GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. (March 31, 2003) — What would happen if all truck drivers decided to run strictly by the book for an entire month?

The U.S.-based Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association wants to find out. The 91,000-member group wants drivers and owner-operators to run in strict compliance with hours-of-service rules for 30 days — the entire month of June to emphasize the impact of unproductive work hours that are typically logged as off-duty time.

“The greatest and most immediate impact will be on the shippers and receivers who continue to waste drivers’ time, and on the motor carriers that are willing to give away that time,” says OOIDA president Jim Johnston.

Revisions to hours-of-service rules aren’t the tonic when nearly 30 per cent of a driver’s time is spent sitting, Johnston notes, citing a 1999 productivity survey from the Truckload Carriers Association. He says a hundred drivers are doing the equivalent work of 140 drivers as they absorb the inefficiencies in the system at their own expense.

OOIDA is launching its campaign under the banner of “Truck Safety Month” in order to focus on two issues. It wants to illustrate, through productivity losses, just how much of a contribution truckers really make to the system, despite going unpaid. And it wants to draw attention to rules and regulations, such as hours of service, that force drivers to cheat on their logs in order to meet schedules and earn a living.

“I had one carrier tell me it’s been trying to get its drivers to log legally for years, but they just won’t do it,” Johnston says. “But I wonder how supportive the carrier would be when one of its drivers shuts down an hour away from the customer because he’s out of hours. That support would probably turn pretty quickly.”