Texas to crack down on anti-idling laws, trucker beware...

Mike

Well-Known Member
Truckers stopping in Texas may soon see enforcement of anti-idling rules stepped up as an exemption of many local government-enforced idling restrictions expires.
On Sept. 1, truck drivers will no longer be allowed to idle during federally mandated rest periods. Cities and counties in Texas that enforce idling restrictions have agreed to sign a memorandum of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that limits idling to five minutes at a time.
The memorandum exempted idling during “government-mandated rest periods,” but that exemption ends on Sept. 1, 2009.
Some exemptions, however, will remain.
Vehicles aren’t restricted from idling in Texas if they:

  • Have a gross vehicle weight rating of 14,000 pounds or less and do not have a sleeper berth;
  • Have a gross vehicle weight rating of 14,000 pounds or less, after Sept. 1, 2009;
  • Are forced to remain motionless because of traffic conditions;
  • Provide power source necessary for mechanical operation;
  • Are being operated for maintenance or diagnostic purposes;
  • Are being operated solely to defrost a windshield; or
  • Are being used to provide air conditioning or heating necessary for employee health or safety while the employee is using the vehicle to perform an essential job function related to roadway construction or maintenance.
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  • Have a gross vehicle weight rating of 14,000 pounds or less and do not have a sleeper berth;
  • Have a gross vehicle weight rating of 14,000 pounds or less, after Sept. 1, 2009
GAH! These are the guys who are home every night and don't need to idle thier trucks!

This is the stupidest idle law yet, and I'm really disappointed in Texas over this one. It used to be one of my favorite states.

However, I wonder what the true level of enforcement will be. Just because you can get a ticket for something does not mean you will get a ticket for something.

There were TONS of trucks idling in Hesperia last night, Coachella the night before, and theres even a few idling in Fontana at the ATS yard tonight (and it's like 60 degrees out - morons) and people went nuts when Cali passed their law too.

They can make as many laws as they want. But the level of enforcement should be the true concern.
 
Not sure what the enforcement level will be, but it is something to be concerned about.

In California, I still idle my truck, and will continue to do so. If I get a ticket, I will hand it to the terminal manager and let them pay it. We have 1-2 loads that go to California per week, and they only give those loads to about 3-4 of us because everyone spends an entire week on that run.

As for Texas, I just don't know. Lived there all of my life until about 18 months ago. They love to screw with trucks, but I never had a problem with it because they enforce things we are supposed to be abiding with. As for the idling law, I don't feel the same because I have a major issue with this law. Enforcing safety issues is one thing, enforcing stupidity that puts truckers health at risk is another.
 
This is bad and they are out of control.
All States will follow..........
Just another notch on turning the screw...........
I don't understand why the states are not being challenged in the system yet.
 
What I wonder is, if this isn't a way of forcing most people to buy APUs.

Then, let's say that works, and we all have APUs say, 10 years fromo now.

How long until they start complaining about APUs idling?
 
I wonder how many guys are going to have to DIE or a heat stroke or, sense DOT is so GD worried about us getting sleep? I wonder how many drivers can actually rest on a TRUCK that is at 105 DEGREES?????

GD these @#@!%% Lawmakers!
They do not take our safety in consideration... Who the hell do they think they are kidding...


-O.T
I need / WE need 6-8 hours REST per night/day....
HOW in the hell do these GD people think a driver can REST in a #$&^%* OVEN?
STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!!
 
DOT - LAWMAKERS,
MIND your own business, stay out of ours.. and when you stick your nose in the wrong at at the wrong time? It's liable to get BROKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#$!Y^%@ THESE, Wrongful governing bastards!
 
It is much, much more than the DOT and a few less than intelligent lawmakers who are driving this movement. It is every damn, little, pointy headed environmentalist in the entire country, each of whom think they have the answer to utopia.

According to the EPA (a conglomeration of pointy heads) the problem is solved by the use of all this technology, and, we can all now breathe much better. Bull-Hockey. All this stuff adds weight, and, cost to a truck. Most truckers are blue collar, and, can't afford all this fancy-schmancy, high priced junk.

Oh! And isn't there suppose to be a clean idle, CARB approved, diesel engine in the new trucks. I've seen the stickers. Is that a get out of jail sticker, or, a free pass?

Overtime is right. Someone is gonna' die over this ignorance. I hope it ain't you, or, me.
 
They don't care. What gets me is for every law there is a law that seems to counter it.
Alot of our problems come from not having the money to meet the requirements placed on trucks. Or the money to fight it.
The big companies can meet them, We can not. So we be gone they be happy.
 
Before u know it every state is going to have this stupid law i ignore it and idle so far cops havent said anything i think some oficers side with the truckers they too think its one on the dumbest laws yet
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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfzVDZWV4mw]YouTube - Stray Cats - I Fought The Law - Live![/ame]

maybe..............maybe not........
We can and might have recourse on this.
Ok Rebel put your law hat on............
 
It is much, much more than the DOT and a few less than intelligent lawmakers who are driving this movement. It is every damn, little, pointy headed environmentalist in the entire country, each of whom think they have the answer to utopia.

According to the EPA (a conglomeration of pointy heads) the problem is solved by the use of all this technology, and, we can all now breathe much better. Bull-Hockey. All this stuff adds weight, and, cost to a truck. Most truckers are blue collar, and, can't afford all this fancy-schmancy, high priced junk.

Oh! And isn't there suppose to be a clean idle, CARB approved, diesel engine in the new trucks. I've seen the stickers. Is that a get out of jail sticker, or, a free pass?

Overtime is right. Someone is gonna' die over this ignorance. I hope it ain't you, or, me.

2xR does the research and does it well.
 
Right to work:
Human right
Main article: human rights
Main article: labour rights
Article 23.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
"Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment."
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights elaborates the right to work in the context of individual freedoms and economic, social and cultural development. The Covenant also elaborates the role of the state in realising this human right. Article 6 states:
"(1) The State Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right. (2) The steps to be taken by a State party to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include technical and vocational guidance and training programmes, policies and techniques to achieve steady economic, social and cultural development and full and productive employment under conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual
 

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