make up less than four percent of all passenger vehicles on U.S. roads, they are involved in 12 percent of all motor vehicles fatalities.
* The vast majority of people killed in accidents with trucks are the drivers and passengers of the cars that get hit.

“As millions of American families pack-up to hit the road for the Labor Day holiday, most are completely unaware they share the road with trucks that are ‘rigged for disaster’” said AAJ President Anthony Tarricone. “It is the unsuspecting motorist who bears the cost when motor carrier companies put deadly trucks on the road and turn a blind eye to safety.”

While the number of trucks currently operating with safety violations is shocking, the analysis is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Many deadly accidents involving unsafe trucks are never recorded as safety violations. A 2005 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that nearly one-third of commercial motor vehicle crashes that states are required to report to the federal government were never recorded. Additionally, state crash reports were not always accurate.

The analysis by AAJ follows a July 2009 GAO study which found that more than 1,000 commercial trucking firms that were ordered out of service because of federal safety violations evaded compliance by operating under a different name, but often using the same owner, address and employees.

Linda and John Giuliano know all too well the deadly consequences of companies that keep unsafe trucks on the road. Their 23-year-old son Matthew, a newly-commissioned Army officer traveling to his first assignment at Fort Hood in Kileen, Texas, was killed when his car slammed into the back of a broken-down tractor-trailer-truck. The tractor-trailer screeched to a sudden halt when its brake hose failed, causing the emergency brakes to engage. The truck drivers knew the air brakes were compromised by a small hole in the brake hose; but, rather than call a mobile mechanic, the drivers fixed the hole with a toothpick and electrical tape while the trucking company dispatcher complimented them on their resourcefulness. They drove for two hours until the brakes ultimately failed, passing numerous repair shops where a $12 fix would have made the hose safe again.

Not only do trucking companies disregard safety laws, the minimum insurance requirements for commercial trucks are completely inadequate to compensate those who have been seriously injured in a collision involving multiple vehicles or multiple injured individuals. The minimum insurance requirement for commercial trucks was set nearly three decades ago and has never been raised. In 1980, Congress set the minimum level of insurance to $750,000; when adjusted for inflation, $750,000 is just $292,000 in 1980 dollars.

While large trucking companies may carry more than the required level of coverage, smaller companies often carry just the bare minimum. AAJ’s analysis of the U.S. trucking industry found that 87 percent of the companies in violation of safety standards are small companies that have fleets of 10 trucks or less.

“The current minimum insurance requirements are woefully inadequate and punish injured consumers twice by leaving them to bear the burden of uncovered health care costs,” said Tarricone.

All of the companies listed have either conditional or unsatisfactory safety ratings. A conditional rating means that the truck company’s records indicate the truck was out of compliance with one or more safety requirements. An unsatisfactory rating means that the truck company’s records indicated evidence of substantial noncompliance with safety requirements. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration updates the entire database of unsafe trucking companies each month.

States that had a rate of companies in violation of safety requirements above the national average include West Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Vermont, Iowa, Montana, Delaware, Idaho, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Indiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. A full listing of all companies in violation of federal safety requirements by state is available at www.justice.org/trucksafetyviolations.
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As the world's largest trial bar, the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) works to make sure people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others—even when it means taking on the most powerful corporations. Visit http://www.justice.org/newsroom.

The list of companies by state is quite extensive, but I noticed many of the violations are a decade, or more, old. :confused:

What chills your man-pills more, that there are a number of unsafe trucks out there, or that "truckers" generally are copping the blame for rogue individuals?

I've noticed for a while now that the (what I think are) weigh stations on the side of the highways are never open...in Indiana. In the past, I remember seeing trucks line up to get through through them, but it must be several years since Ive seen that. I suppose it was the unofficial way to deregulate the trucking industry.

I know in GA they are cutting postions left and right in all state agencies. Wildlife management has recently taken a huge hit. I think this may just be another symptom of the depression of the national economy.

On average about 40,000 Americans die on the highways in the U.S. every year. Give or take. As a nation we don't seem to care too much about that.

Just sayin.

Or the 8 years of bush's repubican administration cutting taxes and downsizing government.:headshake

I fixed that for ya.

You can't have it both ways. Less government regulation or funding to enforce current regulation gets you the conditions that you are criticizing. Something's bound to give. I agree, it is bush's fault. It's about time you came to your senses.;)

Bull shit. you need to quit blaming Bush for shit he had little to do with. You can have it both ways, a free market with appropriate regulations to prevent monopolys and protect small business without over regulation of the market to the point where everyone expects the Feds to come in and bail them out for poor business practice.

Oh, and if you think I was agreeing with your notion that it was Bush's fault you are deluded. I was mocking your simplistic notion. A common occurence among the left-wing nuts of today.

Bullshit x2 - no x 2.38! "Appropriate" regulation needs to be enforced. Enforcement costs money. Bush cut federal income. He spent a lot of what was left on an ill-advised war. Not accepting Bush's responsibility is a common occurence among the "it's not my fault" right-wing nuts of today.

The fact that Bush eased some trucking regulations (as well as environmental regulations, food safety regulations, etc) is beyond dispute as is the fact that he defunded other regulatory/enforcement programs.

The impact may be debatable...but there was no evidence that any of these pre-existing regulations were overly burdensome and IMO, it is putting profits over public safety.

As to Merc's "appropriate regulations" test.....here is one example - I dont think extending the hours truckers can drive w/o a break or total hours over a week, overturning earlier regulations, was appropriate.

The government says it has grants for the unemployed to take classes yet the colleges are strapped for money.

The transportation department seems to have gotten its stimulus money to fix the roads that really didn't need fixing.

The fanatical left is calling Obama the devil when during the campaign everyone was falling all over themselves as if he was the next messiah. I didn't vote for Obama but I wish everyone would just shut up about their new momma in the white house.

I still blame Bush for every wrong thing up til now and I didn't vote for him either. Yeah and I agree with what redux and spex said.

All that lack of regulation and the white house is swinging the other way about 200 %.

A dozen annoyances!
We have pill / vaccine pushers and end time scenarios, over regulation,under regulation,unemployment, crowded expensive colleges and farm raised salmon you can buy on the dime certain to give a person cancer! I might as well just start smoking!
j/k but somethings gotta burn.

cite, and cite.

Public institutions have been strapped for money due to decreased state funding. This has nothing to do with the federal monies. Your blanket statement regarding colleges being "strapped for money" is awfully large and vague.

How do you know the roads "didn't need fixing"? Are you a civil engineer? Could it be they will have needed fixing in the next year or so and they're doing it now instead? Could it be that they really needed fixing? I don't know, I just see the surface as I drive over them: I have no idea of the sciences and engineerings and physics and chemistries and and and...that are taken into consideration by those who make these decisions.

It was a rant. Mostly about what I see in my own town but still

there is some merit in my large and vague statement.

Please fill free to refute anything I said by citing your own too.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/dis...nity_colleges/

http://chronicle.com/article/Stimulu...olleges/44421/

http://coburn.senate.gov/public/inde...9-8091b533464f

cite 1

Yep, refers to federal monies, to help community colleges in the future. Not related to current state deficits.

cite 2

Yep, state funding issues...temporarily averted by stimulus funds.

cite 3

I see nothing about roads being fixed that didn't need fixed.

well you can google it as I did and further refute my point that the states are fixing roads that don't need it. If you want.

Refute your opinion that roads are being fixed that don't need it, with cites that show all roads being fixed do indeed need it?

No thanks. Sounds like a fun game, but I don't really have time to do all the legwork.

As you were.

One of my best friends is a civil engineer in a very high position with a local state. The roads that need the most fixing are NOT getting fixed for a number of reasons. The least of which is that there never were any "Shovel-Ready" projects. Additionally the money was supposed to be used to STIMULATE the economy. Therefore, it went to the ones the could get to work on the fastest with the least amount of interruption to the public. Also those which would look really nice in the shortest timeframe. There is a lot of duct-tape and painting going on.
Feeling stimulated yet?

Oh, there were several articles recently written that said the same thing. I said this when arguing with tommy boy a long time ago.
Its not necessarily a bad thing, but to tie up the money for a very long time working on the worst roads was not in the best interests of the people - according to the administration.

Yeah, I need a graph, dude. ;)

ahh stimulation!

Yes, I read this too plus many more. I had my nice list and then the system logged me off. grr

I couldn't be arsed to continue. Fun game indeed!

I feel very fucking stimulated, myself, thanks for asking. I can't keep up with all the jobs flying in my face.

Here is one

or here ...

here

or here

For the record, this is nothing new nor unexpected.

Oh, goody. Well done, c-man!

See, what happened was a state would have a million bucks in its road budget, so they would look around at everything they could do for a million bucks. They would have one section of road that needed to have some potholes filled, and they would also see a bridge that needed to be replaced. The road could be fixed for the million dollar budget. The bridge was gonna cost $100 million. So they planned to fix the road. They got the project into the pipeline and made it shovel ready. But they hadn't started the work yet.

Then Obama came along and said "I'll give you as much money as you can spend right now." They really needed a new bridge, but they needed a couple years to plan for that. The potholes were ready to be fixed right away. So Obama gave them money for the potholes.

The bridge still needs fixing badly. But so did the potholes.

Was the money wasted? Depends on how you define that. It stimulated the economy fairly quickly, and some potholes got filled. Hope that bridge doesn't fall down.

I had no idea Obama was giving money for potheads, I mean, potholes. :lol:

Yeah, I just can't take this seriously, the typical picking of nits and regurgitations of googled articles. ;)

Me too. Thats what my friend was referring to though. The orders for "cosmetic supplies" are through the roof. The stuff to paint the stripes on the roads and signage and that sort of thing. He said its incredible how much they are doing & spending while avoiding the roads that need the work the most.

There are bridges and serious failures that NEED to be addressed that are getting less money than they were getting because of the spend it now mandate. :eyebrow:

That is not quite the case.

Those bridges and serious failures were not getting addressed before the stimulus money mostly because the states couldnt afford it before the recession or were not willing to make it a higher priority and re-direct funding from other state budget items.

From my observations, it's true. Lots of nice bright new lane lines and zebra stripes all over the place.

I would have liked to see money spent on old bridges and other critical infrastructure, but I don't think that would have made it through the political process. The excuse for throwing money around was the stimulation, which meant it had to be fast.

Thank you glatt. I was wondering if it was happening in other places or just where he is responsible.

Redux - I know what the truth is - I hear it FIRSTHAND from someone who allocates the money on a daily basis. It is an unfortunate reality.

I dont disagree that the stimulus funding is going to shovel ready projects rather than those most in need.

Just as in many states, the stimulus state stabilization funds have been lifesavers for state budgets....saving jobs in education, public safety, health care, etc.

But again, you are relying on anecdotal examples rather than state spending priorities BEFORE the stimulus funding. Infrastructure spending has lways been lower in state budgets than other "essential" needs.

We just recently got new oil, chips, and stripes down the road we travel most. Oh, and rumble strips down the whole center of the road.

Bridges are huge concern - but lack of clean drinking water due to infrastructure failure should really get people's attention. Cholera, typhoid, dysentary, giardia, cryptospoidium, fasciolopsiasis, botulism, e.coli, legionellosis, gastroenteritis, hep A, campylobacterosis etc etc... Welcome back to the 1800's.

This is what really frosts my balls. Great thing is, you can do it with a paper knife!

You mean the ones that never existed in the first place? There never were any jobs just sitting around waiting for money. I thought we already rectified that issue. The only thing that is shovel ready is the bullshit of "shovel ready"
In most cases that has been only temporary! As those funds are exhausted the states budgetary concerns become even worse. They cannot keep up with what they had before and these expenditures have exacerbated the situation. Many of the jobs "saved" will be eliminated, just like the police situation we discussed in another thread.

Yea, well fuck that 3.94. Left-wing nuts of today have nothing better to fall back on. But guess what hose head? In about 3 years the coin will be flipped the other way. And if you fucks fail on Health Care, Cap and Trade, or the Economy you are royally fucked. Make it a great day.

So stop blaming one person for the fuck ups of a Demoncratically controlled Congress. You guys are going to eat this like a big shit sandwhich if you don't come up with a solution soon. And I will be just like you in a few years pointing fingers and telling you where you failed. The difference will be that I will not be putting the blame on one figure head idiot but a who group of Congressmen and women.

Meltdown in current events! :eek:

Well, actually no. I am just going to let the failure of the Demoncrats to pass something that actually is practical and works on them. I am patient.

FWIW - I spoke to my friend today and the "hope" is that by using the stimulus money to put all the rumble strips and paint on the roads there will be money left over to care for the roads and bridge that really need the work the most. He readily admits that is a looooong shot, but we still have hope. He has not seen much of it take place so far in the planning stages. There were many counties that used very little of the stimulus money and the state took it back and is in the process of reallocating it to those areas who may be able to still utilize them before the February deadline. Yeah! More freshly painted roads and rumble strips - Woo Hoo! Now thats infrastructure for ya.

Ya know what frosts MY balls?
 

I pile of snow about this high

:::wishes he could find that pic of monster sitting atop that snow pile.:::

Without regulation, this could be us.

Back on topic...here is one of those trucking regulations that the last administration tried unsuccesfully to change twice in 03 and 05..and the courts threw it out twice.....and tried again in a "midnight" (the very end of his term), dump of hundreds of new regulations at the end of 08.

What Merc does not understand in his fuck-filled rant (excuse me, his "patient" response) against the Democratic Congress in 2007-08, is that Congress does not write regulations...the Executive Branch does. Facts do matter.

In addition to the court case again, this one is also under review by the Obama administration, along with hundreds of other Bush regulations. It takes time to undo hundreds of bad regs, many of which loosened enforcement of existing regulatory programs.

The other means used to negate regulations over the last few years was simply not to "obligate" (spend) the funds. And again, Congress can only "authorize" and "appropriate" funds, it could not force the previous Executive Branch to spend those funds to enforce existing regulations.

Added:

More on Bush "midnight" regulations...by most measures, a new record!
Unfortunately some like the trucking regs above were dumped just before the 60-day "midnight" deadline so they cant be suspended or overturned w/o going through a much more cumbersome process.

Epic Fail.

If this does not fix the problem the Demoncrats and you will take all of the blame.

I am really ok with that. As I have said repeatedly the Bills proposed do not fix the problems with healthcare in the US and in the end we will be stuck with a huge ass bill that our great-great-grandchildren will be paying for and you still will not be doing what is needed to be done.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Democrats will be judged on the success or failure of the stimulus, health care reform and other major issues.

I have been clear that I want them to succeed and believe these policies were the best way forward for the country facing an economic and health care crisis. However, I don't think the White House, Congress, my friends or family will give me a share of the credit for any success or assign any blame to me for a failure.

IMO, the difference between us is that I have tried not to judge the success or failure of programs in progress, recognizing that they time to have an impact, positive or negative whereas you declared the stimulus program a failure after 3-4 months, declared health reform a failure before Congress has even consolidated the various proposals into a single bill and have determined that our great great grandchildren will be left with a “huge ass bill” when even the best economists cant predict the level of future economic growth with any degree certainty....overall, an "epic failure" when we are still in the first quarter of the game.

You have it made it clear in other discussions that you want to see Obama and the Democrats fail to the point of also raising such petty issues as European trips by the Speaker that are as old as the Congress itself, your comparison of the Speaker to Hitler, an innocuous song at one elementary school fresh off the inauguration of the president, and numerous other examples of partisan bullshit backed by editorials that share your agenda and often misrepresent the facts.

I understand why you choose to take that approach but I don't think it leads to reasonable discussions of the issues, nor, IMO, do the tirades like the one above - #35 or making it personal with your "fuck you/fuck off" and "you're an asshole" directed at me as you have on other occasions (not to mention an especially ignorant attack of my family heritage).

But putting that aside, the topic here was truck safety regulations and at the very least, I think my last post provided some context for how regulations are promulgated, how that process has nothing to do with Congress and can be abused by the Executive Branch and how it can (and is, to some degree) be remedied.

Just like the bush/repubican/conservative lead Iraq war debacle. :biggrindu

Oh that? That lil ole war don't cost that much.

I concede. I will not blame one person any longer. I will blame the entire repubican party and all conservatives. You got us into this mess.

From here.

:notworthy

Nice chart there Spex, but it shows 27 squares going to the Democrats and 24 squares going to the Republicans. If you were posting it to show that the Republicans have had more power since 1977, it doesn't support your point. You should have selected only the years since 1981. Then it would support your point.

The circle gets the square.

.

Keeping it simple is a good idea, but I still got the point.

The facts are the facts. My point is that our current problems have developed on the repubican watch.

Yes, but they had help.

Redux:

The hours of service have NEVER been that high. It was merely proposed. The challenges to the HOS are to make them SHORTER, not longer. Giving us that one extra hour a day to drive did not cause accidents. There has been ONE since that happened in '03. Most accidents tend to happen in the first TWO hours, not the end. I had as cite in my other computer but this one is too old to have that history. I'll have to go find it again.

But I can't find a single time that the rules allowed 77 or 88 hours to work (not necessarily drive) ever. It's been the 60/70 hour rule for decades.

I can and have driven for 11 hours straight. And could go more. Not everyone can. YOU likely couldn't, but then again, you're not a long-haul trucker. We eat driving hours with a spoon! We're used to it.

If *I* were going to rodo the HOS, I'd throw out the 70 hour rule entirely and leave the 11 and 14 hour rules alone. It serves no purpose. Then I'd reinstitute the "old" rule regarding split breaks...to wit: ten hours off duty in a 21-hr period, in any combination of a minimum of two in the bunk. Many team drivers like to go 5x5, thast is, five hours driving, five hours asleep...around the clock for weeks at a time. That works nicely. ten hours asleep is plenty for anyone. Most rookies can do five hours at the wheel.

For the last two weeks, I have been running against my 70. The best I can do is about 6-8 hours on duty a day, because of that rule. I can easily do more but the government says I'm tired. BAH! I have plenty of sleep. I have had one-hour days before and will again, so sayeth the 70 hr rule.

There are four principal groups against the HOS right now...only ONE knows the slightest thing about trucking...the Teamsters. The rest are "concerned citizen groups" who know nothing about driving trucks, only what they see on paper. They work 40 hour weeks and say they're tired and WE do 70??? We must be EXHAUSTED! But they don't see the hours wasted waiting to be loaded, which could be used to sleep but cannot due to the regulation changes. They count our lunch break as time on duty for the day even though the HOS does not.

None of them has ever even spent the night in a truck. Yet they propose to tell us how to work/sleep/drive. They have no idea what we do or the time that gets wasted. If only we could have those hours back!

I say, let truckers regulate truckers...we know what is needed and how to get it. It's what we do! Each driver knows his or her sleep requirement and can get it....from four to ten hours a day. Nearly ALL of us are concerned with safety first. None of us wants to be too sleepy to drive and we certainly don't want to kill anyone due to our own inattention. But telling us one-size sleep regs fit all doesn't work either. Most of us can go six hours or so on a two-hour nap. I drove from Hazleton PA to El Paso, TX that way (the HOS doesn't cover our POV). I drove until I got sleepy, had a snack, slept for a few hours (2-3), walked the dog, then drove six or so more.. How long did the trip take? 41 hours start to finish. In my truck, that same trip would have taken three full days.

Please stay out of my truck unless I invite you in. Thanks.

I have the same thoughts about the people who wrote the idling regs. To wit: none allowed. THEY go home to w warm/cool house. They don't sleep out in the cold or heat in their cars. *I* do. That engine is my heat/AC, power, light and charges my batteries so I can go in the morning. Their way, I shiver/sweat all night, barely sleep due to that, then wake up to a warm cooler, spoiled food and a dead battery pack because the truck takes power to just sit there. Now I need a jump start just to get going. Better to either let us idle or use some other way like APUs or shore power. Scarce things but I think a tax break would stimulate that handily. Make it worth while to install shore power in a truck stop (think extension cords for trucks), IdleAire systems (better idea) or just build a truck stop! They are not profitable items anymore. Especially in/near cities. Strip malls offer much better return on valuable land. We just don'r spend enough money per visit to turn enough of a profit. Fuel offers a small profit (about six cents a gallon), food a bit more (a meal in the choke-and-puke costs around $10-12 for a cost to the stop of half that) but that's about all. Incidental purchases (coffee, sodas, snacks, cigs, parts for the trucks etc) don't make up the rest. So many truck stops either franchise out to a chain or close. Mom and pop operations are disappearing fast, along with the parking spaces. Soon, there will be only one truck stop chain (debate rages as to whether it will be T/A or Pilot) and little else. No more personal service from a family friend for generations (White family in TN). No more Flo, slinging hash and telling stories in AL. No more doses of Jesus with your coffee (PA), no more interesting stuff (nearly all indian res stops). Just bland crap that is the same everywhere, same coffee, same fast food (the restaurants are disappearing faster than the truck stops).

I used to have a thread following me around the country. I have a blog, too. Few here followed my thread, which I allowed to die. No one has asked me anything about my life, experiences or things I see/do. TW argued with me over fuel pumps once. I try to meet you all but few ever managed to meet me. I understand that sometimes your life and mine don't coincide. Or you aren't interested in leaving the wife and kid at midnight to go out. I understand, really. For those of you who were interested enough to give me a phone number to coordinate (or not), I will continue to use it when I am available to you, time considering. I promise not to call in the middle of the night! For the rest of you, forget it. I'm not wasting my time and data count to bother anymore.

If you know about my blog, I will keep that up. All five of you. Everyone else, don't bother. Trucking may not interest you, my life sure doesn't. I have few people to talk to at all and I do get lonely. But I have friends I can call to get me through the lonely hours and long miles. At least until they ban cell phone use (with a headset) for us, too. And you probably won't even notice.

Even that article I posted. No one notices that it was written by the AAJ, formerly ATLA, the ambulance-chasers who are out to sue anyone and everyone and reapportion blame from the parties involved to the ones with the deepest pockets.. And turn a mighty tidy profit to themselves in the process. Consider the source! Of course they think it's the truckers and the parent companies. It's in their best interest to claim big numbers and carnage on the highways from "unsafe trucks", when they mostly mean buses and dump trucks, not long haul class 8 trucks and truckers. Makes better fodder for juries. But those lawsuits have far-reaching effects not immediately seen.

More regulation that is not needed, higher out-of-pocket expenses for YOU, the consumer of what we haul. You think the fines a company pays for a truck safety violation comes out of their pockets? Not a chance! YOU pay it when we raise the rates to cover our costs and our customer raises their prices for everything to cover higher shipping cost.

If truckers ever got together and organised, we could run this country. We could change whatever we wanted! CARB needs to go? Boycott California until it does. Within a week, there would be riots in the streets when the gas runs out, the food runs out, the mail doesn't move, the shelves go bare. It won't take very long, I assure you, to find out how much us truckers touch your life every day.

Keep regulating us to death, and you are I promise, and there won't me any of us left, except the third-world drivers they bring in to replace us. EOBRs are being foisted on us to better enforce laws, not to make us safer or make fleets more productive. These things are costly! and unsafe, but that's another rant. HOS changes from strident but unrelated "safety" groups are slowly strangling us. Idling regulations are literally killing us (Yes, Phoenix, I'm looking at YOU), yet all most people can do is point at the environment and feel better about themselves because they "did something". Many trucks are being taken off the road and either parked or destroyed because of new emission laws. A new engine from Cummins will now cost $9000 more due to new emission technology MANDATED by the government, who will not rest until all emissions are pure air and potable water. This costs a lot of money, yet they just expect US to pay for it. In CA, many truck owners are facing $20000 or more in upgrades to their trucks to re-engine them to comply with draconian new laws. CSA 2010 can potentially cost 175,000 drivers there [sic] jobs due to new reporting rules and databases, and the list goes on and on and on.

All of this will cost YOU. You pay the costs, not us. How much is enough? How much is too much? Only you decide.

that wasn't pointed solely at Redux, just the first bit. The rest was in general. My hot buttons have been pushed and there's all these soapboxes around.....

So what frosts your balls about this article is not the point that companies who are flaunting industry regulations are causing serious accidents but that this point is being driven by lawyers?

Brian:

Thank you for your insight and perspective on the issue. I dont doubt for a second that you know about it than me.

But here is where we part ways.

I dont believe any industry that affects public health and safety should be left to self-regulation, whether its truckers, pharmaceutical companies, meat processors, industrial polluters, etc.

Your experience and knowledge should be more heavily weighted in the regulatory process than others but that is where it ends for me.

Recent history is too full of examples of industry and the private sector put profit above public health/safety.

I also understand your skepticism about trial lawyers. On the other hand, the trucking industry has been major financial contributors to lawmakers (more to Republicans than Democrats).

Trucking: Long-Term Contribution Trends

That's just to drive the independents out.

:3eye: