Why do those who have no clue try to fix that which is not broken? Truckers puzzle over this question all the time. It seems to us that lawmakers, regulators and their outside influences continually try to dictate what truckers should and should not be able to do. They pile law upon law, regulation upon regulation, tax upon tax. Everywhere a driver turns someone’s got their hand out.
Yet for every reg written, every dollar taken, it’s not just scraping off the bottom line of the trucking company owners and operators, but ultimately raising prices for all of us at checkout.
I am not against all regulations, knowing full well that one bad apple can spoil the bushel. I do think, however, that a better regulatory approach in this day and age would be to trim the fat, eliminate regulations that are outdated, unproductive, or simply absurd. Good government in action, then, at the very least would address the safety issues that can make a real difference, while aiding drivers in compliance. Safe parking and infrastructure should be the number one safety issue for every regulator and lawmaker.
Until we make a serious attempt to address the parking shortage, supposed concern for the safety of drivers cannot be taken seriously. Regulators and outside influences contend speed limiters will make truckers safer, ignoring some of their own studies that have shown otherwise. Our elected reps draft legislation intended in part to result in better parking availability, yet more than 10 years later, we are still untold thousands of spaces short.
At the same time, our nation’s highways and bridges have fallen into such a state of decay that they risk lives and cost the American taxpayers, including truckers, more money in repairs to maintain their business or personal vehicles. These same highways and bridges are, of course, taken for family outings and vacations, placing entire families at risk, not to mention their utility for our military and the ability to respond to threats in a timely manner.
[Related: Jason's Law: Updated inventory shows parking shortage worsening]
Too often, the trucking-related agendas coming out of government feel like little more than fist-banging on the table by little children who want only to push through a pet project, often enough one they’ve come to at the behest of those who have no clue what they’re talking about.
