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<![CDATA[TruckingSuccess.net Blog]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/ Thu, 28 May 2015 03:42:56 +0000 Zend_Feed http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Economy Grew Modestly in May 2013]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/economy-grew-may/ Economy Grew Modestly in May 2013

The U.S. economy improved at a “modest to moderate” pace” in late April and early May, with transportation services and manufacturing showing gains, the Federal Reserve said in a report.

Manufacturing activity increased across most regions, led by automobiles and residential construction, the Fed said in its “beige book” report, released Wednesday, which it releases eight times a year.

The Richmond and Cleveland districts said new federal hours-of-service regulations, which take effect next month, “may exacerbate difficulty finding truck drivers.”

Cleveland contacts described shipping volume as “robust and higher than expected,” with demand particularly strong from motor vehicle and energy-related customers. Freight executives were optimistic about growth prospects for the rest of the year, with diesel prices trending lower and costs stable for maintenance and equipment.

Heavy-duty truck orders “increased considerably from a year ago,” the Atlanta district reported, although that “reflected equipment replacement rather than additions to overall trucking capacity.”

Chicago contacts cited higher demand for heavy trucks, while Kansas City noted “strong demand for skilled workers,” including truck drivers.

Wednesday’s report, which covered the period of April 6 through May 24, was prepared by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:14:41 +0000
<![CDATA[Are Truck Drivers going to be Obsolete.]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/truck-drivers-obsolete/

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

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 17:53:36 +0000
<![CDATA[Toll Plaza on I95]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/toll-plaza-95/

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.

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:35:00 +0000
<![CDATA[Gas Prices Hit Trucking]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/gas-price-hit-trucking/

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.

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:54:06 +0000
<![CDATA[Natural Gas Fueled Trucking ]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/natural-gas-fuel/ Obama Embraces Natural Gas Fueled Trucking

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."

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:54:55 +0000
<![CDATA[Handheld cellphone ban for truckers starts next week.]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/cell-phone-ban/ Handheld cellphone ban for truckers starts next week
Commercial truck and bus drivers across the country could face stiff penalties starting next week if they are caught using a handheld cellphone behind the wheel.

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."

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:53:02 +0000
<![CDATA[New Hours of Service Regulations]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/new-truck-regulations/ Posted December 22, 2011

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.

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:27:24 +0000
<![CDATA[New Commercial Driver’s License Changes 1/30/2012]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/new-cdl-2012/ New Commercial Driver’s License Changes 1/30/2012

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 33rd 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.

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:28:38 +0000
<![CDATA[Vehicle Maintenance under CSA]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/Vehicle-Maintenance-under-CSA/ Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

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.

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:17:11 +0000
<![CDATA[EOBR Rule Rejected by Court]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/EOBR_2011/

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 5th Annual Transportation & Infrastructure Convention, March 7-9, 2012 in Washington, D.C. More information is available on our website.

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:53:21 +0000
<![CDATA[International agreements continue to erode U.S. sovereignty]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/intern-agreement/
International agreements continue to erode U.S. sovereignty

Within the past 30 days, two milestones were reached in the erosion of United States sovereignty and almost no one noticed. On July 6, an accord between the United States and Mexico was announced that opened American highways to Mexico’s trucking companies. A few days later, both countries were informed that the World Trade Organization had ruled against U.S. laws regarding labeling of imported foods.

The trucking agreement is a loose end left over from the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In 1995, citing safety issues, the Clinton administration blocked Mexican trucks from American highways beyond 25 miles from the border.

According to the new agreement, Mexican truckers will be transporting goods to and from American locations but not delivering between destinations within the United States.. The agreement also calls for them to meet American safety standards, be electronically monitored for breaks and be able to speak English. In return for surrendering our transportation protections, Mexico will lift tariffs and allow our trucks privileges on its roads as well.

The WTO ruling was the end result of a U.S.-Mexico tuna dispute that began 20 years ago. We stopped importing Mexico’s tuna in 1991 because it lacked “dolphin safe” labeling. By 2009, Mexico had filed a complaint with the WTO claiming that the American labeling requirements constituted unfair trade restrictions.

According to the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Board, the U.S. government does not have a sovereign legal right to require country of origin labeling (COOL) because it violates free trade agreements. What makes this decision even more repugnant is that the board performs its functions in secret and cannot be vetoed by any member nation.

Both the trucking accord and the WTO ruling present individual problems of their own. Concerns about Mexican trucking companies undercutting competition and third world drivers having free access to American roads have not gone away. Neither Washington nor Mexico City have trustworthy records when it comes to fulfilling mutual obligations. There is no reason to assume that this agreement’s safety provisions will be any more effective.

The freedom of Americans to know where their food comes from has not changed either. Right now the Food and Drug Administration inspects only a tiny portion of imports. Without COOL, one more safety net is lost.

There are some other more basic threats which both of these developments represent. One of the most fundamental functions of our constitutional government is protection from harm. At a time when illegal immigrants continue to breach our southern border in droves, Mexican drug cartels control American territory and terrorism continues to spread, the last thing we need is open transportation corridors. With most of our fruits, vegetables and seafood being imported, the last thing consumers need is less information about what they are eating.

The core issue is national sovereignty over foreign meddling through the supremacy of federal law. The Constitution of the United States grants only Congress the right to control commerce with other nations. That same document grants the Supreme Court of the United States final judicial authority for Americans. American participation in international economic relationships does not imply a requirement of submission to harmful trade practices.

These latest two developments demonstrate that NAFTA and our membership in the WTO have the effect of subordinating our sovereignty to international oversight, at least in the eyes of the so-called “international community.” America did not become great by serving foreign powers. She will die if she continues to give away her independence one treaty at a time.

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:33:25 +0000
<![CDATA[Proposed HOS Rules.]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/driving-rules-2011/ Points to ponder on the proposed HOS 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.

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.

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:47:20 +0000
<![CDATA[Heavy Truck Fuel-Efficiency Standards.]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/truck-fuel-efficiency/ NHTSA seeking comments on heavy truck fuel-efficiency standards

With a pair of public hearing in the books, the trucking industry can now officially submit comments on the proposed rulemaking that seeks to create fuel mileage and emission standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believe medium- and heavy-duty trucks can obtain 10 to 20 percent better fuel economy and 20 percent reductions in harmful emissions using technology that exists today. The regulators say a final rule could be in place by the end of July 2011, targeting model years 2014-2018 for the improvements to be made at the manufacturing level.

The numbers for fuel consumption and emissions are based on goals set in May by President Obama.

NHTSA officially published the proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Nov. 30.

Regulators are seeking comments on the 306-page proposed rulemaking as well as NHTSA’s draft environmental impact statement, which is a supplement to the proposed rule.

The EPA and NHTSA will accept comments on the proposed rulemaking for 60 days, with comments due on or before Jan. 31, 2011.

OOIDA is preparing to submit comments on the proposed regulation.

According to the EPA and NHTSA, the proposed rules would affect combination tractors, heavy-duty pickups and vans, and vocational vehicles, model years 2014-2018, at the manufacturing level. Criteria such as aerodynamics, lighter materials, speed limiters and anti-idling technology make the list of “existing technology” that could be implemented.

OOIDA leadership is concerned with the additional costs that will be added to new trucks. Association leadership believes many small-business truckers may not be able to afford new trucks and will therefore hold on to equipment longer.

See related articles:
Trucks of the future will be more efficient, but costlier
OOIDA airs additional concerns about proposed mileage standard

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:55:42 +0000
<![CDATA[Trucking Safety ]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/truck-safety-2010/ Trucking safety impaired by inadequate control of medical certification process

As a trucking accident injury trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, I sometimes run across truck drivers about whom I wonder how they ever passed a medical exam. In a case last year, when I dug into records and took depositions, I found that a truck driver with extensive heart disease had open heart surgery. Soon thereafter he returned to work driving an 18 wheeler over the road.

How did he pass his Commercial Drivers License (CDL) medical exam to return to work so soon after open heart surgery? He went to a chiropractor for a CDL medical certificate at 8 AM before reporting for work at 8:30 AM.

In another case, I found that a truck driver's own physician said he should not have left home without an oxygen tank due to COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disesase), and lack of oxygen to the brain made him unfit to drive.

In both cases, the truck drivers' medical conditions were contributing factors in their poor judgments in operating 80,000 pound big rig vehicles.

Now, a news story on MS-NBC has revealed just how easy it is for a long-haul trucker to renew medical certification. A chiropractor or advance practice nurse at a truck stop medical clinic can renew a trucker's medical certificate in 20 minutes -- even after open heart surgery.

And truck drivers who are denied certification for any reason can simply head down the road and try another "med stop" because data tracking of this issue is nonexistent. Moreover, even when a trucker is caught without proper medical certification, immediate license revocation may not result

While the National Transportation Safety Board in 2002 proposed enhanced medical standards for truckers, the response has been minimal. Over the ensuing six years, over 800 fatal crashes were blamed, at least in part, on medically unqualified drivers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has begun tightening supervision of medical certification, but for those killed or maimed by unfit truck drivers in the meantime, it's too little and too late.

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:22:30 +0000
<![CDATA[CSA 2010 New System]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/csa_2010.truck_drivers/ New system has truckers worried about job security

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.

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:38:54 +0000
<![CDATA[Trucking group seeks higher weight limit on U.S. roads ]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/weight-linits-us-roads/

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.

    Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:22:35 +0000
    <![CDATA[Jason's Law]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/jason-law-ts/

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

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

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

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

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

    Hope and Congressman Paul Tonko, who is the originator of the bill HR 2156, has also made numerous pleas  on Truth About Trucking “Live”, Allen Smith’s  blog talk radio show.  Hope 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.

    Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:45:51 +0000
    <![CDATA[Wanted: 400,000 truck drivers.]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/wanted-truck-drivers/ Wanted: 400,000 truck drivers

    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.

  • A number of factors will feed into this need for drivers, including retirements, tougher safety regulations designed to get drivers with bad records off the road and the need to replace drivers who were laid-off during the recession, according to the report. Overall the industry lost almost 150,000 driving jobs since the start of 2008.

    Rosalyn Wilson, the author of the report that was sponsored by Penske Logistics, said that even with continued high unemployment, motor carriers are going to face a challenge finding drivers needed over the next year and half.

    "It's not a very attractive profession," she said. "People want jobs, but they also want their quality of life, to be home with their family at the end of the work day."

    The median pay for a trucker stood at $37,730 in May of 2009, and Wilson said that wage probably fell in the last year as miles driven were reduced. But more miles and the driver shortage are likely to increase wages in the years ahead, she said.

    Wilson said during the recession trucking companies were in the unusual position of having significantly more job applicants than they had positions, as laid-off truckers and construction workers applied for jobs. But that surplus of applicants has started to wane with a pick-up in the economy in recent months.

    "We're already seeing shortages in some markets," she said. "As traffic starts to climb, we're likely to see the shortages get worse."

    The forecast is for only a 4% to 6% growth in freight traffic for trucks this year and next, which Wilson says is a conservative estimate. Typically freight grows by about 10% coming out of a recession, she said.

    "How much of a driver shortage we have will depend on how much the economy picks up," she said.

    But she said that broader demographic factors will make driver shortages an issue for years to come, regardless of the strength of the economy. About one in six are age 55 or above.

    "We're going to need 1 million drivers in next 15 years just to deal with replacing retirees and the normal growth of freight," she said. To top of page

    Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:13:06 +0000
    <![CDATA[Port of Los Angeles]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/port-los-angeles/ Contract Driver or Employee? Answer In Nose Of Sniffer

    The long-established practice of licensed motor carriers hiring owner-operators to haul containers in and out of the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach is under fire at the federal, state and local levels of government, as well as from organized labor. Members of the House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit called for a Congressional investigation of driver status following a May 5 hearing on the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports' clean truck programs.

    The hearing had little to do with the clean truck program and everything to do with economics and driver misclassification, said attorney Alex Cherin, who represents the Harbor Truckers for a Sustainable Future and is the former Long Beach port managing director of trade and operations. He warned members of the trucking community at a HTFSF meeting in Long Beach last week to expect a major assault on the status of drivers - the question being whether the contract drivers are legally independent business people or employees.

    The issue is less than clear, even in the best of times. There are several tests used to determine whether or not a worker is an independent contractor or an employee, but all of the tests are subjective and none of them by itself is conclusive.

    In the end it comes down to a "smell test," said Bob Roginson, a labor attorney at Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo. "It's the totality of circumstances."

    In other words, whether a worker is legally an employee or a contractor is usually determined in the nose of the beholder. After hearing all the facts, a judge or some other official will decide by taking everything into consideration, including his own preconceptions.

    For the most part, the status of drivers has been tested in the court and as long as the company has carefully maintained the proper legal distinction between the driver as contractor and the driver as employee, the position that the driver is an independent business person has usually prevailed.

    One of the things that has changed, however, is the use of leases.

    When the ports mandated as part of their clean truck programs that only late-model, clean-burning trucks would be allowed in port terminals, it was apparent that most of the contract drivers could not afford new rigs, which each cost $100,000 or more.

    The harbor-area trucking companies invested more than half-a-billion dollars in updating the fleets, and then leased the trucks to the drivers - sometimes as part of a lease-purchase agreement. Leasing the truck to the driver, would suggest a permanent relationship between the company and driver and tend to favor the view that the driver is in reality an employee, rather than an independent businessman, Roginson said. It would not by itself, however, be conclusive, he added.

    Roginson is the former Chief Counsel for the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, appointed to that post by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    There is a belief by some that independent contractors may be less than forthcoming on their taxes and that their contractor status costs the government revenues it would have gotten if they had been employees. Because of that, there is some legislative pressure to change the law to make it harder for independent contractors to operate.

    In California, Schwarzenegger has vetoed such bills, saying it would further discourage business in California. When a new governor assumes office that may change, Roginson warned, especially if the winning candidate is former Governor Jerry Brown.

    Brown, who is now California Attorney General, has launched several suits against harbor-area trucking companies that he claims are using drivers as employees, but classifying them as independent contractors. Those suits so far have drawn some mixed results.

    At the federal level, actions to crack down on what determines an independent contractor have already begun, Roginson said. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis plans to hire 100 new investigators whose jobs will be to focus on misclassification of contractors.

    The Teamsters Union - whose officials testified at the May 5 hearing - wants the drivers to be declared employees so they can organize them into the union. As independent contractors they cannot legally be part of a union.

    The Port of Los Angeles is currently awaiting a decision in a lawsuit brought against it by the American Trucking Associations over the port's clean truck concession program. One of the main issues in question is whether the port has the jurisdiction under federal law to ban contract drivers from port terminals.

    The Port of Los Angeles is engaged in an effort to convince Congress to change federal law to allow the port to regulate interstate trucking in order to clean up the environment. The Teamsters and various environmental organizations are also campaigning for the change.

    Mon, 31 May 2010 17:21:09 +0000
    <![CDATA[Cross-Border Trucking]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/us-mex-border-trucking/ LaHood: Cross-border trucking announcement coming ‘soon’

    In the days leading up to Mexico President Felipe Calderón’s visit to the U.S., the administration made it increasingly clear that another cross-border trucking program with Mexico would be announced “soon.”

    Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood told Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, just that at the tail end of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on May 6.

    “President Obama’s team has worked very hard to put a program together,” LaHood told Murray. “We will be announcing it very soon.”

    He went on to say that “President Obama’s intention is to restart this program.”

    LaHood explained to Murray that because the provision calling for a cross-border trucking program with Mexico is in the North American Free Trade Agreement, the program “needs to be restarted.”

    That has remained a cornerstone argument from backers of a long-haul, cross-border trucking program. However, not everyone is sold on the “we have to” argument that the U.S. has no choice but to open the border to long-haul trucks from Mexico.

    Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR, initiated a letter calling for the removal of the requirement from NAFTA. The letter gained significant bipartisan support with 77 lawmakers signing in support.

    The letter, delivered to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in April, laid out the challenges facing the administration in launching another program.

    Among the concerns are the security of the U.S., retaliatory tariffs and, most importantly, highway safety.

    “We caution the administration that we firmly believe it would be difficult, if not impossible, to receive Congressional support for a cross-border trucking program that allows tens of thousands of Mexican trucks traveling across the lower 48 states,” the letter states.

    The letter offers a “solution that has a greater likelihood of success.” That is to renegotiate NAFTA and eliminate the trucking requirement.

    “This would remedy all the truck safety, homeland security and unemployment issues associated with this long-standing trade dispute,” the letter states.

    The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association commended the efforts of DeFazio and the other lawmakers to put an end to the debate.

    “Mexico’s regulatory standards and enforcement on trucks aren’t even remotely equivalent to what we have here. To open the border at this time is insanity from both an economic standpoint and safety,” said Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president.

    Spencer said DeFazio and the other lawmakers “should be applauded for this letter and their ongoing efforts to keep our highways safe and our nation secure.”

    OOIDA Director of Government Affairs Rod Nofziger said the call to remove the NAFTA obligation remains a real alternative for members of Congress to consider if the Obama administration presses forward with a new program.

    “It is imperative that lawmakers consider their obligation to any sort of program from all angles,” Nofziger said. “It’s absolutely urgent that truckers call their lawmakers and explain the serious ramifications that opening American roads to Mexico-based truckers will have on them and the entire U.S.

    “Our lawmakers need to hear that simply throwing up their hands and opening the border is not an option.”

    Tue, 11 May 2010 17:04:18 +0000
    <![CDATA[LA Port Battle]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/la-port-battle/

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

    LOS ANGELES -- The American Trucking Association lawsuit against the Port of Angeles' "concession requirements" as part of its Clean Truck Program got underway on Tuesday.

    While the case took a couple of years to get this far, local attorney Cameron W. Roberts told the Journal of Commerce the case is likely to involve several appeals and could take a few more years before it's finally settled.

    Last year, District Judge Christina Snyder granted ATA a preliminary injunction against the concession banning owner-operators from the Port.

    At the behest of the Teamsters, the Clean Truck plan would restrict drayage carriers from using non-company and non-union drivers from access to the port. The idea is that the responsibility of owning and maintaining 'clean' trucks would be transfered to better capitalized trucking companies.

    The owner-operator ban and other concession requirements are unrelated to the environment or safety, the argues ATA, which does, however, support most of the Clean Truck Program's environmental goals.

    "The Port of Los Angeles, which according to news reports could be on the verge of bankruptcy, is nevertheless apparently using taxpayer dollars to fight for the Teamsters proposal to ban owner-operators, which would make unionizing drivers easier," the ATA said on its web site. "The Port of Los Angeles has spent to date about $8 million for litigation and more than $265,000 for U.S. Congressional lobbying for the Teamsters-endorsed driver ban requirement."

    Recently, a new report backed by the Teamsters Union and special interest groups alleges that owner operators' inability to maintain equipment poses a threat to the clean air goals of the Clean Truck Program.

    In reaction, the ATA blasted the report, saying it "is not a research report … but just a collection of rhetoric that they have used before to attack owner-operator independent contractors."

    ATA spokesman Clayton Boyce said the union's allegation that operators are not equipped intellectually or financially to properly maintain and service clean diesel engines is a "huge insult to thousands of owner-operators."

    Clayton also said that union-backed study understates earnings of owner-operators and their ability to pay for maintenance of the truck. In fact, he added, owner-operators with business management skills typically earn a lot more than company employee drivers.

    The study, titled "From Clean to Clunker: The Economics of Emissions Control," is sponsored by the Sierra Club, BlueGreen Alliance, LAANE, and the Teamsters.

    Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:44:12 +0000
    <![CDATA[Economic Recovery]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/economic-recovery-usa/ Truck Stop Credit-Card Swipes Indicate Broadening U.S. Recovery

    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.

    Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:11:43 +0000
    <![CDATA[Mid America Trucking Show]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/america-truck-show/ Mid-America Trucking Show to remain in Louisville

    The Mid-America Trucking Show — Louisville's largest annual trade show — is staying in the city through at least 2020.

    Local government and convention officials are scheduled to announce tomorrow that the show's producers have signed a 10-year contract to remain.

    A news conference is scheduled at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23, at the Kentucky Exposition Center, where the annual show is held. This year's show is scheduled for March 25 to 27.

    The trucking show has been held in Louisville every year since its inception in 1972 and is locally owned.

    It ranked No. 1 on Business First's March 5 list of the area's largest conventions and trade shows, ranked by estimated economic impact.

    The show is projected to give a $14.2 million economic boost to the city this year, according to the list. It is attended by an average of 65,000 patrons and creates 27,200 room nights for area hotels during its three-day run.

    Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:09:28 +0000
    <![CDATA[Is the Trucking Industry ready for new Technology?]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/trucking-industry-ready/ Is the Trucking Industry ready for new Technology?

    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.

    Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:38:32 +0000
    <![CDATA[Trucking Industry Optimistic for 2010]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/truck-industry-optimistic/ Trucking Industry Optimistic About the Year Ahead

    Carriers and industry vendors have indicated that things are improving, with capacity tightening in February, according to the observations of Transport Capital Partners at the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) Annual Meeting in Las Vegas last week.

    According to TCP, carriers expect this month to continue to improve as inventory is moved. While carriers are uncertain about April, they expect May to be very strong.

    "The three factors of volumes, rates and driver shortages are setting the industry up for winning an 'inverse perfect storm,' where carriers will finally be able to post much-needed earnings," TCP said.

    Last week, Internet Truckstop's Market Demand Index rose above 7, an indication that pricing leverage has shifted in favor of the motor carrier for the first time since July 2008. According to TCP's recent Business Expectations Survey, 10 percent of carriers reported that they have been able to selectively raise some rates.

    TCP also had discussions with carriers that are looking to hire drivers to fill parked trucks. Such fleets are ramping up their recruiting efforts and starting to advertise more. However, some told TCP that they are having problems finding drivers because of extended unemployment benefits at high rates.

    "Although carriers' optimism was widespread, lenders appear to be more cautious, TCP said. "From both lenders and carriers, we heard concerns that financing fleet equipment replacements will be a challenge for the industry, with very few carriers seeking to expand their fleets."

    TCP's survey found that carriers are still wary about adding equipment, as fleets will be facing increased credit standards and tougher lending terms from banks. Fleets are also concerned about who will supply financing for owner-operators to replace older trucks.

    At TCA, carriers also expressed concern about the impact of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, or CSA 2010. According to TCP's observations, fleets will be hit by violations, such as non-out of service violations, that were rarely monitored before. In addition, drivers will be more highly scrutinized under the program. "These drivers will probably not only be dismissed by their current employers but also will not be hired by any prospective employers because the drivers' records follow them for three years, thus putting their careers at risk," TCP said.

    Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:29:22 +0000
    <![CDATA[Truck Drivers Blast Talk of U.S.-Mexico Pact]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/truck-drivers-against-mexico/

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

    Trucking group urges top U.S. trade official to challenge retaliatory Mexican tariffs on U.S. goods

    A group representing independent truck drivers accused Mexico of “economic bullying” while arguing against allowing Mexican truckers to operate in the U.S.

    The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to challenge the legality of $2.4 billion in tariffs Mexico placed on U.S. goods last year after Congress and the White House killed a cross-border trucking program.

    In a meeting with Mexico’s secretary of the economy earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the White House would consult with members of Congress opposed to reinstating a cross-border trucking program for Mexican carriers.

    The Obama administration faces rising pressure from agricultural exporters and manufacturers whose business has been hurt by the Mexican tariffs. Mexico’s economy minister, Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, said 9 he expects the dispute will be resolved by the end of the year.

    Cross-border trucking between the U.S. and Mexico was part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but it has never been put in place, except for a limited test by the Bush administration.

    Any potential cross-border trucking program with Mexico faces significant roadblocks, including congressional opposition, the Teamsters union and the 156,000 independent truckers represented by OOIDA. In a statement released today, the trucking group said Kirk showed “a willingness to give in” to Mexico’s “bullying,” and pursuing “yet another cross-border trucking program.”

    “Instead of caving into blackmail from Mexico, the safety of our nation’s highways should be the top priority of U.S. officials,” said OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer. He said Mexico has not addressed numerous issues relating to homeland security, criminal activity by drug cartels and its trucking industry that should be a prerequisite to any discussion of cross-border trucking.

    Mexico and the U.S. do not have comparable drug and alcohol testing, commercial drivers licensing and tracking and hours of service requirements, Spencer said.

    “This is what officials from Mexico should be focused on, and our U.S. trade rep should not be bashful about telling it exactly that way.”

    Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:30:14 +0000
    <![CDATA[The Truck Economy 2010]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/more-business-failed-competitor/

    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.

    Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:31:47 +0000
    <![CDATA[DOT's New Sample Bill]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/new-sample-bill/

    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."

    Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:49:02 +0000
    <![CDATA[Trucking Failures]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/truck-failure-usa/

    Trucking failures to accelerate this year

    Bankruptcies in the U.S. trucking industry are expected to escalate this year as higher fuel prices and excess capacity squeeze margins further and lenders start to tighten their noose on the sector.

    The highly fragmented freight market in the United States has been in recession for about three years now. Excess capacity has put pressure on pricing and dented margins at truckers as well as freight brokers.

    But the sector has not seen as many insolvencies as expected in the last two years, as lenders wait for the market to improve for the used trucks they hold as collateral.

    Last year, lenders helped YRC Worldwide the No.1 U.S. trucker, narrowly avoid bankruptcy.

    Industry analysts say a spike in bankruptcies might not be a bad thing after all for the sector -- it will take away hundreds of underperforming companies, suck out the excess capacity and finally narrow the gap between supply and demand.

    Some of the bigger players in the market, such as J.B. Hunt Transport Services , Werner Enterprises  and Knight Transportation , are expected to benefit as the insolvency of smaller firms create some breathing space in the sector.

    Andy Ahern of consultancy firm Ahern & Associates said he would be surprised if he doesn't see at least 2,500 to 3,000 trucking companies go bankrupt in 2010.

    According to Ahern, about 2,220 truckers went bankrupt in 2009, compared to 5,500 in 2008. The figures do not include companies that just shut down operations without filing for bankruptcy protection.

    Even then, this represents a 60 percent decline in bankruptcies in a year when 70 percent of the trucking companies in the market made losses.

    "We are going to see the collapse of two or three major carriers and that is going to be the beginning of the process of changing supply and demand, and when that happens trucking is going to start to rebound," Ahern said.

    Lender leniency has so far stemmed bankruptcies in the trucking industry. Banks have not forced truckers into bankruptcy so far as the current value of used trucks held as collateral is so low that they are worth less than the debt.

    "Because there is excess capacity, owning a bunch of trucks may not be a great asset at the moment for a bank as collateral," said Drew White of financial information company Sageworks Inc.

    YRC, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy in December 2009, went through an elaborate debt exchange offer and received concessions from banks and labor union, avoiding a failure that would have changed the supply-demand dynamics in the trucking market.

    But analysts don't believe YRC is out of the woods yet.

    BMO Capital Markets' Jason Granger said YRC could at some point be forced into a position where it needs to significantly downsize its operations and resurface as a smaller organization.

    Used trucks do not have a strong market as truckers are not adding to their fleet -- they already have a lot of trucks that are not in use due to low freight volumes.

    "Banks traditionally have become more lenient toward forcing troubled carriers into bankruptcy in early stages of the down cycle," said BMO's Granger.

    "As asset value that the banks hold as collateral improves, banks start to become more aggressive in forcing carriers into bankruptcy."

    He expects the acceleration in bankruptcies to become more pronounced in late 2010 and 2011.

    Rising fuel prices are another key factor in quickening the pace of bankruptcies. When the benchmark U.S. crude oil prices shot up 47 percent in the first half of 2008, U.S. trucking bankruptcies rose 130 percent, according to analyst Granger.

    In the last two quarters of 2009, oil prices rose 13 percent. Oil averaged $76 a barrel in the fourth quarter, significantly higher than the $32.40 per barrel touched earlier that year.

    Trucking failures are not the only way for excess capacity to leave the market. Some analysts believe mergers and acquisitions could start to see an upside as distressed deals happen and the larger players prepare for a recovery in 2011.

    Tom Connolly, managing director at Eve Partners, an investment bank focusing on transportation and logistics, said some distressed deals and opportunistic acquisitions could happen, but he doesn't see a dramatic rise in M&As.

    "I don't think bankruptcy is the only way (for excess capacity to leave the market) but it is the most logical way out," said Connolly.

    Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:22:41 +0000
    <![CDATA[The Trucking Industry]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/trucking-things-jobs/ Important Things To Take Into Consideration Regarding Trucking Jobs

    Trucking features a long history. Truck driving has generated a huge market for products and support in this nation. The earliest big increase occured because of World War II. America required numerous commodities shipped around in America and and with regard to that matter, the world. Quickly the trucking, transport, and logistics marketplace would be an economic benefit throughout the world numerous people are employed to work in the field.

    The trucking industry is the backbone of our economy. Without their services, a great deal of the globe’s population would be underdeveloped. Many people view the trucking profession environmentally as a negative effect on the world, but in truthfulness there are a bunch of positives from the truck community. Specialized trucking is an important part of the equation. For example, government truckers transfer whole bases and can be set up in a brand new location in a matter of a day! Truckers also move houses and the things necessary to construct them.

    Essentially every component of American living revolves about the transport industry. Truckers drive the big trucks that transfer natural commodities (such as foods), raw materials (building), chemicals, finished goods, energy products, and many other important freight. Many corporations move the commodities they need to create the products they make and use trucks to distribute all of them. Organizations furthermore use the locomotives, boats, and planes to send and also receive necessary commodities. Specialty trucks such as ice trucks get many necessary commodities into ice bound northern areas, and log trucks can easily climb in the mountains with huge quantities of weight in lumber.

    Because times change, so does the trucking business. As an example, transporting petroleum has turned into a substantial business for the trucking industry. Because oil based products can be supplanted by various other energy sources the demand could nevertheless be there.. just simply in a different area. Trucking jobs available which in turn happen to be a indirect connection to the business can consist of advertising professionals, webmasters, mechanics, software programmers, and you can’t forget truck stop attendants.

    With tighter regulations and the changing planet, it’s turning out to be harder on truckers to have the funds for expenses included in being environmentally friendly. Brazil features more hybrid vehicles on the market than any nation in the world, and fuel prices tend to be almost half the cost of gasoline. It won’t be long until many trucking companies switch to biofuels. As production and technology increases the creation of biofuel, the cost will only go lower. Could you imagine if truckers were paying half the price for present day fuel costs? It could be such a enviromentally friendly and brighter world in several ways.

    Times are rough for very much of the trucking sector as gasoline costs increase and the global financial depression hits harder. Once the problems of the economy are gone, things will turn around for the truckers and also for the rest of us.

    Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:09:01 +0000
    <![CDATA[Tougher Regulations on Energy]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/truckers-target-spec/

    Truckers Target Speculators

    ATA, partners want tougher regulation of energy derivatives market

    The trucking industry is adding its voice to a coalition demanding tighter federal regulation of trading in commodity derivatives.

    Its goal is to put a choke collar on Wall Street traders the trucking industry says drive up oil and fuel prices by speculating in energy-based derivatives, putting intense cost pressure on freight transportation companies of all types just as freight demand is sputtering back.

    The American Trucking Associations and other groups in the Derivatives Reform Alliance want Congress and the White House to ensure trading in energy derivatives markets is transparent, and to place limits on the value of such trades.

    Higher fuel prices are choking trucking companies weakened by the recession, threatening many small businesses, Con-way executive C. Randal Mullett said at a Feb. 2 press conference on Capitol Hill organized by the Derivatives Reform Alliance.

    The answer, Mullett said, is a stronger Commodity Futures Trading Commission and broader limits on trading. “Congress must act to broaden the CFTC’s authority and eliminate trading loopholes,” he said. That means placing position limits — limits on the value of contracts or options meant to ensure stable and fair markets — on all types of commodity-based derivatives. “The failure to apply position limits across all trading platforms creates a loophole that permits excessive speculation beyond the control of government regulators,” Mullett said, speaking on behalf of the ATA.

    The financial institutions that control derivatives trading likely would welcome such reform as much as truckers would welcome a return to regulated pricing, but Congress may not leave them a choice.

    Tighter oversight of derivatives trading is one area of financial reform legislation being debated by the Senate Finance Committee. If that committee can produce a bill that can be passed by the full Senate, it must be reconciled with House legislation passed last year before going to the White House for President Obama’s signature.

    The “loopholes” Mullett points to are a product of the House bill. That bill’s critics claim it would leave 60 percent of the derivatives market without minimum requirements for capital behind trading positions. “To get our economy on track, we must bring full transparency and capital requirements to the entire derivatives market,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who spoke at the DRA event. “This will prevent a repeat of the massive losses in unregulated derivatives trading,” losses taxpayers ultimately paid for, she said, in government aid or bailouts.

    Cantwell has introduced three financial reform bills in the past six months, including the Derivatives Market Manipulation Prevention Act of 2009, and legislation that would subject derivatives traders to state gambling regulations. The CFTC has been reported to be looking at tougher limits on trading but not issued new rules.

    The particular concern of the DRA and other groups is the unregulated over-the-counter market in derivatives such as the mortgage-backed securities, blamed for the failure of several Wall Street firms and the widespread collapse in lending. Reform advocates want to bring the OTC market more into line with regulated exchanges.

    Crude oil prices were on a steep roller coaster from the end of 2007 until late 2008, nearly doubling in one 12-month period to more than $145 per barrel before falling to less than $40 at the depth of the downturn in late 2008. Average prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange have remained generally between $70 and $80 a barrel since late August and were around $74 a barrel in the middle of last week, a price many experts consider high by historic standards because of production capacity and reserve stocks.

    “While we cannot quantify the extent to which excessive speculation is responsible for the recent dramatic increases in the price of crude oil, we believe that it is a significant part of the problem,” said Mullett, vice president of government affairs at Con-way.

    The ATA and its DRA partners are concerned not just by fluctuations at the pump — the national average retail diesel price rose 15 cents in December before falling back 10 cents to $2.78 a gallon by Feb. 1 — but long-term trends they say run counter to typical market behavior. The price of oil rose in 2009 despite crude oil inventories that were well above average and weak global demand for oil, gasoline and diesel, Mullett said. At about $73 a barrel, West Texas crude oil prices are more than 40 percent higher than a year ago.

    “In the face of these market realities, excessive speculation is the only other variable left unaccounted for,” he said.

    Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:38:45 +0000
    <![CDATA[Government Financial Aid]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/internet-aid-trucking/

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

    Are you currently in the military or have served in the military? If you have, then you need to know that there is government financial aid available for you to go back to school. Your family members can even take advantage of you serving in the military to further their education. Many people that leave the military want to become truck drivers.

    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.

    Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:39:47 +0000
    <![CDATA[South Carolina Truck Show]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/south-carolina-truck-show/ 2/16/2010  South Carolina Truck Show Slated For June 25

    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.

    Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:54:00 +0000
    <![CDATA[State of Economy]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/new-diesel-index/

    New diesel index shows state of economy

    A new index, which projects the state of the U.S. economy based on how much diesel fuel heavy trucks are using, indicates that the economy cooled off a little in January.

    The so-called “Pulse of Commerce” index was created by economists at UCLA who partnered with the business services company Ceridian, which owns Comdata.

    Ceridian issues credit cards that are good at about 7,000 truck stops. Each time fuel is bought, the purchase is immediately noted in the Pulse of Commerce system.

    The economists say diesel fuel purchases in January were much lower than in December of this past year but that generally the trend is moving slowly upward. In fact, the January 2010 index reflected a 3.6 percent improvement over January 2009.

    UCLA economist Ed Leamer, Ph.D., told Land Line Now why diesel is an economic indicator instead of something else.

    “We use the words “a pulse of commerce” to describe this thing,” Leamer said. “That metaphor is a reference to the interstates that criss-cross the country being the arteries of the system. And the products that are flowing on those arteries are the lifeblood.

    “Without the movement of product, the U.S. economy’s going to come to a crashing halt. ... It’s hard to imagine anything more critical than the movement of products and trucks around the country.”

    The trucking industry has long been viewed as an indicator of the nation’s overall economic health. But the new index is the first time the health of the economy has been linked directly to diesel fuel consumption.

    Leamer says they also went back and compared diesel fuel purchases in the past. And drops in diesel consumption accurately forecast both of the last two major recessions

    Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:52:16 +0000
    <![CDATA[American Trucking Association]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/american-trucking-association/ American Trucking Associations Back Hours of Service Rules

    The (ATA) recently told the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that the trucking industry has seen a large decline in the truck-involved fatality rate since the current hours of service (HOS) rules took effect, citing a 25% drop in the rate of persons injured in large truck crashes since the rules took effect in 2005.

    Furthermore, the implementation of the rules was associated with a 22% drop in truck-involved fatality rates. According to the ATA, the continually improving safety figures illustrate the real-world benefits of the current rules, which are based on a decade of research and analysis.

    ATA chairman Tommy Hodges and vice chairman Daniel England expanded on the impact of the rules at an FMCSA listening session in Los Angeles. They told the FMCSA that the 24 hour restart provides drivers with the ability to gain quality rest. The two ATA representatives shared that the most recent figures from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) indicate that the truck-involved fatality rate in 2008 declined 12.3% to 1.86 per 100 million miles, from 2.12 per 100 million miles in 2007. This decline marks the fifth consecutive year the fatality rate has dropped in addition to the largest year-to-year drop ever. Persons injured in large truck crashes went from 44.4 per 100 million miles to 39.6 (an 11% reduction).

    While the current HOS rules are helping, ATA believes the rules can be improved by allowing more flexibility in the sleeper berth provision in order to encourage circadian-friendly sleep and naps. Constraining drivers to one, inflexible option overlooks the individual needs of each driver, according to ATA.

    America's Road Team Captain Ben Saiz also spoke at the listening session, stating that the current HOS rules are working, but professional drivers should be the judges of when they need rest.

    “A mandate may not take into account how the driver is feeling that day,” said Saiz, a relay driver for ABF Freight System. Saiz also noted that professional drivers are alert and safe whether driving during the day or night, and that nighttime hours should remain the same.

    According to ATA, to better address the true causes of fatigue, FMCSA should focus its resources on:
    • Sleep disorder awareness, training, and screening;
    • Promoting the use of Fatigue Risk Management Programs;
    • Increasing the availability of truck parking on important freight corridors; and
    • Partnering with the trucking and shipping communities to develop an educational process that identifies for drivers the location of available truck parking.

    Four listening sessions were held around the country as the FMCSA again considers HOS changes requested by special interest groups like Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

    Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:34:14 +0000
    <![CDATA[NAFTA]]> http://www.truckingsuccess.net/blog/mexico-us-solve-dispute/ Mexico-US will solve truck dispute this year:

    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.

    The move by US lawmakers violated a section of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, the United States and Canada.

    Trade Representative Kirk -- who sought to boost a new US export initiative during his two-day visit -- underlined that the Obama administration had already changed the language of the bill.

    "We have the green light to go forward and start those consultations with Congress (and) with our stakeholders in the US," Kirk told a joint news conference.

    Kirk met Monday with leaders of small- and medium-sized businesses, and said they would be key for new export opportunities between the long-term partners.

    "We think that is a real growth opportunity to deepen and strengthen what is already a dynamic relationship," Kirk said, as he sought to reassure Mexico amid a US push for trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea.

    "Completing those agreements does nothing to diminish the importance of the relationship between the United States and Mexico," Kirk said.

    The United States is Mexico's main trading partner, and Mexico is the third biggest US partner, with joint trade representing some 400 billion dollars per year, according to the Mexican minister.

    US President Barack Obama last week unveiled the National Export Initiative, a broad plan to double US exports in five years, targeting huge emerging economies like China, India and Brazil.

    Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:43:44 +0000