Kirksville: duty cycle and professionalism

wrote:
Truck driver rules were changed for
the worse just a few years ago (something like no longer having to
allow for x seperately but with the understanding that schedulers would
compensate by doing y, which they didn't).

Happily, I found a reference that explains things better than my recall
circuits did...an improvement was offset by a dis-improveent, as
described by Rep. James L. Oberstar of Minnesota:

"hours gave every driver the opportunity for 8 consecutive hours
of uninterrupted sleep every day, the scientifically-determined
amount of rest needed to promote alertness behind the wheel.

The new rules also provided drivers with adequate time off
at the end of the work week to achieve restorative sleep. The
34-hour restart gave them time for two periods of uninterrupted
recovery sleep before the beginning of the next work week.

On the other hand, I was concerned by the FMCSA's decision
to increase allowable driving time from 10 hours to 11 hours
each day. More time behind the wheel does not reduce fatigue
or advance highway safety."

in the article "Fighting Fatigue" from "NTSB JOURNAL OF ACCIDENT
INVESTIGATION, WINTER 2005; VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1" (pg 11).

Some studies have shown that the 11th hour of duty has a
disproportionate number of accidents. See
http://www.engr.psu.edu/NewsEvents/n...ate=11/15/2005,
for instance.

"[11/15/2005] Risk higher for truckers in eleventh hour
University Park, PA-The crash risk for truck drivers in the last
hour of a now legal 11-hour day behind the wheel is more than three
times higher than during the first hour, a Penn State research team has
found."

/dps