Supporters and opposers to shorter driver hours discuss the issues

Debates continue over the allowed hours commercial truck drivers are permitted to drive on the road during a given day. According to The Omaha World Herald, President of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) Barbara Windsor spoke at a conference recently, stating that her organization is worried about truckers maintaining regulation standards that may be impossible.

Officials from the ATA, including Windsor, said that accident statistics have been decreasing in recent years and implementing stricter hours may only cause anxiety and rash decisions. The need for more truck driver employees is already on the rise, and more restrictions on hours may cause a larger shortage of truckers.

Some supporters of the reduced hours say they only have truck driving safety and trucker health in mind, reports The Herald Times Reporter in Wisconsin. For example, Dave De Rosier, founder of Wisconsin Nationwide Companies, says he thinks trucks should all have monitoring systems to regulate their driving hours and miles traveled, which may curb unnecessary accidents.

"That way we're not competing with a carrier that is going to run illegally and deliver freight in a timeframe that is not legal under the hours of service regulations," he told the news source.

Supporters and opposers to shorter driver hours discuss the issues

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011