In the waning hours of the Bush administration, the trucking industry successfully convinced the former president to overturn a rule which had been in effect for 60 years. That rule allowed long-haul truck drivers to drive no more than 10 hours at a time. Despite pleas from safety advocates, Bush issued the executive order giving truckers an extra hour of driving time.
Late Monday, the Obama administration’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety commissioner signed an agreement with safety and labor groups to revise the rule change. The 10 hour rule has not changed in 60 years because almost everyone except the trucking industry and the GOP agree that longer hours will lead to greater fatigue, more 18-wheeler accidents and more unnecessary deaths and injuries. No one I know wants to meet a fatigued, road-weary 18 wheeler driver on his 11th straight hour of driving coming at you fully loaded at 60 miles an hour. Kudos to the Obama administration for putting the safety of the motoring public before the financial interests of the trucking industry.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
