ARLINGTON, Va., June 16, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With so much misinformation being distributed around trucking safety and particularly around the risk-raising restrictions the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to suspend in a bipartisan fashion, American Trucking Associations believes it is important to hear what people are actually saying about the restart.
Sen. Barb Mikulski, chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee: "Senator Collins has always been on the side of safety."
Sen. Dick Durbin, Assistant Senate Majority Leader: "I would like to have truck drivers to have the option to stay out of the Chicago loop during the busiest time of the morning. I don't think that makes it any safer for them or anyone else. If they want to start driving at 3 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. to avoid the congestion in the loop, I think we ought to have at least some consideration of that, so I'd be open to changing the rule."
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.): "Without repealing this, you can have drivers on the road that are even more tired without an extra restart. I honestly believe that the Collins Amendment will make drivers more rested not less."
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.): "I am convinced that the rule implemented without the proper research by the Department of Transportation is actually making our highways more dangerous, not less dangerous. When you make trucks and truck drivers stop driving between the hours of 1 am and 5 am . . . it simply pushes more driving into the hours when kids are going to school when people are trying to get to work on crowded highways."
Sen. Roy Blunt, Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security: "This issue has been litigated, but I'm not sure it has ever been researched. I asked Secretary Foxx at our committee hearing for information on whether they ever researched this or not and he took that for the record and apparently the record is not going to be completed for a while because still no response.
"What has happened with this rule is you've forced many more trucks into the daylight hours. I think because there is no evidence the Department ever calculated the impact these rules will have, suspending the rules while we try to calculate the impact of the rules is a good idea."
Sen. Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development: "The fact is neither truck drivers, nor their customers, nor I, nor anyone in this room ever wants to see an accident caused by driver fatigue or by any other cause.
"But what become clear over the past 11 months is that the new federal rules have presented some unintended and unanticipated consequences that are not in the best interest of public safety, truck drivers or the businesses and consumers that depend on their services. In particular, there's increasing concern that the regulations affecting overnight driving are actually resulting in more trucks being on the road during the most congested hours and during the hours when children are going to and from school."
American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight. Follow ATA on Twitter or on Facebook. Trucking Moves America Forward
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SOURCE American Trucking Associations
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