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We are near the end of many years and 150 million miles of trucking in the northeastern United States.

After all the evidence is weighed, there is only one conclusion: CSA in its present form is not a trustworthy tool for either the FMCSA or the public at large to use in qualifying carriers.

The new hours-of-service rules passed recently by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration are a concern for us because our drivers rely on the 34-hour reset as it stands now.

Once again, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation has failed to put forth common sense with regards to longhaul truckers’ hours of service.

I have attended several meetings of American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council where participants have stated they simply want to know how many years a component will last.

“Safety theatre” (for that’s what it surely is) makes all parties feel good while disguising the real issue: how to train drivers to use the new technologies without compromising safety.

Of course, concerns persist about electronic onboard recorders (“FMCSA Drops Its 2012 Electronic Log Rule Aimed at Carriers With Major HOS Offenses,” 11-21, p. 3). EOBRs are unconstitutional and should be outlawed.

Your Oct. 31 “Analysis” from The Associated Press, which was headlined “Small Business Tax Deduction to Shrink, Showing Importance of Year-End Planning” (p. 7), stated: “The maximum that can be deducted under the two deductions combined is $2 million.”

I’ve driven some “oversize” equipment myself within the past three years, and while not necessarily as “monstrous” as what the letter writer is probably moving most of the time, the 11-foot-wide unescorted mobile cranes and/or 14.3-foot double-decker buses are still considered oversize.