Truckers and trucking getting a bad rap in mainstream media isn’t really anything new. I believe it's pretty clear there's a lack of understanding among the general public and non-trucking media not only of how truck drivers operate day-to-day, but also the rules and regulations truckers and fleets must abide by.
Most we can't blame for their ignorance. I too don’t know the ins and outs of jobs and industries with which I have no experience. Yet I’m also not making things up about those industries with potential to tarnish reputations. The same can’t always be said for some outlets' coverage of trucking.
On June 30, an article hit my email inbox from the British news outlet The Independent, headlined “New rules to remove safety devices from semi-trucks could let them zoom down the nation’s highways at top-speed.”
The story is a report on Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s announcement on June 27 that the DOT is planning to withdraw the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed speed limiter mandate, among other initiatives Duffy said were aimed at improving the lives of America’s truck drivers.
[Related: DOT set to eliminate speed limiter proposal, keep pre-2000 ELD exemption in place]
While the word proposed does in fact appear twice in The Independent’s article, both instances are in direct quotes from the DOT from Friday’s announcement. The author’s own words paint the news like the DOT is removing an already-in-place speed-limiter requirement, rather than just withdrawing a proposed mandate, the reality of DOT's move to get "Washington out of your trucks and your business," according to Duffy.
We might forgive the story’s author for the error -- after all, heavy-duty trucks are mandated to be governed in the UK. But The Independent covers international news and is read by people all over the world. News aggregation sites like Yahoo News and MSN in the U.S. picked the story up and amplified it, making it even more widely consumed. For "the internet" and online-reading general public writ large, it's clearly fear-mongering -- as if U.S. truckers are expected to be suddenly barreling down the interstates at 90-plus mph.
[Related: 'Bad for road safety': Coalition wants Trump to abandon speed-limiter effort]
All I had to do was open up the comment section on the Yahoo version of the story to affirm the concern. A small number of folks called out the story for being “misleading,” some explaining that “many company trucks are already governed.” But the vast majority of commenters expressed fear or offered sarcastic remarks about speeding trucks and other regulations.
“I think it is absolutely wonderful the federal government is encouraging speeding. While we are at it let's eliminate speed limits altogether,” one commenter said.
“While they are eliminating the governor requirement, maybe they should stop checking the driver's logbooks that require so many hours off the road time also,” said another.
Plenty of political comments jabbed at the punching bags of the day -- “yet another giveaway to business ... no concern for the safety for everyday Americans. That's what this admin is all about.” That particular comment stuck out to me, since the association representing the largest of trucking businesses, the American Trucking Associations, has advocated for speed limiters on all trucks.
[Related: 'Potential adverse safety impacts': Speed limiters, truck parking discussed in Senate hearing]
And as any working trucker knows, fleets already using speed limiters in their trucks -- of which there are many, including many ATA members -- aren’t going to suddenly decide to ungovern units because a proposed rule doesn’t end up making it across the finish line.
Yet the story suggests the DOT’s move will allow trucks “to race along the nation’s highways at top speed,” and “increases the likelihood of road accidents by removing a barrier to faster driving and allowing for a greater degree of risk on the highways.”
It really makes trucks and truckers out to be the truly bad guys on the highway, rather than the professional drivers most are. Trucking-uninitiated folks won't understand that, and the reps of truckers and trucking in general will suffer for it, a real shame for the hardworking men and women behind the wheel delivering goods across the nation.
