Truckers ask for regulations to be repealed, modified

In April, the U.S. Department of Transportation gave the public an opportunity to let it know which regulations are overly burdensome and costly and do little to improve safety.

To no one’s surprise, truck drivers chimed in. Below is a sampling from the hundreds of comments submitted by truckers.

Hours of service need modified

“If you are driving 11 hours a day and taking a 30-minute break within the first eight hours and working a total of 14 for the day, there is no need to have the 70-hour rule. As a driver, I get plenty of rest following the other three rules, not being overworked.”

– Stacey Dain

“If a driver is capable of safely operating the vehicle for 12 or 13 hours instead of having to speed through road construction, bad weather conditions or simple traffic slowdowns, it makes the roads safer. At no point has the implementation of hours-of-service regulations nor the electronic logging device made the motoring community safer. In fact, statistics show they have the opposite effect and make the roads less safe.”

– Michael Pletscher

“Most drivers wanted a choice to take a (30-minute) break – not mandatory.”

– Donna Dawes

“Hours of service in the trucking industry is poor in that much productive time is wasted waiting at shippers and receivers. The 14-hour max work per day is not flexible enough, and the result is drivers going faster than they should for the conditions to make up time.”

– Mark Carouso

End the ELD mandate

“We are not robots. Every driver is different, and every job is different. The ELD forces drivers to drive when they are tired and try to sleep when they are not tired. That clock is always ticking once it starts for the day, and drivers make bad decisions under the stress and pressure the ELD creates. It creates a dangerous environment on the road.”

– Joe Potratz

“Eliminate ELDs. The stated reason for them was increased safety and fewer log violations. According to the FMCSA’s own findings, accidents have steadily increased and people are still finding ways to cheat their logbook. So, neither mission was accomplished.”

– Jim Walker

“The ELD is the most dangerous thing to be forced on the trucking industry. Everyone is racing the clock, speeding through towns, construction zones, parking lots, etc. Every safety category got worse after the ELD was mandated.”

– David Freed

Stop the speed limiter proposal

“Another rule that has been proposed but not enacted is the speed limiter proposal. If enacted, this will destroy many lives, because car drivers have become so impatient and dangerous nowadays. They cut slower-moving vehicles off and perform very dangerous maneuvers to get around trucks. Accidents will increase, and then the FMCSA and DOT will blame trucks and implement more useless regulations.”

– Dwayne Pope

“Get rid of the FMCSA speed limiter mandate proposal. It is unsafe for semitrucks. OOIDA even had a video about it. Speed limiters on semitrucks will cause more road-raging, shootings, traffic …  rear-end collisions and more accidents overall. Plus, it will delay the supply chain of America.”

– Edward Vazemiller

Problems with DEF

“As an owner-operator husband-and-wife team, our biggest concern is the DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) system in our trucks mandated by the state of California. All trucks from the factory come with this expensive and breakdown-prone system … DEF is a very corrosive chemical and has harmful environmental implications. The longer a truck needs to idle, the more damage is done to DEF system.”

– Gregory Slater LL