Editorial: Fasten Your Seat Belts; Road Safety May Plummet

The companies that get their goods delivered by trucks, the drivers themselves and even a lot of people in Congress may disagree, but passage of a 16-hour work-day bill for truckers could send highway safety spiraling downward, critics say.

Just so you can’t say we didn’t tell you (for the umpteenth time) using river transportation to reduce the number of trucks using highways translates into a more environmentally friendly atmosphere, cheaper transportation costs, improved highway safety and a much-improved quality of life. This is such a no-brainer that European countries have recognized the benefits and are encouraging water transport.

Rep. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican whose last two campaigns have been fattened by nearly $100,000 from Wal-Mart and its employees, is sponsoring a bill to allow a 16-hour workday as long as the driver takes an unpaid two-hour break. In reporting this newly proposed bill, the Associated Press cited union leaders and safety advocates as saying that current rules limit drivers’ workdays to 14 hours with 11 consecutive hours of driving allowed. Whoopee! Eleven hours is a long time behind the wheel. Drivers, we’re told, get paid by the mile. When they are not moving, they are not earning money.

According to the AP, Wal-Mart and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers. The labor unions and safety advocates say it would make the highways more dangerous for all drivers. Boozman says “Optional rest breaks will reduce driver layovers and improve both safety and efficiency.”

Remember, as the rules are now, drivers can choose to drive 11 consecutive hours and take three hours off. They can eat, rest, load or unload their trucks. The unions say they have had no complaints about the rules as they are.

Would extending the workday to 16 hours extend the number of hours that drivers could drive consecutively? We don’t know. Critics accuse Wal-Mart of trying to fatten its profits. It would force drivers to spend more time at the loading dock without getting paid, they said. If it does not extend the number of consecutive driving hours, then it obviously smacks of other benefits to the companies. On the other hand, Congress recently struck down the current 14-hour workday rule because it didn’t take drivers’ health into account.

Congress, said the AP, reinstated the rule for one year in October. Yet, if Boozman’s proposal passes, the 16-hour workday will be in force.

Whatever Congress chooses to do, whatever Wal-Mart and other retailers desire, whatever drivers go along with, that is what will impact our nation’s highways. And we have no control over it. Or do we?

Unfortunately, as it is widely expressed across the nation (nay, around the world) the quality of life is undeniably tied to environmental issues that really do not impact human happiness or suffering at all. Millions of dollars change hands, and the water-war game goes on and on as we use such imbecilic excuses as endangered pallid sturgeon and birds to shackle barge transportation on the waterways. That is unfortunate, because river transportation is environmentally friendly and is a sensible method for slowing down the growth of semi trucks on the highways.

Aside from the reductions in air pollution, fuel consumption and the use of other natural resources like rubber, etc., lets get practical and think about driving safety itself. Most of us have our favorite “not to like” interstate stretches where it seems like trucks (at times) outnumber cars. They don’t, of course, but aerial photographs of large traffic jams on interstates reveal far more trucks in those lines than we feel comfortable with. The exhaust seems to have been improved but the huge slabs from recap tires still litter the roadways, and the highways, not built for the heavy loads, take a beating.

Ever drive behind a truck when the roadway is dirty and the rain is light but still bothersome? Or try to pass one during those conditions? Time after time one must use windshield washers to make vision possible. If the rain is truly heavy, one either has to stay far behind the trucks or, if he intends to pass, ride through an ongoing deluge of water until the truck is passed. A driver can literally be rendered “sightless” for short spells under such conditions.

Is highway safety less important to our citizens than pallid sturgeons and endangered birds? Somewhere along the line, we must prioritize our desires to help promote conditions that truly improve quality of life. If safer driving conditions is not one of them, what is?

Whether companies want longer work days or not, whether workers want to go along with it or not, the only important issue, as far as we’re concerned, is whether or not it actually makes driving less safe.

Since Congress balked at the current rules because they were unfavorable to drivers’ health, we can hope that it will still keep the health of drivers and ordinary highway users in passenger cars in mind.

The Waterways Journal encourages letters to the editor.
Have something on your mind?
Send letters to: jshoulberg@waterwaysjournal.net.
(Please indicate whether or not your letter is intended for publication.)