Safety group calls new rule a `time bomb'

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sat, Aug. 20, 2005
TRUCK SAFETY

Safety group calls new rule a `time bomb'

Critics said the Bush administration repackaged an unsafe rule, allowing truckers to drive for 11 hours at a time.

BY LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Truckers can still spend six days on the road during the week and drive for 11 hours at a time because of a rule the Bush administration decided to leave intact even though truckers and safety advocates say it is unsafe.

For 60 years, truckers could drive for 10 consecutive hours.

On Jan. 1, 2004, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration changed the rule to allow them another hour behind the wheel.

A federal court, however, threw out the changes.

On Friday, the truck-safety agency announced that a revision to the rule would still allow the big rigs to roll for 11 hours, three hours more than safety advocates say they should.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/12430118.htm
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[autorank]

1. Buy stock in whoever makes Ritallin!

Geez, I have to drive a long way tomorrow :freak:

[Conservativesux]

2. Sorry, truckers are tested for ritalin and all meth/speed drugs.

All they can do is overdose on Caffiene pills and coffee, without getting busted by the drug testers.

Just ran over a family of five while driving sleepy, Mr. big-rig?

No problem, just tell them you needed to keep that rig rolling becuase you get paid by the mile, not the hours and there is NO OVERTIME either, per the 1935 FTSA rules.

Roll-on Big Daddy, Roll on !!!!! Yeeehaawwww!!!

[autorank]

3. What are the Teamsters doing...oh, that's right, stealing retirement funds

This is really depressing. I think I'll have my wife drive and I'll keep an eye out for Breaker-Breaker...maybe I should get one of those walkie talkies they like so much and learn trucker lingo. Nothing worse than caffeine pills, that's awful. I feel sorry for these guys, unless it's one that squashes me, in which case I'll feel nothing.

Hey, here's the drug, I'm serious, Provigil. It's a knock out--used for narcolepsy--keeps you functioning for days w/out needing sleep (unless you're narcoleptic, in which case you have normal sleep-wake cycles).

Collaborative research on DU, nothing like it: http://www.modafinil.com/

[Conservativesux]

4. The Provigil idea wont work. They will be testing for it come Jan 1, 2006

the feds will be testing for it...nice idea, however.

Get ready for more fatalities on the roads, because companies (Wal-Mart) want goods delivered on the cheap, and under-paid, overworked drivers to haul it.

[autorank]

7. One last try for truckers. Zinc!

Drug testing is often difficult because the astute drug user knows that there are masking agents. To me it's a major scandal that at GNC you can go in and pay $40 for a "flush" cleanser and test clean consistently. The 'scandal' is that people get busted for using pot, lets say, but the mall vitamin folks can sell stuff to avoid getting caught and nobody says anything (another scandal is the open sale of Coricidin!).

Truckers shouldn't be under this pressure but I appreciate the heads up. Anybody on our side crying foul on this legislation?

[Conservativesux]

8. Not that I am aware of. Do those drug-flushers really work?

I've always figured they were a scam, not that I would need them, but a person can alway test false positive and be sent to a drug rehabilitation program even though they were not using anything.

[teryang]

5. Disgusting

This administration's attitude toward ordinary people is contempt.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Again, the Bush cabal does not provide the basic of governance --

protecting the health and safety of the citizenry.