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A cdl allows one to drive either 50 tons of truck or a bus full of people. Do tell me, the current negatives of the regulation regime, and the benefits of the

A cdl allows one to drive either 50 tons of truck or a bus full of people. Do tell me, the current negatives of the regulation regime, and the benefits of the new one? Also don’t forget to provide a realistic analysis of future safety failures and ways in which the old regulations would have prevented that, and why the new ones don’t and why that’s ok.

matz1 7y ago
current negatives ? Increased cost of doing business Will there slight increase in safety failures ? maybe, I accept that.
- himeexcelanta 7y ago
  A fatal accident can cost a trucking company over 1mil USD. The ATA (American Trucking Association) lobbies heavily to allow under 21-year-olds to carry freight over state lines. There’s no talk about in the upper echelons of US trucking to relax medical, drug, safety, or experience requirements; these companies know it will put them out of business if they hire drivers who get into accidents or even get people killed. There is currently a HUGE lack of qualified, safe trucker drivers in the US. Your suggestion would drive up the cost of freight in the US, and would cost lives. Further, companies like Amazon will have enough money and influence to absorb the cost of unsafe drivers, while most registered US motor carriers (the vast majority of which are under 100 trucks) will be put at a huge disadvantage vis a vi Amazon. The last thing society needs is Amazon yet again pushing others out of business by being able to race to the bottom and lose money in the short to medium term.
  - matz1 7y ago
    >A fatal accident can cost a trucking company over 1mil USD That's the deterrent for the trucker to not screwing up.
    - himeexcelanta 7y ago
      Are you for real? At best involuntary manslaughter will get you usually at least 12 months in US prison, not to mention any financial penalties from the criminal or civil lawsuit. Do you have any first hand experience with trucking? It really sounds like you are expressing your opinion from a place of ignorance (feel free to prove me wrong with reasoned argument). My background: I am a founder of a US based software company whose customers are motor carriers.
      - ryanobjc 7y ago
        I find hackernews oddly unsatisfying recently because of comment threads like this. Someone pops in and offers a knee jerk “no regulation” suggestion. Then either people agree with them (yikes!) or there is this type of exchange. Where an expert (and I have a ton of truck drivers in both sides of my family, so while I am not an “expert” by vocation, I am very familiar with issues) points out real life problems and the other person doubles down on crazy. This means I have to have my “idiot filter” on whenever I’m reading hn.
        matz1 7y ago
        I'm not suggestion no regulation, rather less regulation. I'm not claiming I'm and expert. Can you maybe please argue the point, rather than resorting to insult.
- will_brown 7y ago
  >Will there slight increase in safety failures ? maybe, I accept that. So you want to deregulate commercial truck drivers because you feel costs of getting/maintaining a CDl outweigh the safety issues? Do you have any insight on this at all? Have you ever driven a commercial truck for a living? Do you even know the cost of obtain/maintain a CDL? The average cost of a commercial trucking accident? The average decrease in commercial truck accidents via-a-vis trucking school? How about commercial pilots? Should we do away with pilot license because the liensure increases business costs notwithstanding increase in safety failures?
  - matz1 7y ago
    Do you think with less regulation suddenly trucker will be more careless ? The burden that the trucker will pay if they involve in an accident still going to be high, if its not already high and assuming they too do not like to die.
    - himeexcelanta 7y ago
      Truckers will absolutely become more careless, because when their money (and their employer’s money) depends on how many miles you can push in a set time period, there will be the ultimate incentive to be careless and push the limits.
      - matz1 7y ago
        And here are the incentive for the the trucker to not being careless : - death - disabled for life - life in prison - monetary damages - no company will hire you
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - will_brown 7y ago
      >Do you think with less regulation suddenly trucker will be more careless ? I believe with less training and lower standards there will be more accidents? Historically there were less regulations and more accidents. Licensing is only one component of the safety regulations enacted, but again historically yes without these regulations truckers engaged in more risky driving behaviors. Again it sounds like you are unfamiliar with the industry.
- supercanuck 7y ago
  >Increased cost of doing business Are you sure about that? What would the insurance risk premiums be on letting amateurs drive tractor trailers. Seems this would simply push the risks (future expense of an accident) on other people of the road.
  - himeexcelanta 7y ago
    I don’t have any hard numbers or studies. I am inferring this from the fact that the ATA and trucking lobby hasn’t made a hard push to relax FMCSA safety regulations. Large motor carriers were the first to adopt ELD. They know what regulations to fight and which ones to accept, in terms of what will help their bottom line (and maximize value to their shareholders as many motor carriers are public companies).
    - matz1 7y ago
      ATA and trucking lobby might have different motives for not relaxing regulation, high barrier to entry is good for them.

matz1 7y ago

current negatives ? Increased cost of doing business Will there slight increase in safety failures ? maybe, I accept that.

himeexcelanta 7y ago
A fatal accident can cost a trucking company over 1mil USD. The ATA (American Trucking Association) lobbies heavily to allow under 21-year-olds to carry freight over state lines. There’s no talk about in the upper echelons of US trucking to relax medical, drug, safety, or experience requirements; these companies know it will put them out of business if they hire drivers who get into accidents or even get people killed. There is currently a HUGE lack of qualified, safe trucker drivers in the US. Your suggestion would drive up the cost of freight in the US, and would cost lives. Further, companies like Amazon will have enough money and influence to absorb the cost of unsafe drivers, while most registered US motor carriers (the vast majority of which are under 100 trucks) will be put at a huge disadvantage vis a vi Amazon. The last thing society needs is Amazon yet again pushing others out of business by being able to race to the bottom and lose money in the short to medium term.
- matz1 7y ago
  >A fatal accident can cost a trucking company over 1mil USD That's the deterrent for the trucker to not screwing up.
  - himeexcelanta 7y ago
    Are you for real? At best involuntary manslaughter will get you usually at least 12 months in US prison, not to mention any financial penalties from the criminal or civil lawsuit. Do you have any first hand experience with trucking? It really sounds like you are expressing your opinion from a place of ignorance (feel free to prove me wrong with reasoned argument). My background: I am a founder of a US based software company whose customers are motor carriers.
    - ryanobjc 7y ago
      I find hackernews oddly unsatisfying recently because of comment threads like this. Someone pops in and offers a knee jerk “no regulation” suggestion. Then either people agree with them (yikes!) or there is this type of exchange. Where an expert (and I have a ton of truck drivers in both sides of my family, so while I am not an “expert” by vocation, I am very familiar with issues) points out real life problems and the other person doubles down on crazy. This means I have to have my “idiot filter” on whenever I’m reading hn.
      - matz1 7y ago
        I'm not suggestion no regulation, rather less regulation. I'm not claiming I'm and expert. Can you maybe please argue the point, rather than resorting to insult.
will_brown 7y ago
>Will there slight increase in safety failures ? maybe, I accept that. So you want to deregulate commercial truck drivers because you feel costs of getting/maintaining a CDl outweigh the safety issues? Do you have any insight on this at all? Have you ever driven a commercial truck for a living? Do you even know the cost of obtain/maintain a CDL? The average cost of a commercial trucking accident? The average decrease in commercial truck accidents via-a-vis trucking school? How about commercial pilots? Should we do away with pilot license because the liensure increases business costs notwithstanding increase in safety failures?
- matz1 7y ago
  Do you think with less regulation suddenly trucker will be more careless ? The burden that the trucker will pay if they involve in an accident still going to be high, if its not already high and assuming they too do not like to die.
  - himeexcelanta 7y ago
    Truckers will absolutely become more careless, because when their money (and their employer’s money) depends on how many miles you can push in a set time period, there will be the ultimate incentive to be careless and push the limits.
    - matz1 7y ago
      And here are the incentive for the the trucker to not being careless : - death - disabled for life - life in prison - monetary damages - no company will hire you
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - will_brown 7y ago
    >Do you think with less regulation suddenly trucker will be more careless ? I believe with less training and lower standards there will be more accidents? Historically there were less regulations and more accidents. Licensing is only one component of the safety regulations enacted, but again historically yes without these regulations truckers engaged in more risky driving behaviors. Again it sounds like you are unfamiliar with the industry.
supercanuck 7y ago
>Increased cost of doing business Are you sure about that? What would the insurance risk premiums be on letting amateurs drive tractor trailers. Seems this would simply push the risks (future expense of an accident) on other people of the road.
- himeexcelanta 7y ago
  I don’t have any hard numbers or studies. I am inferring this from the fact that the ATA and trucking lobby hasn’t made a hard push to relax FMCSA safety regulations. Large motor carriers were the first to adopt ELD. They know what regulations to fight and which ones to accept, in terms of what will help their bottom line (and maximize value to their shareholders as many motor carriers are public companies).
  - matz1 7y ago
    ATA and trucking lobby might have different motives for not relaxing regulation, high barrier to entry is good for them.