The transportation department fell so far behind in its rulemaking that it took a lawsuit to prompt action.

In a recent column I reported that safety advocates Parents Against Tired Truckers, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Public Citizen and Teamsters for a Democratic Union, disgusted with the federal Department of Transportation’s failure to fulfill mandates ordered by the U.S. Congress, filed suit against Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and the DOT. I can now report that the suit has been won and will hopefully prove effective in pushing the DOT along. The rulings are as follows:

• Drivers’ hours of service: Now, more than four years past due, the DOT has agreed to issue a rule not later than May 31, 2003. The new rule was recently forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget for study prior to further action, but even after the OMB review, legal challenges are expected. A Transportation Department official stated that the rule is significantly different from that proposed two years ago.

• Minimum training standards for entry level drivers of commercial motor vehicles: Congress ordered a final rule to be in place not later than Dec. 18, 1993. DOT is currently exploring a graduated commercial drivers license and now promises a ruling not later than May 31, 2004.

• Minimum training requirements for drivers of longer-combination vehicles (multiple trailers): Congress set a deadline of Dec. 18, 1993. DOT agrees to issue a rule by March 30, 2004.

• Requirements for authorization to transport hazardous materials: Although more than 11 years behind the mandate set by Congress, DOT agrees to issue a rule by June 30, 2004.

• Background checks for new commercial drivers, including what information prospective employers are required to obtain and what information prior employers are required to provide. Congress required the transportation department to implement new rules for background checks for drivers after a series of highway tragedies, including a New Orleans bus accident that killed 22 people on Mothers Day 1999. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the driver of the vehicle should never have been allowed behind the wheel because of a history of serious medical problems. Now more than four years overdue, DOT agrees to issue a rule by March 30, 2004.

While celebrating their victory, the petitioners summed up their feelings.

“The DOT should have issued these rules years ago when Congress told them to. It’s unconscionable that it has taken a lawsuit to compel the agency to do its job,” said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen.

Daphne Izer, founder and co-chair of PATT adds, “We need those rules in place to make our nation’s highways safer and save precious lives. The rules are long overdue and lives have no doubt been lost as a result. It is a total disgrace that the very safety agency, which is supposed to regulate motor carriers, is years and years overdue on such critical rules. Is it any wonder that trucking has the most fatalities of any profession?”

Russ Swift, co-chair of PATT takes a wait and see approach: “While we are pleased to see these life and death issues finally moving forward, the real proof will be in the rules themselves. The 31 May hours-of-service rules are critical. We’ll see if the new rules are based on science, common sense and safety, or greed, profitability and special interests. And we still have to wait another 13-16 months for the other rules, some overdue since 1993.”

Randi Baun, executive director of CRASH and PATT, also had something to say: “Each year more than 5,000 people die in truck crashes and over 131,000 are injured. These long-overdue but critically needed federal rules will keep unsafe trucks and unsafe commercial drivers off the road and lives will be saved. This agreement means that the American public will be in the driver’s seat and not the trucking industry.”

CRASH and PATT agreed to partially stay their lawsuit pending DOT’s rulemaking proceedings. If the agency fails to meet any of the deadlines it has agreed to in the settlement, they will be able to go to court to enforce the deadlines.

As a truck driver and longtime advocate of highway safety I cheer the petitioners’ perseverance and eventual victory in this action. However, in the midst of the celebrating I am also saddened; saddened because a segment of our government faltered so extremely in the execution of its mandated duties that citizens were forced to resort to the courts to move it along. If this is an example of our government working in the interests of its citizens, I shudder at the consequences of the Department of Homeland Security or other agencies similarly failing us.

In the wake of Sept. 11 President Bush effectively silenced many from questioning the federal government’s failure to see a terrorist strike coming. Perhaps it would have been in the best interest of the American people if those critics also had persevered.

Guy Bourrie has been hauling on the highways for 20 years. He lives in Washington, Maine, and can be reached at redhaven@midcoast.com.