Letter to the Editor
Pilot cars
Published Wednesday, March 19, 2008
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To the editor:
I am writing this letter to advise the general public of upcoming changes in the pilot car rules that the Department of Transportation is putting into law.
I have had a pilot car business for 28 years and I know that it is all about safety — safety of the general public, safety of the trucker and safety of the cargo.
A couple of months ago the pilot car drivers and the truck drivers requested a meeting with the Department of Transportation to ask them to remove the revisions on the Dalton Highway. These winter revisions were in place because traffic up north was much less in the winter and the revisions allowed pilot cars to go only to Coldfoot instead of Prudhoe Bay. However, now tourism is up in the winter, there’s a lot more traffic and buses on the road north of Coldfoot. Pilot car drivers and truckers felt that it was now necessary to have pilot cars to Prudhoe.
At this meeting, we were told that DOT was in the process of decreasing the size requirements which would greatly decrease the amount of jobs for pilot cars. This change will surely bankrupt my business and others as well.
The way I see it, the only one to benefit are the oil companies who pay to have goods trucked north.
I don’t understand why the DOT is doing this. The need is still there. The state will lose revenue with fewer permits bought. Trucking companies will lose revenue. Pilot car owners will lose their business. What a horrible time they have chosen to take jobs out of our economy. How do I pay for my pick-up without work? I would not have bought it five months ago if I had known of the upcoming changes. I find it appalling that no one at DOT even considered the pilot car owners or truckers in this decision. Safety must not matter to the Department of Transportation.
There is a scheduled meeting March 19 at 1 p.m. at DOT on Peger Road. Another meeting is scheduled for the same day in Anchorage at 3 p.m. I’ll be there and I hope other interested people will join me and help keep our jobs.
Community Discussion
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I don`t need a "babysitter"to drive up north to go hunting.I am in construction and work hasn`t been quite as good as it has in the last eight or ten years.maybe dot will not be building either.sometimes its feast or famine.Suck it up or find something else to do.Many people don`t like being "herded".
AVERAGE_JOE: I think the author of this letter was talking about the cars (or light trucks) that run ahead of and behind big trucks to warn other traffic of oversize loads, not the pilot cars used to guide people through construction zones. If so, I'd much prefer to be warned by a pilot car rather than suddenly meet a large truck with an oversize load coming around a corner or over a hill. As I understand it, these cars also communicate with the trucker to help him or her do a better job of sharing the road with other traffic.
Seems to me that the author is saying, "Keep the regulations so that I can keep my job." That's not a good reason to have regulations. They should be there strictly for safety reasons. If those reasons don't warrant pilot cars, there is no reason to require them.
I think that the point is SAFETY! These regulations where established because someone probably died! Has anyone who has posted a comment been up the haul road in the winter and had an oversized truck (that has the right of way on that highway so you better move or get forced to) come past at fifty miles an hour because its heading down the long downhill straight away after Wiseman? The requirements that established a need for pilot cars has not changed only the way transporters feel that they can save a dollar in today's economic enviornment have changed. The mans point that our safety, the people that travel that road with the longhaul drivers, is being placed in second position behind profit. Profit for an industry that has been making billions a month in profit, not just gains but PROFIT. Why should we allow officials who are supposed to be representing our views make decisions that put our safety behind profit for a private industry? Just like average joe said, maybe it is time to just suck it up; for the people who need to transport that is, so that they can suck it up and pay the bill that is called 'the cost of doing buisness' and keep safety as the number one priority for the drivers, the cargo and most importantly, the general public that live up that way and have no choice but to share the road because it is the only way home.
A bigger porblem is that the Permit office is willing to offer permits without restrictions on weather conditions, you could encounter an opposite direction wide load in a raging blizzard on the Parks Highway.
A second point is that pilot car requirements are a safety program, not a jobs program. What evidence did DOT present to show that the cars aren't necessary? Do they have statistical data from other areas of the country with similiar road networks, or is the trucking industry just badgering them into a change to save a few bucks?
I like pilot cars. I am a former trucker. By seeing them, they make the car drivers think, as they are coming up to or passing a oversize truck. They also communicate by CB, and other trucks on the road, several miles away know theyre coming. This is a bad plan to get rid of them.
SAFETY 1st --AND-- COMMERCE 2nd
or is it,
COMMERCE 2nd --AND-- SAFETY 1st
oh, fiddlesticks!!!
I expect the rule-making for the Haulroad is gonna be in flux every month for the next several years. So, kinda like the weather, if ya don't like it just wait for a month.
Hopefully teamwork communications over issues like this can be more fluidized via websites and group emails, rather than everybody having to hop on their pony and ride to meeting after meeting.
...that stuff burns up too many pounds of oats.
average joe, i hope some day you meet a truck on that highway hauling 60 ft pipe with no pilot car. GOOD LUCK. As you said you are in the construction industry. I assume you have a trade. Point being if you are a tradesman you have an apprnetice doing your dirty work. Look at it that way. I have seen way to many accidents on that rd. GOOD LUCK TO ALL YOU PILOT CAR DRIVERS. What do you think Howie?
pactrick2 doesn'nt have a clue. Tradesmen don,t hire apprentice,s to do their dirty work. They are hired to be taught the trade, so there will always be enough jourymen in the workforce.
Thanks 751 patty dosn`t even know how to spell apprentice.
Hi, I have driven over 25,000 miles on the Haul Road in a 1 ton truck, during every season. I have had a few very close encounters with over sized trucks on sharp blind turns near the Yukon river area and near the Chandalor shelf area. Other times I have really appreciated the pilot trucks that gave me enough warning to stop before reaching those same turns. There are a several hills that truckers increase speed to climb over, not just the over sized trucks either. When these truckers get close to these hills they usually announce there heading over the hill going North/South on channel 19 on a Citizens band radio. Not all truckers announce, and not everyone driving the Haul Road has a CB radio. I appreciate and support the pilots trucks on the Haul Road. Thanks
If truck drivers want pilot cars, then truck drivers should have pilot cars. My brother (and someone's son, husband, father) puts his life on the line everytime he drives to the slope, and we want him around for a while. If that's what it takes, then I support it.
I support the use of pilot cars.. They provide a much needed SAFETY source. I have had a few close encounters with the large trucks, around the hills and corners and THANK THEM everytime for the forewarning the provide. Removing them or limiting their use has got to be one of the STUPIDIST things I have heard of lately.
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