Have you contacted your local and state officials yet?

I was scratching my head wondering the samething

 

Ummm...Iam a little confused. Can I ask what your meaning is behind this having anyting to do with the HOS?

Iam curious............

 

These issues were posted by rch10007

I know many of you are wishing you knew what to do to help so here is my suggestion.

1. Spread the word about the trucker issues. Such as:
(a) the need to eliminate IFTA
(b) remove the Heavy Use Tax
(c) remove commerical fuel taxes
(d) cap fuel prices to act as a subsidy
(e) FULL DISCLOSURE from brokers about rates
(f) stricter qualifications for new drivers - like English only test
(g) completely remove HOS - no need to hold my hand


There's no way they're going to eliminate the fuel taxes, nor is this a time IMHO to shoot out things that annoy us (such as the HOS). The HOS serve a purpose and the video was used as a reminder. Sorry if I failed to make that point..

 

Acer, that driver supposedly was in poor health and could have had a diabetic attack. The video or story has nothing to do with HOS. If anything, (f) would have been more suitable to point out - stricter qualifications. Maybe I should expand that to stricter medical standards as well.

My point is, where's your list of things? Instead of picking my list apart, post your own.

I talked to a company driver yesterday and he told me he didn't care about the probelms of fuel or IFTA or anything else Independents care about because the issues that affects us don't affect company drivers.

I wish everyone would just post what their issues are. Together we could make a master lists to include everyone, independents and co. drivers alike.

FYI - I think HOS does nothing but cause problems since you aren't able to run your own schedule. If you pick up from a shipper at 10pm just coming off a break, I'm sure your company wants you to driver all night. That's just wrong in my book. I don't need someone who sleeps in their bed every night tell me when and where I should stop, rest, sleep, eat, or ANYTHING. If you need a babysitter, you shouldn't be in a truck.

 

Sandy,

I get the same feeling from the general public all the time.

I think they just don't understand that we are working. They seem to think we are all just out on a big joy ride.

They think food comes from the supermarket, and just auto-magically appears there. They haven't a clue about farms, packing houses, warehouses, and trucks.

Water is "just there" when you turn on the tap.
Wells, pumps, water treatment plants? What are those?

Electric power is just a big mystery to them. Some big utility produces it using a special mystery machine, and as long as you pay your bill, it's just there.

And the poop just magically goes to "never never land" when you flush the toilet. It just goes down a pipe right?

 

LOL!

 

I hate to put another spin on this but just doing my duty...........


http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...756-test-suggests-wrong-way-trucker-wasn.html

 

Let me start off by saying that I'm not an argumentative person, and I'm not trying to pick on you. I just respectfully disagree with a couple of your points. I probably should have originally quoted your post to avoid the confusion.

I know the story about the driver in the video, however, as I said it was suppose to be a reminder of the wrecks we've all witnessed because of driver fatigue. Had there been a video available for the Crete Driver in Florida, (you now the one who killed all the kids) I probably would have chosen it. Our industry has become too diverse to remove the HOS. You may not need the supervision, but there are those who definately do. I also believe inserting that at the moment takes away from what has to be addressed.

I agree with you about the testing requirements. It's insane to turn anyone lose driving a Commercial Vehicle who cannot fluently read, write, and speak english. When you're writing the Congressmen and Senators ask them to QUIT issuing visas for foreigners to come take our jobs. (this year 200,000). Ask them to quit issuing DL to illegals. Period. Why give them ANY form of legal US ID?

I don't believe there's a whole lot the industry can expect in the way of tax relief. Our National deficit is too high and States depend too much on fuel tax revenue. They may give us more deductions, but they're not going to eliminate anything. In fact, you can expect more to come because of the enviroment. i.e. the "Carbon Taxes" which will add another .50 to $1.00 per gallon to increase every year until we meet an exceptable air quality. All (3) Presidential candidates support it.

I watched an interview last night with McCain, and he acknowledges there's not alot that can be done short-term for our dependency on oil or the fuel prices. The solution to so many of our problems is to reduce our dependency on oil. Period. This leaves me to believe the impact on the trucking industry (long term) is going to be devastating.
The problem is, too many states are enacting enviromental legislation without having practical alternatives in place. Think California. They're "putting the cart before the horse" and it needs to stop. Implementing NEW taxes is not the answer.

I'm sorry, I believe the most we can hope for under these conditions is to have the fuel surcharge program restructured, regulated, and possibly some more deductions. Our country is going thru some major changes and the best thing we can individually do is be able to except those changes and be prepared. I believe the two things I mentioned above (enviromental legislation and fuel surcharge) are within reason and enough to give small businessman a fighting chance if they watch their money. It's probably also the most our Government will be willing to accomodate.

 

No worries here.