Trust me the Senate and the house are big on this right now as it affects every american there is and every thing you buy or use.
This is 80% of the merchandise and anything moved in the US now is by Truck.
Dave
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Sep 29 2010
Pryor, Alexander Introduce Bill to Improve Safety on our Roads
New Technology Will Keep Tired Truckers off Highways
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) today introduced bipartisan legislation that will improve the safety of highways by requiring commercial truckers to use technology that tracks their hours on-the-job.
According to the senators, federal regulations were first established in the 1930s to prevent overworked, sleep-deprived truck drivers from causing accidents, but they have been difficult to enforce. Hours-of-Service regulations, or the limits in place for when and how long commercial motor vehicle drivers may drive, vary between 10 to 15 hours-of-driving time depending on whether a passenger is aboard and schedule. While some trucking companies already use electronic logs to ensure their truckers comply with the hours-of-service regulations, this legislation would create a consistent standard to help all companies and drivers manage the risks and costs associated with trucking.
“No one wants to share the road with tired truckers, but we all expect our stores to be full of merchandise. Meeting these expectations is a constant balancing act for the trucking industry,” Pryor said. “After several meetings with industry and Senate hearings on highway safety, I believe the most sensible and effective solution is to require the use of electronic on-board recorders. This measure will ensure the entire industry is putting safety and driver quality of life before profit.”
“This bill will save truckers time, paper, and money, and it will make government leaner,” said Alexander. “The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimates that in paperwork savings alone, converting to electronic on-board records would save $60 million a year.”
The Commercial Driver Compliance Improvement Act requires universal installation of electronic on-board recording devices for commercial motor vehicles. It tasks the Department of Transportation with issuing regulations within 18 months of the bill’s enactment, as well as setting design and performance standards for the devices. The tamper-resistant devices are currently capable of communicating with the engine’s control module, indentifying the individual operating the vehicle, recording driving time, providing real-time tracking of a vehicle’s location and enabling law enforcement to access the information contained in the device during roadside inspections.
Highway safety advocates to trucking industry executives have expressed support for the bill’s approach to require mandatory electronic on-board devices:
“For the past 30 years, the NTSB has advocated the use of onboard data recorders to increase Hours of Service compliance…the NTSB recommended that they be required on all commercial vehicles,” Deborah Hersman, Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB)
“Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety regards the mandatory, universal installation and use of EOBRs as crucial to stopping the epidemic of hours of service violations that produce fatigued, sleep-deprived commercial drivers…at very high risk of serious injury and fatal crashes,” Jacqueline Gillan, Vice President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
“Early analysis of the Comprehensive Safety Analysis data suggests that carriers with higher levels of Hours of Service compliance have lower crash involvement. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. strongly supports a broad EOBR mandate for all commercial motor vehicles involved in interstate commerce,” Craig Harper, COO of J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. in Lowell, Arkansas, “
“Our Nation faces the fundamental challenge of moving much more freight...in a much more congested environment...while we want to improve highway safety. How we choose to do this will have a dramatic effect not only on highway safety, but the environment, the economy and quality of lives we have grown accustomed to as Americans. The mandated use of EOBRs is the foundation from which all other safety improvements can be built. We must accelerate the use of EOBRs and it must be mandatory on all carriers regardless of size.
In this Nation, there are large and small corporations that have built their manufacturing and supply chains on the backs of motor carriers and truck drivers who were determined to satisfy these shippers demands. Large and small motor carriers are at the mercy of the marketplace defined by the lowest common denominator. The mandatory use of EOBRs is the only salvation for the motor carrier community to collectively resist the power of the purse,” Steve Williams, Chairman & CEO, Maverick USA, Inc., North Little Rock, Arkansas.
“The current hours of service rules are science-based, reasonable, and effective. The problem isn’t with the HOS rules, but a lack of compliance with the rules. Electronic logs (EOBRs) take the non-compliance issues off the table,” Donald A. Osterberg, Senior VP, Safety, Schneider National, Inc., Greenbay, Wisconsin
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