The Trucker Newspaper - December 15-31, 2015

So you want to be a truck driver. You
want to hit the open road and make new
adventures driving an 18 wheeler. The
best part is they tell you they are going to
pay you to do it. It’s like getting paid to be
on vacation the whole year round! Or is it?
Three months later you think: “Wow,
this is a lot harder work than what I
thought. I thought I would make more
money than I am making being away
from my family as much as I am. Truck
driving school sure never made it
sound this tough and the trainer I was
with sure made it look easier than it is.
I might give this up.”
Unfortunately, this is a scenario that
we hear far too often. It appears that just
driving up and down the road would be
a great career, and no matter how hard
they try, the truck driving schools cannot
duplicate what a life on the road is like.
The company trainer can speak a few
days teaching and trying to relay the
truth of the industry to the trainees. Then
their driver trainer can spend 4-6 weeks
mentoring and living the lifestyle that
the trainee will soon endure. Problem is,
three months later, you are on your own
and it all lies on your shoulders.
Trucking is a great career. There is
good money to be made and with the
right company, you can still be home
when you need to be and still make
the money you want. When asked,
most drivers will put down home-time
ADVERTORIAL
Balance of work-time and home-time
critical to career success
Importance of choosing a company that provides both
By Gary Smith - Keim TS Training Coordinator
Gary has 35+ years OTR experience
as the No.1 priority when looking at
a company, with pay and equipment
coming in second and third. A balance
of work-time and home-time is a very
important and very necessary part of
truck driving. Friday night football
games for your kids, anniversaries and
birthdays are a must be home situation.
Your driver manager becomes the most
important link you have between your
work and your family.
At Keim TS, we take home-time
very seriously. We want you to be safe
and happy, and that only comes when
you have the support of your family. I
am the in-house Driver Mentor who will
work with you here at orientation and be
available to you throughout your career.
We have Driver Trainers who spend
weeks with you while training and are
also available throughout your career.
You will have a personal driver manager
who gets to know you, your family and
your needs and will help you meet your
goals as you journey around the country
providing for what is most important:
your family!
Learn more about joining our team
by calling (800) 255-2450. You can find
us online at keimts.com or like us on
Facebook @ /KeimTrucking.
We at Keim TS would like to
wish America’s drivers and their
families a very Merry Christmas
and a wonderful holiday season.
We look forward to sharing the
New Year with you!
16 • December 15-31, 2015 Nation
b Bill from page 1 b
tax needs to be increased and it needs to be
adjusted for inflation and indexed. Tell me a
better way. Most of our Congressional leaders
believe that any increase in taxes is a
four-letter word right now. True leaders lead
in a time that leadership is truly needed. And
we need someone to lead this increase in the
fuel tax. We need to find a way that makes
the Highway Trust Fund truly sustainable
and is always there when work needs to get
done, and there is a lot of work that needs
to get done.”
But what happens after three years is of
the utmost concern to Heller and most other
stakeholders in the truckload sector, which
represents 78 percent of the trucking delivery
system.
“We’ve been through a funding process
that has had how many extensions?” Heller
asked rhetorically. “So does this continue
along that crazy extension way or do we
remain committed to developing a funding
mechanism that truly gets us to the point
this country needs to be?”
Heller pointed out that on its latest report
card on the nation’s infrastructure,
the American Society of Civil Engineers
gave the nation’s roads a “D” and bridges
a “C+.”
In his statement following passage of the
bill, American Trucking Associations President
and CEO Bill Graves also addressed
funding.
“The announcement that House and Senate
leaders had reached an agreement on a
long-term highway bill was welcome news
to those of us in the transportation world,”
Graves said. “While we all, of course, wish
there was more money to be had, this bill
takes important steps to re-focus the program
on important national projects and
takes critical steps to improve trucking
safety and efficiency.”
Todd Spencer, executive vice president
of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers
Association, commended OOIDA members
and other stakeholders for helping shape the
bill.
“This bill, perhaps more than any that
came before, reflects the input lawmakers
received from constituents. When professional
drivers take the time to get involved
in the legislative process, lawmakers will
listen and respond. We thank our members
for making their concerns known to their
representatives in Congress,” Spencer said.
The following is a partial summary of
language in the FAST Act pertaining to
trucking:
CSA reform
The FAST Act requires the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration to within
18 months commission a Transportation Research
Board study of the accuracy of the
CSA Safety Measurement System (SMS) in
identifying high-risk carriers and predicting
future crash risk and severity, and report
corrective action to Congress within 120
days of completing the study.
The act prohibits FMCSA from publically
displaying information regarding carrier
alerts or percentile rankings until the agency
completes that corrective action plan and
thetrucker.com
satisfactorily addresses issues raised in a
2014 GAO report.
Within 24 hours after the bill was signed
into law, the FMCSA had removed that information.
Crashes determined by FMCSA to not
have been the truck driver or motor carrier’s
fault must also be removed.
Finally, percentile ranks and alerts may
not be used by FMCSA to issue safety fitness
determinations.
Carriers will retain the ability to access
their respective data, including percentile
ranks and alerts and law enforcement officials
will continue to be able to access
scores and use them for enforcement prioritization.
Inspection and violation information,
including out-of-service rates and absolute
measures, shall remain publicly available.
Within 18 months, the bill requires FMC-
SA to establish a means to provide motor
carriers with recognition, including credit
or improved SMS percentiles, for the adoption
of safety technology, enhanced driver
fitness measures and/or fleet safety management
tools. The agency may incorporate this
credit into the existing CSA methodology or
create a separate “Safety BASIC.”
Finally, within one year FMCSA must
task the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory
Committee (MCSAC) with reviewing the
treatment of preventable crashes in the
SMS. No more than six months later, MC-
SAC must make recommendations on a process
for motor carriers and drivers to request
an FMCSA crash preventability determination.
DOT must then review the recommendations
and report to Congress on how the
agency intends to address the treatment of
preventable crashes.
The entire trucking industry has long
fought to keep the CSA scores out of public
view, saying the scores in no way represent
the safety capabilities of a carrier.
Hair testing for drugs
The bill requires the Department of
Health and Human Services to within one
year establish standards for the use of hair
testing in federal testing programs (e.g.,
DOT mandatory testing). Then, following
DOT’s adoption of these standards, motor
carriers would be permitted to conduct hair
tests (in lieu of urine tests) for pre-employment
and random testing. But random hair
tests could only be conducted on drivers
who had been subject to pre-employment
hair tests.
Pilot program for younger veterans
The act requires DOT to establish a pilot
program to allow current or former members
of the armed forces (or reservists) under the
age of 21 with experience as motor transport
operators to drive trucks in interstate commerce.
Participating drivers may not transport
passengers or hazardous materials and
would be prohibited from driving “special
configurations” (e.g., doubles). DOT would
have to establish a working group to monitor
the program and make recommendations
at its conclusion.
Rulemakings required by Congress
The act requires FMCSA to prioritize the
completion of any rulemakings required by
statute before initiating any other rulemakings
unless there is a significant need and
See Bill on p17 m