In The News

2008 proves fertile field for opinions about diesel prices, HOS, other key issues

Truckers are an opinionated group, never hesitant to express how they feel about virtually any subject.

So we thought we’d go back and take a look at how you answered some of the questions we posted on our poll on TheTrucker.com during 2008.

Right off the bat, we asked, “What do you think will be the biggest issue facing trucking in 2008?”

Overwhelmingly (62.8 percent) you said diesel prices (at the time, the average diesel price was $3.37). 

Following diesel prices were Hours of Service (17.5 percent), freight availability, road congestion and electronic on-board data recorders (EOBRs).

We would say that diesel prices and freight availability turned out to be the biggest issues.

During the year, we posed several other questions about the cost of diesel and thankfully, some of your answers didn’t pan out.

In January, we asked whether you felt the average price would ever go below $3 a gallon again and 73 percent of you said “no.”

In June, with prices seemingly headed to the moon and pundits calling for $150-a-barrel oil by the end of the year, 78 percent of you felt the average price of diesel would hit $5.25 before the end of the year.

In August with the cost of diesel abating somewhat, we asked whether you felt prices would go back up when the demand for heating oil went up once winter came and 79 percent said yes, prices would increase again.

Finally, in December, we asked whether you felt the drop in diesel prices was short-lived or long-term, and 87 percent of you said short-lived.

By the way, when we asked what the solution to lower oil prices was, you said allow more drilling.

From time to time, we threw in a sports question.

When we asked who would win Super Bowl XLII, by almost 2-to-1 you said New England (New York won); when the National League playoffs started, we asked whether Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee or Philadelphia would be NL champs and you said Los Angeles (Philadelphia won) and then we asked whether Philadelphia or Tampa Bay would win the World Series and you said Tampa Bay.

All of which proves that truckers can read a road map much better than make sports predictions.

Occasionally, we delved into politics.

Most of you said you would vote for John McCain over Barack Obama for president.

You said you felt McCain had the best grasp of transportation and trucking issues facing the nation over the next four years.

Then once the election was over, we asked “Do you think the Obama administration will be responsive to the tough issues facing trucking such as the infrastructure, high diesel prices, NAFTA, speed limiters, hours of service, mandated EOBRs, etc.?”

Almost 67 percent said “no.”

The economy turned out to be a big, big issue in 2008.

When we asked in July if you knew of a driver who had left the trucking business because of the high fuel prices, 76 percent said “yes.”

When the federal government announced the big bailout plan, 83 percent said the action wouldn’t have a positive impact on your income during the last quarter of 2008.

Over 73 percent of you said you spent less on Christmas in 2008; 18 percent said you spent about the same, 9 percent said more.

The last question asked in 2008 was whether you expected the U.S. to experience an economic upswing before the end of 2009, and we received a virtual 50-50 response.

Topics related to HOS always draw interesting responses.

With the HOS rule designed to help truckers get eight consecutive hours of sleep each night (or day), we asked on the average, how many hours you slept each 24-hour period.

Most of you (29 percent) said six hours; 25 percent said seven and 22 percent said eight. Fifteen percent said five hours and 9 percent said four hours or less.

When we asked what time of day you did most of your driving, 37 percent said between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m., 27 percent said between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m., 22 percent said between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. and 14 percent between 2 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Opponents of the current HOS rule are quick to criticize the 34-hour restart provision, so we asked which you use more: the 34-hour restart or the 60-70 rule.

By an 80-20 percent margin, you said the 34-hour restart.

With the HOS Interim Final Rule in place during most of the year, we asked whether you felt there would be any changes in HOS when the Final Rule was published and you said “no.”

You were right.

When the Final Rule was published, by a 51-49 margin, you said you were not happy with the Final Rule.

We suspect most of the disappointment is the result of the 8-2 sleeper berth provision.

A few other results:

• An overwhelmingly majority (87 percent) didn’t agree with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s decision to extend the Cross Border Demonstration Project another two years.

• Just over 51 percent don’t favor the FMCSA’s proposal to make the medical certificate part of the CDL.

• When a new study claimed that thousands of truckers had driven big rigs with medical conditions that qualify for full federal disability payments, 33 percent of you said you had driven your rig when you were really medically unfit to drive, whether it was a short-term acute illness or a long-term chronic disability.

As always, thanks for your participation.

Lyndon Finney of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at [email protected].