Rest crucial to truck driver safety: Teamsters

Washington – The Teamsters union has called for a renewed commitment by Congress to maintain current hours-of-service rules for drivers to help prevent tragedies caused by driver fatigue.

More than 600,000 of the union’s 1.4 million members are truck drivers, according to a July 15 press release.

“It is not uncommon for drivers to feel pressured by their employers to drive well beyond 60-70 hours a week,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said in the press release. “When drivers ignore the 34-hour restart provision in the current hours-of-service regulations – either by choice or by design – accidents occur. Congress must protect the people it serves by keeping the current hours-of-service rules in place and ensuring companies don’t force drivers to break the law.”

The issue appeared in the public spotlight on June 7, when comedian Tracy Morgan and several others were injured – and one person was killed – in a collision with a commercial truck whose driver had been awake for more than 24 consecutive hours.