AUGUSTA – A trucker from Caribou whose rig was involved in a collision that took the life of a 40-year-old Scarborough woman is offering an apology to her family, saying he would rather have died in last Friday’s crash. Tina Turcotte died of injuries from the wreck along the Maine Turnpike in Hallowell. She had […]
Izer
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Score one for Daphne
On the other end of the telephone line, Daphne Izer was ecstatic. “The Boozman amendment was withdrawn today,” the Lisbon woman was saying. “We’re thrilled.” Chalk up one for a mother’s undying love. Izer had joined in a press conference in Washington on Tuesday condemning a proposal by Rep. John Boozman, an Republican from Arkansas, […]
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Posted inMaine
‘Crazy, outrageous’
Wal-Mart wants to extend the workday for its truck drivers from 14 to 16 hours, and a Lisbon mother of a teen killed by a company trucker is outraged. While the current 14-hour workday rule limits truckers to 11 consecutive hours of driving, a proposal before Congress seeks 16-hour shifts providing truckers take an unpaid […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Federal court kills trucking’s new rule
On July 16, a U.S. appeals court threw out the new hours of service rule, vacating the rule in its entirety and sending the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration back to the drawing board.In a 3-0 decision, the justices concluded: “We agree with petitioners that the rulemaking was arbitrary and capricious, because the FMCSA failed […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
New hours of service rule challenged
As truck drivers across the country struggle to familiarize themselves with the complexities of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new hours-of-service rule, which governs all aspects of a driver’s workday, safety advocates have gone to court in an attempt to have the new rule thrown out and a new one written.On April 13, a […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Truckers must take added down time
PORTLAND — Federal driving rules that take effect Sunday allow truckers to sleep more, but may keep them on the road more as well. The new rules require professional truck drivers to take at least 10 hours off in between drives. The old rule only required 8 hours of down time. But the rules also […]
Posted inOur View, sj-web
Productivity at odds with new rule
The new hours of service rule has not yet taken effect and already many are crying.Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highway, together with Parents Against Tired Truckers, have filed suit to stop implementation of the new hours of service rule on the grounds that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has placed trucking productivity ahead […]
Posted inOur View, sj-web
Is the FMCSA spinning its wheels?
Under the new rules, drivers will very quickly figure new ways to fudge the facts in their log books. In the first major revision of hours-of-service rules since 1939, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proved that you can’t please all of the people even some of the time.According to the new rule, which […]
Posted inOur View, sj-web
Trucking companies lack foresight
There is no driver shortage, only a shortage of drivers willing to work under very poor working conditions. On Feb. 20, 2001, Robert Hirsch, president of the Truckload Carriers Association, applauded the U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to propose a pilot program aimed at the trucking industry’s critical and growing driver shortage. This program sought […]
Posted inOur View, sj-web
Perseverance pays in pushing DOT
The transportation department fell so far behind in its rulemaking that it took a lawsuit to prompt action. In a recent column I reported that safety advocates Parents Against Tired Truckers, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Public Citizen and Teamsters for a Democratic Union, disgusted with the federal Department of Transportation’s failure to […]