The Trucker Newspaper - October 1, 2018

Vol. 31, No. 19
www.thetrucker.com October 1-14, 2018
The Trucker: KLINT LOWRY
Transition honorees
As the trucking industry works to
attract new drivers to the industry,
it has looked to the military as one
of the most promising sources of
new talent. Transition Trucking:
Driving for Excellence is an award
program that honors veterans who
distinguish themselves in their first
years as professional truck drivers
and gives them a boost toward
furthering their careers.
Page 8
Navigating the news
Hero nominations sought.......3
Pilot Flying J warriors ............4
Ask the Law .........................10
OOIDA pilot comments.........11
Truck Stop............................16
Chaplain’s Corner.................20
Truck sales soar...................21
Lane Departures...................21
Shell Safety Series...............25
Volvo autonomous................29
SmartNav updates ...............31
Around the Bend..................33
Courtesy: ROLLING STRONG
Personal best
Rolling Strong scored big time
when it introduced its health and
fitness app for truck drivers in
June 2017. Instead of resting on
its laurels, the company has just
released an upgraded version of
the app, based on user feedback,
with more features and a new
“dashboard” look.
Page 33
CVSA reports 3.9% of all drivers placed OOS in Roadcheck;
less than 2% were sidelined for Hours of Service violations
Dorothy Cox
dlcox@thetrucker.com
GREENBELT, Md. — Of the total inspections
conducted this past June 5-7 by the Commercial
Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) as part of its annual
International Roadcheck, only 3.9 percent of
all drivers inspected at all levels were placed outof-service
(OOS), CVSA reported last month.
HOS violations represented 43.7 percent of all
driver OOS conditions; however, of the total number
of inspections conducted, less than 2 percent (1.96)
of drivers were placed OOS for HOS violations.
Last year, of drivers put OOS, 32.3 percent had
HOS violations.
Commercial motor vehicle enforcement personnel
throughout Canada and the United States
conducted 67,502 roadside inspections on large
trucks and buses as part of the Alliance’s inspection
and enforcement initiative.
From all inspections, authorities identified
11,897 vehicles with OOS conditions and 2,664
drivers with OOS conditions. Of the North American
Standard (NAS) Level I Inspections conducted,
21.6 percent of commercial motor vehicles
were placed OOS. Of all NAS Level I, II and III
inspections this year, 3.9 percent of drivers inspected
were placed OOS.
In 2017, a total of 62,013 Level 1, 2 and 3
inspections were conducted during the three-day
period, and 19.4 percent of all CMVs inspected
were placed OOS, while 4.7 percent of all drivers
inspected were put OOS. Of the 40,944 Level 1
inspections done in 2017, 23 percent of vehicles
were placed OOS for vehicle-related violations
and most were because of brake violations.
This past June, the top vehicle OOS conditions
See Roadcheck on p7 m
Associated Press: MEL EVANS
Walmart says average annual first-year pay
for Walmart drivers is $86,000.
The Trucker file photo
Commercial motor vehicle enforcement personnel throughout Canada and the United States
conducted 67,502 roadside inspections on large trucks and buses as part of the Alliance’s inspection
and enforcement initiative this past June.
Walmart to double its spending by end of
year to recruit, retain experienced drivers
THE TRUCKER STAFF
Aiming to beef up its driver pool, Bentonville,
Arkansas-based Walmart said last month it will
double its spending by the end of 2018 to recruit
and retain drivers for its 6,500-truck private fleet,
news sources reported.
Walmart is using a three-pronged approach
comprising referral bonuses of up to $1,500,
speeding up the hiring process throughout the
country, and using a new marketing campaign that
includes both billboards and TV advertising, according
to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The ads began September 10 in conjunction
with National Truck Driver Appreciation Week.
Noting the booming freight market, Walmart
spokesperson Michelle Malashock said the retail
giant’s driver openings are in the “hundreds.”
And although Walmart’s turnover rate is just
over 7 percent — well under the national average
of 90 percent — Walmart drivers’ average age is
55, so many will be retiring.
“It’s both these factors, retirement and our
business growth,” Malashock told the Democrat-
Gazette, “that are leading us to double down now”
on recruitment efforts.
According to FTR Transportation Intelligence,
the lack of drivers reached a record 296,311 in the
second quarter of this year, although many drivers
argue that there is no shortage, just a shortage of
good-paying jobs.
Hardly a day goes by now, however, without
See Walmart on p7 m

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THETRUCKER.COM
Nation October 1-14, 2018 • 3
Goodyear Tire & Rubber opens nominations
for annual Goodyear Highway Hero Awards
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
AKRON, Ohio — Do you know a professional
truck driver who has performed a heroic
deed during the course of his or her daily work?
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
wants to hear about it.
Goodyear is accepting nominations for its annual
Highway Hero Award through November
29.
Established in 1983, the Goodyear Highway
Hero Award honors truck drivers who have put
themselves in harm’s way to help others.
“As we join the trucking industry in celebrating
National Truck Driver Appreciation Week
(NTDAW), we recognize truck drivers and the
role they play in keeping our economy and way
of life rolling,” Gary Medalis, Goodyear marketing
director, said in making the announcement
during NTDAW. “But these professionals deliver
more than just goods and services. They are often
first responders to on-highway incidents, even before
emergency crews arrive on the scene — taking
decisive action to save lives.”
To nominate a candidate for the Goodyear
Highway Hero Award, go to goodyeartrucktire.
com/newsroom/highway-heroes/nominate, fill
out the nomination form, and press the submit
button, which will send the nomination directly
to Goodyear.
Past Goodyear Highway Hero Award winners
include a truck driver who rescued a law enforcement
officer who was being strangled by a prisoner
he was transporting, a truck driver who dove
into a pond to pull a child from a sinking car, and
others.
This year’s Goodyear Highway Hero Award
winner, Frank Vieira, saved the life of a motorist
who suffered a severe injury after crashing his
vehicle into the back of a truck.
Goodyear will announce the next recipient of
its Highway Hero Award in March 2019.
The award winner will receive a special ring,
a cash award and a congratulatory trophy. Each of
the other Goodyear Highway Hero Award final-
Courtesy: GOODYEAR
Highway Hero Award 2018 recipient Frank
Vieira, right, accepts his award from Gary
Medalis, Goodyear marketing director.
ists will receive a cash prize and other items.
To be considered for the Goodyear Highway
Hero Award, candidates must meet the following
criteria:
• Must be a full-time truck driver
• Must reside in the U.S. or Canada
• The heroic incident must have happened in
the U.S. or Canada
• Nominee’s truck must have had 12 wheels or
more at the time of the incident
• Nominee must have been on the job — or on
the way to or from work, in his or her truck — at
the time of the incident, and
• The incident must have taken place between
November 16, 2017, and November 16, 2018.
A panel consisting of members of the trucking
industry trade media will select the next Goodyear
Highway Hero after three Highway Hero
Award finalists are selected by Goodyear. Final
approval of Goodyear Highway Hero Award finalists
and the Highway Hero Award winner is at
Goodyear’s sole discretion. Finalists must clear
background checks to Goodyear’s satisfaction.
Additional terms and conditions apply.
“Goodyear is proud to be the company that
recognizes truck drivers for their courage and
selflessness,” Medalis said. “We look forward to
hearing their heroic stories.” 8
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4 • October 1-14, 2018 Nation
THETRUCKER.COM
UPS driver Victoria Andrade named grand prize winner
of Pilot Flying J’s fifth annual Road Warrior competition
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pilot Flying J has
named winners of its fifth annual Road Warrior
contest, recognizing professional drivers for their
hard work, perseverance and passion for driving
with cash prizes.
Victoria Andrade of Harlingen, Texas; Bob
Loyd of Ottawa Lake, Michigan; and James
Monclair of Marrero, Louisiana, have been
named the grand, second- and third-place Road
Warrior winners, respectively.
To honor Andrade as the grand prize winner,
Pilot Flying J surprised her with a celebration at
the Pilot Travel Center near her hometown and
presented her with a $10,000 check.
Loyd will receive $5,000, Monclair will receive
$2,500 and the remaining nine finalists will
each receive $1,000. Additionally, nominators of
the grand, second- and third-place winners will
also receive a $500 prize.
“We are excited to congratulate this year’s
Road Warrior winners, recognizing them as inspiring
and exceptional representatives of the
professional driver community,” said Ken Parent,
president of Pilot Flying J. “These dedicated and
hardworking individuals are on the road day in
and day out to safely deliver the goods that keep
our country moving. At a time when the industry
is facing an immense driver shortage, we want
to celebrate and bring attention to the significant
contributions of professional drivers through the
Road Warrior program.”
The driver shortage is expected to reach
174,000 by 2026, according to the American
Trucking Associations, impacting everything
from stocked retail shelves, fuel at the pump and
expedited delivery of goods to consumers across
the country, according to ATA.
In addition to the Road Warrior Contest, Pilot
Flying J partnered with ATA in September on an
educational outreach program designed to raise
greater awareness of the trucking profession and
professional drivers’ tremendous contributions to
our nation’s economy, Parent said.
Road Warriors are nominated by family members,
friends and coworkers across the U.S. This
year, Pilot Flying J’s social media community
voted for the top three winners from 12 selected
finalists.
Fatalities on U.S. roads drop slightly 1st half of year; safety group expects more to come
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT — The number of people killed on
U.S. roads fell slightly in the first half of 2018,
but a top safety organization says it’s likely
that there will be little change in the number of
deaths from 2017 by the end of the year.
The National Safety Council August 22
estimated that 18,720 people were killed in
traffic crashes from January through June,
down about one-half percent from a year ago.
Another 2.1 million people were seriously
injured during the first half, 1 percent lower
than last year.
The council says at the current pace, the U.S.
could see its third straight year with 40,000
traffic deaths. It says the slight drop in fatalities
Courtesy: PILOT FLYING J
Victoria Andrade reacts as she’s revealed as the grand prize winner of Pilot Flying J’s Road
Warrior competition. With her is Darian Fletcher, the manager of the Pilot Flying J location in
Falfurrias, Texas.
Each of this year’s Road Warrior winners are
accomplished professional drivers with a passion
for their job and for making a difference in their
communities:
• Victoria Andrade. When her parents passed
away more than 30 years ago, Andrade made it
her mission to turn her job at UPS into a career so
that she could provide for her eight siblings. She
began working at UPS as a part-time car washer
to help support her family and pay for her college
education. She graduated with her degree and remained
with UPS, working her way up to be the
first female in South Texas to become a feeder
driver for UPS. Nominated by her family, Andrade
is a true Road Warrior both on the road and
at home, said a Pilot Flying J news release. Her
family is proud of her for being “a fierce woman
and an outstanding employee for UPS,” and recognizes
Victoria as a hardworking, caring, giving,
loyal and strong individual. “With her heart of
gold, there are no limits with what she is capable
isn’t a sign of progress. It’s more of a slowdown
from large increases in 2015 and 2016, the
steepest two-year rise in over 50 years.
“We aren’t making progress, we’re treading
water,” Ken Kolosh, manager of statistics for
the council, said in a statement. “We cannot
accept 18,000 deaths as the price of mobility.”
The council attributed the decline in deaths
to a slowdown in what had been large annual
increases in the number of miles driven
nationwide.
Kolosh said the numbers should remind
people to slow down, buckle their seat belts
and drive defensively.
About 40,100 people died in traffic crashes
last year, according to council estimates. That
of doing to bring joy, peace of mind and love to
anyone who crosses her path.”
• Bob Loyd. Loyd has been a professional
driver for more than 47 years. He is involved in
numerous trucking charities and helped found
Truckers United for Charities. He also volunteers
his time serving on mission trips.
• James Monclair. After achieving more than
1 million miles with Melton Truck Lines, Monclair
became an Ambassador of the Road for
Melton and serves as a mentor to other drivers.
Monclair is a veteran and volunteers to drive his
wrapped veteran truck in the Tulsa Veterans Day
Parade each year. He also makes an annual trip
to St. Jude Children’s Hospital to volunteer and
spend Survivors Day with his daughter.
To learn more about the Road Warrior program,
view exclusive content and read about the
winners, visit RoadWarrior.PilotFlyingJ.com.
To join the Road Warrior conversation, follow
#RoadWarrior. 8
was down just under 1 percent from 2016.
Fatalities rose 7 percent in 2016, on top
of a 7 percent increase from 2014 to 2015,
according to the council, which gets its data
from states. Prior to 2016, annual deaths had
not hit 40,000 since 2007, the year before the
economy tanked.
Traffic deaths began dropping in 2008 and
reached their lowest point in six decades in
2011 at 32,000.
The council’s fatality estimates differ slightly
from those of the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration. The government counts
only deaths that occur on public roads, while the
council includes fatalities that occur in parking
lots, driveways and private roads. 8
USPS 972
Volume 31, Number 19
October 1-14, 2018
The Trucker is a semi-monthly, national newspaper for the
trucking industry, published by Trucker Publications Inc. at
1123 S. University, Suite 320
Little Rock, AR 72204-1610
Trucking Division Senior Vice President
David Compton
davidc@targetmediapartners.com
Vice President / Publisher
Ed Leader
edl@thetrucker.com
Trucking Division General Manager
Megan Cullingford-Hicks
meganh@targetmediapartners.com
Editor
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
Assistant Editor
Dorothy Cox
dlcox@thetrucker.com
Associate Editor
Klint Lowry
klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Production Manager
Rob Nelson
robn@thetrucker.com
Graphic Artist
Christie McCluer
christie.mccluer@thetrucker.com
Special Correspondent
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetrucker.com
National Marketing Consultants
Jerry Critser
jerryc@targetmediapartners.com
Dennis Ball
dennisb@targetmediapartners.com
Erin Garrett
erin.garrett@targetmediapartners.com
John Hicks
johnh@targetmediapartners.com
Meg Larcinese
megl@targetmediapartners.com
Greg McClendon
gregmc@targetmediapartners.com
Telephone: (501) 666-0500
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Thetrucker.com
Nation October 1-14, 2018 • 5
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6 • October 1-14, 2018 Nation
THETRUCKER.COM
Kansas City truck driving school director says
putting 18-year-old truckers on road a bad idea
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The director of a
Kansas City truck driving school says he thinks
18-year-olds would make bad long-haul truck
drivers.
Jeffrey Steinberg of the Apex CDL Institute
was commenting on the fact that the nationwide
shortage of truckers has some industry officials
and national lawmakers supporting a plan
to allow 18-year-olds to become long-haul
drivers.
Apex trains truckers and would likely have
more students if federal proposals to allow
those under 21 to drive big rigs across the
country make it into law.
“Sure, I’d make money” if the law was
changed, Steinberg said. “But is it going to
create more problems than it would solve? In
my opinion, yes. I don’t think it’s safe.”
Bills before the U.S. House and the Senate
— co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of
Kansas — propose that people under 21 who
have CDLs be allowed to take their cargo across
state lines. Federal law now requires truckers to
wait until age 21 to get a CDL permitting them
to drive big rigs across the country.
As has been previously reported in The
Trucker, Steinberg is not alone in his objection
to dropping that minimum age to 18.
The 160,000-member Owner-Operator
Independent Drivers Association,
headquartered in Grain Valley, Missouri, has
joined more than a dozen traffic safety groups
in writing protest letters to a congressional
committee that will be briefed on the idea.
The federal proposals set training
requirements for young CDL holders.
“Younger drivers both lack overall
experience and are less safe behind the wheel
than their older counterparts,” the April 17
letter said. “In fact, CMV drivers under the age
of 19 are four times more likely to be involved
in fatal crashes.”
Republican-led proposals before the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
would affect Kansas City, a central trucking
hub, and other communities along state
borders. Both Kansas and Missouri allow
18-year-olds to obtain CDLs, but only for
travel within one state.
Some industry analysts say with deliveries
surging because of Amazon, eBay and
FedEx, it’s long past time to relax interstate
restrictions.
“What isn’t interstate commerce these
days?” asked Satish Jindel of shipping logistics
adviser SJ Consulting Group Inc. “Anyone
who makes a distinction between interstate and
intrastate trucking is stuck in the past.”
He said whether the minimum age is 18
or 21, the federal government needs to be
consistent with the state CDL laws.
The American Trucking Associations expect
the costs of delivered packages — in addition
to groceries, furniture and most every consumer
product — to climb as road shippers try to find
51,000 drivers to fill the empty cabs.
That’s up from a trucker shortage of 20,000
in 2013 and 36,500 in 2016, according to ATA.
The lobbying group recently forecast a shortage
of 100,000 drivers by 2021.
With the median age of a long-hauler at 49
and shipping demands ascending, the industry
aims to recruit 90,000 new drivers a year
for the next decade to keep cargo moving,
said Sean McNally, ATA vice president of
communications and press secretary.
OOIDA’s Norita Taylor said major carriers
could fix the driver shortage by paying more
but they don’t want to do that.
“Their shareholders benefit from high
turnover and low pay,” said Taylor. “Dropping
the minimum age to 18 is just another way to
get cheap help.”
The median annual wage in 2015 for a
trucker working with a private fleet, such as a
driver for Walmart, was $73,000, according to
ATA. 8
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Thetrucker.com
b Roadcheck from page 1 b
were for brake systems (4,536), followed by
tires and wheels (3,058), and brake adjustment
(2,612).
The top driver OOS conditions were for
HOS (1,326), wrong class license (648) and
false record-of-duty status (308).
During an inspection, if an official identifies
critical inspection items on a vehicle with
specific violations, he or she will render the
vehicle OOS, which means mechanical defects
must be corrected in order for the vehicle to be
permitted to proceed.
A driver found to be in violation of the conditions
in the OOS criteria will be placed OOS
until the condition can be rectified.
International Roadcheck is a three-day enforcement
event when CVSA-certified inspectors
b Walmart from page 1 b
announcements of pay hikes by carriers wanting
to entice drivers.
Carriers maintain that it’s hard to find good,
experienced drivers. Walmart drivers need at
least 30 months’ experience over the previous
three years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper said Walmart’s driver turnover
has risen somewhat recently because of
“cutthroat competition for drivers.”
The Women In Trucking Association (WIT)
has urged companies to hire more women drivers,
saying they make better drivers than men
in some respects.
Walmart has heeded the call to hire more
women and minorities with drivers such as
Aurelia Yoho, 44, a black mother of two from
Chicago’s South Side, who joined Walmart in
2016 after a stint in the Army and four years of
driving trucks for other carriers.
She hauls loads five days a week from
Walmart’s distribution center in Woodland,
Pennsylvania, and goes as far as Vermont and
the Carolinas and has more than proved her
worth, the Times article stated.
Although Yoho is happy at Walmart, she
told the Los Angeles newspaper she found the
hiring process “tedious,” so Walmart is aiming
to reduce the time it takes from application to
hiring to processing and finally to driving, currently
a 70-day process. The goal is to get the
process down to 30 days.
Some stakeholders say would-be hires need
to find out on the front end that trucking is not
like other jobs.
“Trucking is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle,
but it doesn’t work for everyone,” said 15-year
Walmart veteran Gary Mars.
According to Walmart’s Malashock, average
annual first-year pay for Walmart drivers
is $86,000.
Walmart founder Sam Walton started building
the company’s private fleet in the 1970s after
large carriers declined to deliver goods to
Walmart’s then mostly rural stores that were far
from main truck routes.
Today, Walmart drivers take goods from
the retailer’s large distribution centers around
the country and take them to its current 4,700
stores, a “hub-and-spoke” system that gets
stores restocked in a timely manner. 8
conduct wide-scale, high-visibility roadside inspections
of commercial trucks and buses and their
drivers. These inspections occur at inspection sites,
weigh stations and roving patrol locations along
roadways throughout the 72-hour event.
Each year, special emphasis is placed on a
certain category of violations. This year’s focus
was on HOS compliance. Since the electronic
logging device (ELD) mandate went into effect
on December 18 throughout the United States
and CVSA’s OOS criteria was effective April
1, this year’s Roadcheck was held barely two
months after OOS enforcement began. Hence,
the event served “as the perfect opportunity to
highlight the importance of HOS regulations
and compliance,” a CVSA news release said.
CVSA pulled and analyzed data from the
Nation October 1-14, 2018 • 7
three days of International Roadcheck from the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s
Motor Carrier Management Information System
(MCMIS) and pooled that data with data
collected and submitted by CVSA’s Canadian
jurisdictions to report overall statistics from
Canada and the United States for 2018 International
Roadcheck.
They concluded that:
• 21.6 percent of commercial motor vehicles
that received Level I Inspections were placed
OOS; 3.9 percent of drivers who received a
Level I, II or III Inspection were placed OOS.
• There were 15,981 vehicle OOS conditions;
3,035 driver OOS conditions; and 211
hazardous materials/dangerous goods OOS
conditions.
Defending truckers’ rights, providing
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for 45 years
Representation • Information • Truck Insurance
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Become an OOIDA member.
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• The majority of inspections (45,400) were
Level I Inspections. A Level I Inspection is a
37-step procedure that includes examination of
driver operating requirements and vehicle mechanical
fitness. Other inspections conducted
included the Level II walk-around inspection
(11,458) and the Level III driver-only inspection
(10,644).
• 736 motor coaches were inspected.
• A total of 62,013 Level 1, 2 and 3 inspections
were conducted during the three-day period,
and 19.4 percent of all CMVs inspected
were placed OOS, while 4.7 percent of all drivers
inspected were put OOS.
• Of the 40,944 Level 1 inspections done,
23 percent of vehicles were placed OOS for
vehicle-related violations. 8

8 • October 1-14, 2018 Nation
Four finalists chosen for transition
award saluting vets-turned-drivers
THETRUCKER.COM
Klint Lowry
Klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
As the trucking industry works to attract new
drivers to the industry, it has looked to the military
as one of the most promising sources of new
talent. Honorably discharged veterans bring to
the workforce valuable technical skills, as well as
proven personal discipline and professionalism.
In 2016, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Foundations Hiring Our Heroes Program teamed
up with Kenworth and the FASTPORT Trucking
Track Mentoring Program to create Transition
Trucking: Driving for Excellence, an award
program that honors veterans who distinguish
themselves in their first year as professional truck
drivers and gives them a boost toward furthering
their careers.
As in its first two years, 10 semifinalists
were selected, and finalists were announced at
The Great American Trucking Show in Dallas in
late August. As of Oct. 1, the public is invited to
watch video interviews of the finalists and vote
for their pick in an online vote that will help determine
the winner.
This year’s finalists for the Transition Trucking:
Driving for Excellence award, along with
their branches of service and employers, are:
• Mordaunt “Platt” Brabner, Marines and
Navy, TMC Transportation
• Summar Hanks, Air Force and Air National
Guard, U.S. Xpress
• Quinton Ward, Army, Werner Enterprises,
and
• Christopher Young, Army and Army Reserve,
Stevens Transport.
Brabner enlisted in the Marines, and after
graduating boot camp with honors, began his
service as an air traffic control navigational aids
technician, during which he graduated summa
cum laude from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
with bachelor’s degrees in professional
aeronautics and electronic engineering.
He was later commissioned as a Naval flight
officer, flying in EA-6B carrier aircraft.
After honorable retirement from the Navy,
Brabner earned a master’s degree in business
from the University of Nebraska.
Staff Sergeant Summar N. Hanks began her
House passes ‘minibus’ spending package; transportation legislation moved to December
military career in 2008 as an active duty member
of the Air Force, where she served as an information
management specialist, serving in South
Korea, Kuwait and in the U.S.
In late 2016, she switched to the Louisiana
Air National Guard while she prepared for her
trucking career studying for five months at Diesel
Driving Academy in Baton Rouge. Hanks is also
about to complete a bachelor’s degree in business
management from Trident University.
Born in to a military family, Ward enlisted in
the Army right out of high school. During his military
career, he worked as a mechanic, instructor
and career counselor and was medically retired in
2010. After six years of medical treatment, with
his service dog, Kirra, by his side, he used the
VA Vocational Rehabilitation Program to earn his
CDL at U.S. Trucking School.
Young was also born into a military family, at
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, and
was raised in the Puget Sound region of Washington.
He enlisted in the Army in 2002, and though
honorably discharged, he continues to serve as an
Army Reservist.
“This year’s four finalists in the recognition
program have achieved significant accomplishments
in their military careers, and now, as professional
truck drivers,” said FASTPORT President
Brad Bentley. “We urge trucking companies
to reach out and give a helping hand to our many
veterans, who are striving to make a smooth transition
back into civilian life.”
Drivers were nominated by trucking companies
that made a hiring commitment and pledge
to hire veterans on www.truckingtrack.org,
or by members of the National Association of
Publicly Funded Truck Driving Schools, or by a
Commercial Vehicle Training Association-member
school.
This year’s other Top 10 nominees were:
• Toby Hunt, Army and Navy, Prime Inc.
• Jeremiah King, Navy, PAM Transport
• Tilford Sereal, Navy, TMC Transportation
• Ricardo Sumrall, Navy, Melton Truck Lines
• Phillip “Tom” Vargo, Navy, Roehl Transport,
and
• Brian “Kelley” Ward, Navy, Veriha
Trucking.
THE TRUCKER STAFF
The House passed a $147 billion “minibus”
spending package September 13 and
sent it to President Donald Trump for a signature
to avert another possible government
shutdown, The Hill reported.
The legislation accounts for about 12
percent of overall 2019 spending and was
passed by a bipartisan vote of 377-20. The
Senate overwhelmingly passed an identical
bill September 12, and the White House has
indicated that Trump will sign the measure.
The two chambers have continued to negotiate
a third spending package — comprising
four bills including transportation, agriculture,
interior and financial services — but the deadline
for completing them would be pushed to
December, assuming the second package with
the continuing resolution (CR) passes.
The package passed Thursday includes
bills for military construction and veterans’
affairs, the legislative branch as well as energy
and water.
The vote followed a deal between the
House and Senate to sidestep an October 1
shutdown threat from Trump over border
wall funding.
The two chambers decided to pair a shortterm
CR extending all government funding until
December 7 with the must-pass package of
defense, labor, health and human services, and
education bills.
Courtesy: KENWORTH TRUCK CO.
Kurt Swihart, left, Kenworth marketing director, congratulates the four finalists in the “Transition
Trucking: Driving for Excellence” recognition program: Quinton Ward, Mordaunt “Platt”
Brabner, Summar Hanks and Christopher Young.
Unlike in the previous two years, there are
four finalists instead of three. That is because
there was a tie in the selection process.
This year’s four finalists will be flown to
Washington, D.C., where the winner will be
announced December 14 during a ceremony
at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Hall of Flags.
The winner will receive The Driver’s Truck
— a fully-loaded Kenworth T680 Advantage
with a 76-inch sleeper and Paccar MX-13 engine.
“Kenworth is donating a T680 Advantage for
the third consecutive year to acknowledge and
thank our military veterans for their service,” said
Kenworth Marketing Director Kurt Swihart. “It
is important for the trucking industry to continue
its ongoing efforts to provide support and career
opportunities to our veterans.”
In past years, the two runners-up received
In order to force a shutdown over border
wall funding, Trump would have to veto the
entire package, including the increased spending
of the defense bill.
House GOP leaders on Thursday touted
passage of the three spending bills as lawmakers
showing more progress in the regular appropriations
process than has been seen in over
a decade, the Hill article stated.
The $44.6 billion energy and water bill, a
$1.4 billion increase over last year, includes
funding for modernizing nuclear weapons
complexes, revitalizing waterways, and researching
renewable energy. The bill did
not fund a project to store nuclear waste in
Nevada’s Yucca Mountains, a controversial
$10,000. Because there are four finalists, this year
there will be a first runner-up who will receive
$10,000. The other two runners-up will each receive
$5,000.
From October 1 through November 1, the
public can visit www.transitiontrucking.org,
where they can view the finalists’ interview videos
and vote. Visitors to the site can vote once
per day.
In the first two years, 580,000 votes were cast,
according to the Transition Trucking website.
The winner and runners-up will be determined
by a selection committee based on the
public vote as well as the finalists’ videos and
their submissions, which will include their firstyear
driving record.
For more information on the Transition Trucking:
Driving for Excellence award program, visit
www.transitiontrucking.org. 8
rider that had been included in the House
version of the bill.
In a first, the $4.8 billion legislative branch
bill provides funds to pay Capitol Hill interns
and also reinstates a requirement for the
House and Senate to conduct studies on gender
and racial pay equity among their staffs.
The White House indicated that the legislation
had President Trump’s support.
“President Trump looks forward to signing
this legislation and continuing to work with
Congress to enact Fiscal Year 2019 funding
for the Department of Defense, Department of
Homeland Security, and other agencies, while
continuing to show fiscal restraint,” the White
House said in a press statement. 8

Thetrucker.com
Nation October 1-14, 2018 • 9
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Paid Notice
If You Bought a Parking Heater Indirectly
or a Commercial Vehicle Containing a
Parking Heater at Any Time From
October 1, 2007 to December 31, 2012
You Could Get Money From $7.7 Million in
Settlements
There are Settlements in a class action lawsuit that claims Espar Inc., Espar Products
Inc., and Eberspaecher Climate Control Systems International Beteiligungs-
GmbH (“Espar”) and Webasto Products North America, Inc., Webasto Thermo &
Comfort North America Inc., and Webasto Thermo and Comfort SE (“Webasto”)
participated in a conspiracy to fix the price of Parking Heaters, which allegedly
resulted in increased prices for individuals and businesses. Espar and Webasto
deny the allegations in the lawsuit.
Who is included in the Settlements?
Parking Heaters include any type of parking heater sold for use in commercial
vehicles (including certain trucks, agricultural and construction equipment, and
buses) to keep the vehicle warm even if the vehicle’s engine is not operating.
Individuals and businesses (including resellers) who indirectly purchased a
Parking Heater anywhere in the U.S., from October 1, 2007, through December
31, 2012, are included in these indirect purchaser Settlements. You are included
if you bought a Parking Heater indirectly or purchased a commercial vehicle that
included a Parking Heater. Purchases made directly from Espar and Webasto are
not included in the indirect purchaser Settlements but are the subject of separate
settlements. You can learn more about the direct purchaser settlements at www.
DirectParkingHeaterSettlement.com.
What do the Settlements provide?
The combined indirect purchaser Settlements provide a total of $7,700,000. The
amount of money you will receive depends on the number of Parking Heaters
you purchased and the total number of valid claims filed. Additional details are
in the Settlement Agreements available on the indirect purchaser Settlements
website: www.IndirectParkingHeaterSettlement.com.
How can I get benefits?
Submit a Claim Form online or by mail by February 1, 2019.
What are my rights?
If you don’t want a payment and you don’t want to be legally bound by the
Court’s orders, you must exclude yourself from the indirect purchaser Settlement
Class by December 1, 2018. If you do not exclude yourself, you will not be able
to sue Espar and Webasto yourself for any claim relating to the lawsuits.
The Court will hold a hearing on January 9, 2019 to consider whether to approve
the indirect purchaser Settlements, a request for attorneys’ fees of up to one-third
of the Settlement Funds, reimbursement of costs and expenses, and a payment to
the Class Representatives. If you stay in the Settlement Class, you may object to
one or both of the indirect purchaser Settlements, or the request for fees, costs,
and class representative payments, by December 1, 2018. You or your own
lawyer may appear and speak at the hearing at your own expense.
For More Information:
1-877-506-4033
www.IndirectParkingHeaterSettlement.com
Paid Notice
10 • October 1-14, 2018 Nation
THETRUCKER.COM
Using ear buds or headphones to talk
while driving OK under federal rules
The Ask the Law program is an ongoing
educational effort between Ol’ Blue, USA
and commercial law enforcement agencies.
The program’s purpose is to have truckers
pose questions relating to commercial motor
vehicle safety, rules and regulations to law
enforcement officials. Submit questions to
editor@thetrucker.com.
Cellphone use
Q: Is it illegal for a CDL driver to use a
cellphone while behind the wheel if he uses
a headset or ear buds?
Question submitted by Abe from
Maine.
A: That is a “stump the officer” compound
question requiring a multifaceted
answer. The actual federal regulation concerning
cellphones is contained in Title 49,
Code of Federal Regulations (49 CFR), Part
(§) 392.82, on using a hand-held mobile telephone.
It states:
(a)(1) No driver shall use a hand-held mobile
telephone while driving a CMV.
(2) No motor carrier shall allow or require
its drivers to use a hand-held mobile
telephone while driving a CMV.
(b) Definitions. For the purpose of this
section only, driving means operating a commercial
motor vehicle on a highway, including
while temporarily stationary because of
traffic, a traffic control device, or other momentary
delays. Driving does not include operating
a commercial motor vehicle when the
driver has moved the vehicle to the side of,
or off, a highway and has halted in a location
where the vehicle can safely remain stationary.
(c) Emergency exception. Using a handheld
mobile telephone is permissible by
drivers of a CMV when necessary to communicate
with law enforcement officials or
other emergency services.” (emphasis of (a)
(1) added)
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s
Mobile Phone Restrictions Fact
Sheet that can be found by going to fmcsa.
dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/Mobile_Phone_Rule_Fact_Sheet.pdf
provides
for specified operations of a cellphone while
“driving” a CMV. The guidance is silent concerning
mounting a cellphone, which suggests
the phone could lay on the dash, center
console, etc., provided the phone is easily
reached by a driver properly restrained by a
seatbelt.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations
(FMCSR) appear silent concerning
headsets and earbuds. However, many states
regulate whether or not “any” driver may
wear a headset or earbuds. Many states’ laws/
regulations allow a headset to cover only one
ear and/or allow the use of an earbud in only
one ear.
So, if a CDL driver operating a CMV
can leave the cellphone where it is laying or
mounted, push a button and ask Siri, Alexa
or whomever, to call your dispatcher, spouse,
etc., and end the call with a push of a button
Ask the Law
she/he would be in compliance with FMCSR.
If not, pull into a safe parking space to use a
cellphone to place a call or text.
Answer provided by Sgt. Pete Camm
(Ret.), California Highway Patrol, Commercial
Vehicle Section, Sacramento, California.
Retreaded steer tires
Q: My understanding is that steer axle
applications are the most stressful of any
wheel position on a commercial vehicle
because of the high lateral forces they are
subjected to. Is it legal to use retreaded
tires on the steer axle?
Question submitted by Darnell from
Oklahoma
A: California Code of Regulations (CCR)
Title 13 Section 1087 (c) states that recapped
or retreaded tires shall not be used on the
front wheels of a bus or farm labor vehicle.
They are also prohibited from use on truck
tractors or motor trucks listed in California
Vehicle Code Section 35400 unless they
comply with specified requirements under
T13 CCR 1087.
Compliant retreaded tires may be used on
a steer axle in California.
Code of Federal Regulations Title 49
393.75(d) only prohibits the use of retreaded
or recapped tires on the front wheels of buses
and is silent on their use for trucks.
I recommend contacting the specific state
when operating intrastate only, as alternate
local regulations may apply.
Answer provided by Officer David Kelly,
California Highway Patrol, Commercial Vehicle
Section, Sacramento, California
.
Switching to personal conveyance
Q: Can I go off-duty and switch over to
personal conveyance and continue to look
for a safe location to park?
Question submitted by Edward from
New York
A: The new interpretation for use of
a CMV for personal conveyance has not
changed when it comes to a driver running
out of hours, except if you are at a shipper/
receiver and they will not let you remain on
their property.
Once you are out of driving hours, you
cannot switch over to personal conveyance
and continue to look for a suitable location
for rest.
Answer provided by Senior Trooper Monty
Dial (Ret.), Texas Highway Patrol, Commercial
Vehicle Enforcement Division, Garland,
Texas.
Ol’ Blue, USA is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to highway safety education and
to improving relations between the motoring
public, law enforcement and commercial
drivers.
Ask The Law is a registered trademark of
See Ask on p13 m
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THETRUCKER.COM
Nation October 1-14, 2018 • 11
OOIDA: FMCSA pilot allowing younger vet drivers shouldn’t be for ‘perceived shortage’
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. — The Owner-
Operator Independent Drivers Association has
told the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
that the agency’s pilot program to allow
persons under the age of 21 with military
driving experience to operate commercial vehicles
in interstate commerce should be used
to benefit veterans rather than as a test case for
reducing age requirements.
“OOIDA agrees that military experience
often lends itself to a successful career within
the industry,” OOIDA President and CEO
Todd Spencer wrote in comments submitted
to FMCSA. “However, we have some reservations
about lowering the age of drivers to
address a perceived driver shortage. We hope
that the proposed program will serve to benefit
military veterans, rather than as a test case
for changing the age requirements of CMV
drivers engaged in interstate commerce.”
Evaluating the safety of younger drivers,
specifically those between the ages of 18 and
20, is not a new idea, Spencer wrote.
“Previous research has shown that most
drivers under the age of 21 ‘lack the general
maturity, skill and judgment that is necessary
in handling commercial motor vehicles,’ while
other studies have shown that the prefrontal
cortex, which is the portion of the brain responsible
for complex cognitive behavior and
decision making, does not fully develop until
mid-20s and that adults are better equipped to
recognize errors in decision making,” Spencer
wrote. “While military experience may offset
these scientific findings, the structure of the
proposed pilot program will make it difficult to
determine safety performance of under-21 veteran
drivers compared to rest of the industry.”
The comments listed three main concerns
about the pilot program:
• Size of the study groups. OOIDA said
with only 200 participants in each of the covered
groups, it questions whether they will be
enough meaningful data to provide valid and
reliable results.
• Carrier representation. OOIDA says the
program appears to be slanted primarily toward
large carriers.
The “covered” study group is limited to
drivers between the ages of 21-24, the association
said, adding that many smaller carriers
will not have drivers who are younger than 24.
• Validation and review. The association
also suggested that the program’s data should
be evaluated by an independent third party
before analysis by the working group. “Any
findings from this pilot program should only be
used to infer the success or failure within the
scope of veteran drivers,” OOIDA wrote. “The
results should not be applied to any broader efforts
at lowering the minimum driving age.”
“OOIDA membership includes thousands
of professionals who have proudly served in
our armed forces and have successfully made
the transition as a civilian truck driver,” Spencer
wrote. “We support the mission of the pilot
program to allow more veterans into the
trucking industry as they return home from
their service. As such, FMCSA should take
the highest level of care to administer, monitor
and review this study. Any findings from
this pilot program should only be used to infer
the success or failure within the scope of
veteran drivers. Participants in the program
will have received a much higher threshold
of training than current entry-level driver requirements.
The results should not be applied
to any broader efforts at lowering the minimum
driving age.”
The comments said OOIDA has 50,000
military veterans as members among its
160,000 members. 8
TRUCKER 2-3 PAGE.indd 1
8/31/18 1:43 PM

12 • October 1-14, 2018 Nation
Thetrucker.com

THETRUCKER.COM
Nation October 1-14, 2018 • 13
Border Patrol agents, K-9s find 115 illegal aliens smuggled in tractor-trailers in 4 cases
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
LAREDO, Texas — Border Patrol agents
on four occasions in September discovered illegal
aliens being transported by big rigs, according
to news releases from the U.S. Customs
and Border Protection.
On September 2, Interstate 35 Border Patrol
Checkpoint agents discovered three illegal
aliens hidden in a tractor-trailer.
The driver of the rig was questioned regarding
his immigration status at the primary inspection
lane and consented to a search.
The three illegal aliens were determined to
be from the country of Mexico and found to be
in good health. The driver, a U.S. citizen, was
arrested and all individuals were processed accordingly.
On September 5, agents at the Border Patrol
Checkpoint on Interstate Highway 35 north of
Laredo, Texas, encountered a tractor-trailer at
the primary inspection lane.
During the immigration inspection, a service
canine alerted to the odor of narcotics and/
or concealed humans.
Border Patrol agents said the conditions inside
the trailer were potentially lethal, with an
internal temperature of nearly 100 degrees and
limited airflow.
The 55 people were found sweating profusely
and were immediately evaluated by an
emergency medical technician and found to
be in a stable health condition and identified
as being illegally present in the United States.
The individuals were from the countries of
Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
The male driver, a U.S. citizen, was arrested
and the tractor-trailer was seized.
The next day, at a separate border checkpoint,
agents at the Falfurrias, Texas, checkpoint
found 10 illegal immigrants concealed
inside a tractor-trailer.
During an inspection by agents, a K-9 alerted
officers to the cab, where the 10 individuals
were found. The driver, a U.S. citizen, was arrested.
On September 9, agents at the I-35 checkpoint
near Laredo found 47 immigrants inside
a reefer trailer.
The truck was in the primary inspection
lane and was asked to go to the secondary inspection
area after a K-9 alerted agents to the
tractor and trailer.
The trucker sped off and agents pursued it
OUR CAREER OPTIONS KEEP
EXPANDING
until they got the driver to stop at mile marker
30 along I-35.
The driver and a passenger, both U.S. citizens,
were arrested, along with the immigrants.
The case was turned over to Homeland Security
Investigations.
“The United States Border Patrol not only
protects the nation’s borders, but also ensures
those who cross into the United States
illegally are treated humanely. We will continue
in the disruption and deterrence of any
careless tactics utilized by smugglers,” said
Laredo Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Jason
D. Owens. 8
Courtesy: CUSTOMS/BORDER PROTECTION
Laredo Border Patrol agents found 55 illegal
aliens in sweltering conditions in a locked
tractor-trailer at the Interstate 35 Border Patrol
checkpoint earlier this month.
b Ask from page 10 b
Ol’ Blue, USA. This column is copyrighted
by Ol’ Blue, USA.
Ask The Law is brought to you as a public
service by Ol’ Blue, USA and The Trucker.
Warning: The information contained
within this column is provided for educational
and informational purposes only and
should not be construed as legal advice. The
content contains general information and
is not intended to, and should not be relied
upon or construed, as a legal opinion or legal
advice regarding any specific issue.
Be aware that the material in the column
may not reflect current legal developments
or information, as laws and regulations are
subject to change at any time without notice.
Always check with the most recent statues,
rules and regulations to see what, if any,
changes have been made. 8
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Perspective October
1-14, 2018 • 14
Letters
Having extra 2 hours in workday
would help in adverse conditions
[Regarding the split sleeper berth] It
would be very helpful to have an extra two
hours for the workday in case of adverse conditions.
For many truck drivers, 14 hours is
barely enough to get the job done.
I used to be fine with the 30-minute mandatory
break, but sometimes it makes it harder
to stop and take a quick break because I don’t
want to wait so long to stop for lunch. Or,
some other delay causes me to take a 30-minute
break too early. Then I can’t stop until
I get to my destination, or I’ll need another
30-minute break and then my 14 [hours] will
run out and I can’t make it to my destination,
which is very frustrating and not healthy.
— Jonathan Davis
Less fatigue-related incidents occurred
before machines took over driving
Let’s go back 20 years when I could manage
my own sleep and not a machine that has
no idea of who I am or what I have been doing
all day. If [I] spent three to four hours at
a dock I was laying down resting or sleeping.
As it stands now, I get to my drop at 11
p.m. and my appointment is for 9 a.m. I normally
put myself in the sleeper when I get
there.
Meanwhile, when I set my brakes the first
thing I actually do is walk around my truck
and trailer, bump the tires and generally inspect
my unit. That takes maybe 10 minutes.
Then I go and get something out of the fridge
to eat while my TV is scanning for local
channels. Then I lie down.
It’s now 12:30 a.m. I might fall asleep in
15 minutes to an hour depending on how traffic
was getting to my drop. If it was heavy,
and [had] lots of tight turns, it may take me
two to three hours to wind down.
The ELD has no idea of where I am at
mentally — if I’m wound up or relaxed. I
have been driving for 30-plus years and we
used to be able to do five hours on, five off,
five on, five off, never getting too stressed
out.
Now we play beat the clock. If you look at
the stats, there were less fatigue-related incidents
then than now.
One other question is how are people getting
their CDLs if they can’t speak English? I
see this at fuel desks and loading and unloading
points all over. This is wrong.
— Thomas A. Goodman
It’s a shame that federal regulators
ruined industry for the truck drivers
I am retired from this industry due to the
new rules that took effect back in 2015.
I spent 35 years having a CDL and I always
knew parking would be the No. 1 worst
outcome of new rules for drivers.
See Letters on p15 m
Us vs. them mentality is everywhere, not just in politics
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
Eye on
Trucking
It’s despicable.
It’s sickening.
It’s deplorable.
Generally, we’re speaking about the political
landscape in America today.
Us (Democrats) vs. them (Republicans).
Them (Republicans) vs. us (Democrats).
We (Republicans and Democrats) know
our way is the best.
The American people be damned, politicians
seem to say.
They (the American people) need to listen
to us.
As we write this, despite the fact that the
death toll from Hurricane Florence has passed
30 and millions face the months-long daunting
task of rebuilding their lives, dominating
the news is the fallout of an allegation
against Supreme Court associate justice nominee
Judge Brett Kavanaugh that he sexually
abused Christine Blasey Ford at a house party
while the two were high school students.
Ford says Kavanaugh groped her and she
felt he was attempting to rape her.
The minute on July 9 that President Donald
J. Trump introduced his nominee at a
primetime news conference, it became evident
that the vote following his nomination
hearing before the Senate Committee would
be along party lines. The vote would be 11-
10 in the Judiciary committee and in the full
Senate it would be 51-49.
I would like to see the maximum blood
pressure changed to 150 over 80. I get
nervous when I get physical [and the top
reading is] usually 145. I have to lie down
for 30 minutes then take it again. I usually
get it to 140, but always sweating it out.
When I go to the doctor or take it at a machine
in a store, it is always below 120 over
80. That rule needs to be changed.
— William Ford
Democrats tried everything under the
sun to trick Kavanaugh into saying something
during the nomination process that
would derail his candidacy but were unsuccessful.
Finally, as a last-ditch effort, committee
ranking member Dianne Feinstein of
California reached into her bag of tricks and
pulled out a document that said Kavanaugh
(then unnamed) had sexually abused her
during that party.
What makes it so obvious that it was
indeed a last-ditch effort was the fact that
Feinstein had had knowledge of the alleged
sexual abuse since July, but we believe held
it as a trump card when it became evident
that Kavanaugh would be confirmed.
Both Kavanaugh and Ford say they will
testify before Congress — Kavanaugh to
deny he was even at the party, Ford to say
he was there — but we suspect the nomination
will not have proceeded.
We bring up this “us vs. them/them vs.
us” mentality from time to time because although
not nearly as pervasive, there is the
angst of so many professional truck drivers
over the actions of the American Trucking
Associations, the Truckload Carriers Association
and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration.
Many truckers feel the aforementioned
organizations are out to get them and want
to make it more difficult for them to make
a living.
One of the tenants of journalism is to
present both sides of any story, so we are
not taking sides, here, but we firmly believe
that while it may not seem like it, decisions
these organizations make for the most part
benefit drivers., i.e., while truckers may
The American Transportation Research Institute is conducting a survey to
determine the top concerns facing the trucking industry. The results will be
announced in late October. Tell us what your top concerns are and why.
I think it’s a little bit of everything: parking,
mandatory 30-minute break, pay that
doesn’t pay for all that we as drivers have to
deal with day in and day out, being over-regulated
by the government and companies.
— James Vanness
feel they can drive more than 11 hours, to
do so would put the lives of the driver and
other motorists in danger.
One of the decisions that we feel was
not in the best interest of the driver is the
eight straight hours in the sleeper berth, and
thankfully, the ATA and TCA have gone to
bat for drivers and it now appears a new
split sleeper berth rule may be in the offing.
* * *
It’s seldom that we talk about sports in
this column, but this one is too good to pass
up, and it brings to light the truth in the Boy
Scout motto “be prepared.”
It happened during the first quarter of
the North Texas State Eagles-Arkansas Razorback
football game in Fayetteville, Arkansas,
on September 15.
Arkansas punter Blake Johnson launched
a low and knuckling punt to the North Texas
10-yard line, where it was fielded cleanly
by Keegan Brewer, whose body language
following the catch was that of a man who
had no intention of attempting a return. The
Arkansas punt team, having observed his
apparent surrender, began making their way
toward the sideline.
In fact, in one photo you can see five Arkansas
players leaving the field.
Only the referees and Brewer apparently
were aware that he hadn’t actually signaled
for a fair catch.
Brewer took off and went 90 yards untouched
for a touchdown, leaving the Razorbacks
slightly — no totally — embarrassed.
You can see the play by logging into
Facebook and searching for North Texas
State fake punt return. They should have
been prepared. 8
So how many times must drivers say
what their concerns are? If you Google
search driver concerns, I bet thousands
of links to other think tanks and interest
groups would pop up. How long before
someone actually pays attention?
— Lisa Oscar

TM
THETRUCKER.COM
b Letters from page 14 b
Perspective October 1-14, 2018 • 15
The stress of having an ELD (aka Rat
Box) I could never get used to. I was in
constant violation of leaving a few minutes
early or going over. I worked for a company
in 2016 that made me drive for 18 hours to
make an appointment. They fixed the ELD
at the office. Once they realized I would run
hard they constantly fixed my ELD.
It’s a joke. It was a joke then and it’s
worse now. Drivers should not have to be
scrutinized this way. I retired right before
they enforced the [the rule that you] have to
take a nap in the middle of your day nonsense.
All that does is waste even more time
for a driver in finding some place to stop for
a 30-minute nap.
I shake my head every time I see stories
like this. I feel bad for the driver, brothers
and sisters who are out there putting up with
more and more government regulations.
What a shame they ruined this industry.
— Patrick Leddy
Get people who have driven a truck
to make the rules, not desk jockeys
They need to do away with the 70-hour
rule altogether, the 30-minute break every
eight hours, and switch back to eight hours
in the sleeper instead of 10.
Doctors even say anything over eight
hours is bad for your health or anything less
is bad for your health.
Or better yet — get somebody that actually
drove a truck to help write the rules instead
of somebody who drives a desk.
— John H. Tate
Reader lauds Sen. Cory Booker
for sleep apnea testing legislation
The Afro-American Truckers Association
highly commends progressive U.S. Sen.
and likely 2020 Presidential Candidate Cory
Booker, D-N.J., for his new pro-people bill.
That could go a long way to protect commuters,
rail operators and commercial truck
drivers from high-risk dangers of sleep apnea.
His critical, life-saving legislation would
require the U.S. DOT implement the proposed
rule mandating sleep apnea testing and
treatment for rail operators and commercial
truck drivers.
This public safety initiative will help protect
the public from injury by prohibiting
untested drivers and engineers from operating
trains and CMVs by imposing new standards
and guidelines for sleep apnea testing
for both rail engineers and professional truck
drivers.
In retrospect, if enacted, these new procedures
may have prevented the very deadly
2016 Hoboken, New Jersey, train crash,
since the National Transportation Safety
Board findings have confirmed the engineer
was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea
after the incident but he was not tested during
an examination two months before.
Sen. Booker is advocating the kind of common-sense
policies that would protect the commuting
public and untested engineers and professional
drivers from themselves and others.
These political moves are making him a leading
spokesman, effective fund-raiser and a strong
campaigner for Democrats ahead of the pivotal
midterm elections. It is also positioning him to
be the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nominee
and the next president of the U.S., where he
could promote more progressive thinking and
putting Afro-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and
women into key policy and decision-making
positions, since they have become the new face
of the U.S. driver workforce but are not being
promoted to high-level management and executive
positions as they should.
— Shakir Muhammad 8
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editor@thetrucker.com
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16
AT
THE TRUCK STOP
PRESENTED BY CAT SCALE, VISIT WEIGHMYTRUCK.COM
Top Rookie Mordaunt Brabner putting experience
in Navy, Marines to good use in trucking
Courtesy: MORDAUNT BRABNER
At left: An officer, a gentleman and a scholar, Mordaunt “Platt” Brabner retired from the military and eventually settled in Texas with his wife Vonda, where she’s a renowned embryologist,
and he’s taken on a whole new career driving flatbed. At right: Brabner has a master’s degree in business and 27 years of experience in the Marines and Navy, and he figures all of that has
given him the knowhow and the leadership skills to build his new career in trucking.
Klint Lowry
Klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Mordaunt “Platt” Brabner, a flatbed driver for TMC
Transportation, had just finished delivering a load in San Antonio.
It was just another working day, a far cry from the day he’d had
less than two weeks earlier in Dallas.
On August 24, at The Great American Trucking Show, he was
handed a check for $10,000 as the winner of the Mike O’Connell
Trucking’s Top Rookie award. That morning, Brabner, a retired
Naval officer and Marine, learned that he was also one of four
finalists for the annual Transitions in Trucking: Driving for
Excellence Award, which honors the top rookie military veteran
who has made the transition to driving for a commercial fleet.
If he’s chosen for that award, he’ll start 2019 with a brand-new
Kenworth T680. He’ll find out December 14. In the meantime,
it’s back to work.
Brabner admits that day “put a little pep in my step” but “You
have to compartmentalize it,” he said, and keep doing things the
way he has been.
It’s one of the lessons he learned in the military: don’t worry
about the reward that may come from doing something. Just
focus on doing it well and the rewards will come.
At 58, Brabner is probably a little more introspective and
definitely has more to be introspective about than the stereotypical
“rookie.” Since that big day in Dallas, he’d been thinking about
how and why he’s managed to make such a good impression so
quickly.
Brabner sees five points on the moral compass of his life: God,
family, country, Marine Corp. and Navy. “Those first two are
what really set the foundation,” he said.
He grew up on a farm in Alabama. “I worked on that farm so
much as a kid, I just wanted to get away and see the world,” so at
19, he enlisted with the Marines.
Brabner’s father had taught him never to turn down an
educational opportunity. While assigned as an air traffic control
navigational aids technician, he earned degrees in professional
aeronautics and electronic engineering.
But his goal was to fly. When he found there were no
opportunities available at that time in the Marine Corp., he
requested his commanding officer refer him to test for the Navy’s
flight program.
Another rule Brabner lives by: Don’t wait for things to happen,
make them happen.
As a Naval flight officer, he performed more than 650 carrier
landings. He saw about 100 countries in his career, earned a
master’s degree, and rose to the rank of Navy Commander.
In 2006, he retired from the Navy, in large part so that this wife
Vonda could pursue her career. She’s one of the top embryologists
in the country, he said, and that’s not just proud-husband talk.
Meanwhile, Brabner earned a master’s degree in business.
They settled in Coupland, Texas, outside Austin, where Vonda
works at Austin IVF, one of the biggest fertility labs in the nation.
It took about a year and a half before Brabner got into trucking,
and he went in with the goal of being an owner-operator.
In the military, he said, as you move up in rank, more and
more of the duties become managerial in nature, so he has that
experience along with his business education.
But managing, supervising, are not quite the same as being a
leader.
Of all his accomplishments in the military, Brabner maintains
that the one that meant the most to him was when his fellow
officers voted for him to receive the Peer Leadership Award.
“Leadership and people skills are big on my list” of qualities
for success, Brabner said. “Being able to look someone in the
eye, shake their hand and talk to them, anyone in the day-today
business of the trucking world, it helps you get ahead in the
respect category.”
Since gaining notoriety as a top rookie, Brabner has been
frequently quoted that he would like to “put the professionalism
back in trucking.”
“You have to realize it’s more than just driving. It’s the
interactions, the talking to people. It’s the way you conduct
yourself and conduct business.”
There’s a lingering pessimism he sees among truckers, he said.
It goes back to a few years ago when the economy was down, a
sense of just doing the job to collect a paycheck.
But he’s also found that truckers are a lot like the military:
There’s a sense of unity and there are qualities they respect.
“I’ve never met a truck driver that, given more than a couple
of minutes in the conversation at a truck stop or a job site, where
I haven’t found that the people skills and the leadership skills
mean the world to them, whether they’ve been in the military
or not.
“Young people who come in without that background will
tend to gravitate to that strong leadership, that sense of pride and
responsibility.”
One thing Brabner understands about leadership is that it’s by
example, rather than by policy, that you instill those values.
Brabner isn’t bucking to be anybody’s father figure, but he
hopes he can establish himself as someone that young drivers can
come to for guidance and look to as an example.
The extent to which he can accomplish that will be a measure
of his own success. 8

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18 • October 1-14, 2018 Perspective
Brad Klepper
exclusive to the trucker
Ask the
Attorney
THETRUCKER.COM
Personal conveyance discretionary; cannot
be seen as advancing load to its destination
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
has issued revised guidance
on personal conveyances. The revisions are
pretty straightforward, and you should familiarize
yourself with them.
With that being said, here are some of
the highlights and things you need to understand:
Allowing personal conveyance is not a
requirement. It is discretionary. If a carrier
does allow personal conveyance, they
need to be careful and take steps to avoid
potential civil exposure for misuse of the
“personal conveyance” designation.
If a carrier allows personal conveyance,
it is extremely important that a written policy
be put in place that clearly defines what is
allowed and not allowed and imposes a mileage
limit on how far a CMV can be moved
during a personal conveyance. The FMCSA
does not impose mileage restrictions; however,
a reasonable restriction should be in
place. As a starting point, you may want
to look to Canada. Canada limits personal
conveyance to distances less than 75 km —
approximately 50 miles. In my opinion, this
is a reasonable limit and allows a carrier
to point to other jurisdictions in support of
their position should the need arise.
Once there’s a policy, the policy MUST
be enforced uniformly and consistently.
If you have a driver who is trying to find a
place to rest and bypasses a couple of adequate
places which happen to be on the same
road he or she will need to travel to get to the
next load, you have a potential problem. In
this scenario, it is very easy for a plaintiff’s
lawyer to argue that it was not a personal
conveyance, and that the driver was instead
advancing the load to benefit the carrier.
In this scenario, the driver was not really
off-duty as required for a personal conveyance
but was on-duty, and the carrier could
be liable for the driver’s actions during this
time.
I can think of numerous scenarios where
the personal conveyance designation could
be abused, so carriers should work with
their legal counsel to create a policy and
make sure that they enforce that policy consistently.
The worst thing a company can do is
have a policy that they fail to enforce. This
allows opposing counsel to show that, in essence,
no such policy was in place and even
if it was, it was intentionally disregarded.
This never ends well. By creating a policy
and having it enforced consistently, a
carrier can help mitigate this argument and
limit potential civil liability.
The personal conveyance must, of
course, be for personal use. I know this is
obvious but, as noted above, the driver can’t
use the personal conveyance designation to
advance a load.
The CMV no longer has to be “laden”
for the movement to qualify as a personal
conveyance. This is a significant change
from the earlier regulation and allows much
more freedom.
The driver no longer has to return to
his or her last on-duty location following
a personal conveyance. A driver may not
resume on-duty status following a personal
conveyance, regardless of the location of
the CMV.
Movement at the request of law enforcement
can be a personal conveyance.
It should be noted that if a driver is requested
to move the vehicle while off-duty, it
can be listed as a personal conveyance. For
example, if the driver is in a restaurant and
is requested to move the CMV, the move
would be a permissible personal conveyance
provided such movement does not advance
the load or provide additional benefit to the
carrier.
Please note that the items listed above
are just a few of the issues addressed by the
FMCSA. Accordingly, we suggest that you
review the FMCSA revised guidance on personal
conveyance and consult your attorney
and/or carrier to be sure what the policy allows
regarding personal conveyance.
Brad Klepper is president of Interstate
Trucker Ltd., a law firm dedicated to legal
defense of the nation’s commercial drivers.
Interstate Trucker represents truck drivers
throughout the 48 states on both moving and
non-moving violations. Brad is also president
of Drivers Legal Plan, which allows
member drivers access to his firm’s services
at discounted rates. He is a lawyer that
has focused on transportation law and the
trucking industry in particular. He works to
answer your legal questions about trucking
and life over-the-road.
For more information contact him at
(800) 333-DRIVE (3748) or interstatetrucker.com
and driverslegalplan.com. 8
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Facebook
search: The Trucker

thetrucker.com
Perspective October 1-14, 2018 • 19
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20 • October 1-14, 2018 Perspective
THETRUCKER.COM
Rest in the peace of Jesus Christ or be tricked
into resisting, putting off what He has for us
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Rev. Marilou Coins
Chaplain’s
Corner
©2018 FOTOSEARCH
Live your life carefully — there are no reruns.
It’s never too late to accept Jesus but
at any moment it could be too late.
Wow! We’re already in October. The fall
season has started and soon all the festivities
of the holidays will be upon us.
Here in this month all will be getting
ready for Halloween and lots of parties —
sending both children and grown-ups to the
store or the closet looking for costumes to
wear.
Children look forward to making the usual
statement, “trick or treat,” and to the candy
that will be dropped in their sacks as they go
door-to-door.
Well, I’m going in a different direction
with this, and maybe I can shed a little light
on our lives as we live them.
How many of you have ever really looked
at a tombstone? Just what did you really see
when you looked at them? What caught your
eye? Was it anything in particular? Or do you
think this is sort of an unusual thing to be mentioning
this so early in the month of October?
Well, I think with all the festivities of
Halloween, we really need to take a good
look at a tombstone and see what is there.
Does anyone notice that there are dates on
the front of the tombstone? Well, those dates
show the beginning and an ending of someone’s
life.
Both of these dates are important, but the
real important thing about these dates is not
the beginning or the ending. What’s important
is the middle. It’s what that person did
with his or her life that really counts. It’s
what was projected through that person’s
lifespan on earth. The life on the canvas that
person painted is his or her very own self
portrait.
Then notice that the stone is inscribed
with “RIP.”
Now let’s just follow this train of thought
with a question. What does “rest in peace”
really mean?
Well, it could mean two different things.
The first thing that comes to mind is “rest
in peace,” and with that I take it to mean we,
as Christians, need to rest in the peace of
Christ during our journey here on earth. We
need to follow Jesus like Peter and Andrew
did in Matthew 4:18-20 when Jesus said,
“Come, follow me.” It says, “At once” they
followed in verse 20 — not like the person in
Luke 9:59-60 who said, and I’m updating the
words, “Yeah, Lord, I’m gonna follow you
but FIRST let me do something, then I’m all
yours.” In other words, let me enjoy my life
as it is, and I’ll get to you later. That’s not
rest in peace.
That’s the other RIP — “repo in progress.”
That’s letting Satan tell us to put Christ
on standby so we can do our will first. Christ
doesn’t want to be second in our lives.
It’s like waking up to the alarm but hitting
the snooze button. After doing it several
times, you will sleep through it altogether
because ignoring it has made it seem less important.
That’s what we do when we fail to
follow Jesus. We make Him seem less important
in our daily lives.
Live your life carefully — there are no
reruns. It’s never too late to accept Jesus but
at any moment it could be too late.
You either will rest in peace, the peace
that God can give you, or you are a repo in
progress, listening to Satan talk you out of
real peace. God’s salvation takes into account
the lost, the last and the least.
All are welcome to Christ’s rest in peace.
What’s your tombstone going to say about
your life?
What’s your choice? Rest in peace or repo
in progress?
Christ is your treat,but Satan is your trick!
Happy fall! Happy Halloween!
Best of the roads and all gears forward in
Jesus, Rev. Marilou Coins. 8

Courtesy: VOLVO TRUCKS NORTH AMERICA
Volvo Trucks has posted the largest year-to-date gain among the OEMs, with a 57.2 percent
increase. Pictured is the Volvo VNL 760.
Tennessee’s Builders Transportation Co. joins
Daseke flatbed specialized family of carriers
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
ADDISON, Texas — Daseke Inc., the largest
flatbed, specialized transportation and logistics
solutions company in North America,
is being joined by Builders Transportation Co.,
a Memphis, Tennessee-based carrier of steel,
aluminum and metal products.
Builders Transportation operates a fleet of
more than 300 company trucks and nearly 500
spread-axle trailers.
The company is solely focused on traditional
flatbed operations through the 48 contiguous
states, primarily in the eastern two-thirds of the
U.S., hauling coil steel, wire products, structural
and sheet steel, aluminum products, building
materials, cast iron, steel pipe and machinery.
It has won Carrier of the Year awards from several
of its core customers.
Under the terms of the purchase agreement,
Daseke acquired Builders Transportation for a
Klint Lowry
klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Lane
Departures
Remember that ad campaign Canon cameras
did a few years back with tennis player
Andre Agassi that featured the slogan, “image
is everything”?
Wait, I just looked it up. That campaign
launched 29 years ago. Can that be right?
Well anyway, in case you aren’t old
enough to remember, it was a very successful
campaign. And like many successful ad
campaigns, the slogan lived on as part of our
culture.
Business
total consideration of $53.8 million, which included
$3.4 million in Daseke stock. For the
trailing 12-month period ended June 2018,
Builders Transportation did an estimated $72.4
million in revenue and an estimated $9.7 million
in adjusted EBITDA.
“We’ve had Builders Transportation on our
radar for quite some time — we’ve been impressed
with the focus and family-rooted culture
of the company,” said Don Daseke, CEO
of Daseke. “They work with A-list customers,
and like our other operating companies, have
a passion for their people. The company has
been in business since 1954 and it has a long
legacy as a family-run operation. They will be
a great addition to the Daseke family.”
Builders Transportation has been family
owned and operated since Frank Phillips Sr.
purchased the six-truck operation in 1961 and,
See Builders on p24 m
Back when that series of commercials
came out, there were those who complained
about what the ad implied: that it promoted
shallow, superficial notoriety over real substance.
This was more than a decade before
social media became the country’s 51st and
most populous virtual state.
We know image isn’t truly everything,
but it’s impossible to deny in today’s world
that image matters. It matters a lot. It works
for you or it works against you. And if you
try to choose to be invisible, that’ll work
against you, too.
Thanks to the miracle of the printed word,
I am coming to you from the distant past,
about a month ago. It’s September 9, the
first day of the annual National Truck Driver
Appreciation Week, when interested parties
make an extra effort to shine a positive light
on the trucking profession.
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
In 1967, Sonny and Cher recorded “The
Beat Goes On.” It began with the lines, “The
beat goes on, the beat goes on; drums keep
pounding a rhythm to the brain.”
Suffice to say that with respect to new
Class 8 trucks, sales keep going on and so do
the orders, which keep pounding the “brains”
of computers at OEMs.
U.S. Class 8 retails sales in August totaled
24,443 (the best month since June 2015), an
October 1-14, 2018 • 21
Truck sales rolling in as industry tries
to keep pace with surge in U.S. economy
improvement of almost 16 percent monthover-month
and 38 percent year-over-year,
according to ACT Research.
Year-to-date, sales are 157,682 and, a
whopping 233 percent improvement compared
to the first eight months of 2017.
ACT said tractor sales in August totaled
the best month since June 2015. Month-overmonth
that was just short of a 20 percent improvement;
year-over-year it was a 51 percent
gain and sales on a year-to-date basis
See Sales on p23 m
Courtesy: DASEKE
Shown are, front center, Builders’ Frank Phillips Sr.; back row, left to right, Gene Phillips,
chief operating officer; Frank Phillips Jr., vice president of sales; and John Phillips, CEO.
Trucking industry’s image will improve one positive, authentic truck driver at a time
There are many organizations that work
year-round to sing trucking’s praises. Trucking
Moves America Forward (TMAF) immediately
comes to mind. For more than four
years they’ve been trucking’s cheerleader,
both within the industry and increasingly
with the general public.
Trucking needs that sort of sustained effort
on its behalf. As I sit here in the past,
noting the start of trucker appreciation week,
I’m also thinking about other trucking-related
images.
As of this writing, Burt Reynolds died
just a few days ago. Of course, you can’t
think of Burt Reynolds without thinking of
“Smokey and the Bandit.” That movie was
a mixed blessing for trucking. It portrayed
truck driving as a world inhabited by lovable
working-class rogues. They were the good
guys, if you overlooked the fact that almost
every move they made should rightfully have
led to criminal charges.
Details, details. The movie was a smash
hit, and it made trucking culture popular. At
least it made that depiction of trucking culture
popular. For a while.
But there were a couple problems. First,
that depiction was wildly inaccurate. Then
as now, movies and TV shows are how most
Americans think they learn about the world.
Second, like all spectacularly popular fads,
it flamed out in a few years. But, as with the
Canon ad, it left a remnant, that wildly inaccurate
image of trucking.
That’s the foundation on which the general
public’s perception of trucking has been
built for the past 40 years. Outside my job,
almost no one I know has anything to do
with trucking. I get the distinct feeling when
See Lane on p24 m

22 • October 1-14, 2018 Business
THETRUCKER.COM
USA Truck initiates pay increase, rewards drivers for safe miles per operation
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
VAN BUREN, Ark. — As a part of USA
Truck’s renewed commitment to its drivers
and their continued success, the carrier raised
pay for its regional class A drivers effective
September 9.
“We are very proud of our driving team
and all they do to make USA Truck what it
is today,” says James Reed, USA Truck president
and CEO. “This pay increase reflects our
personal commitment to making USA Truck
a place where every team member can grow
and thrive in both the quality of their company
experience and personal income.”
Reed says the company stands behind
its belief that all employees’ compensation
should be tied to results and not just experience
alone. “This is why we are so excited to
introduce our new regional pay and weekly
productivity pay,” Reed said. “The pay increase
includes updated and higher regional
base pay, an expanded 20-year pay scale, and
weekly productivity pay. This is truly unique
because, at USA Truck, productivity pay is
now earned weekly as part of a driver’s base
pay — not monthly or quarterly. We want to
instill the pay philosophy of drive more, earn
more for our drivers.”
Making sure professional drivers are safe
is a top priority at USA Truck. As a result,
productivity pay will continue to be tied to
safely operating equipment. Each week, USA
Truck drivers who operate safely can add up
to an additional 6 cents per mile (CPM) to
their weekly pay.
“Depending on your location, you can earn
up to 52.5 CPM. It is as simple as this: When
you drive more, you earn more with us,” Werner
Hugo, senior vice president of trucking,
said.
“At USA Truck, there are only two jobs:
drivers and driver support. Our new pay program
is just one example of what is new and
different about USA Truck for drivers. There
are a variety of other outstanding programs
and perks at USA Truck. This is an excellent
time for drivers who are looking for a better
opportunity to join with us.”
USA Truck currently has openings for regional
runs in the Northeast, Midwest, South
and Southeast regions. These runs include
the productivity pay package, in conjunction
with drop-and-hook freight, as well as generous
bonuses for fuel, loyalty, and referrals.
The company strives to provide several career
paths for drivers to choose from including
dedicated routes, trainer certification, and
resources for becoming an owner-operator.
USA Truck has established relationships
with a number of equipment vendors to assist
lease purchase and independent contractors
in building or expanding their businesses. As
an added advantage for driver satisfaction on
the road, pets and riders are welcome at USA
Truck.
For more information on USA Truck’s
productivity pay or career-path opportunities,
visit driveusatruck.com.
USA Truck provides comprehensive capacity
solutions to a broad and diverse customer
base throughout North America. Its
Trucking and USAT Logistics divisions blend
an extensive portfolio of asset and asset-light
services, offering a balanced approach to supply
chain management including customized
truckload, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal
and third-party logistics freight management
services.
For more information, visit usa-truck.
com or usatlogistics.com. 8
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b Sales from page 21 b
have been 115,676, which is up 257 percent
compared to last year.
The sales boom is not unprecedented,
said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst
at ACT.
“When you get a freight transition in the
market, say 2003 to 2004 or 2013 to 2014 or
going back even farther from 1997 to 1998,
you get that inflection in freight. The truckers
all want to truck at the same time and you
get those crazy comparisons for a while,”
Veith told The Trucker.
As for orders, ACT reported that the industry
booked 53,100 units in August. FTR
reported 52,400 units were booked, surpassing
last month’s total by 300 orders.
And just how is the truck order report going
to impact the ability to build these vehicles?
“I suppose that is the challenge we’ve been
talking about for several months, Vieth said.
“Fleets and independent contractors are
ordering a lot more trucks than the industry
has the ability to produce and it takes time to
ramp up production.
“If I look at the period from 2011 to 2017,
the average year on a North American basis
was like 265,000 units per year. In the last
three months on a seasonally adjusted basis
North American Class 8 orders have been
placed at almost a 700,000 annual rate. Even
if I go back to 2006, which is the best year
of all time, the industry still only managed to
build 376,000 units. So we are seeing orders
almost double the best year in history right
now, and if I look at the past 12 months and as
opposed to seasonally adjusted and annualizing,
Class 8 orders are at 425,000 over the last
12 months. So truckers are making money and
the new trucks have a lot of features like fuel
economy that are highly-desirable right now.”
Vieth said the industry was in all-time record
territory for Class 8 backlogs, adding
that in the face of the current demand, the
OEM industry’s ramp-up has been a little bit
slower than would normally be seen.
“Part of that is really reflected in the same
kind of problems the trucking industry is having
and that’s the ability to find employees,”
Vieth said. “You think of all the parts that go on
a truck and all the suppliers that have to ramp
up at the same time, and now we find ourselves
in this situation: With sub 4 percent unemployment
you can’t snap your fingers and find a
bunch of readily available employees.”
In August, Vieth said the Class 8 backlog
was 280,700 units and “it wouldn’t surprise
me if it doesn’t happen in September or maybe
by October, that we are going to see that
backlog up over 300,000 units.”
At August’s production rate, it would
take 210 days to build out the backlog, Vieth
said, noting that while all orders are not sequential,
if you order a truck in September, it
would be delivered in July 2019.
As for individual OEM sales, International
had the largest gain in August at 35.8 percent,
with sales of 3,667 in August compared
with 2,701 in July, according to WardsAuto.
Freightliner had a 28.6 percent increase
with sales of 9,564 in August compared with
7,438 in July.
Year-to-date, Volvo has the biggest gain
at 57.2 percent, with sales of 17,085 in 2018
compared with 10,868 for the first eight
months of 2017.
International had the second largest gain
at 56.8 percent, with sales of 20,663 in 2018
compared with 13,177 to date in 2017.
As for orders, data indicate that during
August, North American Class 8 orders rose
0.9 percent month-over-month and 150 percent
from August 2017, Vieth said.
“Super-strong orders in June and July are
likely pulling large fleet orders ahead in the
schedule, as truckers race to reserve build
slots in a market where demand is running
well above capacity,” he said.
August orders were just continuing their hot
streak in 2018, according to Don Ake, FTR’s
vice president of commercial vehicles. He said
Business October 1-14, 2018 • 23
six of the top 12 order months ever have occurred
in the first eight months of 2018, with
North American Class 8 orders for the past 12
months now totaling 477,000 units.
Ake said carriers continue to scramble to
get enough trucks on the road to handle the
robust freight growth.
The surging economy and vibrant manufacturing
sector are stretching the logistics
system to the limit, he said, adding that in
some markets, goods are moving slower because
of supply chain gridlocks, necessitating
even more trucks to deliver goods.
“The good news is, it appears the supplier
shortage issues that significantly slowed production
earlier this year have been largely
abated for now,” Ake said. “However, the
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supply chain remains tight, and fleets and
dealers continue to place large orders to lock
down build slots in 2019.
“Fleets are ordering early and often and
orders this plentiful indicate fleets are highly
confident the flourishing freight market will
persist for a while. Current economic and
manufacturing data point to a strong start to
2019. FTR does expect some easing to occur
in the second half of next year.” 8

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b Builders from page 21 b
Join The
along with his sons, has steadily grown the
business to where it is today.
According to John Phillips, CEO of Builders
Transportation, Daseke is the right fit, at the
right time.
“Over the years, we’ve had companies approach
us, but we never took any of that seriously
— we didn’t want to give up what our
family has built,” he said. “We have a long
history and are very protective of our heritage.
We have people here who have been with us
TRIBE
their entire career. Being with Daseke lets us
continue being who we are, and that’s critically
important to us.”
Great
b Lane from page 21 b
The The
Join
Join
I talk with them about my experiences, most
of them imagine every conversation I have
with a trucker starts with someone saying,
“Breaker, breaker,” even when it’s face-toface.
What else does the average person see
about truckers? Not much, other than news
reports about trucks involved in accidents
or drivers caught smuggling or worse. They
don’t see you on the road, they see your
truck.
There’s a little pearl of wisdom I recently
picked up: It’s easier to convince someone of
equipment
2015 or newer
TRIBE
Join The
THETRUCKER.COM
The T
Join
Join

1168545_A225_ Trucker_Third_June2018.indd 1
6/1/18 2:27 PM
25
PRESENTED FIRST ISSUE OF EACH MONTH BY SHELL ROTELLA
ROTELLA
ROUNDUP
What is Synthetic Oil?
Visit ROTELLA.com
Personal safety a topic that is often ignored when winter operation discussed
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetrucker.com
Compared to trucks of the past, today’s Class
8 tractors are spacious and luxurious. They’re
safer and easier to drive, too. Those things make
the driver’s job easier, but they can also lead to
problems. For example, the climate-controlled
environment of a modern tractor makes it easy
to underestimate the dangers presented by the
weather outside. This time of year, it’s a good
idea to review a few cold-weather fundamentals,
just in case.
Personal safety is a topic that is often ignored
when winter operation is discussed,
but it’s important. Every driver is one breakdown,
accident or road-closure away from being
stranded. When it happens in a populated
area, it may be easy to find help. In an isolated
place, however, being stranded could result in
cold weather injuries like frostbite or worse.
That’s why every driver should carry a survival
kit during winter months. Warm clothing,
including a heavy coat, gloves or mittens, hat
and boots are a minimum. If the driver needs to
work on the truck, walk to a place of safety or
just wait for help in a nonrunning truck, staying
warm is critical. A sleeping bag, if there’s room
to store it, also helps preserve warmth.
Having enough food and water to last several
days is a good idea, too. Dehydration is a common
problem in freezing temperatures. Bottled
water can be a lifesaver. High-energy foods like
candy bars can be helpful, but a few of the widely-available
“meal replacement” bars provide
longer-lasting nutrition.
An emergency kit for the tractor is a good
idea, as well. Modern tractors are equipped with
sensors to monitor vital fluid levels and can shut
down the engine when levels get too low. It’s always
a good idea to carry additional motor oil
and antifreeze, but in winter an additional fuel
filter and a gallon of fuel additive containing deicer
could be critical. Windshield washer fluid is
quickly used up when salt spray starts drying on
the windshield; an extra bottle or two is another
good idea. Be sure to buy quality, however. Some
washer products aren’t much more than colored
water and can freeze at the same temperature,
clogging up small washer lines when you most
need them working. Get a brand that protects to
20 below zero or colder.
A thorough pre-trip inspection is even more
important during cold weather. Belts and hoses
can give out at the worst possible time. Tires
don’t always blow out when and where it’s convenient,
either. Cold weather has a way of exposing
parts that are worn or weak.
Fuel can present an issue, as well, especially
when traveling from the South to a northern destination
or to a high-altitude area where winter
arrives earlier than other areas. Most diesel fuel
is treated in winter, but the timing can differ by
region. Fuel sold in the Northeast, for example,
may be treated earlier in the year than fuel sold
in the South. At certain times of the year, it’s not
unheard of for a driver who fueled up in Georgia,
for example, to experience gelling issues in
Pennsylvania. The best practice is to make sure
the fuel has been treated.
Many truck stops carry brake-line antifreeze
products, but be sure to follow the manufacturer’s
guidance. Modern airbrake systems
contain plastic valves that can be damaged by
alcohol, causing problems later.
Finally, it’s a good idea to review winter
driving techniques before the white stuff hits.
Warm fall days are often followed by cold
nights, freezing any moisture on the roads.
Bridges and overpasses can become treacherous
without warning. When the road is cold
and wet, most drivers know to watch for spray
coming from the tires of other vehicles. If
there’s no spray, the water has turned to ice.
Freezing rain and sleet are more likely to
occur in fall and spring as temperatures hover
around the freezing mark. Ice can build up on
mirrors and wipers. Another indication that
ice is forming can be seen by watching CB or
radio antennas on other vehicles. Normally,
these sway backward at highway speeds, but
ice buildup can change their aerodynamics. Ice
can cause antennas to sway unnaturally, sideto-side
or even in circles.
Gradual changes in speed, including both
throttling and braking, are essential to maintain
traction on slippery roads. Cruise control can’t
tell when the road is icy and could cause acceleration
at the worst possible time. Turn the engine
brake off, too. On slick surfaces it can cause drive
tires to skid, causing a jackknife.
Winter can be a beautiful time of year for
driving in some parts of the world, but it can present
dangers far different than those experienced
in summer. Preparing for the worst winter can
offer can help get truck and driver through until
summer returns. 8
When it comes to your engine’s performance, the motor oil you select will have a
big impact. Understanding what synthetic oil is, its differences with conventional
motor oil, and how it affects your engine’s performance can help you choose the
right oil for your vehicle.
In the early stages, both synthetic and conventional oils start out as crude oil.
Unlike conventional motor oil, synthetic oil goes through a process where it is
refined and distilled before being broken down into individual molecules. This
process purifies the oil and makes it possible for engineers to customize the crude
oil’s molecules and provide better protection than conventional motor oils deliver.
Advantages of Synthetic over Conventional Oil:
• Improved performance
• Keeps engines cleaner
• Offers improved deposit control
• Enhanced performance in extreme temperatures
As engines have become more technologically advanced, so have the motor oil
products designed to support them.
To learn more go to Rotella.com/products
©2018 FOTOSEARCH
No one likes to drive on snow- or ice-covered roads, but for truckers, it is a necessity. A thorough
pre-trip inspection is even more important during cold weather. Belts and hoses can give
out at the worst possible time.
Comments, questions or ideas?
Email us at RotellaRoundup@JWT.com

26 • October 1-14, 2018 Business
thetrucker.com
TravelCenters opens first of smaller, more ‘nimble’ truck stops
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
WESTLAKE, Ohio — TravelCenters
of America LLC, operator of TA and Petro
Stopping Centers full service travel center
brands, has announced the opening of the
first four travel centers under its new TA Express
brand at the following locations:
• U.S. Hwy. 85 and SR 68 in Alexander,
North Dakota
• 455 U.S. 85 in Walsenburg, Colorado
• 1041 North Colorado Avenue in Brush,
Colorado, and
• 2222 U.S. Hwy 6 in Grand Junction,
Colorado.
TA Express travel centers will offer a majority
of the fuel, merchandise, food and other
services that professional drivers familiar
with the TA and Petro brands have come to
know and prefer. For professional drivers,
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TA Express offers smaller, more nimble facilities
allowing drivers to fuel faster, fulfill
basic travel needs and return to the road,
company spokesmen said in a news release.
Professional drivers are able to earn and
redeem UltraONE loyalty points at TA Express
sites. For motorists, TA Express will
provide branded gasoline options, national
food offerings, convenience items and clean
restrooms.
TravelCenters will soon develop the TA
Express network across the nation’s interstates
and other heavily traveled highways.
Franchising TA Express units will be one avenue
of growth.
“TA has served the needs of professional
drivers and motorists for nearly 50 years,”
said Barry Richards, president and chief
operating officer of TravelCenters. “We’ve
24 Nafta Cir.
New Braunfels, TX
1-888-763-4833
Courtesy: TA/PETRO
TravelCenters of America spokesmen said the new, smaller facilities will be built in areas
without room for full-service TA centers.
listened to our customers and have adapted
our facilities to meet their needs, including
their need to have our locations in some areas
where you just cannot put a large format
TA or Petro travel center. New distribution
centers countrywide have changed freight
patterns and call for additional fueling locations
not restricted to interstates and 25-acre
parcels.”
The newly branded locations consist of
two new additions to the TravelCenters fueling
network in Brush and Walsenberg, Colorado, a
TA-operated site known as The Wild Bison in
Alexander, North Dakota, and the conversion
of a TA in Grand Junction, Colorado.
TravelCenters of America LLC (Travel-
Centers), headquartered in Westlake, Ohio,
offers diesel and gasoline fueling, restaurants,
truck repair facilities, convenience
stores and other services in 43 states and in
Canada, principally under the TA, TA Express
and Petro Stopping Centers travel center
brands.
For more information on TravelCenters,
TA, TA Express and Petro Stopping Centers,
visit ta-petro.com. 8
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RECRUITING at a Glance
Company Driver Owner Operator Teams Lease Purchase Flatbed Van Reefer HAZMAT Expedited Specialized Tanker
Cargill
www.cargillmeatlogistics.com
(316) 462-7220
See our ad on page 24!
FedEx Custom Critical
www.customcritical.fedex.com
(866) 729-9789
See our ad on page 30!
Mercer
www.mercertown.com
(888) 374-8445
See our ad on page 23!
PFS Brands
www.jobs@pfsbrands.com
(573) 893-1361
See our ad on page 18!
Smith Transport
www.smithdrivers.com
(866) 451-2859
See our ad on page 27!
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CFI
www.CFIDrive.com
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Janco Ltd.
www.jancoltd.com
(800) 526-9085
See our ad on page 15!
Miller Transporters
www.drivemillert.com
(888) 716-4959
See our ad on page 15!
P.I.&I. Motor Express
http://www.piimx.com
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See our ad on page 31!
Transport Designs, Inc.
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D&D Sexton, Inc.
www.ddsextoninc.com
(800) 743-0265
See our ad on page 6!
Landstar
www.lease2landstar.com
(877) 472-0097
See our ad on page 2!
National Carriers
www.drivenci.com
(888) 439-3196
See our ad on page 40!
ProFleet Transport Corp.
www.profleet.com
(877) 684-8787
See our ad on page 27!
Tribe Transportation
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(877) 628-6285
See our ad on page 24!
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Diamond Transportation
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(262) 554-4025
See our ad on page 30!
McColister’s Transportation
www.mccollisters.com
(800) 257-9595 ext. 9490
See our ad on pages 30, 32 & 34!
Penske Logistics
www.gopenske.com/careers
(855) 235-1361
See our ad on page 18!
Schneider
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Technology
October 1-14, 2018 • 29
Courtesy: VOLVO
Autonomous electric vehicles like this one are linked to a cloud service and a transport
control center.
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
An article in the Journal of the American Association
of State Highway and Transportation
Officials (AASHTO) says new research predicts
autonomous trucks could replace nearly 300,000
long-haul drivers over the next 10 years.
The 73-page research report authored by
Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University
of Pennsylvania, and issued on September
5 by Center for Labor Research and Education
at the University of California, Berkeley,
and Working Partnerships USA, projects that
autonomous trucks could replace as many as
294,000 long-distance truck driving jobs over
the next decade, while also fostering the creation
of new highway infrastructure dubbed
“autonomous truck ports,” or ATPs.
The report — titled “Driverless? Autonomous
Trucks and the Future of the American
Trucker,” added that while “many other freightmoving
jobs will be created in their place, perhaps
even more than will be lost,” those new
jobs will be lower-paying local driving and lastmile
delivery jobs, the Journal article stated.
“Many industry experts and developers expect
that self-driving trucks will soon be able to
drive autonomously on the highway, but that it
will take far longer — perhaps several decades
— before driverless trucks will be able to routinely
navigate local streets packed with cars,
pedestrians, cyclists, road work, and other unexpected
challenges,” Viscelli noted in the study.
Volvo offers future transport solution
with its autonomous electric vehicles
THE TRUCKER STAFF
Volvo Trucks is now presenting a new transport
solution consisting of autonomous electric
commercial vehicles that can contribute to more
efficient, safer and cleaner transportation, the
OEM said in a statement released last month.
“The long-term goal is to offer companies
that need continuous transport services between
fixed hubs a complement to today’s offerings,”
spokesmen said.
“Growing world population and increasing
urbanization are leading to significant challenges
to solve environmental issues such as congestion,
pollution and noise,” Claes Nilsson, president of
Volvo Trucks, said. Rising consumption, the fast
growth of e-commerce and the widespread shortage
of drivers put higher demands on efficient
transport solutions.
“The full potential of the transport industry is
Research: Autonomous trucks to take some 300K jobs in next decade
Courtesy: DRIVEWYZE
Drivewyze is integrating with the Green Light Program through its back office so that customers
can use their Drivewyze-equipped electronic logging device to access bypass opportunities.
“Humans will also be needed to handle the
many nondriving tasks — coupling tractors and
trailers, fueling, inspections, paperwork, communicating
with customers, loading and unloading,
etc. — that drivers currently perform,”
he added. “Therefore, the most likely scenario
for widespread adoption involves local human
drivers bringing trailers from factories or warehouses
to ATPs located on the outskirts of cities
next to major interstate exits. There, they will
swap the trailers over to autonomous tractors for
long stretches of highway driving. At the other
end, the process will happen in reverse: A human
driver will pick up the trailer at an ATP and
take it to the final destination.”
See Job on p30 m
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
DALLAS — Truck fleets and operators using
Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass service
will soon be able to receive bypasses at 21 weigh
stations in Oregon through the Oregon Green
Light (OGL) preclearance program.
The Green Light sites are automated weigh
stations on Interstates 5, 82 and 84; U.S. Highways
30, and 97; and Oregon Highways 58 and
730.
Drivewyze is integrating with the Green Light
Program through its back office so that customers
can use their Drivewyze-equipped electronic
logging device to access bypass opportunities.
Activation of the new sites will take place over
the next few months.
“Carriers and drivers using our weigh station
yet to be seen. Everything suggests that the global
need for transportation will continue to significantly
increase in the coming decade. If we are
to meet this demand in a sustainable and efficient
way, we must find new solutions. In order to secure
a smoothly functioning goods flow system
we also need to exploit existing infrastructure
better than currently. The transport system we are
developing can be an important complement to
today’s solutions and can help meet many of the
challenges faced by society, transport companies
and transport buyers,” Nilsson said.
Volvo Trucks’ future transport solution is intended
to be used for regular and repetitive tasks
characterized by relatively short distances, large
volumes of goods and high delivery precision,
spokesmen said. Transports between logistic
hubs are typical examples.
See Volvo on p30 m
Courtesy: TESLA
New research predicts that autonomous vehicles
like this Tesla truck may take nearly
300,000 jobs in the next decade from overthe-road
truck drivers.
Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass
service to become available in Oregon soon
bypass service won’t need to separately sign up
for the Oregon Green Light program, install a
separate transponder or incur any additional cost,”
said Brian Mofford, vice president of government
experience for Drivewyze. “This is great news for
Drivewyze customers travelling on Interstate 5.”
The integration comes as a win for the State
of Oregon as the state has continued to grow its
program while offering bypass opportunities to
more trucks, said David McKane, safety program
manager at the Motor Carrier Transportation
Division (MCTD) at the Oregon Department
of Transportation. Since its deployment in 2001,
OGL has provided more than 25 million preclearance
bypasses to nearly 4,000 participating truck
fleets and operators. In cost savings, according to
See Drivewyze on p30 m

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OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE
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COMPANY DRIVERS.
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WWW.MCCOLLISTERS.COM
30 • October 1-14, 2018 Technology THETRUCKER.COM
b Volvo from page 29 b
“Our system can be seen as an extension
of the advanced logistics solutions that many
industries already apply today. Since we use
autonomous vehicles with no exhaust emissions
and low noise, their operation can take
place at any time of day or night. The solution
utilizes existing road infrastructure and
load carriers, making it easier to recoup costs
and allowing for integration with existing
operations,” added Mikael Karlsson, vice
b Job from page 29 b
Viscelli referenced a 2013 study by investment
firm Morgan Stanley regarding the potential
savings offered by the broader deployment
of autonomous trucks; a savings of $168 billion
to the trucking industry.
“Analysis like this suggests a strong economic
argument for trucking as a lead sector of autonomous
vehicle technology,” he added. “But even
the most optimistic developers believe we are
still at least several years away from autonomous
trucks operating even in limited highway operations
in anything other than testing programs with
drivers still behind the wheel.”
Viscelli also said that “it is conceivable that
b Drivewyze from page 29 b
president of autonomous solutions.
The operation is handled by autonomous
electric vehicles linked to a cloud service and
a transport control center.
The transport control center continuously
monitors the progress of the transport and keeps
an accurate watch of each vehicle’s position,
the batteries’ charge, load content, service requirements
and a number of other parameters.
As with an industrial production process,
speed and progress are tailored to avoid unnecessary
waiting and to increase delivery precision.
Vehicles that operate on the same route
cooperate to create optimal flow. 8
autonomous trucks could double the productivity
of long-haul trucks for highway segments,”
which would also reduce traffic congestion and
boost the efficiency of current road networks
— without having to add capacity, though the
use of ATPs, if such structures came to be built,
would create a new set of transportation infrastructure
challenges.
“For many of the scenarios profiled in this
report, autonomous trucking ports were identified
as a critical piece of our country’s evolving
logistics infrastructure. [But] the growth of
e-commerce and regional automated port infrastructure
could lead to more underpaid and overworked
drivers working in unsafe conditions,
while adding to traffic congestion and poor air
quality in communities across the nation,” Viscelli
wrote. 8
the OGL program, that equates to 2 million hours
saved for truckers, and more than $250 million
saved in operational costs.
“By seamlessly integrating our two systems
and providing weigh station bypasses to
Drivewyze customers, our agency can realize
OGL’s full potential by offering even more bypasses
to safe truck fleets and operators,” McKane
said.
Agencies like the MCTD find that by reducing
congestion at weigh stations, they can improve
traffic safety, particularly in dense urban
areas like Portland, Mofford said. Merging in and
out of traffic to enter and exit a weigh station can
create serious safety issues for drivers as they deal
with changing lanes in bumper-to-bumper traffic
or in traffic moving at widely varying speeds, he
said. As traffic inside the weigh station piles up,
a lineup of trucks can form. This can create even
bigger problem for truck drivers and the motoring
public when the lineup backs up into the highway.
Drivewyze currently offers weigh station
bypasses at more than 700 sites in 43 states and
provinces.
To learn more about Drivewyze, visit
drivewyze.com. 8
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Equipment
October 1-14, 2018 • 31
Peterbilt now offering PeopleNet app
that’s fully integrated into SmartNav
Courtesy: PETERBILT MOTORS CO.
Peterbilt Motors Co. will now offer the PeopleNet app fully integrated into the SmartNav
display, eliminating the need for PeopleNet users to wire and install a secondary device.
Carrier Transicold’s gift of new reefer
expanding reach of Yuma food bank
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
YUMA, Ariz. — The gift of an X4 Series
Model 7300 trailer refrigeration unit from Carrier
Transicold is helping to significantly expand the
Yuma Community Food Bank’s “War on Hunger”
in southwest Arizona.
The refrigeration unit, which will be used to
transport and cool fruits, vegetables and other
food products, was provided through a grant from
parent company United Technologies Corp. to aid
food banks in the Feeding America network. Carrier
Transicold is a part of UTC Climate, Controls
and Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp.
“I can’t tell you how exciting this is for us,”
said Shara Merten, president and CEO, Yuma
Community Food Bank. “When something this
spectacular happens, we really appreciate it.”
Installed on a 53-foot trailer, the X4 Series
refrigeration unit will enable the food bank to
double its geographic reach, extending beyond
Yuma County into La Paz County to the north, a
combined 10,000-square-mile region with a population
of about 227,500. Additionally, since the
refrigeration unit is compliant with strict emissions
requirements of neighboring California, the
reefer can be used to collect food from that agricultural
region and participate in food exchanges
with southern California food banks, something
the Yuma Community Food Bank was unable to
do with its existing equipment.
“We are exceedingly grateful to have been a
See Carrier on p32 m
Courtesy: APERIA TECHNOLOGIES
A company official said Aperia’s Halo Tire Inflator is an easy-to-use device that automatically
keeps tires from falling below their target pressure range, allowing fleets to maximize
tire life, reduce fuel consumption, and slash operating costs.
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
DENTON, Texas — Peterbilt Motors Co. has
enhanced the Peterbilt SmartNav system.
As part of the enhancements, Peterbilt will
now offer the PeopleNet app fully integrated
into the SmartNav display, eliminating the need
for PeopleNet users to wire and install a secondary
device.
The integration includes an ethernet connection
for enhanced data security, the ability to use
the app for electronic logging device functionality,
and integration of fleet management systems
for Peterbilt customers.
“Peterbilt commits a significant amount of
time and resources to researching the driver environment,”
said Kim Lawton, medium-duty
and technology marketing manager. “Removing
the need for a secondary device to handle fleet
management and logging device functionality
improves cab ergonomics and is a testament to
Peterbilt’s dedication to the driver.”
“For more than four years, PeopleNet and
Trimble have partnered with Peterbilt to deliver
factory-fit solutions that help fleets increase
performance and efficiency,” said Garland
Jackson, senior vice president and general
manager, OEMs/Channels for Trimble’s Transportation
mobility division. “With the incorporation
of the PeopleNet app into the SmartNav
display, Peterbilt can now offer fleet customers
seamless access to Trimble’s latest fleet mobil-
See Smart on p32 m
Courtesy: CARRIER TRANSICOLD
In the shade of the Yuma Community Food Bank’s new X4 Series trailer refrigeration unit
are Alex Juarez of CT Power, Phoenix, left, with Shara Merten, Samantha Landesman, Michelle
Merkley and Erick Thomas, all from the Yuma Community Food Bank.
Aperia Technologies launches its new, shiny
safety chrome cover for the Halo Tire Inflator
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
BURLINGAME, Calif. — Aperia Technologies,
a supplier of tire inflation technologies that
are designed to improve the safety and efficiency
of commercial vehicle tractors and trailers, on
September 6 made public the release of a new
chrome cover for the Halo Tire Inflator.
“Our drivers take tremendous pride in their
trucks, and it’s the details that matter when it
comes to recruiting and retaining drivers,” said
Jon Andrus, vice president of fleet administration
at Doug Andrus. “Every touchpoint we have to
improve driver retention matters to our company,
and how a truck looks as well as how it operates is
a factor in keeping our drivers on the road.”
While the chrome adds personality and practicality
to accessorize the Halo Tire Inflator, it also
plays a role in improving business for fleets, from
driver retention to company pride, according to
Josh Carter, CEO of Aperia Technologies.
He said according to the American Trucking
Associations it takes 3.5 million truck drivers to
haul more than 10.5 billion tons of freight across
the U.S. annually.
Driver shortages are forcing fleets to be more
selective in the loads they take on, raise wages,
and charge customers more to haul their loads,
Carter said.
“Solutions such as lowering driver eligi-
See Aperia on p32 m

32 • October 1-14, 2018 Equipment
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b Smart from page 31 b
b Carrier from page 31 b
part of this project with the Yuma Community
Food Bank,” said Alex Juarez, business development
manager, CT Power of Phoenix, the Carrier
Transicold dealership that installed the refrigeration
unit and helped source the trailer. “Through
this initiative, the food bank can continue its mission
to relieve hunger among countless families
throughout southwestern Arizona.”
The combined unemployment rate for Yuma
and La Paz counties is well above the national
average, and 20 percent of the families are food
insecure. Merten estimated that the value of the
Carrier Transicold refrigeration unit equates to
an additional 205,200 meals that can be served
by the Yuma Community Food Bank. Each year,
citizens classified as “working poor” make more
than 200,000 visits to their food banks.
b Aperia from page 31 b
bility requirements, including age, are being
considered to help address the driver shortage,
but including new features that drivers want on
trucks is another opportunity to engage and retain
drivers,” he added.
He said Aperia’s Halo Tire Inflator is an easyto-use
solution that automatically keeps tires
from falling below their target pressure range.
ity solutions in a factory installed solution.”
Also available in the updated display is the
Peterbilt TruckCare Roadside Assistance app.
The integrated Android-based application is
standard on the SmartNav display and connects
to the driver’s phone via Bluetooth.
The application can directly dial the Peterbilt
TruckCare call center for 24/7 roadside
assistance.
“With the incorporation of these systems, Peterbilt
customers now a have a fully integrated
business management solution with SmartNav,”
Lawton said. “Peterbilt’s goal is to give customers
and drivers the tools they need to complete
their jobs in the most user-friendly way possible.”
These enhancements to SmartNav will be
available for order in November.
Peterbilt provides a comprehensive array of
aftermarket support programs through its 350-
plus North American dealer locations, which
complement its full lineup of on-highway, vocational
and medium-duty products.
For more information about Peterbilt, visit
peterbilt.com. 8
“As Carrier Transicold focuses on helping
emerging nations develop their cold chains as a
means of getting more perishable food to hungry
people while reducing waste and the excess
carbon emissions created, we recognize there are
needs in the U.S., as well. That’s why we support
Feeding America and its member food banks,”
said Jon Shaw, director, global communications
and sustainability, Carrier Transicold and Refrigeration
Systems.
In 2017, Carrier Transicold announced the
program in support of Feeding America network
food banks across the U.S. Beyond Arizona,
the program has helped more than a dozen food
banks covering parts of Connecticut, New York,
Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana,
Michigan, South Dakota, Nevada, Utah and
California.
For more information, visit transicold.carrier.com.
Follow Carrier on Twitter: @Smart-
ColdChain. 8
The chrome cover snaps into place in seconds
and is retrofittable and compatible with all
models of the Halo Tire Inflation Systems.
“Aperia Technologies engineers innovation
to make transportation more efficient, safer,
and better for the environment,” Carter said,
adding that the Halo Tire Inflator and related
products improve fuel economy and road safety
while reducing tire expenditures, downtime,
and maintenance costs for commercial fleets.
For more information, visit aperiatech.
com. 8
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9/17/18 3:34 PM

Features
October 1-14, 2018 • 33
Rolling Strong gives health, fitness
app makeover, beefs up its features
Klint Lowry
Dorothy Cox
dlcox@thetrucker.com
Around
the Bend
Last month, September 14 to be exact,
marked 20 years I have been at this newspaper.
Before that, I had been a mainstream journalist
since 1972.
There’s still so much I don’t know about
trucking.
What I do know is that truckers are knowledgeable,
helpful, smart, kind, sometimes cantankerous,
and often opinionated. They’re proud of
Klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
In just about every ad for every diet or
exercise program or product, they show a
before-and-after comparison to illustrate the
remarkable improvements the product provides.
Rolling Strong didn’t have that option at
its disposal over the past few weeks as it has
slowly unveiled a new version of its driver
wellness app on iOS and Android.
Nonetheless, just prior to the launch of
the redesigned app, Rolling Strong President
Steve Kane and members of his staff were at
The Great American Trucking Show, giving
off the same sense of excitement as one of
those people in an “after” photo who has lost
100 pounds and is proudly holding out the
waistband of their old pants.
“The new version of the app is awesome,
Kane said. “It’s very trucker-friendly.”
When Rolling Strong originally released
its wellness app in summer 2017, it was
widely praised as a single-source tool for
drivers to not only monitor and track their
health and nutrition but to access assistance
and resources to help them with diet, exercise
and other aspects of health.
But that, Kane said, was really more of a
soft launch.
“We focused on the technology we wanted
to have in place that would make it do all
the things that we wanted it to do,” he said.
In the 16 months since its debut, they have
been gathering feedback from drivers in order
to fine-tune the app.
“I was a driver for many years, and this is
something we built really to absolutely cater
toward the driver,” Kane said.
The app’s driver-centric sensibility is
apparent as soon as you open the app. The
screens are designed with “gauges” and diamond-plate
steel backgrounds to simulate a
dashboard.
They also wanted to keep the app userfriendly.
“We wanted people to be able to get
to anything in the app within two clicks,”
Kane said.
For those who are not familiar with the
app, he said, drivers should think of it as a
tool. It’s really the Rolling Strong program
they are signing up for. The app is designed
to tailor that program to each user’s goals
and preferences.
“Just because we have an app out there
doesn’t mean every driver’s going to want to
start doing jumping jacks and eating tofu,”
Kane said.
When a driver signs up, the first thing
they will be asked to do is to fill in their
biometric information. This can be obtained
through the service network Rolling Strong
has with retailers including Walmart, Kroger,
Publix, CVS Pharmacy and at thousands of
higi health stations nationwide.
The information can be captured directly
onto the app, which will then give feedback
and guidance to the driver on their risk factors
and what to do about them.
The app’s home screen has a series of buttons
for various aspects of the program. “The
intention is that each driver will use the buttons
differently, some more than others, to
their specific needs,” Kane said.
As an example, the nutrition button is one
that most everyone will use, but in different
ways. If a user is trying to lose weight, the
app can set up a diet plan based on their caloric
and macro needs.
“We’ll put you on a very safe, 500-calorie
deficit-per-day diet,” Kane said. “If it’s good
food choices, that’s enough to lose a pound
a week.” Once you calculate your caloric
needs, you subtract 500 to get your goal per
what they do but don’t expect people to go out
of their way to thank them for keeping America’s
commerce going.
Truckers can become pretty jaded, sometimes
with good reason. They just want a good wage
for doing their job and doing it well, and to be
respected enough to be able to do their jobs in
peace without drowning in rules and regulations.
And most would like some appreciation
now and then, not just one week out of the year
during National Truck Driver Appreciation
Week (NTDAW). I’ve heard drivers rant about
how a free hamburger and the fixin’s once a
year doesn’t mean diddly.
I see their point. But that doesn’t mean
the appreciation events that go on during
NTDAW — and the rest of the year — are all
Courtesy: ROLLING STRONG
Gauges and a metallic background make it unmistakable that Rolling Strong’s refurbished
health and fitness app was created specifically for truckers.
a bunch of hooey.
A case in point is the NTDAW celebration
CalArk has every year at its headquarters just
outside Little Rock, Arkansas, and a new memorial
they just created.
Rain or shine, CalArk has fed its drivers a
catered meal, handed out door prizes and honored
its drivers with various awards such as
Driver of the Year and Most Safe Deliveries.
I’ve been in attendance quite a few of those
years, and they’re well attended by drivers for
CalArk and by their owner-operators contracted
through Central Hauling.
The invitation goes out to all 500-plus drivers
each year during NTDAW and there are daily
meals and prize giveaways all week so that driv-
See Bend on p34 m
day, he explained.
The user can type in the name of a food,
scan a barcode, or search by restaurant and
the app will give calorie counts and amount
of fats, carbs and proteins, sodium and sugars
and keep track of their intake throughout
the day.
Another useful tool, Kane said, is the Predict
My Meal feature.
“If I’m a driver and I pull up and there’s
three fast food places and two sit-down restaurants,
the app can tell the best choices for
their needs at all of them before they go inside
any of them,” he said.
When drivers press the Fitness button,
they can find out what exercise options are
available at the next TA/Petro or if there are
gyms nearby in the Rolling Strong network.
Or they can access a video library of workouts
for truckers suitable for all fitness levels.
There are also buttons marked “Sleep”
and “Hydration,” two areas of wellness that
are often overlooked, especially hydration,
Kane said.
“How hydrated we are affects how we
think, how alert we are, how we sleep, how
we metabolize food,” he said. It’s so easy to
get in the habit of drinking soda or energy
drinks or coffee, which can make your energy
spike then crash, which is dangerous
behind the wheel.
With the sleep function, drivers can find
nearby rest areas and hotels with truck parking.
Using a wearable device, or entering
manually, they can log the amount of sleep
they’re getting.
See Fitness on p34 m
CalArk doesn’t just thank drivers once a year; they’ve created a living, lasting memorial
Courtesy: CALARK
WAYNE GORDON

34 • October 1-14, 2018 Features
Courtesy: CALARK
The young magnolia tree seen here was planted by CalArk to be a living memorial to
driver Wayne Gordon and in coming years will be a memorial to drivers who also died
while employed by the carrier.
OWNER OPERATORS JOIN!
b Bend from page 33 b
ers can plan to fit in a visit. Some of the things
that have been given away as door prizes are gift
cards, CB radios, tool sets, TVs and grills.
Friday is usually the icing on the celebration
cake, with several hundred drivers there to chow
down, win prizes and take part in the awards ceremony.
“Truck drivers sacrifice personal comfort
and convenience to bring comfort and convenience
to the rest of us,” said CalArk CEO Rochelle
Bartholomew recently in acknowledgement
of CalArk drivers.
This year, CalArk added something different.
They announced a new memorial dedicated
to drivers and contractors who pass away while
employed by the company.
The memorial features a magnolia tree whose
year-round leaves symbolize the love and care
that remain in the hearts of the driver’s family,
friends and co-workers left behind. Memorial
stones will be engraved with the names of drivers
who pass away in succeeding years.
“Each time we lose one of our own while on
duty, we mourn,” Bartholomew said. “Due to the
nature of our business and the fact that our drivers
live in so many places around the U.S., it can be
difficult to take part in a funeral service. Now, we
THETRUCKER.COM
have a special place to gather for our own memorial
services and support each other in our grief.”
The memorial was inspired by Central Hauling
driver Wayne Gordon, whose recent death
from a stroke prompted the idea of the tree, said
Cathy Businelle, CalArk’s communications coordinator.
The space around the tree also includes a large
chrome wheel with a plaque dedicating the memorial
to Gordon and CalArk’s other company
drivers and independent contractors who have
passed away.
The planting of the tree was done the day of
Gordon’s funeral in Georgia because, the company
stated on its website, “as he is being laid to
rest in one place, we want him to be given life
symbolically in another.”
CalArk also did a live streaming of the planting
ceremony so drivers out on the road could
witness the service.
“Wayne Gordon had the kind of outgoing,
talkative, positive personality that drew friends
and strangers alike wherever he went. Many of
our drivers, contractors and employees will feel
his loss deeply,” said a posting in August on the
CalArk website. “It’s hard to lose someone who
has touched so many.”
Thankfully, CalArk has found a way to create
a lasting memorial for Gordon and others like
him.
God bless and be safe out there. 8
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b Fitness from page 33 b
Drivers with sleep apnea will soon be
able to log the time they use C-pap devices.
Since the app’s introduction, Rolling
Strong has added a rewards system. Drivers
can earn points for getting a good night’s
sleep, for hydrating, getting exercise or hitting
their dietary goals. Those points can be
traded in for merchandise.
The rewards system adds a game element
to the app. Along with the enhanced mapping,
one of the areas of improvement to the
app is the social interaction aspect.
Rolling Strong has a team of coaches
available to offer advice and encouragement.
It can be something as simple as having your
coach help talk you out of that giant slab of
lasagna or getting in-depth advice about your
diet and workout regimen, Kane said. “The
coaching network is there to provide feedback
to the drivers,” and the more the system
is improved, the more they can help.
There’s also a new social media page
where drivers can talk about their successes
and challenges, share recipes and workout
tips, and even engage in a little friendly competition.
“We really put our time and resources into
building a tool that is meant to help drivers
maintain their health on the road, and make
it fun,” Kane said.
When Kane was in high school, he said,
he was a wrestler. In college, he boxed. It
wasn’t until he became a truck driver that he
started seeing belly fat. That was when he
decided that he would dedicate himself not
only to improving his own health but that of
his fellow truckers.
Developing this app and continuing to develop
this app, he said, is a genuine passion
for him and everyone else at Rolling Strong.
Courtesy: ROLLING STRONG
Subscribers to the Rolling Strong health and
fitness app have access to an exercise video
library and to a team of coaches who can
consult with drivers about diet and exercise
topics or even give a pep talk as needed.
“It’s a big step and a big decision to want
to be healthier,” he said. “And there are a lot
of suspect remedies out there. This is something
that was built by people with firsthand
familiarity with trucking to make it all make
sense to them.” 8

thetrucker.com
Features October 1-14, 2018 • 35

36 • October 1-14, 2018 thetrucker.com
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Drivers and Owner-
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thetrucker.com October 1-14, 2018 • 37
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38 • October 1-14, 2018 thetrucker.com
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6 • The Trucker NATIONAL EDITION August 1-15, 2005

thetrucker.com
Features October 1-14, 2018 • 39

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