LEGAL LANE
LEGAL LANE
By Jim C. Klepper
Money vs
Safety
DriveRegional. com
28
An overweight truck driver went to visit his doctor about losing weight. After the usual doctor stuff, the doctor asks the driver about his eating habits. Well Doc, replied the trucker, I eat 7 chocolate covered donuts and three apples every day and I just keep gaining weight. The doctor replies; You must reduce your apple intake to only two apples per day, that way we can decrease your calorie intake and you can lose weight.
What kind of doctor would give their patient trying to lose weight that advice? Only a government doctor it appears since that is essentially what law enforcement has decided to do to trucking. What? How is that anywhere like the doctor ignoring the chocolate covered donuts and focusing on the apples above you may ask?
Phil Byrd, President of Bulldog Hiway Express based in South Carolina, spoke to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance( CVSA), which is composed of law enforcement agencies nationwide, on April 23, 2013 and asked them to focus more on the unsafe behaviors of both commercial and non-commercial drivers in order to increase safety on the road.
“ About 90 % of crashes are the result of driver error or unsafe driver behaviors, and only about 10 % are attributed to vehicle factors,” said Byrd.“ With this in mind, we must commit ourselves to focusing on appropriate and effective countermeasures that will impact driver behavior.”
Byrd questions the law enforcement agencies why they were reducing the amount of traffic enforcement in favor of increased inspections of trucks and driver credentials at roadside.“ I think most would agree that examining credentials is not the most effective way to discourage unsafe driving behavior. Visible, on-road enforcement of traffic laws yields far better results. In fact, a study published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2011 said just that. Specifically, in terms of crashes avoided, and lives and injuries saved, the benefits of traffic enforcement, coupled with some inspection activity, was about 3 times more effective than roadside vehicle inspections. This finding is consistent with my earlier observation about driver behavior being responsible for the vast majority of crashes.”
Byrd also asked CVSA to address the
August 2013
DriveRegional _ Legal Lane. indd 1 7 / 8 / 13 4:04 PM