Saturday, August 14, 2010

American Truckers and Organizations Unite for Jason’s Law

Monday June 28th, 2010, the trucking community stands in unison together for their support of Jason’s Law

With all the issues existing within the trucking industry today, none have brought together a more unified atmosphere among truckers, bloggers, organizations, social media participants, and radio shows, than the desire to see the much needed bill, Jason’s Law (H.R. 2156  and S971) passed into law.
The  Jason’s Law bill will allocate 120 million dollars over a 6 year period to ensure that safety improvements are made ( including SAFE adequate truck parking) for rest areas and truck stops.

Hope Rivenburg, the widow of Jason Rivenburg for whom this bill is named, has made Monday June 28th, 2010 as the day for everyone to call their Senators and Representative and strongly urge them to Support Jason’s LawThe trucking community has strongly supported this day in unison together.

As you most likely know, Jason Rivenburg was murdered as he parked to rest in an abandoned gas station because he could not find safe suitable truck parking for his early morning delivery. Adequate and safe truck parking has been a major concern of truckers for many years, with promises in the past made to remedy the problem.
We are now all standing together to ensure that something be done and that the death of fellow truck driver Jason Rivenburg has not been in vain.

Jason’s widow Hope, has made numerous trips to Washington, urging lawmakers and government officials to support Jason’s Law. In a year when highway safety has taken a significant increased priority among government agencies, this bill should be 100% supported and should have been passed by now.

Hope and Congressman Paul Tonko, who is the originator of the bill HR 2156, has also made numerous pleas  on Truth About Trucking “Live”, Allen Smith’s  blog talk radio show. Hope and Congressman Tonko have also been guests discussing Jason’s Law on TruckStar Radio with Daniel Audet.
Hope was recently a guest on Road Dog Trucking Radio on the Lockridge Report, sharing her story and urging listeners to support this day. Many of the other shows on Road Dog Radio have also made numerous mentions of the June 28th Call to Action, strongly supporting this day and urging their listeners to take action.

Organizations are supporting this badly needed bill, including OOIDA, who on June 24th released a National Call to Action to their members for the participation of the June 28th Calling Campaign to Washington.

The Teamsters and ATA have also supported the need for Jason’s Law.

Now we must ensure that the government officials whom we’ve elected into office, do their part in recognizing the need for HR 2156, Jason’s Law. For some reason, this bill has been “stuck” in the Transportation and  Infrastructure Committee. James Oberstar of Minnesota  is the chair and John Mica of Florida is the ranking Republican.

Representative Jim Oberstar (D – 08) 202-225-6211

Representative John L. Mica (R – 07) 202-225-4035

The Subcommittee that appears to be “sitting on this bill” is the Highways and Transit.
Highways and Transit is chaired by Pete Defazio of Oregon and John Duncan Jr. of Tennessee is the ranking Republican.
Ironically, John Duncan has recently written an article about the dangers of distracted driving, obviously concerned about the “safety of drivers.”

Representative Peter DeFazio (D – 04) 202-225-6416

Representative John J. Duncan, Jr. (R – 02) 202-225-5435

I say we give all these folks in the committees a call and urge them to get the ball rolling for Jason’s Law.

*ALSO: Please call your own state representatives and senators :

Here’s the link

The entire process, including the phone call will take less than 5 minutes, but the positive effects for drivers will BE PRICELESS.

© 2010, AskTheTrucker. All rights reserved.


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Tagged with: H.R. 2156 • Highways and Transit committee • jason rivenburg • Jason's law- H.R.2156 S971 • Jim Oberstar • John J Duncan • John L Mica • Peter Defazio • safe truck parking • truck drivers • trucking

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