And John McQuaid, president of the country's largest private fleet trade organization, says because of the new weekend off rules, more truck drivers will be forced to hit the road on Monday morning. We're not sure that it's a good safety incentive to have rules that would end up with more trucks on the road at a time when the highways are congested with commuters and possibly schoolchildren. And American Trucking Association Spokesman Dave Osiecki says the increased number of trucks on the road has not led to a higher percentage of fatal accidents. The fatal crash rate for trucks is at the lowest it's ever been. So safety has improved in the trucking industry and it continues to improve.
Critics say the new agency needs to know more about fatigue before it imposes new regulations.
Phyllis Sheinberg is a transportation specialist at the government's General Accounting Office. The Department doesn't really know what the causes of these accidents are and it's only now, after much prodding has it entering into a large study to look at what are the true causes of large truck fatalities and crashes, and it's going to take a long time to get that data. In the meantime, it has a series of activities going on, but it doesn't really know if those activities are addressing the causes of this problem. As for Bowman, he just goes about his business, while the debate continues. He pulled into the loading dock in Wichita after ten hours on the road, just as he'd planned.