“The American Trucking Association, a trade group for the industry, praised the proposal” I bet they would since it would require independents to buy equipment and be even more regulated out of existence. More cronyism sold as safety or green tyranny.
I agree with this comment. “However, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a group that represents independent truckers and small business operators, said the proposed rules would take control out of the hands of drivers preventing them from speeding up to avoid danger, and create unsafe disparities in the speed of vehicles on highways.” It’s one thing on the interstate when you have 2 or more lanes, but on a 2 lane highway, following behind a big rig going slower than the speed limit is extremely hazardous. The majority of the truckers out there are professional drivers. They can judge what speed to drive under the circumstances at the time. I would rather they spend the money for dash cams to be installed on all big rigs to show who is responsible when the driver of a PPT vehicle or a pickup truck makes a careless decision that jeopardizes the safety of both themselves and the big rig driver. This might put a few of the ambulance chasers out of business, but oh well.
“I would rather they spend the money for dash cams to be installed on all big rigs to show who is responsible…”
Here we have a comment based so far in logic and reality it boggles the mind why this isn’t required on all vehicles right now.
I was in Taiwan a couple years ago and EVERY vehicle had a front-facing camera recording what was happening. The recording was automatically deleted every 24 or 36 hours or so, and it made me wonder why we don’t have the same over here.
No more word versus word accidents – you could clearly see, for example, who merged into the other’s lane or which vehicle had the green light. You could tell if the other driver was distracted (e.g. cell phone use), what avoidance actions may have been taken, and the speed of the car before the loss.
With all the safety requirements we have in place, I don’t know why we haven’t moved towards “cameras on every vehicle” like I saw overseas. It makes so much sense!
If that were true, wouldn’t attorney’s have stopped pre-crash braking (or forward emergency braking) from becoming mandatory in 2022 since the IIHS expects it to stop over 1 million collisions and reduce auto injuries by as much as 35%??
Jack, saw a new article in Property Casualty 360 about sleep deprived drivers being about 83 million and accounting for 5,000 deaths per year because people are driving drowsy and falling asleep at the wheel. Do the manufacturers also need to put in a shock device in vehicles to awaken people driving while dozing?
It usually works by having a camera focused on the driver’s face; sensors which monitor brain activity, heart rate, skin conductance & muscle activity; monitoring steering patterns; and the position of the vehicle in its lane.
It’s available in one form or another in some Audi’s, BMW’s, Ford’s, Mercedes’, Subaru’s & Volvo’s just to name a few!
It’s amazing how increased technology in cars is able to reduce the number of accidents due to distracted/drowsy driving.
August 30, 2016 at 4:04 pm
txmouthbreatherboogereatertx says:
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Don’t you people in Texico keep cattle prods under the front seats of your pick up tanks just in case it gets “dark” out?
August 29, 2016 at 2:16 pm
Jack Kanauph says:
Like or Dislike:
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Another example of stupid government interference with business. By the time they figure this out, trucks will be driverless.
Also, if they establish the max speed at 65, they are penalizing truck drivers when the speed limit is 70; and they can still go 65 in a 40 zone, so what’s the point?
Jack, this sounds a lot like the joint approved EPA/Transportation regulation which was 1,690 pages long and 700,000 words. They need to get out of the way of business.
Perhaps even more important than speed, keeping trucks in the right hand lane(s) will do more to keep traffic moving, and avoid car and truck accidents. Far too many truckers think they may drive in all lanes except the extreme left, so if you have a four or five lane highway, three or four will be clogged with trucks. Trucks are entitled t use the roads, but they must be better regulated as stated above.
Something tells me you have never been in a truck. I have 4 million plus miles accident free. Trucks are “entitled” to use the roads? The interstate system was built with commerce and the military in mind, NOT the motoring public, not to mention, commercial trucks account for 12.6% of all registered vehicles but pay 36.5% of usage taxes alone. 41,000 to 45,000 traffic related deaths occur every year, fewer than 9% involve commercial trucks, and of that, more than 80% are caused by the non commercial driver. there are somewhere around 7 million motor vehicle accidents a year, only 2.9% will involve a commercial vehicle, of that, 75-80% are and will continue to be caused by the non commercial driver. Commercial trucks have a better safety rating than the police, but for some reason people think slowing US down will make non commercial drivers better at driving. In my particular case, slowing me down 10mph is a 5 dollar an hour hit to my pocketbook, you want to do the math on that by 65 hours a week/ 49 weeks a year? I would probably need to sell my 4 bed 2 1/2 bath home in a pretty great neighborhood and move to a trailer in a park, and send my kids to community college instead of a state college, not to mention have a lot less money to buy them a safer vehicle that was promised if they maintain a 3.5gpa or higher which they do. I’d hate to think about the lost tax revenues the government will suffer with less productivity of 15.5 million drivers earning fewer dollars and running less miles. How about we go back to teaching people that these trucks are big and heavy, they have bigger blind spots and require a lot more distance to accelerate and stop, to leave us a safe following distance as well as maintain one <—-HUGE….. Statistics say American drivers will have a near collision 1 to 3 times per month, I can say I avoid around 3 per week due to driver inattention. How about instead of punishing one group, particularly the one with the safest statistics, we do a better job of educating all drivers. Regulations are pushing more and more well qualified drivers out of the industry and replacing them with people that have no business behind the wheel of a truck.
Restricting trucks to certain lanes of traffic causes just about as many problems as split speed limits do. If you have 5 lanes of traffic trucks should be able to be in 3 of the right lanes, if you have 4 trucks should be able to use 2. Putting trucks in the right lane only will only create more gridlock. Also when trucks are going through cities (on the freeway) and have no intentions of getting off the freeway, they should be able to use the left lane until they get past the city limit then be required to merge back into the right lanes. Trying to avoid traffic getting on and off the freeway is a major problem for large trucks. Most of the time the speed limit is the same for all traffic in these area. Sit back and be patient. We pay for that road too and probably a lot more than you do as a car driver.
“The American Trucking Association, a trade group for the industry, praised the proposal” I bet they would since it would require independents to buy equipment and be even more regulated out of existence. More cronyism sold as safety or green tyranny.
I agree with this comment. “However, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a group that represents independent truckers and small business operators, said the proposed rules would take control out of the hands of drivers preventing them from speeding up to avoid danger, and create unsafe disparities in the speed of vehicles on highways.” It’s one thing on the interstate when you have 2 or more lanes, but on a 2 lane highway, following behind a big rig going slower than the speed limit is extremely hazardous. The majority of the truckers out there are professional drivers. They can judge what speed to drive under the circumstances at the time. I would rather they spend the money for dash cams to be installed on all big rigs to show who is responsible when the driver of a PPT vehicle or a pickup truck makes a careless decision that jeopardizes the safety of both themselves and the big rig driver. This might put a few of the ambulance chasers out of business, but oh well.
“I would rather they spend the money for dash cams to be installed on all big rigs to show who is responsible…”
Here we have a comment based so far in logic and reality it boggles the mind why this isn’t required on all vehicles right now.
I was in Taiwan a couple years ago and EVERY vehicle had a front-facing camera recording what was happening. The recording was automatically deleted every 24 or 36 hours or so, and it made me wonder why we don’t have the same over here.
No more word versus word accidents – you could clearly see, for example, who merged into the other’s lane or which vehicle had the green light. You could tell if the other driver was distracted (e.g. cell phone use), what avoidance actions may have been taken, and the speed of the car before the loss.
With all the safety requirements we have in place, I don’t know why we haven’t moved towards “cameras on every vehicle” like I saw overseas. It makes so much sense!
Putting a camera on everyone’s dashboard will significantly reduce the payload, I mean workload for attorneys. And who makes the laws: Attorneys.
If that were true, wouldn’t attorney’s have stopped pre-crash braking (or forward emergency braking) from becoming mandatory in 2022 since the IIHS expects it to stop over 1 million collisions and reduce auto injuries by as much as 35%??
Jack, saw a new article in Property Casualty 360 about sleep deprived drivers being about 83 million and accounting for 5,000 deaths per year because people are driving drowsy and falling asleep at the wheel. Do the manufacturers also need to put in a shock device in vehicles to awaken people driving while dozing?
Ok Bots, you can now down vote me.
Agent – that technology exists today!
It usually works by having a camera focused on the driver’s face; sensors which monitor brain activity, heart rate, skin conductance & muscle activity; monitoring steering patterns; and the position of the vehicle in its lane.
It’s available in one form or another in some Audi’s, BMW’s, Ford’s, Mercedes’, Subaru’s & Volvo’s just to name a few!
It’s amazing how increased technology in cars is able to reduce the number of accidents due to distracted/drowsy driving.
Don’t you people in Texico keep cattle prods under the front seats of your pick up tanks just in case it gets “dark” out?
Another example of stupid government interference with business. By the time they figure this out, trucks will be driverless.
Also, if they establish the max speed at 65, they are penalizing truck drivers when the speed limit is 70; and they can still go 65 in a 40 zone, so what’s the point?
Jack, this sounds a lot like the joint approved EPA/Transportation regulation which was 1,690 pages long and 700,000 words. They need to get out of the way of business.
Perhaps even more important than speed, keeping trucks in the right hand lane(s) will do more to keep traffic moving, and avoid car and truck accidents. Far too many truckers think they may drive in all lanes except the extreme left, so if you have a four or five lane highway, three or four will be clogged with trucks. Trucks are entitled t use the roads, but they must be better regulated as stated above.
Something tells me you have never been in a truck. I have 4 million plus miles accident free. Trucks are “entitled” to use the roads? The interstate system was built with commerce and the military in mind, NOT the motoring public, not to mention, commercial trucks account for 12.6% of all registered vehicles but pay 36.5% of usage taxes alone. 41,000 to 45,000 traffic related deaths occur every year, fewer than 9% involve commercial trucks, and of that, more than 80% are caused by the non commercial driver. there are somewhere around 7 million motor vehicle accidents a year, only 2.9% will involve a commercial vehicle, of that, 75-80% are and will continue to be caused by the non commercial driver. Commercial trucks have a better safety rating than the police, but for some reason people think slowing US down will make non commercial drivers better at driving. In my particular case, slowing me down 10mph is a 5 dollar an hour hit to my pocketbook, you want to do the math on that by 65 hours a week/ 49 weeks a year? I would probably need to sell my 4 bed 2 1/2 bath home in a pretty great neighborhood and move to a trailer in a park, and send my kids to community college instead of a state college, not to mention have a lot less money to buy them a safer vehicle that was promised if they maintain a 3.5gpa or higher which they do. I’d hate to think about the lost tax revenues the government will suffer with less productivity of 15.5 million drivers earning fewer dollars and running less miles. How about we go back to teaching people that these trucks are big and heavy, they have bigger blind spots and require a lot more distance to accelerate and stop, to leave us a safe following distance as well as maintain one <—-HUGE….. Statistics say American drivers will have a near collision 1 to 3 times per month, I can say I avoid around 3 per week due to driver inattention. How about instead of punishing one group, particularly the one with the safest statistics, we do a better job of educating all drivers. Regulations are pushing more and more well qualified drivers out of the industry and replacing them with people that have no business behind the wheel of a truck.
Insurance “Expert”
Restricting trucks to certain lanes of traffic causes just about as many problems as split speed limits do. If you have 5 lanes of traffic trucks should be able to be in 3 of the right lanes, if you have 4 trucks should be able to use 2. Putting trucks in the right lane only will only create more gridlock. Also when trucks are going through cities (on the freeway) and have no intentions of getting off the freeway, they should be able to use the left lane until they get past the city limit then be required to merge back into the right lanes. Trying to avoid traffic getting on and off the freeway is a major problem for large trucks. Most of the time the speed limit is the same for all traffic in these area. Sit back and be patient. We pay for that road too and probably a lot more than you do as a car driver.