HOS Rules Dumbed Down By Congress, Endangering Motorists Who Share the Road With Tired Truckers

Tired and fatigued truckers are killing innocent motorists on our roadways. Five deaths in April of 2015 near Savannah on I-16, another five deaths on I-16 in May of 2015, and three more on I-16 in June of 2015 all by truckers who rear ended slower moving vehicles or stopped vehicles on the roadway without any braking the trucker. Six more deaths across the Georgia border in Chattanooga in June of 2016, from tired, fatigued truckers killing innocent motorists. Nineteen deaths in less than 120 days in big truck wrecks, 19 death caused by truckers too tired to recognize vehicles in front of them on less than 300 miles of highways connecting these deaths. Tragedy.

In 2015 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’) Hours of Service Rule (HOS) was suspended while awaiting a further study of the 34 hour restart rule the American Trucking Association and US Chamber of Commerce vehemently oppose including suits against the FMCSA to force the delay.

With an impending disaster with the Trump Campaign on the Horizon for the GOP in November, the House and Senate friends of the trucking industry are trying to hide the death of the HOS changes in separate pending highway funding bills. These bills are dangerous for truck accident victims, and these proposed bills only benefit trucking companies and their big rig drivers, and the insurers who insure them.

Opposition to the House and Senate trying to end run the FMCSA’s HOS Restart Rule is led by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. Tired and fatigued truckers, driving 73 hours per week is a recipe for disaster. Sen. Susan Collins leads the fight against highway safety, and is a go to vote for the Motor Carrier Industry and American Trucking Association. If you know someone in Maine, vote NO for Susan Collins this fall, and vote YES big truck safety.

At Terry D. Jackson, P.C. we are committed as truck safety advocates to drawing attention to the shameless attempts of the ATA and US Chamber of Commerce to make our roads less safe, only to benefit larger trucking companies and their insurers to the detriment of truck crash victims catastrophically injured or killed in truck wrecks. Call or email your Congressman or Senator and express your opposition to the HOS rule change with them now, and that you vote with truck wreck safety.