On May 26, 2002 a river towboat pilot at the controls of the towboat M/V Robert Love pushing barges fell asleep or lost consciousness and hit the Webber Falls, Oklahoma   I-40 Arkansas River Bridge killing 14 motorists.  Tragically these motorists drove off the collapsed bridge into the Arkansas River.

Towboats operate 24 hours a day on the inland rivers and waterways of this nation. These boats push barges under bridges supporting roadways traveled by thousands of people every day. Towboats are manned 24 hours a day 365 days a year.   Each towboat operates with multiple crew changes on a scheduled interval set by the river transportation company that owns or leases the boat.

There is a federal law that is supposed to protect the public from over tired towboat crews and its known as 46 U.S.C. 8104 (h) (river men call it the 12 hour rule). Tragically, this federal fatigue law or 12 hour rule is not enforced on American inland waterways.  Its been ignored by most river transportation companies because the federal government policy on river transportation is to let these towboat companies police themselves. The Coast Guard is the federal agency that is supposed to police the inland rivers of this nation and enforce safety laws like the 12 hour rule. 

The Coast Guard is indifferent to this fatigue issue and has largely ignored complaints by crew especially river pilots who steer these multi diesel powered towboats and barges up and down our inland waterways. The river transportation companies who own or lease the towboats openly operate the boats in violation of the 12 hour rule. Not all the companies violate the federal fatigue law but most skirt it by the 6 hour watch schedule which amounts to an industry practice.

The Coast Guard track record of indifference toward enforcement of the federal fatigue law is a historical fact. In the infamous Exxon Valdez case a federal appellate court noted the company violated the 12 hour rule for ocean going vessels (46 USC 8104) but the Coast Guard did not officially charge the company with the violation.  In the civil law suit the appeals court held against Exxon and found there was sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that Exxon was reckless regarding compliance with 12 hour rule and for this reason the jury's award of punitive damages against Exxon was upheld.  The citizen jury held Exxon accountable for its flagrant violation of the 12 hour rule by imposing punitive damages.

Most towboat companies require its crew to work 30 days straight aboard the towboat. These companies also require its pilot house crew of 2 to work 6 hour shifts continuous 24 hours daily.  How can these river transportation companies comply with the federal fatigue law when river pilots are pushed to fatigue on the grueling non stop 6 hour shift schedule.  Some of these men obviously have a high pain threshold and the capacity to endure 6 hour continuous shifts for 30 days straight but not most of the pilots.  The pilots are not unionized and most are at will employees. 

Sometimes these river transportation companies run up against a shortage of warm bodies in the pilot house and require a pilot or captain to transfer between company towboats.  An example of this is the company involved in the Arkansas River Bridge tragedy.  A pilot is ordered by the company to leave one towboat for another towboat with the pilot getting little or no sleep between the transfer of the two towboats.  The pilot is required to drive from one towboat landing to home and continue without delay to their next assignment.  In the case of the M/V Robert Love the company had to have known that it was impossible for its pilot to get adequate rest to avoid violation of the federal fatigue law.  The river transportation companies are aware of the 12 hour rule but since its not enforced the companies ignore it. 

Because the federal government has left the river transportation industry to police itself no one enforces the federal fatigue law. A towboat company like the owner of the infamous towboat M/V Robert Love failed to police itself allowing its pilot to operate the controls of its towboat without rest and consequently a citizen jury should give it what it deserves a huge punitive damage verdict  The fault of this fatigue caused tragedy in Oklahoma lies with the towboat company not its crew.