During the HOT summer months, truck idling to maintain driver comfort while sleeping has become illegal in many jurisdictions. Recently many cities in Texas are now citing drivers for idling their engines, And during a heatwave. These laws have effectively turned hard working, honest truck drivers into criminals. In California it is a misdemeanor crime to idle your engine and the law can include civil penalties on top of criminal penalties. A misdemeanor crime conviction on a driver can prevent that driver from getting a job or even entering

Canada for any reason. It isn't like a minor traffic violation which is considered an "infraction". Misdemeanor Crimes stay on your record for the rest of your life. California isn't the only state that does this either. Do we want to fight fatigue or not? Fatigue is a major issue lately in the trucking industry. How much rest can a driver get during hot and humid summer months without Air Conditioning? So drivers idle, and fines get levied sometimes as much as $25,000 and no one cares. Our elected officials who pass these laws enjoy their comfortable air conditioned homes every night, so why should they care. Most large carriers don't care, their CEO's and Presidents enjoy an Air Conditioned home in summer and heat in winter. OSHA who is suppose to be the watchdog of industrial safety standards ignores the issue. It seems that the American People don't seem to care either that their fellow blue collar workers are treated with such disrespect. Otherwise they would be calling and writing their elected officials to create laws that make sense. Company Drivers are at the mercy of their employer. Many companies forbid idling of the trucks, others deduct idling time from drivers pay, and many penalize drivers for over-idling over 10% by cutting their truck speeds or terminating the driver.

• New Laws NEED to be passed NOW to stop the abuse on the American Truck Drivers. Fleet Owners need to be REQUIRED to install APU's or other climate control devices to work in both summer and winter to ensure the proper health safety and well being of their employees.
• Current Anti-Idling Laws need to be suspended temporarily nationwide until the fleet owners are required to provide a safe environment for their employees.

Your Comments are welcomed and encouraged.

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Comments (2)

• |99.160.137.xxx |2010-01-02 22:08:16 Kemp Terry  - idiling
  before we shut our engines off (while working) and sleeping is working the cop and every other person should shut down there a/c and heating units.Im talking all busnesses and automobiles including cops sitting in construction zones at 108 or -28 degrees and see how they like it I bet they wouldnt do the job them but we have to Lets start there
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• |SAdministrator |2010-01-03 15:45:36 Tribal  - re: idiling
  Kemp Terry wrote:

  before we shut our engines off (while working) and sleeping is working the cop and every other person should shut down there a/c and heating units.I'm talking all businesses and automobiles including cops sitting in construction zones at 108 or -28 degrees and see how they like it I bet they wouldn't do the job them but we have to Lets start there

  
  
  If we don't take a stand, the that's who will be losing, WE, US, ALL of us who don't have the luxury of an APU, or cannot afford or even find the truckstops with pull-ins. Make your voices heard to your state/government. We will not take this as it is and just go away. Refuse loads to areas that do not allow even intermittent idling, regardless of pay. I drive a non computerized Diesel, this is what I do or I don't cross into those areas until time of delivery. It up to us to stop complaining and start making these topics Known. It would be great if some of our funds going to OOIDA were spent on this topic as it reflects most likely 75% of us, company and O/O.
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