moose
Veteran Expediter
SLEEP APNEA
We are writing this letter as concerned truckers, regarding upcoming sleep apnea regulatory measures.
As professional drivers, safety is our main concern, and our only way for staying in business. We take great pride in providing safe, compliance service to our customers.
We are concern that the upcoming sleep apnea testing will make our roads less safe for us to travel.
By writing this letter we ask the DOT, CVSA and FMCSA to provide hard data to support further regulations.
While we do understand that such regulations are aimed at reducing fatigue driving, we are concern that without a proper data collecting & understanding of the risk, the opposites will be achieved.
The FMCSA noted its intention to publish Sleep Apnea Guidance to DOT examiners.
We feel that such step MUST follow a hard data gathering, stating what exactly the problem on our HWY’s. How often dose drivers who are suffering from an untreated Sleep Apnea actually fall asleep behind the wheel, and how many accidents are going to be avoided. To the best of our knowledge DOT records show that only 1.4 to 1.7 percent of fetal accidents are fatigue related. IF that is still the case we feel that forcing many experienced truckers off the road will reduce safety, not improve safety.
We also noted that many of the experienced truckers are over weigh, as a direct result of our industry lifestyle. However we feel that in our industry, with weigh gain comes a priceless experience. We do not think that those overweigh experienced truckers are the ones that poses risk on our highways. They are not the ones that fall asleep behind the wheel; they are not the ones that crush. The Data collecting MUST separate between experienced truckers, and inexperienced drivers.
We ask the DOT to take the steps to protect us, making sure that the CMV driver next to us is a highly trained experienced professional, who can keep us safe.
Since medical publications suggested that an over weigh individual is more likely to suffer from a sleep disorder, we feel that many overweight drivers will be wrongly targeted for sleep testing.
The problem we see is that if such Guidance will take effect, many professional experienced truckers, will simply leave our industry. Making place for new inexperienced driver.
We all feel that the most dangerous driver on the road is the inexperienced one.
While some drivers will quit because a concerned that they MIGHT suffer from Sleep Apnea, many will do so do to the cost associated with such compliance burden.
We are concern the medical community will not take ANY chances. The DOT examiners will send many drivers to the sleep study clinic, just to be safe. And the sleep clinics will fail drivers, all in the name of selling a machine, and in hope of seeing those drivers again every year or as require .
In recent weeks, the American Trucking Association asked the FMCSA to avoid publishing medical Guidelines, and asked for a rule making.
We all know so too well why the ATA did so.
The ATA tried to regulate its competition out of business, like they lobbied many time before.
Many large carriers already force much of its fleet to take sleep testing. And they are trying to force all of us to do the same. All in the name of safety, without ANY real rezone to do so. The ATA know such rule will make more room for new inexperienced drivers, which is why they are asking to level the playing field.
We ask the FMCSA to avoid going throw the process of rule-making, and to stick to its original plan of working via the DOT medical examiners guidelines.
We are writing this letter as concerned truckers, regarding upcoming sleep apnea regulatory measures.
As professional drivers, safety is our main concern, and our only way for staying in business. We take great pride in providing safe, compliance service to our customers.
We are concern that the upcoming sleep apnea testing will make our roads less safe for us to travel.
By writing this letter we ask the DOT, CVSA and FMCSA to provide hard data to support further regulations.
While we do understand that such regulations are aimed at reducing fatigue driving, we are concern that without a proper data collecting & understanding of the risk, the opposites will be achieved.
The FMCSA noted its intention to publish Sleep Apnea Guidance to DOT examiners.
We feel that such step MUST follow a hard data gathering, stating what exactly the problem on our HWY’s. How often dose drivers who are suffering from an untreated Sleep Apnea actually fall asleep behind the wheel, and how many accidents are going to be avoided. To the best of our knowledge DOT records show that only 1.4 to 1.7 percent of fetal accidents are fatigue related. IF that is still the case we feel that forcing many experienced truckers off the road will reduce safety, not improve safety.
We also noted that many of the experienced truckers are over weigh, as a direct result of our industry lifestyle. However we feel that in our industry, with weigh gain comes a priceless experience. We do not think that those overweigh experienced truckers are the ones that poses risk on our highways. They are not the ones that fall asleep behind the wheel; they are not the ones that crush. The Data collecting MUST separate between experienced truckers, and inexperienced drivers.
We ask the DOT to take the steps to protect us, making sure that the CMV driver next to us is a highly trained experienced professional, who can keep us safe.
Since medical publications suggested that an over weigh individual is more likely to suffer from a sleep disorder, we feel that many overweight drivers will be wrongly targeted for sleep testing.
The problem we see is that if such Guidance will take effect, many professional experienced truckers, will simply leave our industry. Making place for new inexperienced driver.
We all feel that the most dangerous driver on the road is the inexperienced one.
While some drivers will quit because a concerned that they MIGHT suffer from Sleep Apnea, many will do so do to the cost associated with such compliance burden.
We are concern the medical community will not take ANY chances. The DOT examiners will send many drivers to the sleep study clinic, just to be safe. And the sleep clinics will fail drivers, all in the name of selling a machine, and in hope of seeing those drivers again every year or as require .
In recent weeks, the American Trucking Association asked the FMCSA to avoid publishing medical Guidelines, and asked for a rule making.
We all know so too well why the ATA did so.
The ATA tried to regulate its competition out of business, like they lobbied many time before.
Many large carriers already force much of its fleet to take sleep testing. And they are trying to force all of us to do the same. All in the name of safety, without ANY real rezone to do so. The ATA know such rule will make more room for new inexperienced drivers, which is why they are asking to level the playing field.
We ask the FMCSA to avoid going throw the process of rule-making, and to stick to its original plan of working via the DOT medical examiners guidelines.
My Dad does OK and he is 90. He just does as little night driving as possible. It is an individual matter. 
