Truckers will be able to drive longer?

George A

I've worked in law enforcement & then as a professional truck driver/driver trainer. (Yep, I was my own worse enemy) The newest HOS had some good points, but it was still implemented by people who still have problems spelling the word truck, let alone any that have actually been inside of one making a living with it.

In a safety stand point, fatality accidents involving commercial vehicles continue to decline, and still in accidents between a CMV & a passenger car, 75% of the time it's still the cars fault.

The biggest impact to the environment is not the amount of trucks driving, it's the ones that are parked for 10 hours idling. Not all truckstops have those nice auxiliary heat/AC units to hook up to to keep your cab warm/cool and allow you to shut off your engine, so many drivers do still need to idle.

Messy Marvin

I have delt with drivers on long haul before the national cdl licence and some of them (not all) should have taken a nap before they kept going because they definitely abused the privilege, one bad apple ruins the barrel. I have to admit though current regs are too stiff and driving times too short to make a buck but I don't want to see anyone hurt what do the the statistics show now.I think time can be lengthened if we have responsible drivers behind the wheel but you know there will be abuses and unfortunately deaths our roads will be less safe if this happens.

corp_752000

Pay us a decent mileage wage or pay us overtime for anything over 40 hrs a week and the Hos is a moot point.

wvparanormal

There is no bigger scoop on this. It's referring to the HOS rules that were finalized and adopted on December 17, 2007.

UCANTCME

Sounds like a great idea to me, drive safe....

I Dont Bark... I YODEL

I don't know why they changed the HOS regs to begin with. The old, simple 10/8 rules worked just fine for, what, 50+ years? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. God only knows what Bush is doing, but there are some drivers who STILL don't understand the "new" rules that have been in place since 2004. Changing them again is just going to confuse everybody.

And to the guy who thinks HOS has ANYTHING to do with the environment, it doesn't! Freight still has to transit the country in the same period of time....Restricting the hours one driver can drive in a day, just means there will be MORE teams driving 24/7 and MORE solo trucks on the road and MORE freight "relayed" between drivers to ensure it makes it's destination in time. Reduce the productivity of the individual and you've got to hire MORE individuals to keep the productivity levels of the INDUSTRY up where they need to be.

Common sense- unfortunately the big shots in the government who have never driven a truck, pander to the idiot special interest groups who have no idea about the trucking industry....and common sense flies out the window.

dirtytricksracing@sbcglobal.net

That article also said he did not hold a candle to Carter and Clinton. They did a whole lot more. Do not worry after a few years of Obamama you will wish Bush was back.

noname

Well, there's gonna be mixed views on the longer hours for truck drivers issue. For one, my brother got a bit excited about the news when I told him about it earlier today. He was on the road heading to my sister's house. He is a truck driver himself. I know he doesn't like to be away from his son, but more hours to drive allows him to be on time more often than late to a pick up or drop off. And it convents into a larger paycheck for him. Something that he could use. So as a truck driver himself, my brother is happy about the idea.

Friendly Stranger..

I think that there are a few things to note here. The first is that Bush is trying to leave office with a clean record, which he won't be able to do. In the last few months of a presidency you are usually named "the lame duck" president. That means he doesn't have much power. Also I think that this idea of allowing truck drivers to drive longer on the road isn't a good idea. It isn't good for our environment because more pollution becomes a result. It isn't good for the truck drivers because it increases fatigue on the roads. Also it causes them to be away from their families for longer periods of time. I think this new act being put into place undermines what many environmental groups have been fighting so hard for. Many of them want to see our world become better not worse. So by increasing the driving hours it continues to tear down the environment in the process. I don't quite get his methods but they aren't going to be beneficial.

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