Log Book
10 Overdrive april 2009 Log Book Agency urges fatigue reduction plans The Teamsters, Public Citizen, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and the Truck Safety Coalition asked an appeals court March 9 to review the latest hours-of-service rules. The groups also sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking him to begin work on a new regulation. We have taken this action with the conviction, based on research and scientific data, that longer driving and working hours are unsafe and promote driver fatigue, the letter said. That same week, the American Trucking Associations filed a motion to intervene in the legal challenge. Having participated in the administra-tive process and the prior court cases, ATA says it seeks the right to intervene to protect the interests of its motor carrier members. Under the final rule, commercial motor vehicle drivers may continue to drive up to 11 hours within a 14-hour non-extendable window from the start of the workday, following at least 10 consecutive hours off duty. And motor carriers and drivers may continue to restart calculations of the weekly on-duty limits after the driver has at least 34 consecutive hours off duty. The 11-hour and 34-hour rules were at the heart of Public Citizen's second chal-lenge to the hours rules. ATA says that based on the groups' petition for reconsideration, it expects the groups will argue that scientific studies do not support the retention of the 11th hour of driving and 34-hour restart components. ATA says it believes that FMCSA has done an outstanding job explaining the scientific underpin-nings of its decision to retain the HOS provisions and that positive real-world safety records, experienced since 2004 under the revised HOS rule, also bol-ster the defense of the ruling. Staff reports CLASS 8 NET ORDERS for all major North American truck makers fell to 6,167 units in February, the lowest order rate in more than six years, according to FTR Associates. The figure includes orders for the United States, Canada, Mexico and exports. February orders declined 21 percent from January levels and fell some 60 percent versus February of last year. TRUCK-INVOLVED FATALITIES in 2007 declined 5.8 percent to 2.12 per 100 million miles from 2.25 per 100 million miles in 2006, says the Federal Highway Administration. Since new hours-of-service regula-tions took effect in 2005, the fatality rate dropped more than 10 percent. CLIFF STOCKTON, a driver for Grossman Iron and Steel in North St. Louis, called police after recognizing a license plate number he heard on an Amber Alert for a missing 3-year-old girl. Minutes after hearing the Amber Alert and the license plate number on the radio, he recognized the license number on a car as he was pulling out of Gasper's Truck Stop. Stockton called police and stood near the vehicle to make sure it didn't leave. SHORT HAULS A dream came true March 10 in Orlando, Fla., for Wayne Lowe, an owner-operator leased to FFE Transportation Services of Lancaster, Texas. During the Truckload Carriers Association's annual convention, Lowe was named TCA Owner-operator of the Year and drove home in a new International LoneStar with a Cummins ISX 550 hp engine, an Eaton transmission and Goodyear G300 series Fuel Max tires. An owner-operator with FFE for 42 years, Lowe has 4.5 million accident-free miles. Clark Lett, leased to Dart Transit, Eagan, Minn., took second place, followed by Gerald Clouse, also leased to Dart. Second- and third-place winners took home cash and other prizes. The contest is co-sponsored by International Truck and Engine and . James Loveland, a driver for WSE Transportation, LLC in Elm Springs, Ark., was named TCA Company Equipment Driver of the Year. Loveland, who has driven 1.6 million accident-free truckload miles, received a Cummins engine-powered Dodge Ram pickup. co-sponsors the contest. The winners are chosen based on performance, safety, efforts to enhance the image of the trucking industry and positive contributions to the community where they live. To be eligible, applicants had to meet certain minimum criteria, including having one million consecutive, acci-dent-free miles and being employed by or leased to a TCA-member company. Lowe will be featured in the May . Loveland will appear in the May . Linda Longton TCA names winning drivers Wayne Lowe, named Owner-operator of the Year by the Truckload Carriers Associa-tion, now drives this new International LoneStar.