? about a couple things, saftey and experiance

You see a lot of news about truck related deaths and accidents here because the posters actively seek those bits of info out and post them. Since thata is the general nature of a trucking forum, the amount is kind of disproportionate to the amount of it happening. You are statistically much safer in a truck than in a car. And in the majority of the accidents that do happen, they occur because a car did something that forced the truck to exceed it's physical limits.

Safety in a truck is never going to be perfect, nor should we expect it to be. It's constantly improves, and we have less drivers hurt or killed each year. But you hear about the time when something goes horribly wrong, and the impression is created that all trucks are driven that way.

While some new drivers may have received less than adequate training, they quickly learn once they are out on the road. of course standards should be raised, but concurrent with a rise in training and licensing standards will be a rise in costs and pay, and that cost will be passed on to all consumers. I just delivered a load of flour to a bakery, and each of the next 50,000 loaves of bread sold has to include a portion of the money to pay the cost of that load being delivered. If you pay me more, then the amount each loaf supports has to climb a little.

It's not a perfect world, and most drivers do an outstanding job and put in mileage each year that would wear out the family car, yet they do it safely and without any notice from the public at large.

 

we will try

and...........?? its no different than your local newspaper reporting deaths. here however, you are reading or "seeing" news reports from around the country, seemingly making it look like "too many deaths".............

it would be the same, actually more deaths, if all the car accidents from around the country were reported here..........

so again, what was your point about truckers deaths....??

the safety laws are as strict as the cop writing the ticket is in doing so. meaning, they have to be enforced.........like any other law, even laws about watering your lawn in a drought zone area, and additional useage of water is banned. no law enforcement present, no ticket for water useage, how strict was that law then...??

name "the group" that's trying to make our lives miserable...........there's gotta be one in every neighborhood these days, be more specific...

again, its common sense and following the laws as closely as possible.

you need to name the particular group, your questions hold no merit when you leave out this information

trucks are NO MORE POWERFUL than cars. what about the chevrolet corvette, or the ford mustang, and the dodge charger....powerful cars, right...?? in the hands of a "show-off" they are deadly.........right....??
'the death rate is lower in trucks, as in cars i think in part due to the construction of each vehicle.

no, not really. the age is 21, there are state required Hours of Education for CDL's...........

there are more bad/badly educated and inmature car drivers getting a license for the first time..........a teenage driver will always take more chances, show-off more than a 21 or above aged truck driver getting a CDL license for the first time.

are you a lawyer or safety advocate of some organization........??

your questions are not "the norm" for a would be/wannabe truck driver...........

 

Taking the time to look through a profile here, there is no indication that he is a lawyer or some sort of safety advocate. In fact, he appears to be a student, probably freshman of sophomore at one of the local colleges in Chicago. He's asking some questions about something about which he is unfamiliar, and the questions are not phrased as neatly or succinctly as they could be. But I see no signs of him having any ulterior motives in asking other that pure old curiosity.

 

the boards are running slow, at least they were a few minutes ago. but yes, i too looked at his/her profile and saw that it was a 'student".

it appeared to me at first it is/was a lawyer or some safety group advocate trying to ascertain some info to bring back to a "group disccussion"..................perhaps in making our lives more miserable than what they are...............not telling us the "group" that wants to push for more laws (or whatever), made me suspicious..............and i still am..........

 

ok, it happens.

this is just one organization, believe me, there are many others.

i would have thought lawyer, but guess not..........law school perhaps....??

big truck crashes make big news headlines. its the "rating's game" for the local news stations. its also like Hollywood to perpetuate stories for ticket sales, no matter what the cost to any industry, individual, etc,etc. for instance, i distincly remember a slew of movies depicting Doberman Pinschers as wild maniac dogs. so far from the truth, isn't it...??

frankly, this is the way it SHOULD BE. why should any newbie expect the same pay I as a 19 year driving vet gets...?? pay your dues, learn the ropes, get the experience, prove you are capable, etc, etc. the money will come later. it always does.

its like either a cancer stick (cigarette) or a magnet. a cigarette you know is bad for you, but a smoker still wants one.

a magnet keeps pulling you in, even though you try getting away.

the money is only a small part. the freedom of not having a boss over your shoulders for 8-10 hours, coffee breaks, lunch, bathroom breaks, at OUR CONVIENENCE, not the boss's say so, probably are more important than the money (for some of us i suspect).

and i really did work at a job that bathroom breaks weren't allowed anytime you wanted or needed to go................

 

Yes I think they should have training on all areas. I hear many teach log class for 20 minutes and don't take it seriously. The drivers need to be "taught" the regulations (that's what school is for). If they went to school and came to my company and saw my presentation they would defintely understand the regulations (if the school taught them correctly).

Ok I am done for tonight, I can answer more and spend a day on this subject

 

Public Citizen sued the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration claiming that the Hours of Service rules do not properly account for drivers' health or reduce driver fatigue. Public Citizen was founded by Ralph Nader in 1971. Joan Claybrook is current president of Public Citizen. American Trucking Associations responded that the HOS opponents are using misleading atmospherics. ATA said that Public Citizen hopes to create a sense of crisis by contrasting the fact that only 3% of vehicles are large trucks, but they are involved in 8% of fatal crashes and 12% of fatalities. ATA responds that although large trucks are fewer in number, they account for 7% of total vehicle miles traveled. "Selective use of statistics, selective quotation, misplaced emphasis, omission of relevant qualifiers or context and suppression of unfavorable facts are recurring themes in Public Citizen briefs." ATA states that large trucks are less likely than other vehicles to be involved in an accident, but an accident involving a large truck is slightly more likely to result in a fatality. ATA argued that Public Citizen is operating under the erroneous assumption that FMCSA is required to solve all issues related to driver health through the HOS regulations. ATA accusses Public Citizen of thinking that any health risk associated with driving can be addressed by simply requiring drivers to drive fewer hours, regardless of the cost to the economy. Public Citizen's criticism of the HOS is grounded in the mistaken belief that FMCSA must ensure or guarantee that its rules have no deleterious effect on driver health. Their absurd conclusion is that FMCSA must prohibit trucking if there was any health risk associated with driving. This post is a summary of several Transport Topics articles published since the reform of Hours Of Service rules began several years ago. Prior to Public Citizen, Joan Claybrook and C.R.A.S.H were supported by the railroads. That situation cooled down when the truckers agreed to stop their campaign for larger, heavier rigs. Now, the agreement is off. Joan Claybrook has a history of being sued and rebutted at the highest levels for twisting the evidence. She was sued when she was head of the National traffic and Safety Administration in the Carter Administration from 1977 to 1981. Here is a link to one of the rebuttals to her opinion about car air-bags. http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/98/deceit.html