The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to enforce a final decision and order issued to North Canton-based trucking company Star Air and owner Robert R. Custer for terminating two truck drivers in violation of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act's whistleblower provisions.
The company has been ordered to pay $612,205.
The Labor Department's Administrative Review Board issued a final decision to Star Air on Dec. 19, 2011, requiring the company to reinstate the two employees and pay $602,366, including back wages in the amount of $341,894 for one driver and $181,468 for the other, as well as $79,004 in attorney fees. On Jan. 18, 2012, the review board ordered Star Air to pay supplemental attorney fees of $9,839.
To date, Star Air has not taken any action to comply, prompting the department's suit, which has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division in Akron.
The department is represented by its Regional Office of the Solicitor in Cleveland.
"These drivers were fired for trying to protect themselves and the driving public," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "OSHA will continue to defend America's truck drivers who are retaliated against by unscrupulous employers when they refuse to drive while fatigued, ill, or in violation of truck weight or hours-of-service requirements."
The drivers were dismissed after one was stopped by West Virginia State Police and cited for hauling an excess load without a commercial driver's license; operating an overweight trailer; driving a commercial vehicle that did not have the name of the company, its home base and its U.S. Department of Transportation number displayed; and driving without a log book.
The driver who was cited told the other driver, and both refused to continue driving until these issues were resolved. Consequently, both were terminated.
Both drivers filed complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration alleging that Star Air had discriminated against them in retaliation for activities protected by the STAA, and a Labor Department administrative law judge issued the order for reinstatement and back wages.
Under automatic review provisions, the judge's decision then was referred to and upheld by the Administrative Review Board, which issues final decisions for the secretary of labor in cases arising under a wide range of worker protection laws.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the STAA and 21 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, motor vehicle safety, health care reform, nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime and securities laws. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise various protected concerns or provide protected information to the employer or the government. Employees who believe that they have been retaliated against for engaging in protected conduct may file a complaint with the secretary of labor for an investigation by OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program. More information is available at http://www.whistleblowers.gov.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

Are Truck Drivers going to be Obsolete because of Intelligent Transportation Systems?

Before I get into this article, I wanted to set the stage, as they say, by letting everyone know that the city of Farmington, Michigan is about to launch the first “Intellistreets” concept in the United States.<br>

They are using federal grant money to become the first city in the world to feature “intelligent streets”. This will comprise a lighting pole system that combines energy conservation, homeland security features, audio, traffic control and more.

“Intellistreets” amounts to an intelligent wireless network, completely concealed within the street light pole. But it’s far more than a simple street light. Its lighting is variable for energy conservation, reacting to natural light, the environment and wireless commands. It has sensors to monitor foot traffic and vehicle traffic. It will be able to transmit information for emergency alerts, indicate evacuation routes,  Amber Alert warnings, or hazardous environmental alerts and more. 

What concerns me is the “and more”. With red-light automated ticketing and the ability of license-plate readers, where do you draw the line on what cities can do?

Can you imagine driving down the street and the light post lights up and says “We know your car insurance has expired or your plates have expired.”

I predict that you are now looking at the last two or three generations of over the road trucking as it is now. It would not surprise me one bit that in the next 100 years OTR truck drivers will be NO MORE. They will be sophisticated computer programmers. 

To further my point, I have already told you about Google’s driverless car. Well now, it has come to light that the Department of Motor Vehicles officials in Nevada said they have issued Google the nation’s first license to test self-driving cars on public streets. After conducting demonstrations on the Las Vegas Strip and in Carson City, NV they show that a car is as safe – or perhaps safer – than a human.

Self-driving technology works like an autopilot to guide the car with little or no intervention from a human being. Laser radar mounted on the roof and in the grill detects pedestrians and other vehicles, creating a virtual buffer zone around obstacles to be avoided.

The robotic car could drop off its operator at the mall and hunt for a parking spot on its own.

Concept cars never really reflect the vehicles that end up driving on the road. They show us what cars could be one day. The car of the future may look like a floating doughnut according to Volkswagen.

The VW Hover Car is one of three concepts to come out of the People’s Car Project that the German company has launched in China. The Hover Car is a two-seater zero emission vehicle that hovers above the ground and travels along electromagnetic road networks. It can detect other vehicles on the road while navigating congested traffic centers. Because of the lack of friction the Hover Car could be very energy-efficient. 

Now all of this might seem farfetched. But maybe not as much as you’d think. Stanford University researchers may have solved the problems of range anxiety by wireless charging technology that could one day create an electric highway.

Wireless recharging already is used by some electric vehicle charging stations to fill up batteries without cords or plugging into an outlet. MIT helped pioneer this technology and spun it off into a wireless charging startup.

However, Stanford researchers improved on this concept and devised a way to transmit 10 kilowatts of electric power across a 6.5 foot distance with minimal energy loss. By overcoming transmitting electricity across a significant distance, researchers will make it possible to pave a highway with wireless conduits that can provide additional power to electric vehicles and let them operate indefinitely.

Theoretically, coils bent at a 90 degree angle can be embedded in an asphalt road attached to the electrical grid. Cars would be outfitted with identical coils attached to their undercarriage to create a magnetic field with the electric highway, which would wirelessly transmit electricity to keep the cars running.

This charging strategy has only been proven in Stanford’s computer models, but the results are promising. Computer simulations show a power transfer efficiency of 97 percent even at more than the six foot range.

Magnetic fields created by wireless charging could be used to control steering and ensure vehicles stay in the proper lane.

 The idea of electromagnetic strips embedded in the road is already a reality. The Shanghai Maglev train is a magnetic levitation train that operates in Shanghai, China. It is the first commercially operated high-speed magnetic levitation line in the world. The top speed is about 268mph making it the world’s fastest train. It was completed in 2004. So in actuality, we are about eight years behind China in this field.

At the end of May 2012, FedEx will be rolling out the first of nine electric trucks out of a distribution center in Silicon Valley. By year’s end 34 of the battery-powered vehicles will be dispatched throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, joining 53 other electric trucks in cities across the U.S. FedEx is also rolling out electric trucks in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Berlin and Florence, Italy.

Ford made the first gasoline truck in 1900 about 112 years ago. In the next 100 years, I can see where a “local driver” will take the unit down to the nearest electric highway. Get the unit setup on sidetrack. Program the unit to its destination and then the “local driver” goes back home. The unit will travel all by itself, arrive at its destination where another local driver will take it to the terminal or its final destination.

Everything you have comes by truck one way or another. The future technology will surely change the way we do business.

If they can accomplish all of this now, how long do you think it will be before they do this for the entire transportation industry? 

Wayne E Schooling, Certified Practicing Safety Administrator

NorthAmerican Transportation Association

9120 Double Diamond Parkway, Suite 346

Reno, NV 89521

Phone: (800) 805-0040

Fax: (800) 810-6998

Email: wayne@ntassoc.com

www.ntassoc.com

A grass-roots campaign organized by the trucking industry is looking to derail a state proposal to put a toll plaza on Interstate 95 in rural Sussex County.

The campaign, coordinated by the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, the American Trucking Association and the Virginia Trucking Association, includes a website and a Facebook page urging residents to voice their displeasure to Gov. Bob McDonnell. The group has created an online petition as well.
The campaign began Monday. A spokesman said the group expects to gather thousands of signatures.
The uproar is over a proposed toll plaza north of Emporia. Passenger vehicles would pay $4 and large trucks $12 under a VDOT recommendation to charge traffic using the most heavily traveled road in Virginia.
The tolling plan would raise $35 million to $40 million a year, the department said last month. The toll would be levied on cars and trucks traveling in both directions.
"This is a common-sense way to generate more revenue for transportation without raising taxes, and much of that revenue will be derived from drivers not from the commonwealth," Tucker Martin, a spokesman for the governor, said Monday.
But Dale Bennett, president of the Virginia Trucking Association, said the tolls would do more harm than good.
"Tolls on I-95 are the most inefficient way to collect revenue for transportation," Bennett said. "They will create road congestion, divert traffic to roads less suited to handle more cars and trucks, and hurt Virginia's ability to attract and retain businesses in local communities along the I-95 corridor. This will be particularly devastating to Southside Virginia, which is already struggling with high unemployment in this down economy."
But the governor's office said tolling is a fine way to pay for roads.
Martin noted that a 2006 effort to establish tolls at the Virginia-North Carolina state line drew bipartisan support in the legislature. In 2009, he said, the governor "campaigned on a proposal to establish a toll in the area to raise additional revenue for transportation. Revenue that would be generated, in large part, by drivers from other states."
"There's certainly nothing new about tolling. Tolling has been utilized to help pay for roads since this nation began," Martin said.
On the topic of generating revenue, the campaign's spokesman said "truckers have not been opposed to the fuel tax in the past and believe it should be a viable option when discussing raising revenue in the future."
Under VDOT's plan, the mainline tolling point would be located between mile markers 20 and 24 on I-95 and use open-road, wireless toll collection with vehicles driving under gantries like the ones on the Powhite Parkway in Richmond.
VDOT is considering cash collection using separated lanes off the mainline. The department also is contemplating photo-billing for vehicles without E-ZPass transponders.
The department's proposal also would charge $2 tolls for passenger vehicles taking the on- and off-ramps at exits 17, 20, 24 and 31 to discourage drivers trying to avoid the mainline toll.
The opposition group led by the trucking industry argues the tolls would hurt the state's reputation as a business-friendly state and cause traffic backups.

Gas Prices Hit Trucking

If you've felt the pain of filling up your car lately - gassing up a tractor trailer can make you feel helpless.

"Basically, just suck it up," said Bob McKay, Fleet Director at Willow Run Foods.

It's one of 76 tractor trailers in the fleet of Willow Run Foods in Kirkwood. Each takes 240 gallons and makes a full run over two days. Even a 30-cent per gallon spike in diesel adds up to additional cost quickly.

"Doing the math, 70, 80 bucks per fillup," said McKay.

The trucking industry has taken steps to improve efficiency, such as reducing idle time. And at Willow Run, no truck can go over 62 miles per hour.

"They're trying to get away from big trucks with big motors. A little less horsepower, a little smaller bunk. A truck that's a little lighter," said John Snider, Sage Trucking School Director.

Trucking companies have been forced to pass fuel surcharges onto clients, which will then be reflected in higher prices for consumer goods.

"And many utility bills that I've seen in the past have come with fuel surcharges on them. And that's the only avenue we have to try to reclaim some of this," said McKay.

One possible solution - have a fleet of natural gas-powered vehicles. Billionaire T. Boone Pickens plans to build 100 natural gas filling stations by next year. But that's not something that makes sense yet to Willow Run and others.

"Any kind of infrastructure change would be a major expense that would have to be evaluated and paid back over the course of years," said McKay.

The New York State Department of Transportation does run over half of its light vehicle fleet on natural gas. What began as an environmental initiative under former Governor George Pataki in 1998 is now making more economic sense as gas prices rise.

"The small vehicles, the Hondas, small pick-up trucks, and other vehicles. It's actually working out very well as gas prices continue to rise," said Dave Hamburg of the New York State Department of Transportation.

But for those who rely on diesel:

"Planning ahead is the only way to try to lock in your costs so that you don't get nailed with these increases all at once," said McKay.

Visiting Las Vegas today, President Obama officially opened the country's first natural gas trucking corridor, a stretch linking California's Long Beach with Utah's Salt Lake City, along which properly equipped medium- and heavy-duty trucks can tank up on compressed natural gas. CNG-fueled buses will be familiar to passengers in cities from Delhi to New York. But using CNG as the main fuel for trucks is a relatively new idea, first given a high-profile pitch several years ago by famed oilman T. Boone Pickens in his "Pickens plan."

Pickens's idea was to replace the electricity we generate from natural gas with wind and use the freed-up gas as a fuel in transportation. An even better idea, however, if one is at all concerned about clean air and climate change, is to keep using natural gas to generate electricity and in fact use even more, displacing coal, while as the same time using compressed natural gas as a transportation fuel as well. Because of the revolution in unconventional gas, that scenario is now feasible, and President Obama appears to be embracing it.

When Obama was a presidential candidate Pickens had the opportunity to meet with him personally and pitch his plan. Recounting the experience to a group of reporters, Pickens told how Candidate Obama said he hoped to have something like a million hybrid and electric cars on the road within ten years; Pickens told him that if you parked a million cars outside it would look like a lot of cars, but that in fact there are 250 million cars on the road and 9 million new ones sold every year.

(As a member of that group of reporters, I seized the opportunity to pitch my version of the Pickens Plan back to Pickens. His immediate reaction was to designate me the “Al Gore” in the group because of my evident concern about global warming. Nevertheless, I advised readers that if they had to take a stake in one of just two climate policies, Gore’s or the Pickens plan, they’d do better to go for the T Boone.)

After some delay, Obama is doing just that: "The president’s plan includes," according to a White House fact sheet, "proposing new incentives for medium- and heavy-duty trucks that run on natural gas or other alternative fuels; launching a competitive grant program to support communities to overcome the barriers to natural gas vehicle deployment; developing transportation corridors that allow trucks fueled by liquefied natural gas to transport goods; and supporting programs to convert municipal buses and trucks to run on natural gas and to find new ways to convert and store natural gas."

That’s not all President Obama is doing to to flesh out general pledges he made in Tuesday's State of the Union address, and to satisfy voters he’s addressing both the country’s energy dependencies and the risks associated with long-term climate change. In Las Vegas today, he also announced the final lease sale of offshore acreage in the central Gulf of Mexico, scheduled for late June, with conditions meant to make sure that oil companies develop the leases they acquire, as The Wall Street Journal reported. That lease, says the White House fact sheet, will make 38 million additional acres available and could lead to 1 billion more  barrels of oil produced and 4 trillion cubic feet more of natural gas. The president, says the White House, has "directed the Department of Interior to finalize a national offshore energy plan that makes 75 percent of our potential offshore resources available for development by opening new areas for drilling in the Gulf and Alaska."

Also today, the president visited an air base in Colorado and took the occasion to remind people of his pledge to have the U.S. Navy purchase a gigawatt of clean electricity produced from domestically available resources like the sun and wind. Plainly, Obama is pulling out all the stops to counter Republican charges that in torpedoing a proposed pipeline linking Canadian oil sands to the Gulf of Mexico, he undermines U.S. energy independence and kills U.S. jobs. The trick for him is to appease Republicans and independents without simultaneously raising hackles among those concerned about climate.

Would the president actually say the c-word in his State of the Union? He did mention climate change but stumbled a bit over the words and confined himself to saying that prospects for getting a comprehensive carbon-reduction bill through Congress were nil. At the same time he insisted on the importance of clean air, which environmentalists appreciate means air that not only contains less pollutant but also less greenhouse gas. Just as important was what he did not say. Though he trumpeted domestic energy resources, he did not mention coal or even the promise of "clean coal."  Nor for that matter did he mention nuclear energy, which he has supported in the past. What he boosted was "clean energy"--basically wind and solar--and natural gas.

In addition to incentives to boost introduction of compressed natural gas in transportation, the administration also plans an aggressive research program: "The Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E) will announce a new research competition in the coming months that will engage our country’s brightest scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to find ways to harness our abundant supplies of domestic natural gas to lessen our dependence of foreign oil for vehicles," says the White House. "The breakthrough technologies they will develop, whether they are for new ways to fuel our cars with natural gas or a method to turn that gas into liquid fuel, promise to break our dependence on foreign oil for our cars and trucks, allow us to breathe cleaner air, and ultimately save consumers at the pump."

The U.S. Department of Transportation's new ban on handheld cellphones for commercial drivers goes into effect Tuesday for all interstate travel, extending to holding, dialing and reaching for cellphones while driving. Hands-free devices will still be allowed.

Commercial drivers who violate the ban will face federal civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense and the loss of their commercial driver's license for multiple offenses. Trucking and bus companies that allow their drivers to use handheld cellphones could pay as much as $11,000 in fines.

Maj. Randy Hartley, assistant superintendent of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, said the handheld ban will not be enforced in South Dakota, though, until the change to the federal motor carrier code is adopted by the state Legislature. That likely will not happen until 2013.

"We have a bill that will go before the Legislature this year, but it's only for changes that were made in 2011. This one doesn't take effect until Jan. 3, 2012," Hartley said.

"It's a matter of timing."

Even with the delay, the South Dakota Trucking Association is already telling its members to make the switch now to wireless or wired headsets to avoid confusion as they cross state lines, president Myron Rau said.

"Most of the members of the South Dakota Trucking Association operate in 48 states," Rau said. "We're just going to comply, whether South Dakota has adopted it or not."

The group does not object to the ban, but Rau said they do object to commercial drivers being singled out for the restriction. According to Rau, about 75 percent of the accidents involving a truck were the fault of the other vehicle.

"If we want to put blame on distracted driving, we need to look at all motorists, not just commercial truck drivers," Rau said.

Local trucking company owners and drivers agreed.

Alton Palmer, owner of Alton Palmer Trucking in Rapid City, said his six company drivers and one owner-operator are instructed not to call back for information until they pull over in a safe place.

"I don't think anybody ought to use them," Palmer said. "I don't think it should just be the truckers."

Texting while driving is particularly troubling to the lifelong trucker, who has owned his own company since 1981.

"There are a lot of accidents created by texting," Palmer said. "I see that on the news every day where someone is running into somebody because they're texting."

Commercial drivers have not been allowed to text while driving since July in South Dakota, Hartley said, after the state Legislature adopted an earlier rule change during its 2011 session. The U.S. DOT and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration banned texting while driving a commercial vehicle in 2010.

In South Dakota, commercial drivers can either be pulled over if seen texting and cited or cited if texting is believed to have been a factor in an accident, Hartley said.

"There's kind of a thought out there that it's very difficult to enforce. If you think about it, everyone has seen someone who is texting. You can tell if someone is texting," Hartley said. "It's the same in a truck."

According to the DOT, many of the country's large truck and bus companies, including UPS, Covenant Transport, Walmart, Peter Pan and Greyhound, already have policies in place that ban their drivers from using handheld phones while driving.

The American Trucking Association, which represents 50 affiliated state trucking associations and related conferences and councils, also came out in support of the new restrictions.

"The trucking industry is very good about policing itself," Hartley said. "They identify problems, and they self-correct."

At the Pilot Travel Center on Deadwood Avenue, truckers had mixed feelings about the ban.

Charles Cortesio of Missoula, Mont., started driving a truck about four years ago as a second career and said he feels like the federal government is just singling out truck drivers to make money from the hefty fines.

"It's a joke," Cortesio said. "They're not going after the four-wheelers who I see talking all day long on their cellphones."

But he said he will abide by the new rules, because he can't risk his commercial driver's license.

"I'm not going to do anything to lose my truck," Cortesio said.

Kelly Taft of Spearfish drives for Trimac Transportation in Rapid City and said he should have no problem complying with the ban because he already uses a hands-free headset on his phone. So do most of the truckers he knows.

"It's our business. Our business is by cellphones," Taft said. "I never leave home without it."

That said, he agreed with Cortesio that it is really the cars that are the problem, not trucks.

"We're out there every day doing our job. You take the people who work in Rapid and live in Sturgis and the minute they hit the interstate they are on their cell phone," Taft said. "They're the ones who scare me."

Limitations on the 34-hour restart, mandatory breaks, and changes to the definition of on-duty time highlight the new version of the hours-of-service regulations released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on December 22, 2011.

The new regulations retain the 60/70 hour limit, but the driver of a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle who utilizes the 34-hour restart provision must include two periods of time between 1:00 am and 5:00 am in his/her off-duty period of 34 consecutive hours. Also the driver may only use the restart once within a period of 168 consecutive hours (7-day period).

The final rule maintains the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour duty window for drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles, but includes a provision that requires a driver to take a break of at least 30 minutes once he/she has been on duty for a maximum of 8 hours.

The definition of on-duty time has changed. Under the final rule the definition does not include time resting in a parked commercial motor vehicle. Also, the definition does not include up to 2 hours in the passenger seat of a commercial motor vehicle immediately before or after spending 8 hours in a sleeper berth. This definition applies to both property-carrying and passenger-carrying drivers.

The final rule is expected to be published in the December 27, 2011, Federal Register.

The compliance date for the changed definition of on-duty time is February 27, 2012. The compliance date for the changes to the 34-hour restart and the mandatory break provision is July 1, 2013.

The New Year is also upon us. Everyone should be getting ready for the new Commercial Driver’s License regulations (383.71) that go into in January. I strongly suggest that everyone and I really mean everyone, drivers, dispatchers, recruiters, etc read the new regulations as there are some very interesting changes.

There are new regulations for applications submitted prior to January 30, 2012 and there are new regulations for applications submitted on or after January 30, 2012.

Truck drivers will now have to pick what classification they will be driving. Here is a list of the new classification; Non-excepted interstate driver, excepted interstate driver, non-excepted intrastate driver and excepted intrastate driver.

 There is a new section on driver’s license transfers, driver license renewals and driver license upgrades. There is a new section on nonresident CDL, a section on new CDL applicants, a new section on existing CDL holders and a new section on existing CDL holder’s self-certification.

Finally, there is a section on the medical certification documentation required by the State and a new section on maintaining the medical certification status of “certified”. If you are now working for a motor carrier that has FMCSA authority, you MUST have a 649-F medical form. If your in California, then the DL51 form is no good.

Section 383.71 lists the “Acceptable Proofs of Citizenship or Immigration” that will be allowed to prove you can drive a commercial vehicle in the United States. There are 5 documents for US citizens and four documents for a lawful permanent resident.

As always there are exceptions to these regulations, so you should call your local association’s safety department. If you do not belong to a trucking association, you should!

The transportation world is always changing and as it goes more electronic each year you will simply be left behind as time goes on.

NTA Announces Exclusive Partnership with Secure Shipper to provide Supply Chain Services to NTA Customers and Users

 When we look at today’s world’s economy, we can’t help but worry. You, as small business owners, don’t have the luxury of sitting around on your behind and “occupying” some city hall or port.

You need to generate business. You need to keep your drivers busy. I have seen too many small businesses go under in the last few years.

I was born in Missouri, the “Show Me” State. The home of Harry “the buck stops here” Truman. Harry Truman was the 33^rd President of the United States. He was in office from 1945 -1953. I was one year when he took office. Truman is one of hero’s. So just like Truman, the buck stops here with NTA.  I don’t know about you but I just can’t sit around and watch our member trucking companies go under. NTA decided to actually do something about this situation.

NTA has partnered with Secure Shipper. This is a place where shippers and brokers can find a secure trucker with credentials. After all, how are you going to be a part of the supply chain if no one knows you exist? This is NOT a load board. This is a place where a shipper in China  or a broker in New York, who needs a safe and secure trucking company in the US can find a match.

NTA realizes that many NTA members are very active in the broader supply chain and are providing transportation services to international shippers and forwarders. Because of the growing demands on companies throughout the supply chain to develop and maintain security programs it is becoming very common for shippers to require that their partners have some kind of security profile.

Supply chain security refers to the overall effort to strengthen and secure the logistics supply chain. A basic goal of any security program is to prevent the introduction of weapons of terror, including weapons of mass destruction, from entering the supply chain.

Not certified? No internal security program? Secure Shipper can help you upgrade your security profile so you can start marketing your company as a non-certified business partner.

This Secure Shipper Directory listing gives you the marketing platform to promote your company, describe your services and facilities, post security documents, list your associations, memberships, awards, etc.

With a listing in the Secure Shipper Directory, your company will be seen as a resource for certified members of the secure supply chain worldwide. More information can be found at www.ntassoc.com.

Study Confirms Dangers of Texting While Driving

 Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) have determined that a driver’s reaction time is doubled when distracted by reading or sending a text message. The study reveals how the texting impairment is even greater than many experts believed, and demonstrates how texting drivers are less able to react to sudden roadway hazards.

The study – the first published work in the U.S. to examine texting while driving in an actual driving environment – consisted of three major steps. First, participants typed a story of their choice (usually a simple fairy tale) and also read and answered questions related to another story, both on their smart phone in a laboratory setting. Each participant then navigated a test-track course involving both an open section and a section lined by construction barrels. Drivers first drove the course without texting, then repeated both lab tasks separately while driving through the course again. Throughout the test-track exercise, each participant’s reaction time to a periodic flashing light was recorded. Reaction times with no texting activity were typically between one and two seconds.

Reaction times while texting, however, were at least three to four seconds. Worse yet, drivers were more than 11 times more likely to miss the flashing light altogether when they were texting. The researchers say that the study findings extend to other driving distractions that involve reading or writing, such as checking email or Facebook.

The study, sponsored by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center, was managed by Christine Yager, an associate transportation researcher in TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety. Forty-two drivers between the ages of 16 and 54 participated in the research.

Vehicle Maintenance under CSA

The new Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) Methodology published in August 2010 reduced the number of violations appearing on the severity weighting tables substantially reducing the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) score. But don’t let fewer violations appearing on the tables give you a false sense of security; there is still ample opportunity to leave a roadside inspection with at least one violation.

 Compliance begins and ends at the terminal with the pre-trip inspection. How your employee driver or any other driver that you utilize, will have an impact on your roadside inspection results and also aid in reducing the number of crashes attributed to your company.

 The best way to maintain an effective safety program is to follow what the FMCSA has suggested and use what is called a “Safety Management Cycle”. It is a very simple plan where you can incorporate the best maintenance practices into your safety plan.

 Imagine a large wagon wheel with a hub in the middle and six spokes going from the hub out to the outer rim.

 Spoke 1. This will be called Polices and Procedures. Create policies and procedures in a way that offers practical application of the vehicle maintenance regulations. Make sure you enforce the policies in order to give them teeth.”  Consider including the following areas: training, recordkeeping, consequences for policy violation, who is in charge – give name and job title. All personnel that are affected should be given a copy of the policy and have them sign a receipt to show that they have received it and will follow the policy.

Spoke 2. This will be called Roles and Responsibilities. Identify, clearly define, and document roles and responsibilities of drivers, dispatch, mechanics, and technicians related to vehicle inspection, repair, and maintenance. This can be accomplished through your policies and procedures as well as training and job descriptions. The role of senior management must also be identified, clearly defined, and documented for implementing vehicle inspection, repair, and maintenance policies and for monitoring compliance with these policies.

 Spoke 3. This will be called Hiring and Qualifications. Clearly investigate whether a potential mechanic/technician actually worked for someone. When interviewing for the position of mechanic, it could be beneficial to check the previous employer’s SMS score if applicable. If your going to use an outside garage to repair, conduct routine maintenance, and perform periodic and brake inspections, you should inquire of the technician’s qualifications. Ask for proof that the individual meets the minimum requirements of the regulations.

 Spoke 4. This will be called Training and Communications. Be sure to use the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria in your driver and technician training program. All parties responsible for safety must know the regulations that the motor carrier has to follow during a roadside inspection.

 Spoke 5. This will be called Monitoring and Tracking. Designate someone to monitor and track roadside inspection results in order to ensure vehicle defects are repaired promptly.

This will help prevent you from accidently operating an out-of-service vehicle. Someone in your shop, or your outside fleet maintenance service, needs to review the maintenance daily vehicle reports against part receipts to ensure maintenance accuracy. This same person should also monitor all manufacturers recall notices, if applicable.

 Spoke 6. This will be called Meaningful Action. Take action based on what you learned from past experiences. This will aid in preventing a repeat violation during a future roadside inspection. You must ensure that your driving and maintenance staff is familiar with all the regulations. (See Sec 390.3 (e) 1 and 2). If you become aware that someone is not up to his/her responsibilities, you need to address this issue right away before it becomes a serious problem. This may involve a progressive disciplinary program, possible leading to termination, Try and focus on positive corrective action to ensure drivers and technicians comply with FMCSA regulations and company policies.

 If you feel all of this is out of your capabilities, you can always go to your local association for help.

Pre-Trip Inspections

 Pre-trip and post-trip inspections are the two most important things that a truck driver, new or old, can do to promote safety and to insure against loss of revenue. The secret goal is to discover any problems while they are small instead of waiting until they become a major problem.

 By following the following three steps, you can stay out on the road making money, instead of being in the shop spending money.

Step One: Parking your Rig. When you park your rig, if at all possible, try and park in a dry spot. If you can’t try to put a large piece of cardboard down. This is so that you can check for any leaks.

 Step Two:  Walk Up & Around Inspection. When approaching your rig, looks for leaks. Start your engine and turn on all your lights, heater, a/c, wipers, check horns, all dash lighting and gauges, then check all external lighting. Check for missing or non-working clearance lights, wiper blades, headlamps, etc. Remember everything that came on your truck from the factory must work. It you add any extra lighting, it must work also.

Next, walk down the left side checking the top of the door, window, mirrors, turn signals, front wheel lug nuts and any uneven wear of the tires, look for low air pressure. Check fuel tanks and loose mounting, rear fenders and mud flaps. Check rear lighting, and then do the same for the right side. Looks for any leaks, tires and leaks are the number one problem, which causes truckers downtime, after this comes loose parts.

Step Three: Under the Hood Inspection: At this time check your oil, power steering fluid, and coolant level. Check your belts, hoses, and water pump. If you see any leaks, try to follow the leak to see where it comes from. Most of the time it is just a bolt or clamp that needs tightening. Also check our front brakes, make sure you have at least 16/32 or more brake shoe. If any brake shoe are 8/32 or less, this will put your truck out-of-service at the first scale. This also goes for the rear brakes.

EOBR Rule Rejected by Court

A federal appeals court has thrown out the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s 2010 rule requiring electronic onboard recorders. The ruling is almost certain to delay the June 2012 mandate for those carriers that have a significant number of hours-of-service violations.

This is also most likely to delay a separate rule requiring Electronic On board Recorders (EOBRs) for all interstate carriers.

The courts ruled that the FMCSA needs to consider what types of harassment already exist, how frequently and to what extent harassment happens, and how an electronic device capable of contemporaneous transmission of information to a motor carrier will guard against or fail to guard against harassment. In other words, the FMCSA’s rule does not ensure that the devices will not be used to harass truck drivers.

Further, the agency’s EOBR mandate for carriers with past hours-of-service problems does not adequately address or ensure that carriers could not use the devices to force vehicle operators to stay on the road even when they are tired.

Because the court rejected the rule and sent it back to FMCSA, the agency most likely will have to restart the rulemaking process and rewrite the rule. This process could take as long 18 to 24 months.

Truck Driver Fatigue

In a related subject, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), people need, on average, 8 hours of sleep each night. Sleep deprivation can, over time, lead to fatigue. Being awake when typically asleep or being awake during the early morning hours when the body is use to sleeping, can also lead to fatigue. Like impairment from alcohol or drugs, impairment from fatigue is just as dangerous when driving. But unlike alcohol or drugs, driver fatigue is hard to measure.

The NTSB has concluded that 20% of all large truck accident fatalities and 7% of all accidents involving fatalities and injuries are cause by driver fatigue. In fact, one-third of drivers questioned admitted they had fallen asleep at the wheel in the last 12 months. Research shows driver fatigue is most notable between 0200 and 0600 hours, followed by mid-afternoon. Drivers are under constant pressure to meet delivery deadlines and profit margins can be quite slim, thus forcing drivers to continue driving when fatigued.

Fortunately, there are new technology advances that can help alert a truck driver when he or she may be nodding off. For example, Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDWS) monitor the location of the vehicle within the lane and alert the driver when the vehicle drifts from the lane. Other systems that monitor the vehicle, such as steering position monitors, as well as systems that monitor driver behavior, such as one system that measure the driver’s eyelid closure, have also been developed to defect fatigue.

A complete FREE report including a list of vendors on Lane Departure Warning Systems can be found on the NTA website under Technology Product Guides.

Driver Fatigued Checklist Violation of Fourth Amendment

In another related article, a recent court case challenging Minnesota State Patrol’s Level II procedures in determining driver fatigue was thrown out of court.

According to court documents, Driver Stephen House presented Minnesota enforcement personnel a current, accurate log book, valid registration, and commercial driver’s license. Officers found no reason to issue House a citation or out-of-service order based on his log book entries.

After presenting his credentials and documents, House wa instructed to go into the building to answer some questions. The officers did not communicate that they were completing a checklist to determine if the driver was fatigued. House, who was traveling with his wife and adult son, was questioned on a variety of topics.

Although the officers were authorized to temporarily detain House for a Level III inspection, they were not entitlied to conduct the scope of investigation and questioning as they did. The officers did not have a reasonable suspicion that House was impaired. Therefore, the detention and broad scope of questions constituted a “seizure” in violation of the driver’s Fourth Amendment right against an unreasonable seizure.

The Cost of Regulatory Compliance for Small Business

If you didn’t already know, small businesses face a disproportionate burden when it comes to costs of federal regulations compared to larger firms. In a recent report, compliance with environmental regulations costs 364 percent more to small firms than large firms. The cost of tax compliance is 206 percent higher in small firms than the cost to large firms.

Illinois Passes “Presumptive Denial” Law

For our Midwest readers, in case you did not already know, the Illinois Legislature passed a Workers’ Compensation Reform Bill which included a detailed “presumptive denial” of a workers’ comp claim based on a positive drug or alcohol test result. The Governor is expected to sign this legislation, which took effect September 1, 2011.

The law initially acknowledges that, as before, intoxication must be shown to be the “proximate cause” of the worker’s injuries or that the employee was “so intoxicated at the time of the injury that the intoxication was a departure from employment.”

Anyone testing positive for alcohol in excess of 0.08 BAC or for any other unauthorized drug use will be presumed intoxicated and that intoxication will be presumed to be the proximate cause of the injuries.

Testing must be conducted in accordance with rules to be established by the Workers’ Compensation Commission, but at a minimum those rules must include the following:

• Testing may be conducted on blood, breath or urine.

• Refusal equals a rebuttable presumption of intoxication and cause.

• The employee may rebut the presumption by showing a preponderance of evidence that the alcohol or drug use was not the “sole” cause of the injuries.

• Analysis of sample must be done by an accredited or certified facility.

• Sample collection and testing must be dome per NLRB and DOT guidelines.

• Split sample collection procedures must be used.

• The employee must be allowed to present relevant information of recent prescription/nonprescription use.

NTA to co-Host Transportation Convention in Washington

I am please to announce that NTA is going to be a National Co-Host for the 5^th Annual Transportation & Infrastructure Convention, March 7-9, 2012 in Washington, D.C. More information is available on our website.

 

FMCSA said it prefers a 10-hour rule (translated: special interests and unions want a 10-hour rule), but FMCSA seems to be looking for someone to come up with some strong evidence that 11 hours is not the way to go.

It’s been a week since the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released the contents of its proposed rulemaking on Hours of Service and since we have a long holiday weekend ahead, we thought we’d offer a special web version of Eye on Trucking and offer some points to ponder.

Point No. 1
From our conversations with trucking industry stakeholders, the decision to not set a specific number of driving hours caught everyone off guard. We haven’t talked to a single person during the past four or five months who didn’t believe the proposed rule would include a provision for 10 hours of driving, despite the fact that no one could imagine FMCSA coming up with sufficient empirical data to support a 10-hour rule.

Virtually all our contacts agreed: to have come out with a proposed 10-hour driving rule would have been equivalent of thumbing the proverbial nose at all the work the Bush administration did in developing the current rule.FMCSA said it prefers a 10-hour rule (translated: special interests and unions want a 10-hour rule), but FMCSA seems to be looking for someone to come up with some strong evidence that 11 hours is not the way to go.

Point No. 2
For carriers still using paper logs, we believe the required one-hour break during the 14-hour driving window could become the most-abused and violated portion of any HOS rule ever.

It’s going to be so easy for truckers to simply log the break as off-duty hours and keep on driving.

A highly-respected source tells us that there are simply too many variables to know for sure that a trucker has driven over the allocated hours based on speed, weather conditions, congestion, accidents, etc.

It will be very easy just to record the break and not take it.

Point No. 3
The required break and the change in the 34-hour restart rule has the potential to force more trucks on the road during the day, further congesting the highways, especially major traffic corridors.
(A friend once told us that you could walk from Little Rock, our home base, to Memphis, Tenn., on Interstate 40 on top of trailers.)
We believe that there simply will be no place for truckers to pull over and rest during the overnight hours when truck stops and other legal truck parking areas are already overburdened.
And since many states do not permit trucks to park on exit ramps, there’s no place else to turn.
As for the restart rule, truckers who drive overnight will have a tough time complying with the portion of the proposed rule that requires two periods of 12 midnight to 6 a.m. during the 34 hours.

Point No. 4
Everyone assumes that team drivers will be required to take the one-hour break, too, but when we asked FMCSA to be sure, the response was “that will be clarified in the Final Rule.”
So for the purpose of this point to ponder, we’re going to assume teams are included.
Under the current rule, team drives are required to spend the 10 hours they are not driving in the sleeper berth.
The proposed rule allows them to spend two hours in the passenger seat, so long as those two hours are the first two hours after the completion of 10 hours of driving or the last two hours before resuming the wheel.
Once they figure out the rule, we believe most will take those two hours at the end because of the scenario we’re about to describe.
Driver A finishes his/her run, climbs in the sleeper berth for the required eight hours and Driver B takes the wheel.
Even though he/she is in the berth, it takes an hour or so to wind down and they finally go to sleep.
Seven hours into Driver B’s shift, he/she has to stop for a break and the gearing down, slowing down and stopping of the truck will likely awaken Driver A after six hours of sleep.
And, where is Driver B going to rest?
In the driver or passenger seat or inside the truck stop.
None of those options seem really conducive to rest, do they?

Point No. 5
Congress is eventually going to have to decide the Hours of Service controversy.
The e-mail from FMCSA announcing the proposed rule had hardly landed in mailboxes across the country before groups on both sides of the issue responded.
The American Trucking Associations, which we believe has a good working relationship with governmental agencies that regulate trucking, said the DOT had dropped “three big chunks of coal under trucking’s Christmas tree.”
Safety advocacy groups who filed suit against the current and two previous HOS rules, said the proposal “waffles on safety measures needed to reduce driver fatigue.”
They also said that the agreement to give DOT the opportunity to review and revise the rule also gave those same groups the right to return to court and proceed with the lawsuit if the new proposal is “substantially the same” as the Bush administration rule.

So we are almost assured that the Final Rule will wind up in court and the merry-go-round will start all over again. 

 

Commercial truck drivers, already under pressure from declining consumer demand and rising fuel prices, beginning today must contend with a federal program that measures a driver’s safety record and offers it to potential employers.

Commercial truck drivers, already under pressure from declining consumer demand and rising fuel prices, beginning today must contend with a federal program that measures a driver’s safety record and offers it to potential employers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration today launches its Comprehensive Safety Analysis, or CSA 2010, to track drivers’ crash data and inspection violations. Even infractions such as failing to wear a seat belt or driving without a mud flap would be used to score drivers’ and commercial carriers’ records.

CSA 2010 brings long overdue scrutiny to an industry that has largely escaped regulation, say proponents, who point out that only 2 to 4 percent of the trucking industry is audited by federal inspectors each year.

"There’s been an underreporting of data," said Larry Simon, a Ridgewood-based lawyer who represents people injured in trucking accidents. The system, he said, will weed out an entity even more deadly than a drunken driver — a distracted one.

"You can imagine the danger of a driver who is texting and using a laptop while they are driving an 80,000-pound vehicle at a fast speed," he said.

Smaller hiring pool

But trucking executives and drivers alike fear the new system will make it tougher for drivers to find work and for companies to find drivers.

Lee Robledo, vice president of safety and loss for National Freight of Vineland — a company that employs about 3,000 drivers and has 19 regional hubs in the eastern U.S. — said the government information will help the company find safe drivers.

"But, there’s a flip side to that. It’s going to shrink our hiring pool," he said.

Under the agency’s program, moving violations, equipment infractions and accidents become part of the driver’s record. The history also becomes part of a carrier’s record, though companies are not liable for driver violations that occurred before the drivers were employed. Citations issued while the driver operated a personal vehicle are not counted.

The agency’s Safety Measurement System analyzes a carrier company’s safety record based on violations and crashes, and can be applied to review an individual driver’s career-long safety performance, according to the agency web site. Truck drivers and carriers, with a driver’s OK, can screen candidates for hiring by viewing three years of inspection data and five years of crash data through a separate online program.

On its website, the motor carrier safety agency says it has no rules as of now to limit eligibility to drive a commercial motor vehicle based on body mass index — the measure of whether a person is overweight or obese — even though research shows that a high index suggests a risk of sleep apnea and thus a safety problem.

Difficult job

Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Trucker Association said, some of the new monitors in CSA 2010 are excessive and that the public needs to be reminded of the difficulties drivers’ face in performing their jobs.

"When people are sleeping in the comfort of their own homes on Christmas morning, these guys are on the highway, in snowstorms, risking their lives," Toth said.

The added scrutiny of drivers’ performance comes during a tough economy that has affected drivers profoundly.

Diesel was at $2.96 per gallon in August, 35 cents more than a year ago. A drop-off in consumer orders has led to fewer driving jobs and put pressure on employed truckers to off-load cargos and reload their trucks as quickly as possible or lose pay.

Trucker Vasiolios Yianakis frantically paced the Vince Lombardi service area on the New Jersey Turnpike one morning in late August, deciding how to unload frozen dinners that were damaged when they shifted en route from Texas. The New Jersey customer refused to pay for them and now Vasiolios faced losing thousands of dollars if he didn’t empty his truck for a new load at 3 p.m. He even tried giving them away to passers-by.

Yianakis said new scrutiny and poor pay were chasing many drivers away from the industry.

"There’s a double standard here. If big trucks stop carrying freight, the consumer is going to say, ‘Where’s my milk? Where’s my bread? Where’s my this? Where’s my that!’ "

Employment down

Trucking industry employment fell about 13 percent between August 2007 and last August — from about 1.43 million to about 1.24 million — and work for self-employed truckers declined by 30 percent during that period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Dockarthy Davis, 50, of Paterson, who has logged more than 5 million miles in 25 years on the road, says he’s had to take local U.S. Postal Service jobs because he can’t get a job hauling freight long distance even though he says his driving record is not bad, other than getting two points for a moving violation last year.

He said the revamped CSA is going to put more pressure on the drivers.

"How are you going to make the driver responsible for something the company owns?" he said. "The driver has no defense now."

He also said drivers’ careers are more vulnerable to the whims of aggressive state troopers, recalling how he once got two points on his license in Ohio for traveling 59 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone.

"Ohio is a communist state," he groused. "In these hard times, the state wants money. This is the way they are getting rid of drivers."

Lt. Gary Lewis of the Ohio Highway Patrol said his agency issues tickets to enforce traffic laws and reduce accident potential, but not to bring in money. "Issuing citations is not a revenue-builder for the Ohio State Patrol," he said, noting that revenue mostly comes from licensing, registration and the state’s gas tax.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration today launches its Comprehensive Safety Analysis, or CSA 2010, to track drivers’ crash data and inspection violations. Even infractions such as failing to wear a seat belt or driving without a mud flap would be used to score drivers’ and commercial carriers’ records.

CSA 2010 brings long overdue scrutiny to an industry that has largely escaped regulation, say proponents, who point out that only 2 to 4 percent of the trucking industry is audited by federal inspectors each year.

"There’s been an underreporting of data," said Larry Simon, a Ridgewood-based lawyer who represents people injured in trucking accidents. The system, he said, will weed out an entity even more deadly than a drunken driver — a distracted one.

"You can imagine the danger of a driver who is texting and using a laptop while they are driving an 80,000-pound vehicle at a fast speed," he said.

Smaller hiring pool

But trucking executives and drivers alike fear the new system will make it tougher for drivers to find work and for companies to find drivers.

Lee Robledo, vice president of safety and loss for National Freight of Vineland — a company that employs about 3,000 drivers and has 19 regional hubs in the eastern U.S. — said the government information will help the company find safe drivers.

"But, there’s a flip side to that. It’s going to shrink our hiring pool," he said.

Under the agency’s program, moving violations, equipment infractions and accidents become part of the driver’s record. The history also becomes part of a carrier’s record, though companies are not liable for driver violations that occurred before the drivers were employed. Citations issued while the driver operated a personal vehicle are not counted.

The agency’s Safety Measurement System analyzes a carrier company’s safety record based on violations and crashes, and can be applied to review an individual driver’s career-long safety performance, according to the agency web site. Truck drivers and carriers, with a driver’s OK, can screen candidates for hiring by viewing three years of inspection data and five years of crash data through a separate online program.

On its website, the motor carrier safety agency says it has no rules as of now to limit eligibility to drive a commercial motor vehicle based on body mass index — the measure of whether a person is overweight or obese — even though research shows that a high index suggests a risk of sleep apnea and thus a safety problem.

Difficult job

Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Trucker Association said, some of the new monitors in CSA 2010 are excessive and that the public needs to be reminded of the difficulties drivers’ face in performing their jobs.

"When people are sleeping in the comfort of their own homes on Christmas morning, these guys are on the highway, in snowstorms, risking their lives," Toth said.

The added scrutiny of drivers’ performance comes during a tough economy that has affected drivers profoundly.

Diesel was at $2.96 per gallon in August, 35 cents more than a year ago. A drop-off in consumer orders has led to fewer driving jobs and put pressure on employed truckers to off-load cargos and reload their trucks as quickly as possible or lose pay.

Trucker Vasiolios Yianakis frantically paced the Vince Lombardi service area on the New Jersey Turnpike one morning in late August, deciding how to unload frozen dinners that were damaged when they shifted en route from Texas. The New Jersey customer refused to pay for them and now Vasiolios faced losing thousands of dollars if he didn’t empty his truck for a new load at 3 p.m. He even tried giving them away to passers-by.

Yianakis said new scrutiny and poor pay were chasing many drivers away from the industry.

"There’s a double standard here. If big trucks stop carrying freight, the consumer is going to say, ‘Where’s my milk? Where’s my bread? Where’s my this? Where’s my that!’ "

Employment down

Trucking industry employment fell about 13 percent between August 2007 and last August — from about 1.43 million to about 1.24 million — and work for self-employed truckers declined by 30 percent during that period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Dockarthy Davis, 50, of Paterson, who has logged more than 5 million miles in 25 years on the road, says he’s had to take local U.S. Postal Service jobs because he can’t get a job hauling freight long distance even though he says his driving record is not bad, other than getting two points for a moving violation last year.

He said the revamped CSA is going to put more pressure on the drivers.

"How are you going to make the driver responsible for something the company owns?" he said. "The driver has no defense now."

He also said drivers’ careers are more vulnerable to the whims of aggressive state troopers, recalling how he once got two points on his license in Ohio for traveling 59 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone.

"Ohio is a communist state," he groused. "In these hard times, the state wants money. This is the way they are getting rid of drivers."

Lt. Gary Lewis of the Ohio Highway Patrol said his agency issues tickets to enforce traffic laws and reduce accident potential, but not to bring in money. "Issuing citations is not a revenue-builder for the Ohio State Patrol," he said, noting that revenue mostly comes from licensing, registration and the state’s gas tax.

E-mail: mandell@northjersey.com.

Trucking group seeks higher weight limit on U.S. roads

The American Trucking Association is working to increase maximum weight loads for trucks on the nation's interstate highways.

Heavier trucks, more highway spending, and safer drivers and carriers are high on the trucking industry's wish list, an industry lobbyist says.

"As an industry, we think it's time to have larger and heavier trucks on the road, but there's a lot of pushback on Capitol Hill on this," said Michael C. Robinson, director of legislative affairs for the American Trucking Associations. He spoke at a trucking industry roundtable sponsored by the Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute at the University of Memphis.

The current maximum on interstates is 80,000 pounds. Trucks up to 97,000 pounds are being allowed on interstates in Maine and Vermont as part of a one-year test.

"We're going to work to try to get that expanded, but it's an uphill struggle," Robinson said. "We think it's important for the economy and for the environment."

Robinson said congressional opposition to heavier trucks is predictable. "We in the trucking industry get beat up a lot in Congress. People don't like big trucks driving around."

The industry needs to continue to promote positives like improving safety statistics and trucking's vital role in delivering goods to American consumers, he said.

Robinson said the ATA has been working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to fine-tune Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, a safety initiative implemented this summer. The initiative uses a centrally coordinated point system to track safety records of drivers and carriers.

However, Lee L. Piovarcy, who defends trucking companies for the Martin Tate Morrow & Marston law firm, said troopers in some states have stepped up ticket-writing for relatively minor violations, rather than issuing warnings.

Robinson said the ATA strongly supports a drug and alcohol clearinghouse that would let companies share information on driver applicants.

There's currently no way to know if a driver flunked a drug test at a previous employer, then went drug-free just long enough to get a clean result, said Mike McFarland, president of West Tennessee Express in Jackson, Tenn.

Impaired drivers need to be taken off the road, Robinson said. "All of these things could be avoided if we get better drivers out there."

The lobbyist said a comprehensive federal highway spending bill appears to be at least a couple years away, although the nation's highways badly need investment. "Finding the political will to find the money is very difficult," Robinson said.

 

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 Law.  The 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 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.

OOU has also urged their members to support this national day of appeal for Jason’s Law.

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.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Can't find a job? Maybe it's time to take your search on the road.

The U.S. trucking industry will need to hire about 200,000 drivers by the end of this year, and will need to add another 200,000 by the end of 2011, according to the state of logistics report from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

LA Port clean truck battle could take 'years' to settle 

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- The amount of diesel fuel bought using credit cards at U.S. truck stops increased in March to the highest level in more than a year, indicating the recovery is broadening beyond manufacturing.

The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index, which measures fuel consumption, rose 1 percent last month to reach the highest level since September 2008, a report yesterday should. The gauge has increased every month since November with the exception of February, when East Coast blizzards hampered travel.

Truck tonnage, which accounts for 68 percent of freight transported in the U.S., increased on a year-over-year basis in February for a third straight month, a separate report from the American Trucking Associations showed. Companies such as Con-Way Inc. are benefiting from inventory rebuilding, increased exports and stronger sales.

“We’re climbing out of the hole,” Bob Costello, chief economist at the American Trucking Associations, said in an interview. “It is a moderate economic recovery and trucking is going to be like that as well.”

National truck tonnage was up 2.6 percent in February from a year earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, the group said March 26. Its index is up 7.7 percent since reaching a seven- year low in April 2009. The measure fell 8.7 percent in 2009, the most in 27 years.

12-Month Gain

The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index rose 7 percent in March from the same month in 2009 on a seasonally and work-day adjusted basis.

Douglas Stotlar, chief executive officer at Con-Way, said in an interview that there are days the San Mateo-California- based hauler is turning down as many as 145 load orders because of capacity constraints. The company started to see improvement in the third quarter, he said.

“A year ago, we were looking at downsizing the workforce and cost control,” Stotlar said in an interview. “Now the issues are how do you take advantage of an economy that appears to be rebounding, how do you take advantage of the surge in demand.”

Con-Way’s truckload volumes were up 30 percent in January and February from the same months in 2009, Stotlar said. The company is also seeing growth in its partial truckload business, where shipments from more than one customer are moved in one truck.

Economic Recovery

“It appears to be across both retail” and manufacturing, Stotlar said. “We are seeing multiple touch points that are verifying to us that the economy is definitely recovering.”

The number of trucking jobs in the U.S. has increased in three of the last five months, according to Labor Department data. Truck transportation companies added 1,000 workers in March.

Edward Leamer, chief economist for the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index, said the report points to an economy that may have grown at a 4 percent annual rate in the first quarter. Such a pace is consistent with job gains, though not enough to help bring down the unemployment rate.

“I call it a frugal recovery,” Leamer said in an interview on April 12.

Growth Forecasts

The economy expanded at a 5.6 percent annual rate the last three months of 2009 and consumer spending rose at a 1.6 percent rate. Reports for the first two months of the year suggest spending is continuing to grow, with revenue at retailers rising as much as 10 percent from a year earlier, according to International Council of Shopping Centers estimates.

Ceridian says its monthly fuel consumption index includes millions of electronic payment transactions from more than 25,000 customers, reflecting over-the-road trucking companies and packaged-goods distribution businesses.

The new technology makes many tasks easier. If the truck industry to revolutionize ready for new technologies, as well? Some drivers can not wait for the truck industry to catch up with other sectors in terms of technology, but not everyone feels the same way.

Truck drivers across the country welcomed the system PREPASS, the driver of the truck helps bypass weight stations in 28 of the 50 states. This system saves time by not waiting for the truck diverunison, but also helps save fuel. Prepass after their system is far saved more than 1 billion dollars since its inception in 1997.

Another new technology to improve significantly may be that the truck industry is the development and early production hybrid vehicles. As the costs of diesel fuel continue to rise, are an alternative source of fuel is interested in something, are truck drivers, however, not the latest technology quickly enough to keep some drivers from parking their platforms too.

There areCurrently, diesel engines on environmentally friendly, but the price is so that the drivers are not able to switch to new technology. Many drivers want to buy new platforms, but it is not economically advantageous. Until the price of new engines and trucks or drop the hybrid truck market seems to be the truck industry is in a dead end.

Other forms of technology are also conducted in the trucks. New anti-lock braking system and collision avoidanceSecurity technology greatly affected. The most important changes in the truck industry as such, are not directly in the establishment of myself. Information technology has enabled a better communication with the driver and the truck itself. Real-time tracking information is now available.

Truck platforms have experienced technical updates as well. They are now more ergonomic seats and the layout of the console, making it much easier for a pilot to developHours on the road. The addition of Global Positioning System (GPS) is also the truck driver's life is easier.

Transportation is an area that can not be exported abroad to other people do too. Nor can the technique until someone invents a science-fiction conveyor system to be replaced. Truck drivers are an important part of the U.S. economy, and while we can develop new technologies, it is not likely to truck driving as a whole will change.

The technology is great,and we can improve our lives, but will not solve all our problems. There will be some of the latest technologies applied in the future. New technologies can be more of a hindrance than a help. If the truck industry ready for new technologies? In most cases, it seems that the industry is ready, but the technology can not come soon enough.

Truck Drivers Blast Talk of U.S.-Mexico Pact

More Business or failed Competitors?

After enduring a "bad" 2008 and "horrible" 2009, trucking industry executives are cautiously optimistic that a recovery has begun.

Trucks carry 69 percent of all manufactured and retail goods in the country -- from refrigerators to lumber, detergents to toys. Many economists measure how fast assembly lines are running, and how much consumers are buying, by the volume of goods hauled by trucks.

For all of 2009, the amount of freight hauled by the trucking industry was down 8.3 percent, according to the American Trucking Association. That's the largest annual decrease since a 12.3 percent plunge in 1982.

John Smith, president of CRST International in Cedar Rapids, said the number of loads began increasing in early November, though.

"The problem is we don't know if there is really more freight out there or less competition. We know there have been a number of trucking companies filing for bankruptcy," Smith said.

According to Avondale Partners, 3,065 motor freight carriers failed in 2008, which was 54 percent higher than in 2007. In the first six months of 2009, 850 trucking companies went out of business.

Smith said the trucking industry was the first to see a slowdown when the wheels began coming off the economy in late 2008.

"Last year was just awful," he said. "We put in our plans for 2009, and the third week of January we were redoing them because they were worthless. The economy just cratered.

"We are cautiously optimistic that the increasing levels of shipments we have seen in recent months are indications a recovery has begun." That view is shared by Chris Hummer, vice president and director of operations at Don Hummer Trucking in Oxford.

"Certainly, the load deterioration has stopped," Hummer said. "We're seeing a trend back toward where we'd like to be, but we're not ready to throw a party." Smith said CRST is seeing substantial increases in van and flatbed shipments.

"We're primarily hauling metals in our flatbed division -- iron, steel and aluminum," he said. "That business has been up 20-something percent since the first of the year.

"Factories are either working more, or again, it could be a lack of competition. A major flatbed carrier went bankrupt Christmas week, and that took 1,200 pieces of equipment off the road." Hummer said industry capacity is affected by more than just companies filing for bankruptcy.

"It's hard to know if there are fleets out there with trucks parked that have available capacity not being utilized, or there are guys with one or two trucks who are just quietly going out of business," he said.

Bob Costello, a Waterloo native and chief economist with the American Trucking Association, said some shippers aren't paying their bills, and carriers will stop hauling for shippers that don't pay.

"We're going to see more carriers go out of business," Costello said. "Some have stopped making their truck payments, but that's debt that's not going to go away. Lenders who might have been reluctant to put someone out of business when there wasn't a market for their equipment may feel differently as the economy improve." Some trucking companies have remained profitable, however, because they conserved cash in good times.

Heartland Express in North Liberty, despite posting an 18.6 percent drop in 2009 net income to $58.9 million, was still able to buy 1,600 tractors to modernize its fleet and save on fuel and maintenance.

Michael Gerdin, president of Heartland Express, said the company's strong cash position allowed it to retire tractors with an average of 400,000 miles on the odometer.

"For many years, we were the dumbest cash managers on Wall Street. Now we're the smartest, and we haven't done anything different," Gerdin said.

"We take a beating because Wall Street doesn't think we grow fast enough, but the way others have been growing is by (borrowing against the value of assets)." Robust consumer spending has led the country out of past recessions, but Costello does not see that happening this time around.

DOT's New Sample Bill Encourages States to Ban texting

The U.S. Department of Transportation has released a sample bill for state legislatures to use when prohibiting texting while driving.

"While there are many sources of driver distraction, there is heightened concern regarding the risks of texting-while-driving," the sample law said. "The act of composing, sending or reading text messages interrupts drivers' cognitive attention, causes vision to be directed away from the road, and compromises manual control of the vehicle."

As part of its effort to combat distracted driving, the DOT hopes the sample language will provide states with a starting point for enacting laws addressing cell phone use and/or texting while driving.

As of the end of 2009, 19 states and the District of Columbia had laws banning texting while driving. The DOT hopes the sample law will encourage states to take action on the issue, given the attention the issue has been getting.

"This partnership should make it easier for the 31 states that have not already banned texting behind the wheel to get their acts together and get on board," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in his official blog.

According to LaHood, the DOT worked with safety organizations to craft the language of the sample bill, including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, AAA, Governors Highway Safety Association and the National Safety Council, to name a few. The agency has also made the move with the support of the wireless and automobile industries, he said.

The sample law basically bans texting while operating a motor vehicle on the travel portion of public streets, roads and highways. The sample law would not apply to law enforcement, fire service or emergency medical services professionals. It would also not be enforced when reporting an emergency or criminal or suspicious activity to law enforcement or when receiving messages related to the operation or navigation of a motor vehicle, safety-related information, or data used primarily by the motor vehicle. It would not be applied to radio or the use of a device or system for navigation purposes. Other wireless interpersonal communication that does not require manual entry would also be exempt.

On the first offense, drivers would be subject to a minimum fine of $75 and action against driving privileges. For a subsequent offense, the sample bill says penalties should rise in accordance with the state's motor vehicle and traffic laws. If an offense results in death or injury, the violation should increase to a felony.

The language of the sample bill is based on current circumstances, so it may be "revised in the future to incorporate new research findings, address evolving technologies, or to harmonize with other legislation."

Trucking failures to accelerate this year

Truckers Target Speculators

Internet Is Your Best Resource For Government Financial Aid For Truck Driving School

It is important to understand that if you want to find financial aid to help further your career, the internet is the best resource to use to find it. There are two reasons why the internet should be used to help you find the aid you need in becoming a truck driver.

One of the reasons is because on the internet you can research the different types of financial aid that is available from the government. This will help to ensure that you are getting the best aid possible for you to go to school for truck driving. Just be sure to take your time and do your homework and soon you will find exactly what you need.

Another reason is because you can research truck driving schools that offer help for people in the military. If they don’t have a program available for you, then they can point you in the right direction to find the aid you need from the government.

The South Carolina Truck Show will be held June 25-26, 2010, at the Faith Assembly of God Church in Charleston, S.C.

The South Carolina Truck Show is a part of the National Association of Show Trucks (NAST), an organization dedicated to encourage, support and promote activities related to the trucking industry by showing pride in trucks and truck operations, and to ensure uniformity, commonality and fairness in all competitive truck events. Faith Assembly of God Church is hosting the event, with all proceeds going to missions work.

The South Carolina Truck Show will showcase the latest in trucking technology and equipment. In addition, recruiters will be on hand for those seeking employment opportunities in the transportation industry.

The event will feature a truck "beauty contest," during which trucks of all kinds will compete for prizes. Trucks will be judged on overall appearance, paint, murals, graphics, lighting, cab interior and more. A special light show competition is set for the night of June 25.

Lowboy Lucas, founder and star of American Trucking Report (ATR), will be at the event to broadcast the festivities on WLCN TV 18, a Charleston television station.

For more information on the South Carolina Truck Show, call 843-376-2418 or e-mail dr.fry@wlcn.tv.

New diesel index shows state of economy

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's economy minister said a trade spat with the United States would be resolved this year, as top US trade envoy Ron Kirk visited the Mexican capital on Tuesday.

Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said both sides were working together on the dispute and that a solution "will surely occur this year," underlining that it harmed competition in the recession-hit region.

Mexico last March placed tariffs on nearly 90 US products in retaliation for the cancellation of a program allowing some Mexican trucks into the United States.