Time to move on

I have been and remain a friend to Daphne and Steve Izner and thank them for what they are trying to do for us professional drivers. I recognize that many of us are not fully aware of what PATT is trying to do. Believe me when I say that when you talk to those who know, you will be, like me, a champion of their cause; for it is our cause as well.

Today I received an e-mail from Daphne. The contents are pasted below as is my response. I welcome further response from any and all who are familiar with what it means to be a professional
driver today.

Daphne writes:
Following another horrific truck crash in Pennsylvania, the newspaper there has 3 stories in today's (Sunday) paper. I spoke with him at length this past week. If you would like to read them go to http://www.mcall.com "I-78 deaths fuel debate over truckers' rest time"(2 stories) & "Victims' families want driving hours cut"

Daphne

I responded:

Daphne and all:
I read these articles and they made me furious. The rules as they NOW exist have gone a long way toward mandating adequate drivers rest. I have been "sleepy" after 2 hours driving following 10 hours off. It comes with the territory whether you are driving an 18 wheeler, a car, or a motorcycle. When I feel this way I stop and either take a cat nap or walk around. The fourteen hour clock as it now is implemented, is a boon to the professional driver. 14 hours is enough. Fool further with driving time etc and we professional drivers will end up with still longer and more tiring work days. People get killed on the road every day--too many to be sure. Some are the result of accidents involving big trucks, most are not. It is time to get off this case and start working for economic justice, i.e.., hourly pay, higher pay, more stringent driver qualification requirements etc. Bring the truck driver up close to par with at least the railroad engineer not to mention the airline pilot in professionalism and the rest will work out as best it can. Further beating the HOS regs will only cause more smoke to cloud some real issues. It is time to center on the department of labor while keeping a watch on the dept of transportation.
Guy

Being the class act that she is, Daphne quickly updated me:

Guy,
I spoke with this news reporter for quite a long time and a good part of the time I talked about drivers pay as we have always have done. As you know we have said it time & time again- until drivers are paid for all time worked nothing much will change. I , in fact, asked the reporter "how would you like to go to work and have to WAIT in the parking lot maybe 6 hours before you could start earning pay?"

Over the years we have made numerous trips to the Dept. of Labor in DC over that very issue-hourly pay. We got sent from the DOL to DOT , etc. We worked with both for years to have it made mandatory for companies to post a drivers' rights poster . That went no place. We ended up mailing hundreds of posters to drivers and some drivers posted them at truck stops.

It appears the reporter decided to focus on the HOS only . We have absolutely no control over what is written in a news story following an interview.

Thanks for getting back to me,
Daphne.

Category Posted: General