Keep on truckin', but for how long? Feds, carriers, insurers can't settle on hour limits to protect drivers.(American Insurance Association blames fatigue for crashes)

National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, April, 2005 by Tuckey, Steven

EVERYONE AGREES that a fatigued trucker is a dangerous trucker, but the government has had a hard time lately setting the hour parameters to keep trucking both safe and efficient. David Snyder, vice president of the Washington-based American Insurance Association, said that fatigue is the number one cause of crashes in large trucks.

"We think there is strong evidence that drivers need to be driving less than they are," he said. "A fatigued driver is less able to respond effectively to conditions on the road." The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration promulgated a new set of rules three years ago governing driving hours, only to see them overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals. According to the Washington-based advocacy group Public Citizen,...

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