However, comparing a driver to a prisoner being forced to sleep a certain amount of time is apple to oranges. A prisoner not sleeping has no affect on the public. A sleepy trucking on the highway is.

That being said, most drivers are proactive and try to do what is right and safe. It only takes a few to create the illusion that the majority of the incidents on the road is from the group of which they belong. This is especially true since media likes to headline accidents that involve big trucks.

I also have noticed another trend. An accident can be between a pick up truck and a car and the head line will only say "Trucker slams into the back of a car ……..blah……..blah" Once you read the article you find out the trucker was a pick up, tow truck, or straight truck driver.

So with all of the safety campaigns and misinformed public who assumes that we truckers cause most of the highway problems the government feels they must make a showing to act. (There was room for things to be done, but good grief, lol.) However, don't get it twisted, the government has every right to try and do something. We just want to see it done fairly and in a way that gets to the root of the problems. We don't want to feel like marked targets.

While many of the new rules are, in my opinion, good. Rules are similar to a loaded gun in that it can be used for good. It can be used with the end result in mind and even tweaked for better results for actually performance (equal to a gun being used for protection).

Or it can be abused, misused, mishandled, misinterpreted or even maliciously obeyed (equal to a gun being used for murder).

Obviously though, change is not welcome by many. For most people I think the older you are the less tolerable you are to change. Even when the change is good. Change is not easy to accept especially when it hurts in the wallet. Especially when more effective things could be done and more impactful parts of the problem remains unchanged.

One of the main things that actually SHOULD be changed is the amount of time that many drivers end up spending at the dock wasting time. If someone could do something about that (Either compensating the driver or eliminating the wasted time or credit us to driver for it) many of the other violations and risks would disappear.

Often this wasted time is what drivers are take the chances to make up for.
With fair compensation and fair treatment many drivers would not dare risk their CDL or safety of themselves or others to push the envelop.

I was fortunate enough to be with a good company which hauled product that never hardly put us in that situation. (Furniture)

Many drivers simply have to deal with it. It is stressful for them and puts them in a terrible predicament. Their decisions are based on what they need their paychecks to be. That's sad.

That being said, trucking is great career for the right person despite all that is wrong with it. You just have to do what you can to correct the wrongs.

Most of all have a positive attitude and keep your record as clean as possible so that you can drive for a company that will treat you right. Interested in positive industry change? Read more of my opinions and suggestions here http://www.lifeasatrucker.com/trucking-industry-c…

-autohauler
http://autohauling.blogspot.com/2012/11/regulatio…