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jeffs

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What's Happening Now

jeffs
April 21, 2011 11:54 am

I have been working Safety in trucking for more than 20 years. I have seen crash causation data improve virtually year after year….and fatality rates improve year over year. I have also served on many committees at ATA and other industry groups over the years and have often been involved with these issues “on the front side”. At some point.. somebody that actually counts….somewhere…. has to envoke some common sense. Government can restrict and regulate trucking to the point where there will be no one left to do it except a few of the huge carriers. (Perhaps there is something to that…anyone ever heard of “lobbyists”?) Data can be skewed to show whatever a person wants it to show. Statistics are available to prove ANY POINT on ANY TOPIC you… more »

…wish to prove. The costs benefits of an EOBR mandate are a JOKE. Currently, our fleet is just shy of 100 tractors. I WILL SAVE ZERO by my drivers not having to fill out a log page. I WILL SAVE ZERO by my drivers not having to submit paper logs (they have to turn in several other trip documents anyway). And while I might save a little in clerical time, maybe, the savings certainly will not be what the study suggests! By a show of hands..how many small trucking companies pay their clerical staff between $27 and $29 dollars hourly….the answer is ZERO. Unrealistic numbers generated by unrealistic people who are use to spending TAX DOLLARS and NOT operating profit! And they get to do whatever they want for as long as they want! There is VERY LITTLE, IF ANY, offset in costs for us!!! EOBR’s are simply a massive hit to our bottom line…plain and simple. Stop my drivers and check their logs… audit me if you want to….but DON’T MAKE ME SPEND A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS and a bunch of money every year from now to forever to help you do your job!! Will this EOBR initiative reduce the number of enforcement officers in the field? It should. 40% to 60% less violations has to correlate to less of a need for officers. Right? I haven’t heard anything about that? If there were to be a downsizing of enforcement officials….wonder if they would be for this mandate?? WAIT!!! here’s an idea…..there would be ZERO HOS violations IN ALL OF TRUCKING if every company had to hire one enforcement official per truck to ride in the truck with every driver!!! This would create a whole bunch more overpaid government jobs…..and the TRUCKING INDUSTRY CAN PAY FOR ALL OF IT!!! Sound stupid?? Not so fast!!!….there WILL be someone or some group that just may grab this idea and run with it!!! Last thing… there is one number I would love to see. How much money has been spent by government, special interest groups, the trucking industry, the “think tanks” that come up with their skewed data….etc…on the issues of HOS and EOBR’s? SOMEBODY GIVE ME THIS NUMBER!This number has to be both astronomical and tragic!!! Considering our current economy, the conditions of our highways, FUEL COSTS!!….and a never-ending list of other issues that are more pressing to trucking AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC….what a waste of cash and time and resources all of this has been. And the people WHO ARE GETTING PAID will continue to beat this horse…for YEARS TO COME… as long as their government checks cash. Is it just me? « less
Moderator
April 21, 2011 1:38 pm

Jeffs, you have provided a lot of useful information about FMCSA’s cost estimates and what the proposed rule may cost your company. You mention that your company will save little if anything from the paperwork reductions. Do you have any rough figures for how much your company may save (or lose) overall?

Your concerns will have the most impact if you can provide FMCSA with hard data and figures.


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