Truck Safety Website - Dedicated Against Truckers

They probably got more letters than they can cope with all of a sudden... poor people! :smt011

 

This message board is a powerful tool for us drivers to converse on this stuff, when we have the time to do it. I'm glad I found it!

 

Wiseone asked whether The Truck Safety Coalition is in it for spite and revenge. I don't think so. Public Citizen picks on everyone including every industry and the Bush Administration. You may actually agree with some of the law suits they have filed.

In the early days, CRASH was financed by railroad equipment builders such as General Electric and American Brake Beam. I don't think any particular railroad could be directly linked to CRASH, although their early mission was to stop the expansion of LCV operations. Ralph Nader associate Joan Claybrook was co-chair of CRASH. The American Trucking Association published an article in 1996 that proved the railroad connection to CRASH. The funding stopped, and The Coalition Against Bigger Trucks was formed. Joan Claybrook became part of Ralph Nader's Public Citizen lobbying and lawsuit empire.

Their tactics frequently involve what I think is a misuse of the court system to get publicity or tie up an industry. Often, their goals such as highway safety are honorable, but they aim at the wrong target. For instance, Larger Combination Vehicles have a fine safety record. Also, linking driver health issues to Hours Of Service disregards many elements of drivers' life style, and tries to place responsibility for driver health on the employer. They would rather file lawsuits than sit down with the experts in an industry and develop solutions that make sense.

Here is an example of the extent to which CRASH will go to cause trouble. In 1997, the Federal Highway Administration passed a resolution criticizing inaccuracies in CRASH fund-raising literature. In retaliation, Joan Claybrook sued the FHWA Administrator. She asserted that the committee should not have voted on the resolution because the agenda for the committee meeting at which the resolution passed did not include the resolution. The district court dismissed the action on Claybrook's lack of standing. My point is that Claybrook attacked the messenger rather than defend the accuracy of her fund-raising literature. So, you see what we are up against.

 

All i can Say is WTF... Why haven't i ever heard of these rules

ITS IMPOSSIABLE TO DO THAT BECAUSE just like we cannot drive more than 11 in 14hrs a day we cannot Drive more than 70 in a week 70 is the CAP but u can still drive 11hrs a day for 6 days then 4 on the last to give you 70 U cannot go beyond 70hrs!!! how hard is that to understand

I just sent them a second Email including this Article: EYE ON TRUCKING: Emotions should take a back seat to facts in determining HOS rules
http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stori...gHOSrules.aspx

 

Another Issue i take with their articles is this Quote

How ever correct these numbers are, they are out of context, they may only inspect 1.5% of the more than 700,000 carriers but that 1.5% is probably every major Trucking out fit in America representing 50% or more of the drivers on the road (by my best guess)

I guess I'm suppose to say I'm glad there fighting to make the roads safer and improve our driving conditions, but there has to be a better way than fear mongering and Criminalizing Every Trucker on the road, making the Soccer mom's of America totally Terrified of us when they are the one's that need to learn how to freaking drive, i don't see them having to go to driving school or have the need for a legal plan, or being given random road side safety inspections, or having their driving hours checked, or being required to install EOBR's...

man after reading their website i'm Scared of myself! lol

 

I became involved in an exchange with a person last week who obviously is sold on their propaganda, and this person came here to spread the word. Thankfully, they seem to be focused on just one, or two, aspects of the overall HOS package, thus making their arguments easy to defuse.

The entire thread can be read here.

Worrisome idiots...

 

100 percent on the money, like I said..why is the ball only in the CMV driver's court to make the highways safer....rather than everyone that is driving any kind of vehicle on the highway? Good Point you make...

 

I looked over the argument with the G-man, 2xR, you kicked butt hands down! Very good job!

 

I think that is taking it a little too far. My hubby reads and writes English very well. BUT due to financial stresses in his teen years, he quit school and went to work to help his dad provide for his family. Since then we have faced too amny financial constraints for him to go back and do the necessary 6 hours a day for him to get his GED. (In this state you HAVE to finish all the coursework for a GED.)

Bonnie