Big trucks are a growing danger on the roads...

Right?

Wrong.

Truck-related fatalities dip 20% in 2009

Actually, truck-related fatalities have been steadily declining over the last 20 years, and they reached their lowest level in DOT recording history in 2009. Of course, there are two additional factors to consider. First, all fatalities have been going down. Second, last year saw a reduction in truck miles due to the recession.

Bet you couldn't tell all that from the news or lawyers' ads, could you?

Every year, there is an award given by...Goodyear, I think, called the "Highway Hero" award. There are always a lot of nominees, usually drivers who have saved someone injured in an accident or some such thing.

Highway Hero

Dottie had an acquaintance when she was working in Safety who was killed climbing down from his truck to help at an accident.

And if you have an accident on the interstate, it will almost surely be a trucker who stops to help you.

In my file at Werner, I had several letters of appreciation. I saved one family's car from burning, and I put out a fire in a small truck one time, just for example.

Here's a shocker. The Hours Of Service (HOS) rules were actually more lenient than they used to be. The goal was to get drivers on a schedule closer to 24 hours.

From about 1935, the law was 10 hours of driving, 4 hours on duty, eight hours off duty or in the sleeper berth. It was changed to 11 hours driving, 3 hours on duty, then 10 hours in the sleeper or off duty. But it used to be you could split that sleeper time into two breaks, neither one of which could be shorter than 2 hours. So, a team could run four hours on, four hours off, until they ran out of time. The maximum was 70 hours in eight days.

The new law allows the sleeper time to be split, but one of the two breaks has to be at least 8 straight hours in the sleeper. This was essentially why Dottie and I quit running as a team; neither one of us could stay 8 hours in the sleeper, and we ended up getting LESS sleep, not more.

The current law also allows you to restart your 70 hours if you have at least 34 hours straight off.

There is another revision on the horizon, and it could be very bad news for truckers, trucking companies, and therefore for American consumers. The organizations pushing for stricter and stricter regulations think that the trucking companies will just absorb the higher costs of making drivers (and their trucks) sit idle. CRASH, PATT, and several other groups have valid concerns but just can't take yes for an answer. Every time the regulations are tightened, they immediately start lobbying and litigating for stricter regulations. You would not believe what the trucking industry has spent just trying to stay out of court with these people.

I hear California is one of the few states in which trucking accidents have gone up, and drivers believe it's due to the split speed limit, at least in part.