ATA Calls Poll on Truck Safety Misleading

American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves issued a statement calling on policymakers to reject a recently released push poll on the important truck safety issue of hours-of-service.

“The results of a misleading push poll should not be taken into consideration when crafting public policy – good data and research should be. Unfortunately, FMCSA did not have such information – such as the impact the rules would have on increased daytime truck traffic and the corresponding elevated crash risk – when they drafted them,” Graves said.

“Senator Collins’ proposal, as passed in the Senate Appropriations Committee by a bipartisan vote of 21-9, would simply suspend these new rules so the agency can evaluate the true risks and the net impact on highway safety. We doubt any poll respondent would support these new restrictions that discourage drivers from taking lengthy rest periods, and that increase daytime truck traffic and raise crash risk. Furthermore, FMCSA has previously said that the alleged working hours envisioned by these industry critics are only possible in an ‘imaginary world.'”

Graves also cited a recent Public Opinion Strategies poll of 800 registered voters who were asked: “Would you prefer that trucks generally operate at night between midnight and 5am, or during late morning and mid‐day hours?”

“This legitimate poll, in addition to finding that most Americans rightly believe that professional truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road – a point even conceded by our critics – found that Americans would prefer trucks operate at the time of day now restricted by FMCSA’s recent rule changes by a 67-24 margin,” he said.

“The Collins’ proposal would seek to suspend this time-of-day restriction in order to better understand the impact on daytime truck traffic and the net safety impact.”

Category: General Update