Trucks can make for a deadly harvest

Annual ritual of hauling crops through the Valley has never been more dangerous.

Published online on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009

Every summer, thousands of 40-ton trucks hauling tomatoes and other crops swarm the Central Valley in a mad dash to bring home the harvest. They keep the region's agricultural economy humming -- but also pose a deadly threat.

The seasonal workers who drive these trucks tend to be less experienced than most truckers, are allowed to work longer hours, and some say they are pressured by their employers to haul more loads than they should in a day -- even if it means putting the public at risk.

Harvest truckers often work 16-hour days driving produce to canneries and warehouses where it is cooked, packaged or stored. They travel hundreds of miles a day, spending much of their time on rural, two-lane roads dotted with stop signs that are easy to miss if truckers are tired or in a hurry.

And they are paid by the load, giving them an extra incentive to push the limits, some critics of the industry say.

As a consequence, trucks hauling crops have been involved in several catastrophic accidents in the Central Valley over the years, including one this month that left four men dead and one woman injured.

One veteran California Highway Patrol officer in the Central Valley said that thanks to increased enforcement, fewer truckers are driving while fatigued or under the influence -- but some still do. The number of total moving violations, however, remains the same as a decade ago.

CHP statistics on truck accidents don't distinguish between trucks carrying produce and other products. But news reports have documented at least 41 fatalities from six crashes over the past 14 years involving ag-hauling trucks in the Valley. In half the crashes, the truck driver was at fault.

One reason for the high number of fatalities in each wreck: the trucks weigh up to 80,000 pounds and pose a much greater threat than other vehicles. In one crash in 1999, for example, 13 people were killed.

Exception for hauling crops

State law says truckers must take at least 10 hours off between shifts. But there is an exception for truckers hauling crops: They can work up to 112 hours in an eight-day period -- 40% more than other truckers -- and for part of the year, they only need to take eight hours off between shifts.

The exception, which has been in place since at least 1995, is necessary because truckers have to haul large amounts of produce in short periods of time, said Julie Sauls, a spokeswoman for the California Trucking Association.

But even the less-stringent rules aren't always followed.

Justin Rivers, 28, has been a truck driver for Selma-based Lion Raisins for six years. At company meetings, managers tell truckers to follow the rules, he said. Even so, Rivers said, managers often pressure drivers into working a new shift after only five or six hours off.

"If you tell them you can't legally work, then they'll find someone else and fire you," he said. "It's always been this way as long as I've worked here -- pushing the limits all the time. All they're worried about is how much money they can make."

Calls to Lion Raisins were not returned.

Officer Brent Vial, who for the last 14 years has been part of a California Highway Patrol unit that regulates trucks in the Central Valley, said other truck drivers have made similar complaints. He said they've told him their bosses threaten to fire them if they aren't willing to bend the law.

Vial said the CHP inspects log books kept by truckers and their companies, but those records can be falsified easily.

"If somebody wants to circumvent the law, it's kind of hard to detect that," he said.