Public Citizen is supporting safety for Truck drivers. I consider safety an essential worker right so I am reproducing there letter her, hoping you may join me in adding your voice as public comment.
Fatigue is a serious safety problem for truck drivers and those of us who share the road with big trucks.
Every year, thousands of people die in fatal truck crashes and more than 100,000 people are injured. Truck driver fatigue is a factor in over 30% of all fatal truck crashes.
Tell the Department of Transportation to protect truckers and the public by limiting the hours a trucker can drive.
Current rules allow truckers to drive and work far too many hours — up to 77 hours in 7 days and 88 hours in 8 days.
Public Citizen repeatedly sued the Bush administration to overturn the anti-worker, anti-safety rule on truck driver hours of service. Now greedy trucking and corporate interests want to kill the improvements the Obama Administration has proposed.
Tell the Obama administration to put public and worker safety before corporate profits.
In your comments to the Department of Transportation, consider saying:
- Reasonable limits on truck driver hours are essential to improving work conditions for truck drivers and the safety of all motorists.
- Truck drivers should not be allowed to drive for more than 10 consecutive hours, and certainly NOT the 11 hours that trucking and corporate interests desperately want. Research shows the risk of a truck crash increases dramatically after 8 hours of driving.
- Tired truck drivers should have more time off after they finish a 77 or 88 hour work week. Support the rule to require at least two consecutive nights off duty for truck drivers to get the rest they need to keep our highways safe.
- Truck drivers need more than just 34 hours of rest before starting their next work week.
Glenn Simpson
Public Citizen’s Online Action Team
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