| A 70-year-old truck driver was travelling west on | | | | 80 m.p.h. or higher. |
| I-196 near Grandville, MI, driving a semi-truck | | | | I became an advocate for reforms to reduce the |
| carrying pies when his truck crossed the | | | | number of car-truck collisions after representing |
| centerline and collided with a 20078 Chevy Tahoe. | | | | the family of a 5-year-old boy who was killed |
| The truck careened over the edge of an | | | | when a semi-tractor truck struck from behind a |
| overpass and both vehicles caught fire. | | | | vehicle being driven by his mother. |
| Motorists who stopped at the scene and | | | | The minimum reforms I championed then were: |
| Grandville police officers helped pull Robert | | | | paving construction to widen our two-lane |
| Gortner, 82, from the Tahoe. But his wife, a | | | | highways or at least provide for more left-turn |
| passenger, was trapped in the vehicle and Robert | | | | flare lanes increased speed enforcement on |
| Osborne, 70, was trapped in his truck. Edna | | | | two-lane highways stricter enforcement of truck |
| Gortner, 83, of Grand Rapids and Osborn of | | | | driver's driving time limits can prevent deaths. |
| Macelona both were killed. An elderly passenger in | | | | I now add to my call for reform the need to |
| the Tahoe was killed along with the truck driver. | | | | lower the maximum driving age for all truckers to |
| That was in September 2009. | | | | 65. Because we cannot predict with any certainty |
| About a year earlier in July 2008 a 71-year-old | | | | the age when a driver's physical and mental |
| truck driver on I-75 in Michigan slammed into | | | | reactions begin to slow, then 65 becomes the |
| vehicles in the southbound lanes, causing the | | | | best standard because at that age the driver can |
| death of 19-year-old Kara Joan Larivee of | | | | draw Social Security and Medicare in addition to |
| Rochester Hills. The 71-year-old driver, already | | | | any retirement benefits or 401k investments. |
| driving at a high rate of speed, failed to react | | | | Age 65 also is the mandatory retirement age for |
| quickly enough to the fact that traffic had come | | | | airline pilots thanks to a bill signed in February |
| to a standstill because of merging traffic. | | | | 2007 raising the mandatory retirement age to 65. |
| The common denominators of both tragedies is | | | | Going back to the 1960s airline pilots were forced |
| that neither accident should have occurred, no | | | | to retire at age 60 by the Federal Aviation |
| one should have been killed, and both truck | | | | Administration (FAA). |
| drivers were 70 or older. | | | | Think about that. A pilot flies his plane in open air, |
| As a personal liability attorney who has grieved | | | | without any other planes within visible sight, is |
| with clients over the needless deaths resulting | | | | aided by a co-pilot a seat away and by a |
| from car-truck accidents, I have argued in the | | | | controller on the ground, and often flies on |
| past that truck related deaths can be reduced by | | | | auto-pilot. Yet even with this redundancy and |
| paying more attention to highway safety and | | | | backup help the FAA for more than half a decade |
| driver fatigue. In recent months I have become | | | | said it was unsafe for a pilot over 60 to continue |
| convinced the effort should now involve a | | | | on the job. Now it's considered unsafe at age 65. |
| three-prong approach - safer roads, less driver | | | | So why in the world do we allow truckers to |
| fatigue, and a mandatory retirement age for | | | | continue driving at age 65, 70, 75 even 80? Truck |
| truck drivers. | | | | drivers at high speeds every day must make |
| The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration | | | | split-second decisions that require extra-ordinary |
| reports that as many as 4,000 Americans a year | | | | quick reaction times. Common sense, if not |
| are killed in collisions with trucks that have incurred | | | | physical exams, eye and hearing tests, and stress |
| thousands of safety violations, such as defective | | | | tests, tells us that a driver age 65-70 is not |
| brakes, bad tires or loads dangerously beyond | | | | physically and mentally equipped for this challenge. |
| weight limits. Many of the truck drivers involved | | | | If a truck driver makes a mistake it is very hard |
| had little or no training, many were 65 or older, | | | | to correct because of the mass and size of a |
| and many others had a history of alcohol and | | | | truck. Most truck drivers are good drivers who |
| drug abuse. | | | | drive defensively and are qualified and trained to |
| Because Michigan does not allow for punitive | | | | be good drivers. But only a single driver error in a |
| damages against truck drivers in effect all | | | | lifetime of driving can have tragic results. And as |
| truckers have immunity against being held | | | | that driver nears the end of a career of driving |
| accountable. For that reason truckers causing | | | | the odds increase dramatically that a fatal mistake |
| tragic accidents will continue driving even though | | | | will occur. |
| untrained, continue to drive under the influence of | | | | I cannot rest at peace because I know with |
| drugs or alcohol, and continue to drive when age | | | | certainty that before the year ends someone |
| slows their reflexes and judgment. | | | | else will needlessly die somewhere on a highway. I |
| Truck accidents occur because of fatigue, | | | | am certain of this because federal officials, state |
| highway design faults, defective equipment, and | | | | and county governments, and law enforcement |
| driver error. Some causes are predictable; others | | | | won't take any actions beyond the civil and |
| are not. The result is always predictable, though -- | | | | criminal judgments recorded. None of us should be |
| the shear volume of a truck traveling 40 m.p.h. or | | | | at peace until certain actions are taken. And these |
| faster will always create havoc. | | | | actions are: widening our two-lane highways; |
| The biggest killer on our highways is fatigue. | | | | adding left-turn flare lanes as needed; stricter |
| Federal transportation officials must come up with | | | | enforcement to ensure log books reflect actual |
| stricter guidelines to make sure that logbooks are | | | | driving time and rest time; and establishing a |
| properly kept and that commercial carriers ensure | | | | mandatory retirement for truck drivers at age 65. |
| their drivers get the rest they need between | | | | Join me in this campaign by writing letters to the |
| trips. | | | | Federal Transportation Agency, to the governor |
| State highway departments throughout the U.S | | | | of your state, and to newspaper and television |
| must adopt an aggressive program to widen | | | | editors. Increased public awareness will result in |
| two-lane highways throughout areas to make | | | | the changes that are needed to save thousands |
| high-speed travel safer for all. Law enforcement | | | | of lives. What we say does matter and will count |
| officials must police our highways to enforce | | | | for change. |
| speed limits rather than tolerating drivers traveling | | | | |