Walmart to Propose Longer Hours of Service for Commercial Drivers
In it’s latest effort to squeeze every last productive hour from it’s workforce, Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark.) will introduce an amendment on behalf of retail giant Walmart to increase the hours of service from the current 14 hours on duty per day, to 16 hours on duty, provided a two hour, unpaid break is taken during the shift. The current standard of 11 hours driving-on duty would be maintained. This according to CNN and Common Dreams. For those that don’t know, I’ve had a commercial drivers license since the inception of the Federal program and have been driving trucks the entire span of my soon to be 25 years in this biz.
It’s no secret that driver fatique is a leading cause of fatal accidents involving commercial drivers. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, as much as 40% of all fatal accidents involving heavy trucks were due to driver fatique issues. Additionally, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have conducted many studies on the matter.
Considering all the slippery shit Walmart has been involved in this doesn’t surprise me in the least.
March 9th, 2005 at 7:17 pm
I agree, what a terrible idea. I seriously doubt that this idea will fly. It just can’t. The safety advocacy groups will be all over this is quite short order. As if Wal-Mart needed another publicity black-eye. I’m glad that a Kohl’s has just opened here. I’ve also called our Congressmans’ and Senators’ offices and raised cane (It figures, one of them hasn’t heard anything about it, assuming they are telling the truth)
Geri O
March 9th, 2005 at 8:57 pm
When I was posting that I thought guys like you and Mike Babcock would find it interesting. I posted an updated story. Once word got out, the perverbial shit hit the fan and everyone backed down. Boozman was going to sneak the amendment into the bill last night and have the vote today. Most voting on it may not have even known it was there. At least there is one thing Walmart won’t be able to buy from China… that’s Congress members and Senators. Nope you can only buy those here in the good old USofA….