TT_021519_AllPages

Vol. 32, No. 4 

www.thetrucker.com February 15-28, 2019 

Study by three universities finds ELDs have not done 

much to increase safety, may prove to be the opposite 

Courtesy: KENWORTH TRUCK CO. 

Supporting TAT 

In coordination with National 

Human Trafficking Awareness 

month, Truckers Against 

Trafficking (TAT) unveiled its 2019 

Everyday Heroes Kenworth T680 

at a news conference held recently 

at the National Mall. The Kenworth 

T680, valued at $162,000, will be 

auctioned off live at the Ritchie 

Bros. site in Phoenix on May 17. 

Page 4 

Navigating the news 

NTSB Most Wanted...............3 

Ask the Law...........................7 

Best Fleets to Drive For.........9 

Truck Stop............................12 

Women to Watch..................14 

Tonnage slips.......................17 

Lane Departures..................17 

Fleet Focus..........................20 

Rocketail Wing.....................23 

Around the Bend..................27 

Courtesy: MTA 

Retiring for good 

The first time 74-year-old Art 

Stoen retired, when he was a 

young 63, things just got too 

boring, so he went back to the 

job he’s always known: driving a 

truck. Recently, the 55-year career 

driver and Minnesota Trucking 

Association’s Driver of the Year 

retired for good but plans to keep 

busy with fishing, deer hunting 

and traveling, some of his favorite 

pastimes. 

Page 27 

Cliff Abbott 

cliffa@thetrucker.com 

“Nonetheless, with regards to safety, drivers 

are heavily incentivized to avoid accidents, and 

this did not change with the ELD mandate.” 

That’s one of the conclusions reached in a 

January paper published by researchers at three 

different universities titled “Did the Electronic 

Logging Device Mandate Reduce Accidents?” In 

further news that will not be a surprise to the vast 

majority of professional drivers, the study also 

concludes that “The ELD mandate has not done 

much to change the driver calculus in this respect, 

and so it is perhaps not surprising that we fail to 

uncover significant accident reductions.” 

The study was authored by professors at 

Northeastern University, the University of Arkansas 

and Michigan State University and published 

by ResearchGate, a professional network for scientists 

and researchers. 

The study considers data from the period January 

1, 2017, through September 1, 2018, comparing 

statistics compiled prior to the December 17, 

2017, implementation date of the ELD mandate 

to those after. 

The study noted that the mandate “clearly 

achieved its first-order effect: Drivers increased 

their compliance with Hours of Service regulations.” 

Compliance, however, does not necessarily 

equate to safety, as many in the trucking industry 

have been pointing out for years. The authors concluded 

that incidents of speeding and other unsafe 

driving actions increased in response to productivity 

losses caused by the mandate. 

Using data gathered from roadside inspections, 

the study noted that 6.0 percent of inspections 

documented intentional HOS violations 

prior to the mandate. That number dropped by 

36.7 percent (to 3.8 percent receiving violations) 

See ELD on p8 m 

Courtesy: OMNITRACS 

The study on ELD usage was authored by professors at Northeastern University, the University of 

Arkansas and Michigan State University and published by ResearchGate, a professional network 

for scientists and researchers. 

The fact is, ELDs were not designed 

as a safety tool per se, TCA exec says 

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Nation February 15-28, 2019 • 3 

©2019 FOTOSEARCH 

Today, distracted driving is most closely associated with using a cellphone while the vehicle 

is in motion. But just as dangerous is trying to drive and drink a beverage because when you 

take a sip, the cup usually will block your vision. 

Distraction, drug impairment top NTSB’s 

annual ‘most wanted’ safety improvements 

THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES 

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation 

Safety Board revealed its 2019- 

2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation 

Safety Improvements February 4. 

First issued in 1990, the NTSB Most 

Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements 

serves as the agency’s primary 

advocacy tool to help save lives, prevent injuries, 

and reduce property damage resulting 

from transportation accidents. 

The 10 items on the list are: 

• Eliminate distractions 

• End alcohol and other drug impairments 

• Ensure the safe shipment of hazardous 

materials 

• Fully implement positive train control 

• Implement a comprehensive strategy to 

reduce speed-related crashes 

• Improve the safety of Part 135 of aircraft 

flight operations 

• Increase implementation of collision 

avoidance systems in all new highway vehicles 

• Reduce fatigue-related accidents 

• Require medical fitness and screening for 

and treatment of, obstructive sleep apnea, and 

• Strengthen occupant protection. 

“The 2019-2020 Most Wanted List advocates 

for 46 specific safety recommendations 

that can and should be implemented during 

these next two years,” said NTSB Chairman 

Robert Sumwalt. “It also features broad, 

longstanding safety issues that still threaten 

the traveling public.” 

Sumwalt issued a call to action when the 

list was released. 

“We at the NTSB can speak on these issues,” 

he said. “We board members can testify 

by invitation to legislatures and to Congress, 

but we have no power of our own to 

act. We are counting on industry, advocates 

and government to act on our recommendations. 

We are counting on the help of the 

broader safety community to implement 

these recommendations.” 

There are 267 open NTSB safety recommendations 

associated with the 10 Most 

Wanted List items and the NTSB is focused 

on seeing 46 of those implemented within the 

next two years. The majority of these recommendations, 

roughly two-thirds of the 267, 

seek critical safety improvements by means 

other than regulation. Of the 46 safety recommendations 

the NTSB wants implemented 

in the next two years, 20 seek regulatory 

action to improve transportation safety. 

At any given time, the NTSB is managing 

around 1,200 open safety recommendations 

and while all have the potential to save lives 

and reduce injuries by preventing accidents, 

the NTSB cannot effectively communicate 

about each of them. The NTSB’s Most Wanted 

List provides the NTSB’s advocacy team and 

other agency communicators a roadmap to focus 

on a select number of recommendations. 

In 2017 the NTSB went from an annual 

list to a biennial process, to give its advocacy 

team, their partners, and safety recommendation 

recipients more time to move toward 

implementation of the recommendations associated 

with the list, according to a NTSB 

news release. 8 

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4 • February 15-28, 2019 Nation 


Truckers Against Trafficking, Kenworth tout Everyday 

Heroes KW T680 at Washington National Mall ceremony 


WASHINGTON — In coordination with 

National Human Trafficking Awareness 

month, Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) 

unveiled its 2019 Everyday Heroes Kenworth 

T680 at a news conference held recently 

at the National Mall. 

On a brisk and snow-covered day in 

Washington, 50 members of the national 

media and sponsors of the Everyday Heroes 

Kenworth T680 turned out for a chance to 

listen to speakers, get a first-hand look at the 

special TAT Kenworth T680, and take a look 

inside the Freedom Drivers Project, a mobile 

display featuring a video and artifacts from 

human trafficking survivors. 

Featured speakers explained the importance 

of stopping human trafficking and the 

need to continue to raise awareness about the 

crime. 

The speakers included Kendis Paris, 

Truckers Against Trafficking executive director 

and co-founder; Kevin Baney, Kenworth 

assistant general manager of sales and 

marketing; Don Blake, new truck sales manager, 

Inland Kenworth-Phoenix; Rep. Andy 

Biggs, R-Ariz.; Karl Racine, District of Columbia 

attorney general; and John McKown, 

UPS driver and TAT ambassador. 

“The press conference was held to help 

raise awareness for human trafficking, and 

we accomplished that goal through our 

Everyday Heroes Kenworth T680 and the 

Freedom Drivers Project,” said Inland Kenworth’s 

Don Blake, who serves as a TAT 

board member. “There was even a local driver 

who passed by and decided to pull his rig 

over to check out our special truck. He was 

inspired after learning about the program, 

and wants to become TAT trained and to encourage 

others at his company to do so as 

well.” 

Those in attendance had the opportunity 

to look through the Freedom Drivers Project. 

“One woman told me that the Freedom 

Drivers Project was incredible, but the only 

thing missing was a box of tissues,” Blake 

said. “As sad as it is to walk through the exhibit, 

it really does portray how terrible the 

crime of human trafficking is today. Hopefully, 

with the help of TAT-trained members, 

we may one day bring an end to this crime.” 

Fighting human trafficking takes money 

to fund, and that is why the 2019 Everyday 

Heroes truck was built — as a fundraiser to 

offset TAT program costs. The Kenworth 

T680, valued at $162,000 will be auctioned 

off live on Ritchie Bros. site in Phoenix on 

May 17. 

“Human trafficking is one of the greatest 

human rights violations of our time and it is 

going to take every sector, both public and private, 

and every individual no matter their profession, 

playing a role in helping to bring freedom,” 

Paris said. “This Everyday Heroes truck 

stands as a symbol that the American trucking 

industry is dedicated to doing just that.” 

According to TAT, 2,250 calls have been 

made to the national hotline by truckers 

Courtesy: KENWORTH TRUCK CO. 

A news conference to unveil the “Everyday Heroes” Kenworth T680 included speakers, from 

left, John McKown, UPS driver and Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) ambassador; Don 

Blake, new truck sales manager, Inland Kenworth-Phoenix; Karl Racine, District of Columbia 

attorney general; Kendis Paris, Truckers Against Trafficking executive director and co-founder; 

and Kevin Baney, Kenworth assistant general manager of sales and marketing. 

which have helped identify over 1,100 victims 

of human trafficking, many of whom are 

children. 

“At the office of attorney general, we see 

kids every day and sadly we see kids who are 

victims of human trafficking,” Racine said. 

“One of the earlier speakers spoke of the 

need to curtail trafficking by ending demand. 

The only way we can do that is if we enlist 

more eyes and ears on the roads, at the hotels, 

and at the transportation sites throughout 

this country.” 

The unveiling of the Everyday Heroes 

trucks begins a four-month tour with stops at 

Kenworth’s Chillicothe, Ohio, plant (February 

21-22); the American Trucking Associations 

Technology and Maintenance Council 

annual meeting in Atlanta (March 18-21); 

and the Mid-America Trucking show in 

Louisville, Kentucky (March 28-30), before 

making its final stop at Richie Bros. 

The special Kenworth T680 is fully loaded 

with a 76-inch sleeper, 485-hp Paccar 

MX-13 engine, and Paccar 12-speed automated 

transmission. 

“Kenworth is honored to be involved in 

the auction to help maximize the value, create 

demand and generate top dollar for the 

Everyday Heroes truck to benefit this worthy 

cause,” Baney said. “Helping drivers understand 

human trafficking and knowing what 

they can do to help is an extension of our 

message, and it’s an essential part of our mission 

to make this a better world.” 

Since its founding in 2009, over 680,000 

people have become TAT educated and 

trained. With over 3.5 million truck drivers 

in the U.S. alone, drivers are considered the 

eyes and ears of the road. John McKown, 

who is TAT trained and a driver for UPS, is 

one of those drivers looking to make a difference. 

“I’m a fighter against human trafficking. 

This is where it gets tough because I’m a 

dad, a grandpa, an uncle, and a great uncle. 

But, more importantly, I’m in this fight to 

bring awareness to this horrible crime and 

someday, somehow make a difference in 

someone’s life,” McKown said. 

The Everyday Heroes Kenworth T680 is 

designed to raise awareness for human trafficking 

and encourage other drivers on the 

road to report suspicious activity to the National 

Human Trafficking Hotline at (888) 

373-7888. 

More information is available on the TAT 

website at truckersagainsttrafficking.org. 8 

USPS 972 

Volume 32, Number 4 

February 15-28, 2019 

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 

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klint.lowry@thetrucker.com 

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Christie McCluer 

christie.mccluer@thetrucker.com 

Special Correspondent 

Cliff Abbott 


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Ohio-licensed CDL holder put OOS after hitting, killing 2 people on side of road 

Dorothy Cox 


An Ohio-licensed commercial truck driver 

has been put out-of-service after striking and 

killing two people on the side of the road, one 

in July 2018 and the other in December of last 

year. 

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 

put Doug A. Jones OOS December 27 

last year and announced its action in a news 

release. 

On July 2, 2018, Jones hit and killed a 

33-year-old man who was standing along the 

right shoulder of Interstate 81 South in East 

Hanover Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. 

In that fatality, Jones was charged with 

“careless driving causing the death of another 

person,” driving too fast for conditions, driving 

outside his lane before ascertaining the danger, 

and failing to wear his seatbelt. 

Arquimides Flores, 33, of Harrisburg, 

Pennsylvania, was killed after being struck by 

Jones’ vehicle and was pronounced dead at the 

scene, FOX43 News reported. 

State police said Flores was struck by 

Jones’ tractor-trailer after Jones lost control 

while traveling in the right lane. At the time of 

the accident, Flores was standing behind another 

truck after his vehicle became disabled, 

police said. 

Jones’ vehicle also made contact with the 

other truck and a guide rail before its trailing 

unit became dislodged, scattering debris across 

the roadway, police added. 

In the December 7, 2018, fatality, Jones 

struck and killed 24-year-old highway construction 

worker Teresa M. Howell of Greenwich, 

Ohio, just before 9 a.m. on Route 33 near 

the border of Franklin county. 

She was employed by Lake Erie Construction 

Co., which was contracted by the Ohio 

DOT. 

Jones’ truck drove through orange safety 

cones on the side of the road and hit Howell 

and didn’t immediately stop, the Union 

County Sheriff’s Office reported. 

The truck — owned by Mansfield-based 

Estep Express Inc. — was found more than 

90 minutes after the crash at the ODW Logistics 

warehouse in the 1500 block of Williams 

Road, 27 miles away from the crash scene, 

police and news sources reported. Howell 

left behind two young sons. 

Police said it was unknown whether Jones 

fled the scene or didn’t realize he had hit 

Howell. 

The crash closed all eastbound lanes of 

Route 33 for several hours. 

FMCSA said in its OOS order that Jones’ 

“ … continued operation of a [CMV] substantially 

increases the likelihood of serious 

injury or death to you and the motoring public 

if not discontinued immediately.” 

There may be action against Jones by the 

U.S. Attorney’s Office for damages, and he 

could be fined up to $1,848 in civil penalties 

for each day he operates a CMV in violation 

of the order. In addition, FMCSA could bring 

civil penalties against Jones for violating 

federal safety regulations, the agency noted. 

Jones’ age was not given. 8 


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Seatbelts with lap and shoulder restraints should be worn with both parts to prevent ticket 

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 pertaining to commercial motor 

vehicle safety, rules and regulations to law 

enforcement officials. Submit questions to editor@thetrucker.com. 

Proper seatbelt usage 

Q. I went through a roadside inspection 

and I was given a warning for improper use 

of seatbelt. What is the right way to wear a 

seatbelt? James in Texas 

A. Part 392.16 requires the driver to be 

properly restrained by the seatbelt assembly. If 

the CMV is equipped with a three-point system 

(lap and shoulder), it must be properly 

worn across the lap and shoulder. If the CMV 

is equipped with just a lap system, it must be 

properly worn across the lap. 

Answer provided by retired Sr. Trooper 

Monty Dial, Texas Department of Public Safety 

Commercial Vehicle Enforcement. 

Carrying a pistol 

Q. Are there any restrictions or prohibitions 

about having a pistol in a CMV? Walking 

Eagle in New Mexico. 

A. FMCSA does not address any regulations 

about a driver having a pistol in a CMV. 

However, for a driver to legally carry a pistol 

in their CMV, they must a have concealed 

handgun license/permit. They must also be 

in a state that has reciprocity with their home 

state. If you travel into a state that does not 

have reciprocity, the driver needs to stop before 

entering the state and unload and properly store 

the pistol out of the driver’s immediate reach. 

Answer provided by retired Sr. Trooper 

Monty Dial, Texas Department of Public Safety 

Commercial Vehicle Enforcement. 

Chain requirements 

Q. In what states must chains be used? 

Tread in Nebraska. 

A. Find all this great information from the 

following website: www.tirechainsrus.com. 

Answer provided by Trooper Brent Hoover, 

Indiana State Police. 

Ask the Law 

Personal conveyance 

Q. If I off-load my load and am two hours 

from home, may I use personal conveyance 

to drive home? Paul in Arizona. 

According to the FMCSA personal conveyance 

guidance, the answer is as follows: May a 

driver, who drops his/her last load at a receiver’s 

facility use personal conveyance to return to their 

normal work location (i.e. home or terminal)? 

Guidance: No. Returning home or to the terminal 

from a dispatched trip is a continuation of the trip, 

and therefore cannot be considered personal conveyance. 

Answer provided by Trooper Brent Hoover, Indiana 

State Police. 

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 

Defending truckers’ rights, providing 

education and saving them money 

for 45 years 

Representation • Information • Truck Insurance 

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Become an OOIDA member. 

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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 statutes, rules and regulations to see 

what, if any, changes have been made. 

Ol’ Blue, USA is a nonprofit organization dedicated 

to highway safety education and to improving 

relations among the motoring public, law enforcement 

and commercial drivers. 

Ask the Law is a registered trademark of 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. 8


DAVID HELLER 

Courtesy: TCA 

b ELD from page 1 b 

during the initial “light enforcement” period 

implemented after the mandate became effective. 

In the following “strict enforcement” period, 

the violation rate dropped to 2.9 percent, 

a decrease of 51.7 percent from pre-mandate 

inspections. 

The study noted that independent owneroperators 

and drivers employed by smaller carriers 

showed more improvement than drivers 

for larger carriers, pointing out that most large 

carriers had adopted ELDs prior to the mandated 

date. 

Owner-operators showed a similar decline 

in violation rates, dropping from a pre-mandate 

10.7 percent to 8.0 percent during the light enforcement 

period and 6.0 percent in the strict 

enforcement period, a 43.9 percent reduction 

overall. 

Increased compliance was an important 

goal of the ELD mandate, especially since carriers 

and drivers are scored in a separate HOS 

BASIC in the CSA program. Since CSA scores 

are used in decisions ranging from choosing a 

carrier to ship with to determining insurance 

rates to deciding whether to hire a driver, nearly 

everyone has a vested interest in reducing 

HOS violations. 

The overriding goal of the ELD mandate, 

however, was to improve safety. Many, including 

organizations such as OOIDA, argued that 

the mandate would have the opposite effect as 

drivers sought ways to maximize driving time 

(and earning potential) in a less flexible, tightly-enforced 

work period. 

The study findings seem to support this 

prediction, at least for owner-operators and 

employee-drivers of smaller carriers. 

The study noted that one behavioral response 

to offset some of the decreased productivity 

is to increase work intensity, i.e., accomplish 

more work in the time allotted. Examples 

of this behavior are driving faster or changing 

lanes more frequently to get around slower motorists. 

The authors hypothesized that this type 

of behavior would show up in greater numbers 

of unsafe driving violations during roadside inspections. 

They were right. 

Compared to large asset-based carriers, 

drivers for smaller carriers received unsafedriving 

citations, predominantly speeding, at a 

much higher rate after the ELD mandate went 

into effect. Data from more than 4 million inspections 

showed that unsafe driving citations 

for drivers for carriers with between two and 

six trucks increased by 17.5 percent during the 

strict enforcement period. Owner-operator citations 

increased even more, by 35.3 percent in 

the strict enforcement period. 

Drivers for larger carriers, most of whom 

were already accustomed to ELDs prior to the 

mandate, saw smaller increases and even a 

small decrease (1.8 percent) in unsafe driving 

citations during the light enforcement period. 

Even they, however, saw a 5.5 percent increase 

once enforcement was tightened. 

When it comes to safety data, however, 

accident numbers are undoubtedly the most 

meaningful. While improvements in HOS 


ELDs merely a mirror of HOS compliance, says executive 

Lyndon Finney 


ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Don’t jump to any 

conclusions when you read the report on electronic 

logging devices and truck crashes, says 

a transportation executive. 

“The ELD is a device that should have 

never been touted to improve safety on our 

roadways,” said David Heller, vice president 

of government affairs at the Truckload Carriers 

Association. “Electronic logging devices were 

designed to improve compliance with Hours 

of Service, which it has indeed improved. It is 

the Hours of Service regulations that should be 

used to improve safety.” 

Heller noted that as of December 2019, everyone 

will be on electronic logging devices as 

the grandfather clause on automatic on-board 

recorders will expire. 

With everyone on ELDs, trucking should 

get a clear picture of the total impact of HOS. 

“Now let’s talk about changes to HOS, 

because that’s what will improve safety, 

specifically flexibility in the 14-hour 

clock,” Heller said. “It will allow drivers to 

find better and more adequate parking that 

gives them better rest in a cycle that they’ve 

developed for own system. ELD was never 

touted as one to improve safety. What it is 

doing is that it is generating literally millions 

of data points on what the driver’s day 

is looking like now. In many cases we didn’t 

have reliable data before because the logs 

were fraudulent.” 

One of the things the industry has already 

learned since the ELD mandate was implemented 

in December 2017 is the negative impact 

of detention time. 

Studies show that drivers who are detained 

and therefore have had their schedules disrupted, 

are going to drive faster to their next 

destination. 

“So, if drivers have the ability to log out 

and be flexible with that 14-hour clock rather 

than have that 14-hour clock keep ticking, they 

no longer have to speed to their next destination,” 

Heller said. “The National Transportation 

Safety Board has shown that speeding is 

the number one cause of accidents today. Flexibility 

will help alleviate the need for a driver 

to rush to their next stop. 

“ELDs are so paramount in the industry and 

are painting such a different picture than what 

once was or what we had anecdotally heard, 

because we didn’t have the logs to prove it. 

ELDs improve compliance with Hours of Service. 

ELDs and HOS are a marriage that will 

last forever. They go hand in hand. If the safety 

numbers keep going up, what does it tell us? It 

tells us that HOS is wrong.” 8 

compliance may arguably decrease the risk of 

accidents, speeding and frequent lane changing 

can only increase those risks. 

In proposing the ELD mandate, the FMCSA 

predicted that the potential benefit of the mandate 

would be a reduction of 1,844 crashes per 

year. The study estimates, however, that accidents 

actually increased by between 2,290 and 

3,266 per year. Small carriers, the ones most 

likely to have been impacted by the mandate, 

showed no significant reduction in accidents. 

The study concludes that there are “many 

positive aspects” of the ELD mandate, including 

reduced paperwork, more availability of 

HOS information to carriers and inspectors, 

more structured driver work schedules and 

pressure on shippers and receivers to reduce 

delays at the dock. 

These gains, however, may well be offset 

by the incentives provided by the mandate to 

engage in unsafe driving behaviors in order to 

make up lost time because of strict HOS compliance. 

See ELD on p9 m 

Stop being just a truck number. Bring your career to 

Skelton Truck Lines. Make more money and enjoy a 

better quality of life. 

We Require: 

3 Years Driving Experience 

Hazmat Endorsement 

Passport or enhanced CDL 

Good MVR 

Ability to cross US/Canada border 

NOW HIRING 

Team Owner-Operators & Team Company Drivers 

We Pay: 

Fuel Surcharges 

Safety Incentives 3cpm 

Pickups/Deliveries 

Company Promo Clothing 

Medical 

Company Paid Insurance 

US/Canadian Border Crossings 

Layover/Waiting Time 

401k Contributions 

Paid Orientation 

Paid Vacation 

Paid Statutory Holidays 

Owner-Operator Teams average $1.75/hub mile 

Company Teams average $0.86/hub mile 

Call or e-mail Lesia Shyshko: 800.387.9796 ext.231 • lesia.shyshko@skeltontruck.com. 

Or Call Senior VP Ron Skelton: 647.828.1178 or fax your information to 905.895.1314



TCA, CarriersEdge name finalists for the 2019 Best Fleets to Drive For competition 

b ELD from page 8 b 

Another point clearly articulated in the 

study is that drivers were already incentivized 

to avoid accidents. Loss of employment, loss 

of income while recuperating from injury, cost 

of citations, CDL suspension and even legal 

liability are certainly incentives for drivers to 

avoid accidents. The study points out that the 

ELD mandate couldn’t do much to provide 

more incentive than already exists. 

Co-authors of the study were Alex Scott, 

a professor at Northeastern University’s 

D’Amore-McKim School of Business; Andrew 

Balthrop from the Sam M. Walton College of 

Business at the University of Arkansas; and Jason 

Miller from the Eli Broad College of Business 

at Michigan State University. 

Scott worked with J.B. Hunt Transport and 

Kenco Logistics before returning to academia. 

Balthrop does research in Transport Economics 

and other areas. 

Asked who sponsored the study, Dr. Scott 

told The Trucker that the research is funded by 

the authors’ respective schools. “Other than 

that,” he stated, “we don’t receive any funding 

[from an industry organization or company].” 

The study confirms what many drivers have 

suspected all along. The ELD mandate hasn’t 

shown much benefit in terms of safety and may, 

in fact, encourage behaviors that increase unsafe 

driving behaviors. The authors note that 

many large carriers were in compliance long 

before the December 17, 2017, compliance 

date, so the change from non-ELD to ELD 

wasn’t an overnight occurrence throughout the 

industry. But, the increased numbers of unsafe 

driving citations to drivers who were most 

likely to wait until the compliance date to begin 

using ELDs clearly points toward an impact far 

different from the one envisioned by FMCSA 

policymakers. 

The results point to another conclusion those 

policymakers should be reaching: Professional 

drivers offer a unique perspective from a vantage 

point that safety executives and bureaucrats 

can only speculate about. Listen up. 8 

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — With a record 

number of nominees and finalists, the Truckload 

Carriers Association and CarriersEdge 

have named the 2019 Best Fleets to Drive For. 

“When it comes to working with drivers, 

our Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For are North 

America’s best-of-the best in the for-hire trucking 

segment,” said CarriersEdge CEO Jane Jazrawy. 

“This recognition program is now in its 

11th year, and each year we’ve seen fleets up 

their game — making a positive difference in 

the lives of drivers with innovative programs.” 

The Top 20 carriers will be divided into the 

10 largest and 10 smallest and an overall winner 

in each group will be named during TCA’s 

annual convention March 10-13 at the Wynn 

Las Vegas Resort. 

The 2019 Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For 

are: 

American Central Transport, Kansas 

City, Missouri; Bennett Motor Express, Mc- 

Donough, Georgia; Bison Transport, Winnipeg, 

Manitoba, Canada; Boyle Transportation, 

Billerica, Massachusetts; Central Oregon 

Truck Co., Redmond, Oregon; Crete Carrier 

Corp., Lincoln, Nebraska; Epes Transport System, 

Greensboro, North Carolina; Erb Transport, 

New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada; FTC 

Transportation, Oklahoma City; Garner Trucking, 

Findlay, Ohio; Grand Island Express, 

Grand Island, Nebraska; Halvor Lines, Superior, 

Wisconsin; Landstar System, Jacksonville, 

Florida; Maverick Transportation, North 

Little Rock, Arkansas; Motor Carrier Service, 

Northwood, Ohio; Nussbaum Transportation 

Services, Hudson, Illinois; Prime Inc., Springfield, 

Missouri; Thomas E. Keller Trucking, 

Defiance, Ohio; TLD Logistics Services, 

Knoxville, Tennessee; and Transpro Freight 

Systems Limited, Milton, Ontario, Canada. 

In addition to the Top 20, TCA and CarriersEdge 

identified five Fleets to Watch (honorable 

mentions: 

Fortigo Freight Services, Etobicoke, Ontario, 

Canada; Leavitt’s Freight Service, Springfield, 

Oregon; Liberty Linehaul, Ayr, Ontario, 

Canada; Roehl Transport, Marshfield, Wisconsin; 

and TransLand, Strafford, Missouri. 

Three fleets have also achieved the milestone 

of five consecutive years on the list, including 

Boyle Transportation, Nussbaum Services 

and TLD Logistics. 

To be considered for the Best Fleets program, 

companies operating 10 or more trucks 

had to receive a nomination from at least one 

of their company drivers or owner-operators. 

The fleets were then evaluated using a scoring 

matrix covering a variety of categories, 

including total compensation, health benefits, 

performance management, professional development, 

and career path/advancement opportunities, 

among other criteria. Driver surveys 

were also conducted to collect input from drivers 

and independent contractors. 8 

LTL and 

Straight Truck growth 

Nationawide Team, Van 

Truckload, Dedicated, 

Tanker and Intermodal 

Over 75% of drivers get 

home weekly or more 

APPLY schneiderjobs.com CALL 800-44-PRIDE TEXT “CHAT” to 28000

Perspective February 

15-28, 2019 • 10 

Letters 

Reader: Escrow must be returned 

within 45 days of lease termination 

[I] just finished reading your article on vetting 

a carrier for owner-operators. 

Please ensure you read the federal truth-inleasing 

requirements about escrow accounts 

and deductions. This law was written to protect 

owner-operators from unscrupulous carriers 

and erroneous chargebacks from the same. The 

law states that escrow must be returned within 

45 days of termination of lease with a full accounting 

of chargebacks and deductions. 

Your article is misleading in that you wrote 

carriers can require double the holding period 

and that you as an owner-operator can be 

charged back for any claim without notification, 

which is also illegal under federal truthin-leasing 

laws. 

If you are going to try and help other drivers 

out here, you should have included this law 

and the protections it is supposed to provide us. 

Thank you for your time. 

— Robert A. Cordeiro Jr., 

Arpin Van Lines 

Driver of the Year 1998/2017, 

owner-operator for 28 years 

Readers of stories on thetrucker.com were 

eager to comment on the reasons there is a 

driver shortage in response to a story by CBS 

on the subject. Most said it’s because of the way 

professional drivers are treated: 

I think there’s a shortage of drivers because 

of all the regulations and harassment drivers 

deal with on the road. 

Now we must run ELDs; that doesn’t make 

the road any safer, it keeps you away from 

home and takes away our freedom. Every 

mistake that you make is stored there for law 

enforcement to see. The people in congress 

should ride in the trucks with us for 90 days as 

well as the DOT. Then they would understand 

how reality works. 

— Brian W. 

Fiddle only to make music and never, ever while driving 

Lyndon Finney 


Eye on 

Trucking 

Fiddling can be good. 

Fiddling refers to the act of playing the 

fiddle, and fiddlers are musicians who play it. 

Fiddle is a colloquial term for the violin, 

used by players in all genres including classical 

music. Violins are more closely associated with 

orchestral music; a “fiddle” is more closely associated 

with folk music. 

Fiddling can be associated with something 

positive, such as enjoyment of music. 

On the other hand, fiddling around with a 

cell phone often results in a negative outcome. 

Based on the number of Virginia drivers 

who were observed as part of a 2018 Insurance 

Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) 

roadside survey, drivers last year were 57 

percent more likely to be manipulating a cellphone 

than drivers who were observed in a 

similar 2014 survey. 

The percentage of drivers observed using a 

smartphone rose from 2.3 percent in 2014 to 

3.4 percent in 2018, the IIHS said. 

At the same time, drivers were less likely to 

be seen simply holding a cellphone or talking 

on a hand-held phone than in the prior survey. 

The finding is consistent with research indicating 

that drivers are talking on hand-held phones 

less and “fiddling” with them more often than 

in recent years. 

In 2018, 3.7 percent of drivers in northern 

Virginia were observed talking on a hand-held 

cellphone, compared with 4.1 percent of drivers 

in 2014, while 2.8 percent of drivers in 

2018 were seen holding a cellphone, compared 

with 4.9 percent in the prior survey. 

The problem of distracted driving, especially 

cellphone use, continues to raise concerns, 

the IIHS said. 

A 2018 national survey by the AAA Foundation 

for Traffic Safety found that 64 percent 

of respondents consider distracted driving a 

much bigger problem today than it was three 

years ago. 

About 37,000 people died in motor vehicle 

crashes in 2017, the most recent year of 

data available. Assuming the prevalence of 

phone manipulation nationwide rose as it did 

in northern Virginia to 3.4 percent, and assuming, 

based on the latest research, that fatal crash 

risk is 66 percent higher when manipulating a 

phone, then more than 800 of the estimated 

crash deaths in 2017 could be attributed to 

phone manipulation. 

This estimate is based on work by IIHS and 

other researchers describing how the estimated 

risk and prevalence of phone use can be combined 

to estimate the number of crash deaths 

that could be attributed to phone use in a given 

year. 

The 66 percent increase in fatal crash risk 

associated with manipulating a cellphone relative 

to driving when other secondary behaviors 

were present is a finding of a 2018 study by 

the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the 

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. 

“The latest data suggest that drivers are 

using their phones in riskier ways,” said David 

Kidd, who co-authored the study and is a 

senior research scientist with Highway Loss 

Data Institute. “The observed shift in phone 

use is concerning because studies consistently 

link manipulating a cellphone while driving 

to increased crash risk.” 

Cellphone use affects how drivers scan and 

process information from the roadway, the 

IIHS study said. 

Drivers generally take their eyes off the 

road to dial, send texts and browse the Web on 

a hand-held phone — all activities that fall under 

the rubric of manipulating the phone. Drivers 

engaged in cellphone conversations tend to 

concentrate their gaze toward the center of the 

roadway, but their attention still may be diverted 

from driving, making it difficult for them to 

process what they are looking at. 

Procedures for the 2018 update followed 

those used in 2014. 

IIHS stationed observers at 12 locations 

across four northern Virginia communities on 

straight stretches of roads, at signalized intersections 

and at roundabouts in March 2018. 

Researchers observed nearly 12,000 drivers 

in the 2018 survey and more than 14,000 drivers 

in 2014 during the morning, afternoon or 

early evening on weekdays. Researchers noted 

if drivers were engaging in one or more of 12 

visible secondary behaviors while moving or 

stopped at red lights. 

About 23 percent of drivers were engaged in 

one or more distracting activities: 

• Talking on a hand-held cellphone 

• Manipulating a hand-held cellphone (excludes 

looking at phone in mount) 

• Simply holding a hand-held cellphone (i.e. 

not obviously manipulating or talking) 

See Eye on p11 m 

Respondents to Driver iQ’s 2018 fourth-quarter Recruitment and 

Retention Survey indicate that driver compensation will need to reach 

near the $100,000 mark if the industry wants to cut down on turnover. Do 

you think this survey will encourage more carriers to increase driver pay? 

I’m a truck driver and I used to do OTR. 

The time you spend away from your family and 

the meals it cost you and being gone three-plus 

weeks and only one day off for every week out 

and the pay per miles wasn’t enough. 

While all the big trucking companies made 

all the money … . They paid the drivers peanuts. 

So now I do local driving and am home every 

night and I only work maybe two Saturdays 

out of a month and some months I don’t have to 

work on Saturdays. 

In the long run, you come out with more 

money and can be home with the family and 

friends and that’s the most important thing. 

— K. Hall 

There wasn’t a lack, either, of readers commenting 

on a Road Safe America story in which 

the group claimed there were more big rig- 

See Letters on p11 m 

We’ve lost all of our tax incentives with 

the new tax laws. We should be making 

at least $90,000 because although being 

an owner-operator can come with more 

money, our industry is over-regulated and 

there are too many fees, not to mention the 

tolls and ELD costs. It’s just not good if you 

don’t start paying more. $3,000 to $3,500 a 

week for an owner-operator is not enough 

when you can make the same amount as a 

company driver after maintenance and other 

expenses. We need more money. 

— Jason Bailey 

That amount still won’t be enough to put 

up with the crap and lack of a real life. 

— David Selders 

As long-term drivers, no. This isn’t a lifestyle 

for everyone. Pay the ones who are 

willing to grind and sacrifice. I see so many 

ignorant drivers out here. Many can’t back 

up. Weed them out and pay the good ones. 

— Erick Painter


b Letters from page 10 b 

involved deaths recently and calling again for 

speed limiters on heavy-duty trucks. 

Make the cars who always pull over to the 

side of the highway to take their dog to go pee or 

do that themselves with their flashers on, go to an 

on-ramp instead. 

[It’s] common sense. We have to move to the 

other lane when these idiots pull over on the side 

of the highway for stupid reasons. Cars are almost 

always the cause of semi [involved] crashes. 

No one wants to take someone’s life, so we 

do what we have to, to avoid that so we don’t 

have to live our life out knowing we killed 

someone. 

The authorities do nothing to keep cars 

from cutting us off or tailgating us or brakecheck 

us. The dash cam is the most valuable 

thing we can use. 

But yet, we are always at fault. 

— Judy Ochs 

The accidents are caused by these commercial 

truck companies, not by the [truck] drivers 

or speed of the trucks. 

These companies hide behind the ELD 

[with] forced dispatch and abusive treatment of 

drivers. These companies have a very high rate 

of driver turnover. 

The dispatched pick-up and delivery times 

are always off and short, such as having about 

one hour left to drive and dispatched for a pickup 

90 miles away in heavy traffic, and the driver 

is fired if he or she doesn’t make it. 

The trucking companies looking for drivers 

on The Trucker are part of the commercial 

companies that are the bad guys, here. 

Remember, we honor our drivers and get 

our drivers home, NOT, when they allow you 

home time after being hired. 

— Jeffrey B. Duggar 

I’ve noticed that people who want these 

[speed] limiters are people who’ve never driven 

a truck. How many people at the American 

Trucking Associations have driven a truck and 

yet they know what’s best for drivers. 

They say people want speed limiters on big 

trucks, that’s because they’re only getting one 

side of the whole story. 

— Tony Jenkins 

I feel that more distracted cell phone drivers 

and “choker chained” drivers on ELDs are 

stressed out to drive harder. That would be the 

main reason for the uptake in crashes [rather] 

than increased speeds. 

As a governed driver for 25 years, I know 

what a disaster driving bunched up would be 

— especially if ALL trucks were limited (example 

NASCAR Talladaga “big one” crashes). 

As to trucks needing more room to stop, yes 

they do but any experienced driver knows this 

and maintains the appropriate safe following 

distance. 

Also, heavier vehicles have corresponding 

larger braking capacity-disc brakes and tighter 

stopping distance regulations have been a 

move in a positive direction. 

— James Stark 8 

Perspective February 15-28, 2019 • 11 

b Eye from page 10 b 

• Wearing a Bluetooth earpiece or headset 

with mic 

• Wearing headphones or ear buds 

• Manipulating in-vehicle systems (touching 

radio, climate control, touchscreen display or other 

controls (excludes operating stalks or buttons 

on the steering wheel) 

• Manipulating or holding mobile electronic 

devices other than cellphones 

• Talking or singing 

• Eating or drinking 

• Smoking 

• Grooming 

• Other (reaching for object, reading print 

material, adjusting sun visor, putting on 

glasses, holding another object). 

“When people talk about distracted driving, 

most often cellphones are the focus, but drivers 

are distracted by other secondary behaviors more 

often than cellphones,” Kidd said. “Things as 

simple as drinking coffee or talking to your kids 

can take your attention away from the road.” 

About 14 percent of drivers were engaged 

in nonphone-related secondary behaviors in 

2014 and 2018, which exceeded the proportion 

of drivers seen using phones in both years. 

Relative to 2014, drivers were more likely 

to be observed manipulating an in-vehicle system, 

grooming themselves, or manipulating or 

holding an electronic device other than a phone 

after researchers adjusted for community, perceived 

driver gender and age, time of day and 

roadway situation. 

Drivers in 2018 were less likely to be talking 

or singing while driving alone, smoking, 

or wearing headphones or earbuds. The prevalence 

of eating or drinking, talking or singing 

with a passenger present, wearing a Bluetooth 

device, or engaging in some other visible secondary 

behavior wasn’t significantly different 

between 2014 and 2018. 

“We didn’t find evidence of an increase in 

distracted driving overall between the 2014 

and 2018 roadside surveys,” Kidd says. “For 

cellphone-related distraction in general, we expect 

a continued shift in the way people interact 

with the devices as the technology evolves.” 

The percentage of crash deaths related to 

distraction in recent years has hovered at about 

8–10 percent of all crash deaths, data from the 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

show. During the past three years, distraction-affected 

crash deaths have trended downward. 

The number of fatalities in distractionaffected 

crashes fell 9.3 percent from 3,490 in 

2016 to 3,166 in 2017, representing 8.5 percent 

of total fatalities for the year. In 2015, 3,526 

people were killed in distraction-related crashes. 

The IIHS said fatality data likely underestimate 

the number of deaths caused by distracted 

drivers. 

Despite efforts to determine cellphone use 

by drivers in crashes, such data continue to be 

difficult to collect as they largely depend on 

people truthfully telling law enforcement officers 

what they were doing or voluntarily handing 

over their phones for inspection, the IIHS 

said. 

Bottom line: Fiddle only to make music. 8

12 

AT 

THE TRUCK STOP 

PRESENTED BY CAT SCALE, VISIT WEIGHMYTRUCK.COM 

After a year on the open road, Gabriel Valdez says 

trucking suits his tastes just fine 

Even though he comes from a family of truckers, Gabriel Valdez didn’t start driving professionally until his 40s. “I don’t know why I waited so long,” he says. 

The Trucker: KLINT LOWRY 

Klint Lowry 

Klint.lowry@thetrucker.com 

Gabriel Valdez found himself an empty 

table at the Petro Stopping Center off Exit 161, 

Interstate 40, just east of Little Rock Arkansas, 

where he could eat his breakfast. 

So, what are we having this fine morning? 

Sausage and eggs? Biscuits and gravy? Maybe 

some Texas-style French toast buried in 

powdered sugar and whipped cream? 

Nope. Valdez was starting his day with fish, 

vegetables and brown rice. 

“I do that every day,” he said. “My wife 

cooks fish for me, I wrap it up in foil. At 

Walmart they have little cups of rice, different 

styles and brown rice. And then I buy a bag 

of vegetables. I have vegetables, rice and fish 

every day. 

“I mean, every once in a while, don’t get me 

wrong, I’ll scarf down a burger or a hot dog,” 

he adds. Sure, a guy has to live a little. His 

discipline is still admirable. 

Then he explains it isn’t just his health he’s 

thinking about, it’s his wallet’s health, too. 

It just so happens that he likes fish, rice and 

vegetables, but part of the reason it’s his go-to 

meal is that restaurant food adds up. 

“I’m here to make money, not spend it,” he 

said. 

Valdez’s rationale for his choice of breakfast 

is sort of symbolic of his choice of career. He 

became a driver about a year ago at the age of 

41. And while he’s found the job suits him, it 

was the prospect of making way more money 

than he was before that convinced him to get 

his CDL and start driving. 

“I used to be in the customer service business 

until I just got tired of corporate America,” he 

said. “I was getting paid a good amount hourly, 

but it wasn’t cutting it, breaking my back, all 

this overtime just to try to make ends meet. 

“I don’t know why I waited so long.” 

Valdez’s father was an owner-operator for 

40 years. His brother is nearing 25 years as 

an owner-operator. When he decided he was 

ready for a career change, his dad gave him an 

obligatory fatherly warning that trucking isn’t 

for everyone, but they were both supportive. 

Valdez is hoping in a couple of years he’ll save 

enough to fully follow the family tradition 

and be an owner-operator, too. 

Currently, Valdez, who hails from the west 

Texas town of El Paso, drives for Mesilla 

Valley Transportation, hauling “dry goods, 

automotive parts, paper, all types of freight: 

throughout the U.S. and into Canada.” 

As with so many drivers, Valdez says seeing 

the country is one of the best parts of the job. A 

few places have stood out so far — Cheyenne, 

Wyoming; the Denver area; parts of Tennessee, 

where he would be later that day; Portland, 

Oregon, where he’d just been. 

So, of all the landscapes America has to 

offer, the mountains, the prairies, the deserts, 

the coastlines, is there one area that has stood 

out so far? 

Without hesitation, he answered: St. Louis. 

That’s a first. But, yeah, he “fell in love with 

St. Louis,” he said, “the scenery downtown, 

the arch, the ballpark. I can see myself walking 

through there having a nice tall beer, you know?” 

All of Missouri is nice, he said, especially 

the green, rolling hills. 

His complaints about the driving life are 

nothing out of the ordinary. Valdez team drives, 

and he says he hasn’t gotten used to trying to 

sleep in a moving vehicle. 

And he and his wife, Maribel, still haven’t 

gotten used to his being away so much. “I 

guess she’s having a little trouble not seeing me 

on a daily basis,” he said. “Sometimes we’ll go 

two weeks without seeing each other. But for 

the most part, we went into this knowing that’s 

what it’s going to be.” 

His sons, Kevin, Abraham and Anthony, are 

grown and pretty much on their own, but he 

and Maribel have a daughter, Gabby, who’s 2 

and is starting to catch on to daddy’s absences. 

“This last time, just as I was about to say 

‘bye,’ she knew it was time to say ‘bye.’ She 

got up, got her hugs and kisses and just went 

off. But she knew something was up, you know 

what I mean?” 

Well, summer will be here soon. He can take 

some vacation time, pack up the family, drive 

up from El Paso, show the family the scenery 

and take in a Cardinals’ game. 

Fish for breakfast, leisurely strolls in St. 

Louis — it’s all a matter of taste, and the man 

knows what he likes. 8

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WOMEN IN TRUCKING 

Payin Marfo of Ghana jumped at the chance to help form an all-female team of oil haulers 

Dorothy Cox 


Anyone who’s been to Disney World may 

have heard a saccharine song with the refrain, 

“It’s a small world, after all.” 

In trucking, however, it turns out to be true 

and genuinely sweet, especially if you’re a 

young woman who lives in western Ghana and 

likes a challenge. 

Payin Marfo is that young woman, and in 

addition to being managing director of the 

trucking company Ladybird Logistics, Ltd., 

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Marfo got into trucking purely by accident. 

Some might say by divine appointment. 

Holding an MBA in international management 

and certified as a project management 

professional, Marfo previously worked in the 

oil and gas industry and the only time she was 

around trucks was when she went on field visits 

as a staff member for Shell Oil. 

Then in November 2017 she bumped into an 

old Shell colleague, Douglas McArthur, who 

introduced her to William Tewiah, CEO of Zen 

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had the dream of starting an all-female logistics 

company in the oil sector and believed 

Marfo was the one to head up such a company. 

They were right — Marfo was up for a challenge 

and hungry for a change. 

“To be successful you need God and people 

around to help,” she said, and help was closer 

than she imagined. 

After advertising for female truck drivers 

and only getting one taker, Marfo’s mother got 

in touch with a male bus driver she went to 

church with who got Marfo in touch with some 

female bus drivers who were ready to make the 

switch to driving a truck. 

“The idea of driving trucks appealed to most 

of them and they were willing to make the Ladybird 

dream a reality,” Marfo said, adding 

that although she knew “next to nothing about 

trucks or the logistics industry,” she has “a passion 

for empowering women. This opportunity 

appealed to me purely because the idea was 

radical and challenging.” 

She’s quick to add that it also took the help 

of numerous individuals and organizations including 

the Ghana Armed Forces Mechanical 

Transport Academy, who helped with training; 

truck-maker Scania, which helped on a number 

of fronts, including advertising for female 

truck drivers; the West Africa Training Academy; 

and members of the Zen Petroleum team. 

Numerous women who drove for Metro 

Mass, a Ghana bus company, proved to be interested 

in hauling petroleum, but they had a 

lot of questions going forward. 

“This is when I realized the need for me 

personally to engage and convince the ladies,” 

said Marfo, who met personally with prospective 

drivers in March 2018 along with Tewiah. 

She also searched online for information on 

female truck drivers and best practices for logistics 

carriers, and saw information about Women 

In Trucking. 

She emailed WIT President and CEO Ellen 

Voie; Ladybird has been a WIT member since 

April 2018. She also went to WIT’s Accelerate 

conference last year in Dallas. “She heard about 

us on the internet and she attended our conference 

in November; she is amazing,” Voie said. 

Ladybird Logistics operates in the city of Takoradi, 

in western Ghana, and Marfo said they 

also have office space in Accra, Ghana’s capitol. 

CNN got wind of Ladybird because the news 

organization heard the carrier had drastically 

cut down on the amount of fuel theft in Ghana, 

which had been running a half million dollars 

in losses a year. 

They interviewed Marfo, who said the 

women drivers had been instilled with “professionalism, 

integrity and teamwork” and 

Courtesy: WIT 

Payin Marfo, managing director of western 

Ghana’s Ladybird Logistics, Ltd., tells her allfemale 

driving team to remember that they’re 

paving the way for other women truck drivers 

in Africa. Women In Trucking’s January Member 

of the Month, Marfo has been in WIT for 

about nine months. 

received training from Ghana’s Army. 

Ghana, Marfo told The Trucker, is the 13th 

largest oil producer in Africa and the 47th largest 

oil producer in the world. The Jubilee oil 

field, which was discovered in 2007, came on 

line in 2010. Ghana now produces 59,000 barrels 

a day from Jubilee field, which has about 3 

billion barrels of reserves, she said. 

Although driving a truck is a new experience 

for Ladybird’s team, “they feel good to be part of 

the team of female drivers charting a new path for 

others,” Marfo said, adding that Ladybird pays its 

drivers well and a little over the industry standard. 

Currently, she said, the women are only hauling 

oil in western Ghana but “our growth plans 

include other regions.” 

“Always remember you are making history,” 

she says to her drivers. “You have a responsibility 

not to disappoint all who believed in you 

as well as the future generation of female truck 

drivers looking up to you to change the status 

quo,” she told WIT, adding that “The future 

just started, and by God’s grace we shall shape 

it nicely for future generations of females who 

love trucks, logistics, driving, challenges and 

the joy of delivering good quality products to 

clients on time and with a smile.” 

She told The Trucker that rather than being 

daunted by the prospect of starting a company 

of all-female truck drivers, “I approached this as 

I will any other project: I start knowing that with 

God all things are possible, and I follow through 

with hard work, determination and passion.” 8 

The Women In Trucking Association is a nonprofit organization 

focused on the transportation and logistics industry. Our mission? 

To encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, 

promote their accomplishments and minimize obstacles faced by 

women working in the trucking industry. WIT is proudly headed up 

by President and CEO Ellen Voie.

thetrucker.com 

Perspective February 15-28, 2019 • 15 

Traffic ticket to teen could prevent 

him from driving career as an adult 

Jim Klepper 

exclusive to the trucker 

Ask the 

Attorney 

My 17-year-old son and a friend were 

racing their cars on the city street and were 

stopped by the cops. The cops wrote both 

a ticket for racing but only my son was 

charged by the Prosecutor’s Office with 

racing on a public street, reckless driving, 

speeding, failure to keep in his lane, failure 

to obey a traffic control device and resisting 

arrest. The other kid was just charged with 

racing. Granted, my son has had a problem 

with the cops in the past and more than one 

speeding ticket before this, but I think they 

are picking on him. Is it fair they are only 

punishing my son? What can I do? 

— James B. 

Life is not fair nor should it be. Everyone 

is, or should be, responsible for his or her own 

actions. Your concern about fairness would 

be better directed toward educating your son 

and keeping him alive and well. 

You are not alone. Many children (like 

most sons), have to push the envelope until 

they reach the edge and it looks like the cops 

here are helping him reach that spot quickly. 

Based upon your limited information, it 

appears the officer acted properly in stopping 

the kids. To make a legal stop or arrest, an officer 

must first have probable cause to do so. 

Probable cause can be established by observations 

like sight, sound or smell, such as seeing 

your son racing; by factual evidence such as 

chasing your son and his friend at a high rate 

of speed; by circumstantial evidence such as 

a wrecked car; by police information from a 

witness such as the call to the police that cars 

were racing; and by police expertise such as 

judging your son’s speed using the officers’ 

experience and training. 

When and only when the officer has probable 

cause can he take action. If a judge later 

determines the officer did not have probable 

cause, then any evidence gained without 

probable cause is not admissible in court. 

Prosecutorial discretion is given to each 

officer and prosecutor in the country. The 

decision of which, if any, criminal charge to 

make determines how a case will be handled. 

In your son’s case, his actions after police 

contact such as lights and siren will usually 

influence the officer’s opinion on which 

violation to write the ticket. Your son’s past 

contact with officers, maybe even the citing 

officer in this case, may weigh on how he is 

charged. The prosecuting attorney will review 

those charges (racing on a public street, 

reckless driving, speeding, failure to stay in 

his lane, failure to obey a traffic control device 

and resisting arrest) as submitted by the 

officer to see if they fit the law or if more or 

less charges would actually better portray the 

events leading to the arrest/ticket. Officers do 

not have to charge or arrest you if they decide 

not to do so and the prosecuting attorney can 

elect not to file those charges with the court 

for any reason; that is prosecutorial discretion 

in a nutshell. 

What can you do? My advice as an attorney 

is if your son is looking at possible jail 

time, loss of his license or even significant 

fines, is that you should explore hiring an attorney 

to defend him. A good defense attorney 

may be able to get some or most of those 

charges dismissed or reduced unless there is 

more to this story than you listed. Every case 

is different and your attorney may be able to 

negotiate a plea bargain to reduce your son’s 

potential sentence, reduce the fines, amend 

some of the charges and of course provide 

an objective view of what would be best for 

your son. 

My advice as a father is to ensure your son 

realizes what he has done and how it could 

affect him not only now with such issues as 

auto insurance, his license or even large fines, 

but the future affect should he look into any 

kind of job where his driving is required. Human 

nature is such that unless there are consequences 

for your actions there is no reason 

to change those actions. 

Your job as his father is to make sure he 

survives long enough for his brain to catch up 

to what his body can do. It’s very easy to race 

down the road but common sense tells us it is 

not safe for the driver or anyone on the road. 

Use this error in his judgment to teach him 

survival. 

Jim C. Klepper is a lawyer who has made 

his living dealing with transportation issues. 

Interstate Trucker represents truck drivers 

throughout the 48 states on both moving and 

non-moving violations. A former prosecutor, 

he has focused on the trucking industry in 

particular. 

For more information call 800-333-DRIVE 

(3748) or go to interstatetrucker.com and 

driverslegalplan.com. 8 

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16 • February 15-28, 2019 Perspective 


THE TRUCKER 

News Channel 

Join Dave Compton and Jessica Rose every week as they 

bring you the only weekly news show just for Truckers. 

Tune in and watch at TheTrucker.com

Business 

February 15-28, 2019 • 17 

ATA’s Truck Tonnage Index (Seasonally Adjusted; 2015=100) 

118 

116 

114 

112 

110 

108 

106 

104 

102 

100 

98 

JAN - 14 

APR - 14 

JUL - 14 

OCT - 14 

JAN - 15 

APR - 15 

JUL - 15 

OCT - 15 

Klint Lowry 

JAN - 16 

klint.lowry@thetrucker.com 

Lane 

Departures 

As avid readers of The Trucker, there’s no 

need to tell you that we have been tinkering 

quite a bit over the past year on our website, 

or to tell you that we just recently launched a 

new configuration of the site. We’ve also been 

touting our Facebook page, as you also surely 

have noticed. 

It’s just our way of keeping in step with the 

rest of the journalism industry on its long, often 

staggering march into the digital future. 

Maybe I should pause a moment to clarify 

that I am not one of those stodgy old fogies 

who bemoan the demise of print media and the 

APR - 16 

Navistar shows net income of $340 million 

in 2018 compared with $30 million for 2017 


LISLE, Ill. — Navistar International Corp. 

had a fourth-quarter 2018 net income of $188 

million, or $1.89 per diluted share, compared 

with fourth-quarter 2017 net income of $135 

million, or $1.36 per diluted share, company 

officials have revealed. 

Navistar reported net income of $340 

million, or $3.41 per diluted share for fiscal 

year 2018, versus net income of $30 million, 

or $0.32 per diluted share, for fiscal 

year 2017. 

Navistar said it was the only OEM to show 

growth in the Class 8 market during its fiscal 

year which ended September 30, 2018. 

Fourth-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings before 

interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization 

(EBITDA) increased 20 percent to $322 

JUL - 16 

OCT - 16 

JAN - 17 

APR - 17 

JUL - 17 

OCT - 17 

JAN - 18 

APR - 18 

JUL - 18 

OCT - 18 

DEC - 18 

million, versus $268 million one year ago. 

Fiscal year 2018 adjusted EBITDA increased 

42 percent to $826 million, versus 

$582 million in 2017. Full-year adjusted EBIT- 

DA margins increased to 8.1 percent, up from 

6.8 percent for 2017. This marks the company’s 

sixth consecutive year of annual growth in 

adjusted EBITDA on both a dollar and percentage 

basis. 

Revenues in the fourth quarter increased 28 

percent to $3.3 billion, compared with fourthquarter 

2017. 

The revenue increase was largely driven 

by a 45 percent increase in the company’s core 

volumes, which represent its sales of Class 

6-8 trucks and buses in the United States and 

Canada. 

See Navistar on p18 m 

ascendance of online media. 

Nope, I’m a middle-aged fogey who scoffs 

at an entire industry that’s been proclaiming 

“print is dead” for the past 15 years but still 

can’t figure out how to make the switch to digital. 

I also recognize that change is inevitable, 

and those who refuse to accept it will become 

as obsolete as carbon paper. 

True fact: In ancient Greece, Socrates went 

on record to express his dismay over the reading 

and writing fad that the young folks of his 

day were into. He considered it a contributor 

to the dumbing down of society. What would 

become of memory if you can just write stuff 

down? 

Poor Socrates, he couldn’t see the writing 

on the wall. But if he’d had today’s technology, 

he might have been a social media influencer 

instead of a philosopher. DaVinci may have figured 

out how to make his corkscrew helicopter 

work and Gutenberg could have self-published 

December tonnage index slowing, 

but yearly gain the best in 20 years 

Cliff Abbott 


ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Trucking 

Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted 

(SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell by 4.3 

percent in December. But despite the setback, 

the index showed the largest annual gain since 

1998. 

The index fell to 111.9 in December to close 

out the year, down from November’s revised 

index of 116.9, but still 1.4 percent better than 

his Bible on the world-wide Web. 

There are a lot of advantages to the brave 

not-exactly-new world of digital media. One 

of them is news organizations that can keep 

track of which stories their audience gravitates 

to most. The working theory is if we look at 

what clicked with you before, and we do more 

stories like that, you’ll like us more. 

Let me pause again, in case you caught a 

whiff of cynicism on my part. The basic idea of 

gauging reader response really isn’t anything 

new, the only thing new is we can do it more 

quickly and efficiently than before. 

For example, we recently sifted through the 

past month, identified the top-read stories, and 

discovered that there were two kinds of stories 

truckers just can’t seem to get enough of: carriers 

announcing big pay increases and crashes 

involving fellow truckers. 

You don’t need 21st century technology to 

understand the first one. Who wouldn’t want to 

read about lucrative job opportunities? 

the 110.3 posted for December 2017. 

For the full year of 2018, the index increased 

by 6.6 percent, the largest annual gain 

since 1998 (10.1 percent) and significantly better 

than the 3.8 percent increase in 2017. 

The baseline for the ATA index is 2015, 

meaning that the seasonally adjusted truck tonnage 

index has risen 11.9 percent since 2015. 

The results are mixed, according to ATA 

Chief Economist Bob Costello. “The good 

See Tonnage on p18 m 

Courtesy: NAVISTAR 

Navistar said it was the only OEM to show growth in the Class 8 market during its fiscal year 

which ended September 30, 2018. Pictured is the International LT Series Class 8 tractor. 

Crunching the numbers, large truck crashes get clicks; the question is why? 

But that second one is a little more interesting. 

Of course, unless we go out and cause 

accidents so that we can report on them, it will 

be hard to report more about crashes. But I suppose 

it would be a good move to make those 

stories more prominent. 

I feel like I keep leaving the wrong impression. 

There’s nothing cold and calculating 

about this kind of thinking, or at least nothing 

freshly cold and calculating about it. For 

decades TV news has lived by the motto “if it 

bleeds, it leads” — with the understanding that 

they never actually show any blood. 

I’ve always been a little uncomfortable 

with this moral conflict in journalism. Truth 

be told, bad news is good news for the news 

business. 

I think to be more comfortable about the 

whole thing, it would help to go beyond the 

numbers. There’s nothing unique about truckers’ 

fascination with crashes. The one differ- 

See Lane on p18 m

18 • February 15-28, 2019 Business 

b Navistar from page 17 b 

Revenue for fiscal year 2018 was up 20 percent 

to $10.25 billion, compared with $8.6 billion 

in fiscal year 2017, attributable to annual 

revenue growth in all four operating segments. 

Class 8 retail market share grew to 13.5 percent 

in fiscal year 2018 versus 11.8 percent in 

fiscal year 2017. 

Navistar finished fourth-quarter 2018 with 

$1.42 billion in consolidated cash, cash equivalents 

and marketable securities, and with $1.36 

billion in manufacturing cash, cash equivalents 

and marketable securities. For the year, the 

company generated $307 million of manufacturing 

free cash flow. 

“2018 was a very strong year for the industry, 

and a breakout year for Navistar,” said 

Troy Clarke, chairman, president and CEO. 

“We were the only truck OEM to grow Class 

8 share during the year. With the industry’s 

newest product line-up, superior quality and a 

strong focus on customer uptime, we expect to 

gain market share in 2019 for the third year in 

a row.” 

The company finished 2018 with strong 

momentum across the board, Clarke said. 

During the fourth quarter, the company 

launched the International CV Series line of 

Class 4/5 trucks, the only Class 4/5 truck that is 

designed, distributed and supported by a manufacturer 

specializing in commercial vehicles. 

Year-over-year growth in heavy retail market 

share, up 2.5 share points, was attributable to 

strong sales of the International LT Series onhighway 

truck and the 12.4-liter A26 engine. 

The company’s IC Bus school buses, led by 

alternative-fuel offerings, also improved retail 

share by 1.3 share points. 

Additionally, its medium-duty International 

MV Series and vocational International HV 

Series showed improved order share resulting 

in a strong backlog. The company reported a 

backlog of 45,400 units in its Core markets, up 

from 15,600 at the end of 2017. 

Last month, Navistar announced a definitive 

agreement under which affiliates of Cerberus 

Capital Management, L.P. will acquire a majority 

interest in Navistar’s defense business, Navistar 

Defense. 

Following the close of the transaction, Cerberus 

will become a 70 percent owner and Navistar 

will remain a 30 percent owner. The agreement 

also includes an exclusive long-term supply 

agreement for commercial parts and chassis. The 

transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is expected 

to close in the first quarter of this year. 

In October, Navistar improved its debt profile 

by repaying its 4.5 percent senior subordinated 

convertible notes issued in October 2013. Repayment 

of the outstanding principal of $200 million 

at maturity was funded with cash on hand. 

The company provided the following 2019 

industry and financial guidance, including the 

fully consolidated financial impact of Navistar 

Defense: 

• Industry retail deliveries of Class 6-8 trucks 

and buses in the United States and Canada are 

forecast to be 395,000 to 425,000 units, with 

Class 8 retail deliveries of 265,000 to 295,000 

units. 

• Revenues are expected to be between $10.75 

billion and $11.25 billion. 

• Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between 

$850 million and $900 million. 

Following the completion of the partial sale 

of Navistar Defense, the company will update its 

2019 guidance. 

“While we expect 2019 to be another strong 

year for Navistar and the industry, it’s important 

to recognize that Navistar as an investment is 

much more than just a cycle play,” Clarke said. 

“As our ongoing improvements demonstrate, 

the company also has strong opportunities 

to benefit by recapturing market share, 

growing parts revenue, improving margins, 

generating free cash flow and further de-risking 

the balance sheet. For all these reasons, looking 

forward the company is well positioned to generate 

superior shareholder value.” 8 

b Tonnage from page 17 b 

news is that 2018 was a banner year for truck 

tonnage, witnessing the largest annual increase 

we’ve seen in two decades,” he said. “With 

that said, there is evidence that the industry 

and economy is moderating as tonnage fell a 

combined total of 5.6 percent in October and 

November after hitting an all-time high in October.” 

The not seasonally adjusted index, which 

represents the change in tonnage actually 

hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, 

equaled 107.8 in December, which was 

7.8 percent below the previous month (117). 

ATA calculates the tonnage index based on 

surveys from its membership and cautions that 

the index numbers can change as more data is 

received. 

Robust truck sales in both the new and used 

markets have resulted in plenty of available capacity. 

New trucks sold at a pace not seen since 

2006 as carriers upgraded their fleets and expanded 

to take advantage of increased freight 

availability. Used-truck sales were also robust, 

with both numbers sold and average prices increasing 

in 2018. 

So long as the economy keeps growing, 

capacity will continue to increase to meet the 

demand. However, when the rate of increase in 

b Lane from page 17 b 

ence is that it is insular, truckers reading about 

other truckers. 

I’d really like to know, what makes these 

stories popular? Is it because you can picture 

yourself in that situation, or is it because 

you’re sure you’d never get yourself in that 

situation? Do you imagine what could have 

been done differently, or do they confirm fears 

that “it could happen to anyone”? Do they 

speak to scenarios you’ve imagined, or do 

these stories make you think in directions you 

don’t usually go? Are there lessons or reminders 

to be taken from these incidents? Do you 


capacity outpaces the increase in freight availability, 

rates begin falling, and that’s what experts 

will be watching closely in 2019. 

According to DAT trendlines, spot rates for 

van, flatbed and reefer loads fell each week of 

January, with the national average rate for van 

freight dipping below $2.00 per mile for the 

first time in since September 2017. The company’s 

“Spot Freight Roadmap” for 2019 predicts 

continued growth in the economy but at a 

slower pace than 2018. The report cites slowdowns 

in automobile manufacturing and new 

residential construction as factors that will act 

as a drag on expansion. 

According to the most recent Monthly New 

Residential Construction report from the U.S. 

Census Bureau, privately‐owned housing starts 

in November were 3.6 percent below housing 

starts in November 2017 despite being 3.2 percent 

higher than October 2018 numbers. Starts 

of single-family units dropped 4.6 percent from 

October numbers. 

The number of building permits issued tells 

a slightly different story. The 1,328,000 permits 

issued in November was 5.0 percent higher 

than October issues and 0.4 percent ahead of 

the November 2017 rate. 

The lackluster housing start numbers may 

have been impacted by the devastating effects 

of Hurricane Florence, which hit the Carolinas 

in September, and Hurricane Michael, which 

struck the Gulf Coast a month later. 8 

sympathize for or scorn the driver involved? 

I suppose it depends on the circumstances 

from one story to the next. But the one thing 

the stories all have in common is they all involve 

fellow truckers. You folks see enough out 

there, I can’t imagine it’s just rubbernecking after 

the fact that draws you to these stories. 

If you find yourself latching onto truck 

crash stories when you find them, I’d like to 

get your thoughts about what it is about these 

stories that grab and hold your attention. That 

way, when we do come across stories of this 

type, we can frame them in a way that’s useful 

not just to us, but to you, as well. 

Way back when, that’s what news was 

for. And if you’re reading anything into that, 

you’re right. 8 

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Walmart aiming to add 900 truck drivers in 

2019; ups pay to $87,500 average in 1st year 

Business February 15-28, 2019 • 19 


BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart says it 

needs to add 900 truck drivers to its fleet during 

2019 and is willing to pay to get them on board. 

January 23, the company said it will provide 

Walmart drivers the chance to earn an average 

of $87,500 in their first year of employment 

with an all-in rate of almost 89 cents a mile. 

Beginning this month, Walmart drivers will 

receive a per-mile increase of $0.01 and a 50- 

cent increase in activity pay for arrive and arrive/drop 

occurrences. 

That means Walmart drivers will now be 

paid up to $1 every time they arrive at their 

destination and drop a trailer, the company 

said. 

“Truck drivers are a critical part of our team 

here at Walmart and have been since Sam Walton 

started the private truck fleet in the 1970s,” said 

Greg Smith, executive vice president of Walmart 

U.S. Supply Chain. “Our professional drivers 

are part of what makes Walmart so special. This 

wage increase reflects the importance of our private 

fleet and our commitment to recruiting and 

retaining the best drivers in the industry.” 

According to the retailer’s website, each 

year Walmart’s 8,000 drivers travel more than 

700 million miles and deliver millions of cases 

of merchandise to Walmart’s and Sam’s Club’s 

4,700 locations across the nation. 

CBS News reported that as of May 2017, 

the median annual pay for heavy and tractortrailer 

truck drivers was $42,480, according 

to the U.S. Department of Labor. Driver pay 

has since climbed, and by March 2018 came to 

more than $53,000 for a driver on a national, 

irregular route, the American Trucking Associations 

found. The industry group projects 

the U.S. will be short 175,000 drivers by 2026, 

CBS said. 

Walmart requires job candidates to have at 

least 30 months of full-time commercial driving 

experience and no serious traffic violations 

in the past three years. 

A story on Walmart’s website touted the 

retailer’s reinvented truck driver orientation as 

helping to add new hires to Walmart’s fleet. 

The revamped orientation initiatives have 

Courtesy: WALMART 

Walmart requires truck driving job candidates to have at least 30 months of full-time commercial 

driving experience and no serious traffic violations in the past three years. 

already cut in half the time between a candidate’s 

initial interview and a mandatory driving 

assessment, expediting the time it takes to 

complete a new hire. 

“These hiring events are both improving 

the skill level of our candidates and enriching 

their onboarding experience,” said Lori Furnell, 

Walmart’s director of driver talent acquisition. 

“We’re leaning heavily on the expertise 

of our Walmart road team and our certified 

driver trainers to grow our skilled fleet of professional 

drivers.” 8 

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The Trucker 

Class 8 used truck depreciation likely to increase as truck builds catch up 

THE TRUCKER STAFF 

Freight rates aren’t rising as fast or as 

much as they once were — although they are 

still rising, and with new builds getting back 

to normal, used truck depreciation is likely to 

increase. 

That’s according to the Black Book, an independent 

automotive vehicle pricing information 

publication. 

Keeping used truck depreciation higher 

than normal was the fact that traditional new 

truck customers couldn’t get timely delivery 

of inventory for months and were using latemodel 

used trucks to fill the gap. 

With new truck deliveries on the upswing, 

the publication’s latest report says, the depreciation 

of units these new vehicles are replacing 

is likely to increase. 

And, it’s “very probable” these same buyers 

of new vehicles will switch back to new trucks 

when they become available, increasing the 

used inventory, the report stated. 

Heavy-duty trucks “are moving in and out 

of service faster, and we will be watching to 

see how much wholesale values are affected,” 

said Charles Cathey, the Black Book’s heavyduty 

truck and commercial trailer editor. 

December historically has been a time to take 

stock of truck values in the commercial sector. 

From 2008 to 2015 the OTR segment 

dropped an average of $72 (0.2 percent) in 

December, compared with $131 (0.4 percent) 

average depreciation in the month prior. 

From 2016 to 2017, the heavy-duty OTR 

tractor segment dropped an average of $82 (0.1 

percent) in December compared with an average 

drop of $243 (0.3 percent) in November. 

Meanwhile, medium-duty truck demand 

continues to increase, according to the report. 

Black Book data is published by National 

Auto Research, a division of Hearst Business 

media. 8 

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For small-fleet startups, choosing the right equipment is an important early step 

Cliff Abbott 


The list of things to consider before starting or 

expanding a small trucking business can be nerve 

wracking, but perhaps the biggest decision is the 

kind of equipment to purchase. 

Some opt for new tractors, taking advantage 

of the very latest technology and the reduced 

risk of maintenance-related costs and downtime. 

Many owners, however, find the cost of a new 

Class 8 tractor, usually $140,000 and up, to be 

prohibitive. For them, the used-tractor market is a 

better alternative. 

Fleet Focus 

It’s possible to get into an older Class 8 tractor 

for a fraction of the cost of a new one. Age and 

mileage impact the price, of course, but the law 

of supply and demand plays a part, too. 

Current used tractor prices are robust. Economic 

growth has resulted in more available 

freight, enticing buyers to add trucks and driving 

up demand. The right tractor can still be found, 

however, with patience and research. 

Obviously, older and higher-mileage tractors 

sell for less and are the choice of many buyers. 

When financed, payments are more manageable 

for a startup-business budget. On the flip side, 

maintenance costs are generally higher and the 

risk of catastrophic failure of a major component, 

such as an engine or transmission, is increased. 

It’s important to remember that the “cost” of 

repairs can be far greater than the parts and labor 

charges shown on the bill. Every day the truck 

is down is a lost-revenue day, representing $500 

to $1,000 or more that couldn’t be earned. Some 

shop visits require additional days for parts to be 

shipped before installation can begin. 

On top of this, expenses for motels and other 

expenses add to the total. 

Frequent shutdowns due to repairs can cripple 

a small business that depends on a consistent revenue 

stream. For this reason, many buyers opt 

for used equipment that is newer and with fewer 

miles. 

Warrantees are an important consideration, 

too. Newer vehicles may come with a portion 

of the original manufacturer’s warrantee still intact. 

In some cases, used-tractor dealers offer 

short-term warrantees, like Arrow Truck Sales’ 

90-day/25,000-mile comprehensive package. 

Many sellers, including Arrow, may also offer an 

extended warrantee at additional cost. Some are 

administered by a third-party that sells coverage 

through dealers such as National Truck Protection. 

Each buyer must weigh the cost of such warrantees 

against the risk of repair costs and loss of 

income, keeping in mind that few warrantees of- 

ALWAYS 

fer coverage of motel and incidental costs while 

Moving 

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the truck is repaired. 

Careful inspection of the tractor before purchase 

can increase buyer confidence in the roadworthiness 

of the vehicle. While a thorough DOT 

annual vehicle inspection is mandatory, the buyer 

can negotiate for items such as new tires or brakes 

and other items. 

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that’s satisfying and profitable. 8 

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Equipment February 

15-28, 2019 • 23 

Courtesy: BENDIX SPICER FOUNDATIION BRAKES 

The BA235 aftermarket kit — best suited for a second or third vehicle owner — is available 

through authorized Bendix dealerships and aftermarket distributors. 

Don Ake 

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMERCIAL VEHICLES 

Bendix Spicer adds BA235 air disc 

brake pad kit to aftermarket portfolio 


ELYRIA, Ohio — The Bendix Spicer 

Foundation Brake (BSFB) is adding the new 

Bendix BA235 air disc brake pad kit to its 

aftermarket portfolio. 

It’s the right selection for both truck/tractor 

and trailer ADB applications, said Keith 

McComsey, BSFB director of marketing and 

customer solutions-wheel-end, who noted 

that the BA235 pad provides a lower-cost 

option for pad replacement while retaining 

the performance, warranty and post-sales 

support. 

The BA235 aftermarket kit — best suited 

Analyst: Acceptance of driverless cars must precede self-driving CMVs 

FTR TRANSPORTATION INTELLIGENCE 

The question I get asked the most by 

people inside, and outside, the industry is: 

When will there be driverless trucks on the 

highways? 

This, of course, is a difficult question 

because it not only involves adaptation to 

technology, but a host of other complicated 

factors, as well. 

But my answer is this: You will see driverless 

trucks as soon as the general population 

accepts driverless cars. When people are 

comfortable riding in a driverless car, then 

they will not object to a fully-loaded, driverless 

tractor-trailer behind them on the highway. 

I realize this is not a specific answer, but 

providing an exact year at this point amounts 

to a guess. It is difficult to calculate an adoption 

rate curve because, in addition to economics, 

there are cultural, political and other 

issues to resolve, as well. 

I believe most people are currently fearful 

of self-driving cars. This fear will, of course, 

be reduced by all the “self-adjusting/correcting” 

options (braking, parking, lane-assist, 

speed-adjust, etc.) available on newer vehicles. 

In addition, there will be public service 

campaigns trumpeting the increase in safety 

provided by self-driving cars. Reduction in 

accidents, deaths, and drunk driving will be 

the main benefits. Improved traffic flow is 

also an expected plus. 

And traffic safety is of growing importance 

as millions of baby boomers with diminishing 

skills share the road with the texting millennials. 

Throw in increased marijuana legalization 

Courtesy: ROCKETAIL 

The Rocketail system is a rear fairing technology for heavy-duty truck trailers that has exhibited 

fuel-efficiency improvement of more than 3.58 gallons per 1,000 miles. 

and we all may end up demanding self-driving 

cars. 

Personally, I know I will be extremely distressed 

the first time I am in a driverless car. I 

have never even used cruise control, because I 

must always be in total control of my vehicle. 

However, I do look forward to the day when 

I summon a car to take me to my doctor’s office. 

A robot will load me in the vehicle and 

another robot will lift me out. If I can adapt to 

this, I think others in my generation will, too. 

But the final push for self-driving cars 

may come from insurance companies. If you 

drive your car, your rates are $10,000 a year, 

but they fall to $1,000 if the car drives itself. 

“This is America, so it is your choice. We are 

not telling you what to do, but … .” 

Why is public opinion so important? Because 

Congress is not going to approve the 

See Driverless on p26 m 


SAN DIEGO — Rocketail, makers of 

aerodynamic tail systems for tractor-trailers, 

has launched its Rocketail Wing, what the 

company calls the next-generation rear drag 

reduction technology for trailers. 

The Rocketail system is an EPA Smart- 

Way trailer rear fairing technology for 

heavy-duty truck trailers that has exhibited 

fuel-efficiency improvement of more than 

3.58 gallons per 1,000 miles. 

“Rocketail solves the ‘three D’s’ essential 

to performance for any aerodynamic tail 

system: drag, deployment and damage,” said 

Michael Militello, Rocketail CEO. 

“Our Rocketail Wing is integrated with 

the trailer door, so it’s always deployed, it 

for a second or third vehicle owner — is available 

through authorized Bendix dealerships 

and aftermarket distributors. 

As part of its expanded air disc brake pad 

portfolio, Bendix also offers the BX276 genuine 

OEM replacement pad. The long-life 

BX276 pad is suitable for all applications and 

provides more wearable volume and an improved 

wear rate. For severe duty brake applications 

such as refuse trucks and school buses, 

Bendix offers the BX283 pad. 

All of these Bendix ADB pads meet FM- 

VSS-121 requirements and the current EPA 

See Bendix on p25 m 

DON AKE 

Courtesy: FTR 

Rocketail deploys its ‘next generation’ of 

rear fairing technology for HD truck trailers 

extends a mere 14 inches from the rear of the 

trailer, eliminating a main cause of rear collision 

damage in current tail systems, and it 

delivers proven drag-reducing performance.” 

Featuring a “breakthrough” jet wing design, 

the one-piece airfoil was certified by 

MVT Solutions to provide a fuel economy 

improvement of 3.36 percent and by PIT 

Group to improve fuel efficiency by 3.30 

percent in testing. 

Constructed of lightweight, high-impact, 

gas-infused polymers that are internally 

cross-braced, the wing-shaped airfoil has a 

compact footprint with no additional external 

or internal moving parts. It extends only 14 

inches from the rear of the trailer compared 

See Rocketail on p26 m

24 • February 15-28, 2019 Equipment 


Truck dealers form new coalition to repeal hefty excise tax on commercial truck sales 

Charles Cyrill 

ATD/NADA Director of Public Relations 

SAN FRANCISCO — The American 

Truck Dealers (ATD) has formed a new coalition 

of industry stakeholders whose goal 

will be to repeal the federal excise tax (FET) 

on commercial truck sales. 

ATD Chairwoman Jodie Teuton revealed 

the formation of the coalition during her keynote 

remarks at the recent ATD Show. 

“Repealing this 102-year-old tax remains 

our No. 1 priority. This tax discourages the 

deployment of today’s cleaner, safer and 

more fuel-efficient heavy-duty trucks,” said 

Teuton, vice president of Kenworth of Louisiana 

and Hino of Baton Rouge. “And this 

year, we won’t be alone in the fight. We now 

have some strong industry allies.” 

The coalition, called Modernize the 

Truck Fleet, includes ATD; Truck and Engine 

Manufacturers Association (EMA), 

whose members are Daimler Trucks North 

America, Navistar, Paccar, Volvo Group 

North America and Cummins; the NTEA, 

(the Association for the Work Truck Industry); 

and the Truck Renting & Leasing Association 

(TRALA). 

“The truck industry is united, and we have 

two goals: Repeal the FET and find an acceptable 

replacement for the lost revenue from the 

FET that provides a long-term solution to help 

fund our highways and modernize America’s 

fleets,” Teuton said. “We’re joining our efforts 

this year to include the FET repeal in a comprehensive 

infrastructure bill.” 

Teuton said the FET adds significant cost 

[$12,000 to $22,000] to a new truck and hurts 

dealership customers by preventing them 

from investing more in their businesses. 

Enacted in 1917, the FET was meant to be 

a temporary measure to help pay for World 

War I. Today, it is the highest percentage tax 

that Congress levies on a product. 

“This Congress, we have a unique opportunity 

to make FET repeal a reality,” Teuton 

said. “Both Congress and the administration 

Courtesy: AMERICAN TRUCK DEALERS 

American Truck Dealer Chairwoman Jodie Teuton said a newly formed coalition has two goals: Repeal the federal excise tax on commercial 

trucks and find an acceptable replacement for the lost revenue from the federal excise tax that provides a long-term solution to 

help fund the highways and modernize America’s fleets. 

are discussing a comprehensive infrastructure 

bill that would address funding. This is our 

best shot in decades to eliminate this tax.” 

Teuton urged ATD member dealers to 

ramp up their grassroots efforts and get involved 

by contacting their representatives in 

Congress. 

“We need each one of you in this fight,” 

she said. “Your senator or representative may 

be the one to make the difference.” 

Teuton also discussed the critical shortage 

of service technicians at truck dealerships, 

adding that a major disconnect exists 

between supply and demand, which is affecting 

the ability of dealerships to provide service 

to their customers. 

“Every year our industry needs thousands 

of technicians — and the numbers are rising. 

In truck dealerships, we are seeing a 

shortage of 9,000 technicians per year,” she 

said. “Across the entire industry, including 

auto dealerships, there’s a shortage of almost 

50,000 technicians per year.” 

Teuton called on dealers to promote career 

opportunities at their dealerships in 

communities across the country. 

“I’d like every truck dealer to help ATD get 

the word out now: Dealership jobs are rewarding, 

challenging and pay well,” she said. “Technician 

jobs at dealerships average $61,000 per 

year with benefits. Some of the best paid people 

in my dealerships are technicians.” 

From industry disruptions to economic 

headwinds, Teuton added that commercial 

truck dealerships have remained resilient and 

are adapting to market challenges. 

“U.S. retail sales of Class 8 trucks were 

at historic levels, and order boards are filled 

well into this year. Freight growth was robust 

and consistent. And dealers nationwide 

are selling some of the cleanest and most advanced 

trucks we’ve seen,” she said. “These 

numbers are proof of our industry’s hard 

work, and our ability to adapt to the technological 

changes all around us.” 

ATD, a division of NADA, represents 

more than 1,800 heavy- and medium-duty 

truck dealerships. 8 

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b Bendix from page 23 b 

Copper-Free Brake Initiative requirements, according 

to BSFB. 

“Since we first introduced air disc brakes 

in 2005 to the North American commercial 

vehicle market with the Bendix ADB22X, the 

popularity of air disc brakes has grown annually, 

particularly over the last five years,” Mc- 

Comsey said. “At this point, there are a lot of 

air disc-braked trucks in the hands of second or 

even third owners, who may have completely 

different needs than the original buyer. And 

with more ADB-equipped vehicles hitting the 

road every day, we want to make sure we’re 

supporting all the needs of the air disc brake 

aftermarket.” 

McComsey said when Bendix says its aftermarket 

pad friction meets FMVSS-121 requirements, 

the company means it. 

“We don’t cut corners to take cost out, specifically 

when it comes to safety. In today’s 

marketplace, we know vehicle operators have 

options when it comes to replacement pad 

choices for our ADB22X brake, but we urge 

owners to be wary of the reduced performance 

on a number of these aftermarket choices,” 

McComsey said. “Our testing shows that 

stopping distance performance can be severely 

impacted — adding up to 75 feet, or 

roughly the equivalent of five car lengths — 

when non-Bendix pads are used. While also 

increasing the potential for rear-end collisions 

due to extended stopping distance, inferior 

aftermarket pads may also increase the risk 

of vehicle roll-aways, since many of them do 

not meet the FMVSS-121 park-hold requirements. 

Some of these pads have significantly 

reduced capability, rating at only 40 percent 

of the requirement.” 

McComsey said Bendix ADB pads are designed 

to provide long pad and rotor life. The 

BA235 pad has good wear properties and provides 

consistent rotor wear while meeting Bendix’s 

rotor stress cracking requirements. 

He noted that ongoing testing proved other 

Equipment February 15-28, 2019 • 25 

aftermarket pads may claim long friction life, 

but this is often at the expense of the rotor, 

which may lead to stress cracking that requires 

costly rotor replacement, may place a vehicle 

out-of-service for CSA violations, or both. 

“When choosing ADB replacement pad 

kits, customers must also consider the hardware 

kit components (pad retention springs, 

retainer bars, etc.), which play an important 

role in the function and longevity of the overall 

ADB system,” McComsey said. “Some 

low-cost, all-fit aftermarket replacement kits 

include inferior hardware that poses a risk 

of failure, or these kits do not include all the 

necessary components for a complete pad replacement. 

In this instance, end users are expected 

to reuse key components that are often 

corroded or stressed from prior service. All 

Bendix replacement pad kits include a complete 

hardware set utilizing all OEM components 

for a complete replacement to protect 

your ADB system. 

“The more fleets and owner-operators 

discover the proven reliability and return-oninvestment 

of air disc brake technology, the 

more important it becomes to help ensure 

these advantages are realized over the life of 

the brake through multiple friction changes,” 

McComsey said. 

“No matter how long they’ve been on the 

road, safer trucks mean safer highways for 

everyone. Bendix shares a commitment to 

safety with our aftermarket partners, and it’s 

helping us to shape tomorrow’s transportation 

together.” 

A joint venture between Bendix Commercial 

Vehicle Systems and Dana Commercial 

Vehicle Products, BSFB contributes to the full 

lineup of Bendix wheel-end safety solutions 

— including air disc and foundation drum 

brakes — from its manufacturing facility in 

Bowling Green, Kentucky. 

BSFB solutions are backed by post-sales 

support and are aimed at improving vehicle 

and highway safety across North America. 

For more information about Bendix air disc 

brake pads, call 1-800-AIR-BRAKE or visit 

foundationbrakes.com. 8 

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26 • February 15-28, 2019 Equipment 

b Driverless from page 23 b 

use of driverless trucks if people are fearful. It 

may take years to even write the regulations. 

Of course, if one political party writes 

them, they will be too lax, and if it is the other 

party, they will be too tight. 

But there will be extensive debates and 

lobbyists promoting various interests, etc. 

You can argue that the financial incentive 

for driverless trucks is so significant it will 

overrun all the obstructions and objections: “It 

is so obvious that they have to pass it!” 

Yes, and the government is working so 

well, [as this is being written] it is currently 

shut down. And I will refer you back to the 

history of legislation on freight weight and 

trailer size. 

“When is that 33-foot trailer legislation 

going to pass?” 

Now, you can also argue that the truck will 

always need a “driver,” but that is based on 

today’s technology and logistics framework. 

Twenty years from now technological improvements 

in automation, robotics, and logistics 

adaptation may change everything. 

Maybe then you will just need an “attendant” 

to ride in the vehicle for emergencies. 

b Rocketail from page 23 b 

to as much as 4 feet for other rear drag solutions 

on the market. 

Militello said the Rocketail Wing is always 

deployed using unique swing-hinges 

that lock the wings in their maximum aerodynamic 

open position each time the doors are 

closed. The system shifts the wings flush with 

the sides of the trailer each time the doors are 

opened, allowing the doors to swing a full 

270 degrees without being blocked. 

Each Rocketail Wing attaches without 

guy-wires or struts with just two industrialgrade, 

stainless steel hinges. Installation, requiring 

only drill bits and tightening tools, 


This could even spark a new form of ride sharing. 

“Ride in the truck for free from Kansas 

City to Memphis and call us if anything goes 

wrong.” 

I do agree with those who say platooning 

will come first. 

This involves two or more trucks connected 

by automated driving technology traveling 

down the highway in a line, separated by a 

close, set distance from each other. Successful 

platooning will also help people to accept the 

self-driving truck concept. 

However, this still will need to be legislated, 

with regulations, etc. 

And that’s why it is difficult to put a timetable 

on it. 

If you forced me to place a bet, maybe 

2027. But driverless trucks will remain a hot 

topic of discussion until it ultimately happens. 

As I said, it is the topic I am asked about 

the most. I was actually giving my opinion 

on the subject to an anesthesiologist as he 

waited for me to go under before a recent 

medical procedure. So, it has to be an important 

subject because if something went 

disastrously wrong, those would have been 

my final words. 

Don Ake is vice president of commercial vehicles 

at FTR and is responsible for forecasting 

Class 8 truck and trailer demand. 8 

takes two people about one hour to complete. 

Each wing weighs less than 25 pounds and 

requires minimal to no annual maintenance. 

“Rocketail is maximally effective because 

its multi-element airfoil design has 

unique patented features that smooth and 

redirect rearward airflow behind a trailer 

while producing forward lift, similar to a 

wing on a jet aircraft,” Militello said. “Additionally, 

placing the device 1 inch away from 

the trailer wall avoids having the boundary 

air layer interact with higher volume, more 

uniform airflow. These two design features 

enable Rocketail to have a profile that’s 50 

percent to 80 percent smaller than competitive 

designs.” 

For more information about the Rocketail 

Wing or about Rocketail, visit rocketail.com. 8 

Currently hiring company drivers and owner operators. 

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After 55 years, MTA Driver of the Year 

Art Stoen retired but not slowing down 

Dorothy Cox 


Art Stoen, 74, only takes one medication. It’s 

for cholesterol, and he had to be talked into that. 

To hear him tell it, sounds like the doctor may 

have had to twist his arm a little. 

After all, said the 55-year career truck driver, 

“I feel fine, energetic.” 

When The Trucker caught up with him, Stoen 

[pronounced Stone] had just shoveled snow in 

front of his home in Austin, where a couple of 

days before the wind chill had been 60 below. By 

the way, that’s Austin, Minnesota, not Texas. 

Just about cold enough to go ice fishing, now, 

said Stoen, who January 24 received the Minnesota 

Trucking Association’s (MTA) Driver of the 

Year award. 

Besides deer hunting, fishing is one of Stoen’s 

passions. He just recently retired from Kane 

Transport Inc., and he’s learned a man needs stuff 

to do in retirement. 

The first time he retired, when he was a young 

63, things just got too boring, so he went back to 

the job he’s always known: driving a truck. 

“This award is a great way to honor the 

best in our industry; driving is no easy task, especially 

when you take into consideration his 

daily driving conditions like congestion, driver 

distractions and Minnesota winters,” said MTA 

President John Hausladen in presenting Stoen 

with the award. 

Stoen remembers many days of getting up at 

3 or 4 a.m. to pick up his load by 6. Most of the 

time the road crews “hadn’t sanded the roads” at 

that hour. 

Dorothy Cox 


Around 

the Bend 

Driverless trucks? Fuhgeddaboudit. 

Platooning trucks? Ain’t happenin’. 

Here, boys and girls, come the Jetsons. 

For real. If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’. No kiddin’. 

When I was a kid, two of the most popular 

cartoon sitcoms were Hanna-Barbera’s “The 

Flintstones,” set in the Stone Age, and its 

counterpart “The Jetsons,” set in the future. 

I would think four-wheel motorists who 

have to travel around the Atlanta area and 

other heavily congested areas like Chicago 

and Los Angeles would like to get their hands 

on a flying car like ones on the “Jetsons.” The 

cartoon also featured robotic maids, aliens, 

holograms and all sorts of electronic gizmos. 

The Jetsons (parents George and Jane; 

children Judy and Elroy; and Astro the dog) 

Features 

Hausladen said Stoen’s more than 4.4 million 

safe driving miles are “an astonishing accomplishment, 

especially given the unique challenge 

of safely delivering and unloading diesel and 

gasoline without incident.” 

Stoen told The Trucker it would be more 

miles by now if so much of it hadn’t been regional 

and local runs when he started driving a truck 

in August 1963. 

He grew up on a farm in Brownsdale in southeast 

Minnesota. His family raised dairy cattle, 

hogs and crops and before school each day it was 

Stoen’s job to milk the cows. He also hauled grain 

in the family farm truck to the elevator, so after 

high school graduation in 1962 he answered an 

ad in the local paper to drive dump trucks full of 

powdered cement to road crews helping build Interstate 

90 in southern Minnesota. 

After that, the 18-year-old Stoen worked for 

a mining company, then a construction company, 

for which he pulled a gravel truck. 

About 1972 he began hauling oil into Wisconsin, 

then worked hauling black top material to 

road pavers and later road-building materials to 

“hot-mix outfits” which prepared gravel and oils 

to go on new roads. 

He also hauled heavy equipment down to 

Texas and for four years drove regionally for a 

cabinet company. 

Later he did OTR hauling for Kane, a premier 

Minnesota transporter of petroleum, asphalt, biodiesel 

and ethanol based in Sauk Centre. 

In those days, Stoen did most of his work in a 

day cab; if he had to stay overnight his employer 

gave him money for a motel. He didn’t drive a 

lived in Orbit City in the Skypad Apartments. 

George was always shown whizzing 

around in his flying car, and never seemed 

to get in any traffic jams or fender-benders. 

There’s a flying three-wheeled car called 

the Samson Switchblade that just recently 

introduced its automated tail, which — like 

its wings — pop up or stow away at the push 

of a button, according to a news release titled 

“Flying sports car achieves major milestone.” 

“In only 2 minutes, the flying car’s tail 

transforms from driving to flying mode or 

vice versa, under its own power,” the news 

release announced. 

The wings, which were introduced two 

years ago, “swing out” and this sky-ready 

transformation takes about 3 minutes. So 

that’s a total of around 5 minutes for this 

“car” to turn itself into a plane. 

It can fly at up to 200 mph at 13,000 feet, 

the news release says. (Sorry truckers, this 

thing is too small to haul anything.) 

The tail and wings are stowed and safely 

protected when the craft is ready to drive 

See Bend on p28 m 

truck with a sleeper berth in it until the ’80s. 

To say that Stoen has seen a lot of changes 

in trucking over the years is an understatement. 

At one time, he was hauling a lot of heavy 

equipment which had been repossessed, and 

when he went to pick it up, the former owners 

didn’t always want to give it up. 

“I’d get chased off the property and had to 

get the sheriff to help,” Stoen said. 

February 15-28, 2019 • 27 

Courtesy: MINNESOTA TRUCKING ASSOCIATION 

The first time Art Stoen retired, when he was a young 63, things just got too boring, so he 

went back to the job he’s always known: driving a truck. 

He has driven “just about everything” and 

said they’re making trucks “so much better” 

now. It used to take two hands to shift, he 

said. “It’s a lot safer nowadays.” 

He’s noticed more people in a hurry today. 

They go flying by, he said, when he’s doing the 

speed limit. But there are “a lot of good people 

on the road, too,” he said, adding that usually 

See Stoen on p28 m 

Doh! Those darned three-wheelers in their flying cars — here come the Jetsons for real 

Courtesy: SAMSON SKY 

Pictured is a three-wheeled flying “sports car” called the Switchblade. When being driven 

as a car, the wings retract and the tail folds into the back of the vehicle. It’s enough to make 

George Jetson proud.

28 • February 15-28, 2019 Features 


T 

b Stoen from page 27 b 

the ones who go flying by end up in the ditch. 

He said people seemed to miss less work 

back in the day. “I would work half sick,” 

he said, whereas now, “these younger guys 

get a cold or headache, they call and don’t 

come in. … People get headaches a lot. I 

don’t know what a headache is.” 

As a truck driver Stoen never got in a hurry 

and if somebody wanted to get in front of him, 

he let them. 

“I don’t get too upset about anything; I take it 

as it comes,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me like it 

does some people.” 

If someone on the road gets angry it doesn’t 

faze him. “I figure it’s their problem,” he said. 

“Years ago, if someone called me names, it 

went in one ear and out the other. I’ve been that 

way my whole life.” 

Even with all his safe miles, Stoen was a little 

surprised to get MTA’s most prestigious award. 

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He almost didn’t attend the awards ceremony, as 

he and his wife Marcia had planned to go see the 

Grand Canyon. But they decided to attend the 

ceremony and cancelled their hotel reservations. 

Stoen had received MTA’s September Driver of 

the Month, and figured he would be mentioned 

for that award in passing. 

“When they called out driver of the year and 

said my name, I was surprised,” Stoen said. 

He received a $500 check, a trophy, and said 

Marcia “got the biggest bouquet of flowers she’s 

ever gotten in her life.” 

Now he aims to finally see the Grand Canyon 

and this summer they will no doubt go fishing a 

lot. 

Stoen he knows he will miss driving a truck, 

seeing the scenery and meeting lots of different 

people. 

“I made a lot of friends” on the road, he said, 

“but at my age, most of my friends are deceased. 

This past year I went to six funerals and got in 

one wedding. 

“I live day by day and I thank God every 

morning that I’ve got another day.” 8 

Driver 

Retention Program 

First year $3,500 

2nd $5000 

3rd $7000 

b Bend from page 27 b 

as a car. In fact, the tail folds into the back 

of the vehicle when it’s being driven on the 

road. That’s not quite as compact as George 

Jetson’s flying car, which stowed itself in a 

briefcase, but that’s showbiz. 

“The Switchblade is a three-wheel, streetlegal 

vehicle that you drive from your garage 

to a nearby local airport,” says the release, 

adding that since the Switchblade is a “highperformance 

vehicle in both modes, [that] 

sets it apart from other entrants into the race 

to build the first practical flying car.” 

“The folding tail creates an image like 

the Transformers, the Batmobile and James 

Bond all rolled into one,” says Switchblade 

designer Sam Bousfield. 

Bousfield’s company, Samson Sky, has its 

own engineers, design staff and fabricators 

and they’ve been working on the project for 

about 10 years. 

According to a video clip on the company’s 

website, Bousfield, a pilot and inventor, 

says the reservation list for the vehicle has 

reached 900, with reservation holders in 30 

countries and 47 of the 50 U.S. states. 

Since sketching flying cars as a 5-year-old 

THE ASSOCIATES PRESS 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jeff Gordon’s immense 

influence on NASCAR was highlighted 

during a star-packed Hall of Fame induction 

ceremony befitting a driver who changed 

the trajectory of an entire sport. 

Gordon was the top vote-getter in the 10th 

class of the Hall of Fame, which included the 

late drivers Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki, 

as well as team owners Roger Penske 

and Jack Roush. Gordon received 96 percent 

of the vote, falling just short of the Hall of 

Fame’s first unanimous selection, in his first 

year of eligibility. 

This class was the first in which all five 

inductees competed against one another at 

the same time. Gordon made his Cup debut 

in the 1992 season finale, won by Kulwicki 

in part because Allison wrecked early. The 

stage was set for three new drivers to star in 

NASCAR and challenge Dale Earnhardt’s 

long reign of NASCAR dominance. 

The following year, a pair of aviation accidents 

in a span of 102 days altered NAS- 

CAR permanently. 

child, Bousfield says he always thought a flying 

car would be “a cool thing.” 

The vehicle is designed for existing pilots 

and aviation enthusiasts and is billed as the 

world’s first flying “sports car.” 

Bousfield, who formerly worked for Boeing 

designing a propeller plane that would 

break the sound barrier, says his dream was 

to make a flying sports car that’s “truly useful” 

to people who want to get from Point A 

to Point B safely and in record time. 

The company estimates that a 3½-hour 

trip by automobile would take as little as 45 

minutes in the air in the Switchblade, which 

is made out of carbon fiber. 

The company’s website doesn’t mention 

how much this flying car will cost but says 

that people can reserve them with no money 

down. 

It also doesn’t mention if the craft has 

been cleared by the powers that be to fly in 

and out of airports, etc. For example, would 

it cause a ruckus like drones have? 

But according to Bousfield, early adopters 

of the craft include NASA and Boeing engineers 

and airline captains, “along with retirees 

wanting to maximize their recreational 

time.” 

Doh! Those darn three-wheelers. 

God bless and be safe out there. 8 

Jeff Gordon’s influence on NASCAR honored at 

star-packed Hall of Fame induction ceremony 

Find us on 

Facebook 

search: The Trucker 

Kulwicki died in an April 1 plane crash 

returning to Bristol Motor Speedway from a 

sponsor appearance. Allison died July 12 when 

he crashed the helicopter he was piloting in 

the infield at Talladega Superspeedway, where 

he’d gone with Red Farmer to watch Neil Bonnett’s 

son test for his Busch Series debut. 

Gordon had a quiet rookie year while Earnhardt 

went on to his sixth championship and 

added his seventh title the next season. Gordon 

eventually took Allison’s role as Earnhardt’s 

nemesis by dethroning him in 1995. 

Gordon won four titles over seven seasons. 

Earnhardt never won another. 

Gordon spoke at length of how good timing 

and lucky breaks aided his career, particularly 

when he was hired by Rick Hendrick 

to move to the Cup series in 1992. 

“All the hard work, seizing the moment 

as often as possible in every good car I had 

a chance to drive, introducing myself to 

anyone I could, hoping and wishing that the 

right person or car owner saw enough in me 

to take a chance — and Rick Hendrick was 

that individual,” Gordon said. 8

thetrucker.com February 15-28, 2019 • 29 

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Features February 15-28, 2019 • 31 

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