This is re-posted with the permission of @trkrsvoice.
This industry has to listen, and adhere to, at best a shady governmental group. Scratch that, groups. The first group is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
They are awesome at cooking documents, tests, polls, and results to “fix” them in their favor. They also have been recorded taking bribes. This isn’t the only stuff they’ve done in my opinion.
For more information on what they’ve done, please read this article, and others that I have written on the same subject Strike Two! – Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. They would rather spend money replacing the world’s street signs than take care of the true issues in trucking. The federal DOT is hand in hand with the FMCSA. They are totally disorganized.
The federal DOT and state DOT’s have got things so mixed up as far as laws that you don’t know whether to come or go. Example, Oversized? Don’t run your strobes if you have an escort in California. It’s an automatic OOS, according to the Banning scale. Yet, every other state requires it. Don’t run your 4-ways in California either.
Utah won’t allow jaking in the Salt Lake City area due to a golf course. Real safe in the mountains without jakes! These are a few of the things that make me scratch my head daily. We need one set of federal laws carried out throughout all the states, and all the old, outdated rules need to be taken off the books. We also need all weigh stations to be formatted the same. A lot of drivers get confused because the lights are different, the signs are different, etc. this is a big problem.
We need total government transparency! Something for us to understand better and make it where there is no confusion. Do to President Reagan being a smart man, the government has to really act up before we can do a strike. A strike would then turn the general public against us even more, due to the damage it would do to them. We need the general public on our side, not against us. So, we will write! We will email! We will call! This is our first forceful baby step for forceful baby steps get heard, and forceful baby steps start a stampede! With close to 4 or 5 million truck drivers on the road, we could have ONE POWERFUL VOICE…….if we unite.
Here is an example of the letter to send. (If you do your own please keep in mind to sound intelligent, professional, and nice! DO NOT go in their sounding like a super trucker! They won’t listen to you cuss, demand, sound narcissistic, etc)
Dear Congressman/Congresswoman/Senator _____________________________,
Hello, my name is _________________________. I will first apologize for taking up your time, but there is a huge issue bothering me. I am concerned for my future, my friends’ futures, my family’s future. I am hoping you will read my letter and help our industry with the action needed.
I have read the recent issues with the FMCSA and DOT. I am highly concerned. I am part of the trucking industry and everything they decide affects not only me, but my friends, and everyone who lives in the country, for we haul most of the goods everyone needs.
We are asking for a congressional and senatorial review of the entire FMCSA and federal DOT. If the FMCSA is constantly under scrutiny, I do not believe they should be making laws and determining how we should live. This is a group of law makers who do not understand trucking, and haven’t been out here year after year. They also refuse to listen to those with experience. How can you honestly make laws concerning something you know nothing about? It would be the same as me telling an astronaut how to fly a rocket; it just wouldn’t work. Next, the federal DOT has their own rules, and then every state DOT has their own rules. We need a set of rules for the entirety instead of the guessing game for every state. It would be helpful to have all the scale houses/weight stations to be made the same. Find a time efficient way, and make it nationwide. Also, there are a lot of rules that have been around since the start of trucking (like white sheets in trucks due to exhaust leaks in the old trucks) that are wasting time in the books. We would also like transparency from the FMCSA and DOT. We want to know what our government is thinking when it comes down to our livelihoods.
Please help us get a congressional and senatorial review of the FMCSA and DOT. It is needed for all of us to be able to work more efficiently together. Thank you for your time, patience, and understanding.
Sincerely,
(signature)
(printed name)
(phone number)
(address)
(email address)
You can go here for addresses for your elected official.
This is just an example letter to help people see how to write this more effectively. Please, even if you aren’t a driver, a co-pilot, a trucking wife, etc get involved. Canadians, you’re driving here and can send letters also. BTW, this is also posted on Truck Drivers News Facebook Page in the discussion section.
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Well done. I’m behind this initiative. Let’s see how many drivers we can get on board.
I am on board I will stand up with you all and I am not even a truck driver yet, but will be soon. I am just getting out of the millitary. With everything I have read about the trucking industry, I am just disgusted to what this amazing industry has come to and how much we are getting screwed, newbies or the senior truck drivers everybody is getting screwed.
Things that piss me off
No parking my truck infront of my own house, No idling laws, Hours of operation, Gas prices, The pay for a trucker has not chnaged since the 70′s, DOT FMCSA being corrupt, and so on that we are all pissed off at.