"I have been driving passenger cars for many years. In the last few years, I have become aghast at what is happening on our roads, particularly regarding driver fatigue, trucking industry lobbying, compliant legislators and tractor-trailer accidents. This is what I have learned from personal observation and research:

Daily horrific media news reports record how tractor-trailer accidents are littering our cities and our 65-mph-speed limits (usually exceeded) our highways with accidents and deaths of truck drivers. The heavy tractor-trailers, often jackknifed, sweep everything remorselessly with them to death and injury when the truck driver gets drowsy and drifts out of lane.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board blames truck-driver fatigue as a probable factor in 20-40 percent of truck crashes. A truck driver's extended hours of operation can create a situation of continuous sleep deprivation by limiting a driver's daily sleep. And yet on Jan. 4, 2004, federal regulations Title 49 increased the number of hours truck drivers are allowed to drive in a 24-hour period to 11 hours in a work day."


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