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HOURS OF SERVICE / FATIGUE

MOTHER URGES MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO VOTE “NO” ON ALL ANTI-TRUCK SAFETY AMENDMENTS TO H.R.3
TEENAGE SON KILLED WITH 3 FRIENDS IN TRUCK CRASH INVOLVING
WAL-MART DRIVER WHO FELL ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

March 9, 2005

Dear Representative:

Today, you will be voting on several amendments to roll back and weaken truck safety that are being pushed and promoted by special corporate interests. I urge you to vote “NO” on all of these amendments.

I am the founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.). The reason I started P.A.T.T. was because my teenage son, Jeff, was killed by a fatigued Wal-Mart truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into my son and four of his friends who were broken down on the shoulder of the Maine Turnpike. As a result of this horrific but preventable crash, four beautiful teenagers – Jeff Izer (age 17), Angie Dubuc (age 16), Dawn Marie Welding (age 15), and Katie Leighton (age 14) – were killed. One – Linda Tardif (age 15) – was seriously injured. Too many parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and school friends suffered unimaginable losses.

I never wanted to create a truck safety organization, but I soon learned that my husband and I were not alone in having lost a child, spouse or friend to the relentless, excessive demands put on truck drivers. Nearly 5,000 people are killed every year in crashes with big trucks. Truck driver fatigue has been identified as the number one safety problem confronting the trucking industry. These amendments will make the problem worse and will cause other parents to suffer as we have suffered.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has never held public hearings on these proposals so individuals like myself can testify about this major assault on truck safety. Also, this attempt at amending the regulation is especially inappropriate when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is in the middle of considering revisions to the hours of service regulation in response to the decision overturning the rule rendered by the D.C. Court of Appeals. The agency cannot responsibly exercise its duty to deal with writing a rule with public input that meets the Court’s objections if Congress allows special trucking interests to rewrite the regulation in legislation.

Yesterday, I participated in a press conference denouncing the Boozman Amendment and other attempts to roll back truck safety. Congress should be doing more to address truck driver fatigue instead of enacting legislation granting Wal-Mart and other special interests exceptions to the truck safety rules.

On behalf of all parents, whether or not members of P.A.T.T., I urge you to vote “NO” on all of these dangerous and unnecessary amendments.

Sincerely,

Daphne Izer
Founder, Parents Against Tired Truckers