Bone-Weary Haulers
Thumbs down to Stephen Franklin and Darnell Little, the authors of the Chicago Tribune article Bone-Weary Haulers Raise Risks on Road (subheading: As truckers struggle to make ends meet, they push the limits of endurance and highway safety).
The article, published December 10, 2006, uses anecdotal stories, incomplete statistics and ignorance of the trucking lifestyle to paint truckers as sleepy menaces. A more appropriate title for the article might be “The Hassles Truckers Handle Make Trucking Hard.” But that wouldn’t be nearly as eye-catching.
Truckers lead a hard life, there’s no doubt about that. They are away from their homes and their loved ones. They work long hours, of which every one is under scrutiny by inspection officials and the trucking company safety departments. They are often treated poorly by shippers and receivers, especially grocer receivers. And they are often looked-down upon.
Perhaps pointing a (bone-weary) finger at truckers is easier than actually delving into the problems. After all, the general public doesn’t always “get it.”
Ask a trucker how many times he’s been flipped “the bird” when the driver of a car failed to merge safely onto the freeway and blamed the trucker for not making room for his car. Ask a trucker how many times the driver of a car has refused to make way so that the trucker could maneuver his 53 foot trailer around a 90 degree turn onto a narrow street. And ask a trucker how many times the driver of a car cut over in front of him and hit her brakes.
Then ask that same trucker if he or she thinks the drivers of cars appreciate and understand truckers enough to see through the sensationalistic headline of an article about supposedly tired truckers.
Driver fatigue is a huge concern among truckers, but that doesn’t mean that truckers are out there driving tired in massive quantities.
Trucking problems that lead to driver fatigue are:
1. Lack of parking. When a tired trucker pulls into a rest area at night hoping for a spot and finds a recreational vehicle parked in what could have been his spot, he has to keep driving. When truck stops are full, drivers resort to spots that aren’t spots- sides of streets and freeway ramps, but they risk being ticketed in return for their sleep time. Urban areas like L.A., Chicago and New Jersey are notoriously low on truck parking and truckers have to alter their plans to allow for the fact that they won’t be able to sleep on their own schedule. Many truck stops near these urban areas charge exorbitant rates for parking, diesel and supplies. Drivers are often not allowed to park at closed weigh stations or are reluctant to do so for fear of being subjected to an inspection.
2. Shippers and Receivers. The article relays a classic experience at a grocer/produce receiver’s dock. Drivers are treated with disrespect. Drivers are often required to meet strict schedules with no allowance for a shipper loading the trailer late. Drivers are often not allowed to park at the lots prior to their load or delivery time and/or they are required to use their cb radios so that the shipper or receiver can contact them. While trying to rest they have to listen and hope they don’t miss their call.
3. Hours of Service Regulations. You can legislate drive time but you can’t legislate sleep. Just because a driver’s log book says he or she is out of hours, doesn’t mean he or she is tired. And, by default, just because the logbook says there are plenty of hours left doesn’t mean the driver is rested. Drivers have to alter their sleep patterns to match what someone else says is good for them- and all the studies in the world can’t force a trucker to have a 9-5 circadian rhythm.
The authors touch on some of these points, but they spend more time capitalizing on their anti-trucker headline.
After writing that:
Nearly a decade ago, the government vowed to significantly reduce the number of fatalities from truck crashes, but the results have been mixed. Nationally the death toll fell until 2002 and then started climbing.
The authors later concede that:
One reason fatality rates haven’t fallen faster, adds Ian Grossman, a spokesman at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, is that highways are more congested and more truckers are on the road. Since 1996 trucking mileage has soared by 43 billion miles, up 24 percent. Considering such dramatic changes, the death toll increase is quite low, he says.
Taking the surge in trucking mileage into account, the number of fatalities has fallen in the last 30 years.
The authors point out that:
Over 5,000 people die and 116,000 are injured yearly in truck-related accidents, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Most often the victims are in passenger cars.
But that leaves a lot of unanswered questions. What are the details of these “truck-related accidents”? Were the truckers at fault? Were they fatigued? Were they, like the owner-operator the authors rode with, barely able to make ends meet? And is anyone surprised the victims are most often in the smaller of the vehicles? Perhaps these statistics had nothing to do with “bone-weary haulers” who “raise risks on the road.”
The authors go on to point out that:
Truckers do not escape being victims; 930 were killed in the U.S. while working last year, up 33 percent from 1992. And while they made up only 2 percent of the workforce last year they accounted for more than 16 percent of fatal workplace injuries.
Which leads to even more unanswered questions. What were the circumstances of the truckers’ deaths? Did they die in fatigue-related trucking accidents? Since time spent in the sleeper berth is considered being “on the job,“ did they die of heart attacks or strokes while parked at the truck stop and laying in their truck beds? Perhaps these statistics, too, had nothing to do with “bone-weary haulers” who “raise risks on the road.”
The authors tackle the topic of the changes in the hours of service regulations (driver’s log books):
Added to the new rule was a 14-hour cap on a trucker’s workday and a 34-hour break after a week’s work. Both changes, the officials said, were aimed at normalizing truckers’ lives.
Critics contended, however, that a 14-hour cap would mean drivers will be able to work nearly 40 percent more than before.
A general misunderstanding by non-truckers about the “14-hour rule” is that it is an extension of the truckers hours. On the contrary, it is a limit on total hours. It doesn’t refer to 14 hours of diving, it refers to 14 hours from the time a driver starts work to the time he is no longer allowed to drive. If a trucker begins his day and, after 3 hours, decides he is too tired to continue and wants to take a nap, he is wasting hours on the 14-hour clock. If he sleeps for 3 hours, he has 8 hours left- which allows him to use his entire 11 hours of working time. But if he sleeps for 5 or 6 hours, he is penalized. He is only allowed to work another 3 or 4 hours. In essence, a tired trucker can’t allow himself to take a good-sized nap if he wants to have a full day. The 14-hour cap contributes to driver fatigue.
And since when does a trucker’s life need to be normalized? Trucking teams trade off shifts- often getting into a pattern that the average American couldn’t understand. Truckers have no commute to work. We wait in line for private showers in the truck stops and we spend all day listening to the radio or shooting the breeze with other drivers over the cb radio. Who defines what normal is?
There is mention in the article of the extra hour of drive time allowed in the new hours of service regulations, making for a total of 11 hours driving. But no mention of the two extra hours of off-duty time required between shifts. 10 hours off off-duty or sleeper berth time are required currently compared to the 8 hours that were formerly required.
What it all comes down to is this: The drivers mentioned in the article may be struggling to make ends meet, but they don’t necessarily represent the whole of the trucking industry. Many company drivers and other owner-operators are succeeding and the difference may be as simple as the choices they have made. Independent owner-operators hauling produce are not known for having the highest paying freight in the industry. Focusing on the way the authors say truckers have to live and how that life leads to dangerously tired truckers is not only irresponsible, it’s downright insulting.
