The Trucker Newspaper - March 1, 2019

Vol. 32, No. 5
www.thetrucker.com March 1-14, 2019
I-95/SR4 intersection at Fort Lee, N.J., moves to dubious
distinction of being the No. 1 traffic bottleneck for trucks
Courtesy: ATA
Real solutions
Saying that the nation is on the
cusp of a transformation in the
movement of freight, American
Trucking Associations President
and CEO Chris Spear told a
hearing of the Senate Committee
on Commerce, Science and
Transportation that there is an
urgent need to address the
nation’s failing infrastructure,
pressing the committee to put
forward real solutions.
Page 4
Navigating the news
Hemp haul..............................3
Higher sales and turnover......6
Advocating speed limiters......8
Truck Stop............................12
Chaplain’s Corner.................15
January truck sales up.........17
Lane Departures...................17
International Wingman.........23
Around the Bend..................27
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetrucker.com
Get together, say, 425,533 of your closest driving
friends and shut them down — for a whole
year. That’s the impact traffic congestion had on
the trucking industry in 2017, according to a recent
American Transportation Research Institute
(ATRI) study, the 2019 Top Truck Bottleneck list.
The financial impact is enormous, and it’s
not just an industry problem. The costs associated
with the productivity losses are eventually
passed on to consumers, who have plenty of time
to consider them while they also wait in traffic.
While Congress debates endlessly over spending
$5 billion on a barrier to protect the southern U.S.
border, more than $6 billion per month, an estimated
$74.5 billion per year, is wasted by truckers
delayed by traffic congestion. Lost hours are estimated
at 1.2 billion annually.
Rebecca Brewster doesn’t just crunch the
numbers, she feels the pain. That’s because the
ATRI offices where she works as ATRI president
and chief operating officer are located near the
I-75 and I-285 interchange on the northwest side
of Atlanta. That interchange is listed third on the
ATRI list of top interchanges nationwide.
The data show that average speeds drop to
27.4 mph during peak periods at that location, and
that the hour between 5 and 6 p.m. is likely to be
worst.
Brewster claims it’s only a coincidence that
the location came in third, or that three of the top,
meaning worst, locations are found in Atlanta. “I
have to tell people I’m not rigging the voting to
make it easier for me to drive around,” she said.
“There’s a lot of growth in the area, including the
Braves’ new stadium” (SunTrust Park opened for
play in April 2017).
The intersection of I-95 and New Jersey State
Route 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, took the No. 1
See Bottleneck on p7 m
Courtesy: AMERICAN TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Commercial vehicles don’t exactly zoom though the intersection of Interstate 95 and State Route
4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, near where I-95 crosses into New York City via the George Washington
Bridge. The average speed in peak drive time was 23 mph. In nonpeak times it “jumps” to 35.2 mph.
The dots represent a spot speed of a truck. The more red a dot, the slower the truck. Yellow would
be middle speeds and the brighter the green, the faster, or closer to free flow speed a truck is traveling.
For example, as you can see in the image, the approach to the George Washington Bridge and
where SR 4 intersects I-95 is primarily red, indicating very slow traffic.
Courtesy: MONTGOMERY TRANSPORT
Packaged to go
Montgomery Transport & Entities
has begun feeding professional
over-the-road drivers throughout
the industry with the launch of a
new food truck, Breaker 1-Swine,
the name apparently a reference
to “breaker one nine,” popularized
in the 1978 movie, “Convoy.”
Page 27
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Nation March 1-14, 2019 • 3
Oregon truck driver lands in middle of legal
state, federal battle over hauling load of hemp
Dorothy Cox
dlcox@thetrucker.com
Oregon truck driver Denis Palamarchuk,
36, of Portland, Oregon, has found himself in
the middle of a state/federal fight over whether
the “industrial hemp” he was hauling from Oregon
through Idaho and on to Colorado was
illegal.
The Idaho Press reports that Palamarchuk
was arrested January 24 at the East Boise, Idaho,
Point of Entry with the hemp load and had
a legal bill of lading for it.
Hemp and marijuana are different varieties
of the same plant, and the recently passed
federal Farm Bill forbids states from preventing
the transportation of hemp, which is used
in cosmetics, dietary supplements and other
products. Meanwhile, the Colorado company
the hemp belongs to wants its seized shipment
back from Idaho and is citing the Farm Bill in a
court filing against the state.
Idaho State Police seized 6,701 pounds of
the hemp, which tested positive for THC, the
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. One news
account said drug dogs alerted to the hemp.
The trouble stems from the fact that in
Idaho, any amount of THC, the part of pot that
makes one high, is illegal.
Consequently, the Ada County prosecuting
attorney’s office insists that hauling hemp
through Idaho is illegal and that the seizure was
lawful.
Hemp, while not a scheduled substance,
contains trace amounts of THC but not enough
to produce a high. Under federal regulations,
hemp must contain 0.3 percent or less of THC.
Idaho State Police said the seized hemp is
being tested at a lab independent of their office
but did not specify which lab is conducting the
tests. If the substance does contain greater than
0.3 percent THC, it would not meet the federal
definition of hemp.
Big Sky Scientific, the Colorado company
that was the intended recipient of the hemp, has
filed a lawsuit against Idaho State Police, and
in court documents showed that the shipment
is industrial hemp that contains less than 0.3
percent THC.
“Big Sky has a legally protectable interest
in the present controversy because it has rightful
title to the property and said property is
federally-protected pursuant to the 2018 Farm
Bill,” the complaint stated.
The Farm Bill, which was updated in December,
says, “No State or Indian Tribe shall
prohibit the transportation or shipment of hemp
or hemp products produced in accordance with
subtitle G of the Agricultural Marketing Act of
1946 (as added by section 10113) through the
State or the territory of the Indian Tribe, as applicable,”
in section 10114, item B.
Elijah Watkins, an attorney representing
Big Sky, told the Idaho Press that Idaho has
no right to stop a business in one state from
obtaining a legal good from another.
“I think regardless of the Farm Bill, it’s still
of a lawful good,” he said.
But under Idaho law, all species of cannabis
regardless of genus, including low-THC hemp
plants, are illegal.
Ada County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor
Scott Bandy said hemp haulers aren’t
free from prosecution, because of the Idaho
law making hemp illegal. Bandy would not
comment further, since the state police office is
facing litigation, the Press reported.
Meanwhile, VIP Transportation, the Portland-based
trucking company that was hauling
the substance in question, is defending the legality
of the shipment.
“We are 1,000 percent sure that this will
get resolved because we didn’t break any law,”
Ivan Pavliy, owner of VIP Transportation, previously
told the newspaper.
Pavliy said it was the company’s third load
of hemp when Palamarchuk was arrested. It is
unclear if the company had previously hauled
hemp through Idaho, as it services 48 states.
“If proper climate and airflow are not maintained,
the product will mold,” according to the
court document. “If that happens, the product
will be worthless and Big Sky will have lost not
only the estimated $1.3 million value of its industrial
hemp shipment’s isolates, but also the
opportunity of being among the first entrants
into the new congressionally-created industrial
hemp market.”
According to the document, the hemp was
being transported from Boones Ferry Berry
Farm, which is a licensed industrial hemp
grower in the state of Oregon. Additionally, the
hemp grown at the farm was tested by two different
state-certified laboratories to certify its
THC content met federal standards, according
to an enclosed memorandum.
Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts responded
to Big Sky in a document filed with
the court, stating that regardless of whether the
product meets the federal standards of hemp, it
is still illegal in the state of Idaho, making the
seizure lawful.
Citing Idaho law, Bennetts refused to comply
with the emergency motion for injunctive
relief.
While production and possession of hemp
and marijuana are still illegal in Idaho, the
state’s Legislature may change the state’s position
on hemp.
State Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee,
plans to introduce a bill soon that would legalize
hemp in Idaho, which she said will give
Idaho farmers an option to grow a versatile and
potentially lucrative crop.
According to trucking attorney Brad Klepper,
driver Palamarchuk faces marijuana trafficking
charges and, if found guilty, could face
up to five years in prison and a fine of $15,000.
In April 2018, the Idaho State Police arrested
Andrew D’Addario, 27, of Colorado,
and Erich Eisenhart, 25, of Oregon, for hauling
hemp plants through Idaho. 8
THETRUCKER.COM

4 • March 1-14, 2019 Nation
THETRUCKER.COM
ATA’s Chris Spear tells Senate panel U.S. needs terminal fuel
rack fee, other funds for better roads, calls for ‘real’ solution
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
WASHINGTON — Saying that the nation
is on the cusp of a transformation in
the movement of freight, American Trucking
Associations President and CEO Chris
Spear February 13 told a hearing of the Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science and
Transportation that there is an urgent need
to address the nation’s failing infrastructure,
pressing the committee to put forward a real
solution that includes new revenues, including
a fee at the terminal fuel rack.
Spear also discussed the parking crisis,
saying it could worsen.
The title of the hearing was “America’s
Infrastructure Needs: Keeping Pace with a
Growing Economy.”
Spear said radical technological change
will, in the near future, allow trucks to move
more safely and efficiently, and with less
impact on the environment than the country
ever dared to imagine. “Yet we are facing
headwinds, due almost entirely to government
action or, in some cases inaction, that
will slow or cancel out entirely the benefits
of innovation,” Spear said. “Failure to maintain
and improve the highway system that
your predecessors helped to create will destroy
the efficiencies that have enabled U.S.
manufacturers and farmers to continue to
compete with countries that enjoy far lower
labor and regulatory costs.”
Spear noted that just during the first full
week of February, chunks of falling concrete
struck cars traveling under bridges in California
and Massachusetts.
“We are no longer facing a future highway
maintenance crisis — we’re living it —
and every day we fail to invest, we’re putting
more lives at risk,” he said.
The nation’s crumbling and failing infrastructure
is taking a tremendous toll on
Americans’ time and their pocketbooks and
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. — Among the
many issues raised last month at a hearing
held by the Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science and Transportation, two caught the
attention of small-business truckers. One
was connected directly to infrastructure and
one was not, but both are closely related to
highway safety.
Truck parking and CDL requirements
were brought up during the “America’s Infrastructure
Needs: Keeping Pace with a
Growing Economy” hearing, both of which
the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers
Association (OOIDA) and its members have
an interest.
“We appreciate some of the witnesses
highlighting the truck parking crisis,” said
Todd Spencer, OOIDA president. “For too
long, Congress and federal transportation
agencies have done very little to address
Courtesy: AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATIONS
American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear, left, chats with Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Roger F. Wicker before a
hearing on February 13.
has impacted the trucking industry in a significant
way, Spear said.
“Trucking now loses $74.5 billion sitting
in gridlock. That equates to 1.2 billion lost
hours or 425,000 truck drivers sitting idle for
an entire year,” he said. “These are the regressive
costs of doing nothing. And they are
reflected in the prices we all pay. These costs
this issue. Truckers need more safe places to
park, not more studies that do nothing to increase
or preserve capacity. This is a critical
highway safety issue that deserves dedicated
federal funding.”
Regarding another issue brought up during
the hearing, OOIDA expressed objection.
The American Trucking Associations said
that in order to address a driver “shortage,”
that the age requirement to obtain a commercial
driver’s license should be lowered from
21 to 18.
“If safety is the top priority when considering
a change to a regulation, when it comes
to age, the number should be raised, not lowered,”
Spencer said. “We also disagree that
there is a driver shortage. There is very high
turnover, or churn, but no shortage.”
Spencer said OOIDA has long opposed
efforts to lower the age for driving a large
truck and refers to the claims of a driver
to consumers and economy are measurable
… and they can and should serve as offsets
for new spending on our nation’s infrastructure.
The road system is rapidly deteriorating
and costs the average motorist nearly $1,600
a year in higher maintenance and congestion
expenses.”
See Spear on p8 m
OOIDA: End younger truck driver idea, confront parking issue head-on
shortage as mainly mythical.
OOIDA also contends that any issue with
retention could be mitigated by other solutions
that would be safer for all highway users.
For example, compensation has been
shown to be tied directly to highway safety,
as revealed in a study by Michael Belzer, an
economics professor at Wayne State University,
Spencer said, noting that Belzer’s study
suggests there is a strong correlation between
truck driver pay and highway safety.
“Most carriers with high turnover do so
by design,” Spencer said. “They could deal
with driver turnover by offering better wages
and benefits and improved working conditions.
But putting younger drivers behind the
wheel of a truck isn’t the solution because
it does nothing to address the underlying issues
that push drivers out of the industry. It
merely exacerbates the churn.” 8
USPS 972
Volume 32, Number 5
March 1-31, 2019
The Trucker is a semi-monthly, national newspaper for the
trucking industry, published by Trucker Publications Inc. at
1123 S. University, Suite 320
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Lyndon Finney
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6 • March 1-14, 2019 Nation
THETRUCKER.COM
Driver iQ study says trucker pay has
to be about $100K to impact turnover
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
TULSA, Okla. — Driver pay will have to
approach $100,000 before compensation will
have a significant impact on driver turnover.
So say the results of the Driver iQ, Q4 2018
Recruitment & Retention Survey, which also
says that carriers are seeking more innovative
packages to attract and retain drivers.
“Recruiting executives have mixed reviews
on what they think turnover will do in first
quarter of 2019 with one-third each expecting
it to increase, decrease and remain the same,”
said Lana Batts, co-president of Driver iQ.
“However, 60 percent expect that future driver
compensation will continue to increase.”
She called the revelation of the $100,000
mark as the significant factor in driver retention
as “most unexpected.”
Batts further noted that “while 65 percent
of the carriers now hire entry-level drivers
(up from only 30 percent in 2012), only about
a quarter are willing to grow their own drivers,
i.e. operate their own entry-level training
schools.
This is because operating a company-based
training school requires an up-front hard dollar
commitment, trained staff and dedicated facilities
and equipment, she said, adding that unfortunately,
once trained, drivers may leave the
industry or move on to another carrier before the
training company recoups their investment.
Among other details in the survey are the
following:
• There is still a disconnect (albeit small)
between the number of carriers who support the
concept of younger drivers (18-21) operating in
interstate commerce (70 percent) and the number
who would actually hire such a young driver
(60 percent).
• The best driver recruits who stay with a
company after two years come from referrals and
rehires, both sources that carriers can control.
Batts said the Q4 Trends in Truckload Recruitment
and Retention Survey from Driver iQ
is the latest in a planned series of quarterly surveys
designed to better understand and measure
recruiting and retention experiences and expectations
in the truckload sector.
The results of the survey are coupled with
observations of Driver iQ personnel engaged in
the background screening industry. The survey
represents the views of recruiting managers who
operate over 75,000 trucks and the majority of
the responses came from dry van carriers with
over $100 million in gross operating revenues.
Driver iQ is the transportation division of
Cisive, a global provider of human resources
technology and background screening.
Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company
provides comprehensive, reliable background
screening and driver monitoring services designed
specifically for the trucking industry.
For more information, visit DriveriQ.com. 8
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THETRUCKER.COM
b Bottleneck from page 1 b
spot on this year’s study. “There were three
locations that usually competed for the top
three,” Brewster said. “Fort Lee, the Circle Interchange
in Chicago, and Spaghetti Junction
in Atlanta.”
The Chicago location has dropped down
the list, thanks to improvements prompted, at
least in part, by the ATRI study of 2010, when
the research organization only reported the top
30. “We’re quite proud of that,” Brewster said.
Former “Governor [Pat] Quinn issued a press
release that said Illinois no longer wanted to
have the top truck bottleneck in the country.”
Work soon began on the Interchange, where
I-90/94 meets I-290, and the new interchange
was renamed the Jayne M. Byrne Interchange
in April 2014. Construction won’t be completed
until 2022, but the improved bottleneck rating
shows that the improvements are already
having an impact.
“Spaghetti Junction,” where I-85 meets
I-285 on Atlanta’s northeast side, occupies the
No. 2 spot on the list.
The rest of the top 10, after the Fort Lee and
two Atlanta locations, are Los Angeles (State
Route 60 at State Route 57); Houston (I-45 at
I-69); Cincinnati (I-71 at I-75); Chicago (I-290
at I-90/94); Nashville, Tennessee (I-24/40 at
I-440 East); Atlanta, again (I-20 at I-285 West)
and Los Angeles again at I-710 and I-105.
The state with the greatest number of locations
in the top 100 is Texas, with a total of 13
spread among Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and
Austin. California is next with seven locations,
while Connecticut, Georgia and Washington
tied for third with six apiece.
Construction is often the culprit for causing
slowdowns, and can often be determined by
the numbers. “When a location that was previously
ranked low on the list suddenly moves
way up, it’s probably construction,” Brewster
explained. Likewise, when construction ends,
the results are often immediate as average
speeds pick up.
Although the data is reported annually,
trends can often be identified much more
quickly. Brewster points to the arrival of
Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area in late
August 2017. “We could immediately see results,”
she said. “Even as the hurricane was
coming ashore, we could see truck traffic rerouting
to avoid the storm, resulting in greater
congestion in other places. We saw, for example,
highways near Shreveport, Louisiana, become
more congested as trucks kept moving
on other routes.”
After the storm, which dumped historic
amounts of precipitation on the area, the ATRI
team continued to monitor data and report to
state and local authorities. “There was greater
congestion in some areas as drivers couldn’t
use some routes due to flooding and damage,”
Brewster explained.
Another example of temporary changes in
congestion occurred in Chattanooga, Tennessee,
when a rockslide closed I-75 in Campbell
county, near the Kentucky border. Traffic
slowed to a crawl as truckers routed down I-65
to I-24 to avoid the closed area, worsened the
bottleneck at the location (I-24 at U.S. Highway
27). Because of the additional traffic, the
location jumped to No. 11 on the 2018 report
(2016 data). Once the problem was cleared up,
traffic flowed more smoothly and the location
dropped back down the list, to number 51 on
this year’s report.
Other state DOTs and local traffic planners
Nation March 1-14, 2019 • 7
often contact ATRI to discuss bottlenecks in
their areas. The Chattanooga location is a good
example. “Coming in at number 51 doesn’t
seem bad,” Brewster explained, “until you consider
that the locations immediately before and
after Chattanooga on the list, Los Angeles and
Minneapolis, are much larger metro areas with
more traffic.”
The ATRI study was compiled using speed
and location information gathered from an extensive
truck GPS database. Weekday records
are kept for 300 specific locations and “congestion
profiles” are created for each location.
You don’t need to be a DOT official or carrier
executive to review the study. Some drivers
will find the information useful for trip
planning and other purposes.
Rankings and results for the top 100 locations
are available at the ATRI website
at truckingresearch.org/2019/02/06/atri-
2019-truck-bottlenecks/#.XGbwTLh7mUk.
Users can click on column headings to sort
the data as needed and then click on individual
location links to see information about a particular
interchange. For example, clicking on
the “State” column header sorts the 100 entries
by state, so a driver planning a trip can quickly
find bottleneck locations in each state that’s
on the route, zeroing in to find the best time to
travel through bottleneck areas.
Rankings can also be quoted to highlight
congested areas in communication with elected
officials. ATRI knows that at least one governor
got the message, loud and clear. 8
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8 • March 1-14, 2019 Nation
THETRUCKER.COM
Safe roads advocacy group says most states had hike in big rig-related deaths
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
ATLANTA — Road Safe America says
federal crash data it had analyzed show all
but six U.S. states had increases in big-rig
truck crash deaths from 2009 to 2017, the
most recent year of available data.
From 2009 through 2017, a total of 35,882
people died in large-truck crashes.
“The sad fact is that many of these deaths
could have been avoided if use of existing
speed limiting and automatic emergency
braking technologies had been the law,” said
Steve Owings, co-founder of the highwaysafety
nonprofit Road Safe America.
Statistics show that from 2009 to 2016,
miles driven by heavy commercial trucks
slightly decreased while the crashes involving
them continually increased.
The data shows the top five states with
the greatest number of truck crash fatalities
in 2017 were in order: Texas, California,
Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
The five states with the largest percentage increases
in truck crash deaths from 2009 to 2017
were, in order of greatest increase: Washington,
Idaho, Colorado, Texas and Nevada.
“Most of the states in this top five list
have truck speed limits of 70 mph or more,”
Owings said. “There is no good reason for
big rigs that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds,
or more in some states, to be operating at
speeds this high since they cannot stop in the
same distance in an emergency as vehicles
with which they share the roads.
“Yet, unlike many other leading nations,
our country does not require the use of automatic
emergency braking or even speed limiters,
which would help to save lives of people
in passenger vehicles and professional truck
drivers, too. In fact, required use of speed
limiters is so prevalent around the world that
they have been built into America’s big-rig
trucks since the 1990s. So, all that is needed
is a requirement to turn them on and set them
©2019 FOTOSEARCH
Road Safe America said statistics show that from 2009 to 2016, miles driven by heavy commercial trucks slightly decreased while the crashes
involving them continually increased.
at a reasonable top speed, such as 65 mph.
A recent national survey found 80 percent
of voters across all demographics join us in
calling for these requirements.”
In 2016, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration and the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration jointly issued a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposed
equipping heavy-duty vehicles with devices
that limit their speeds on U.S. roadways, and
requiring those devices be set to a maximum
speed, a safety measure that could save lives
and more than $1 billion in fuel costs each year.
However, the NPRM never gained any
traction.
Most industry stakeholders said the initiative
fell victim to President Donald Trump’s
order to reduce federal regulatory efforts. 8
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National Safety Council decries ‘trend’ of
3 straight years of 40,000-plus road deaths
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
CHICAGO — For the first time since the
Great Recession, the U.S. has experienced three
straight years of at least 40,000 roadway deaths,
according to preliminary estimates released February
13 by the National Safety Council (NSC).
In response to the NSC’s preliminary figures,
Securing America’s Future Energy reiterated the
need for policymakers to expedite the deployment
of autonomous vehicle technology to curb
the alleged trend.
The NSC said in 2018, an estimated 40,000
people lost their lives to car crashes, a 1 percent
decline from 2017 (40,231 deaths) and 2016
(40,327 deaths). About 4.5 million people were
seriously injured in crashes last year, also a 1 percent
decrease over 2017.
Florida, Hawaii, Minnesota, Nevada, New
Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington,
D.C., had at least a 5.8 percent spike in
fatalities, according to NSC estimates.
Five states experienced declines of more than
9.4 percent: Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode
Island and Wyoming.
The NSC’s preliminary estimate signals a leveling
off after years of consecutive rises.
Last year’s estimated 40,000 deaths is 14 percent
higher than four years ago. Driver behavior
is likely contributing to the numbers staying stubbornly
high, the organization said.
Its estimates do not reveal causation; however,
2017 final data show spikes in deaths among
pedestrians, while distraction continues to be involved
in 8 percent of crashes, and drowsy driving
in an additional 2 percent.
NSC has tracked fatality trends and issued estimates
for nearly 100 years.
All estimates are subject to slight increases
and decreases as the data mature, according to
the organization. 8
b Spear from page 4 b
While the cost and scale of addressing
highway improvement needs is daunting, it
is important to note that much of the congestion
is focused at a relatively small number
of locations, Spear told the committee.
“Just 17 percent of National Highway
System miles represents 87 percent of total
truck congestion costs nationwide,” he said.
“Many of these locations are at highway bottlenecks
that are identified annually by the
American Transportation Research Institute.
ATRI just released its latest freight bottlenecks
report, which identifies the top 100
truck bottlenecks around the country. The
worst bottleneck was Interstate 95 at State
Route 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. More than
half of the bottlenecks are in states represented
by members of this committee, including
13 in Texas, six in Connecticut, and five in
Washington state.”
To address the nation’s need to re-invest
in its roads and bridges, Spear again pushed
forward the Build America Fund — a 20-centper-gallon
fee at the terminal fuel rack phased
in over four years that would generate billions
in new revenues for investment.
Trucking pays for nearly half the Highway
Trust Fund, and we’re willing to pay
more,” he said. “The Build America Fund
would increase the price of fuel 20 cents per
gallon at the fuel rack — just a nickel a year
over four years — generating $340 billion
over 10 years. This new revenue is real, not
fake funding like PPPs and asset recycling.
“The Build America Fund is the most conservative
proposal … costing less than .01 cent
on the dollar to administer, versus up to .35
cents a dollar for tolling schemes,” Spear said.
As for the parking situation, Spear said
that research and feedback from carriers and
drivers suggest there is a significant shortage
of available parking for truck drivers in certain
parts of the country, something to which
any trucker would agree.
“Given the projected growth in demand
for trucking services, this problem will likely
worsen,” Spear said. “There are significant
safety benefits from investing in truck parking
to ensure that trucks are not parking in
unsafe areas due to lack of space.”
Funding for truck parking is available to
states under the current federal-aid highway
program, but truck parking has not been a
priority given a shortage of funds for essential
highway projects. As a result, Spear said
ATA supports the creation of a new discretionary
grant program with dedicated funding
from the federal-aid highway program
for truck parking capital projects.
“We are at a critical point in our country’s
history, and the decisions made by this committee
over the next few months will impact
the safety and efficiency of freight transportation
for generations,” Spear said. “ATA looks
forward to working with you to develop and
implement sound policy that benefits the millions
of Americans and U.S. businesses that
rely on a safe and efficient supply chain.” 8

THETRUCKER.COM
Nation March 1-14, 2019 • 9
ATA names new members of 2019-2020 America’s Road Team trucking ambassadors
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Trucking
Associations has named its new team of 18
professional truck drivers to the 2019-2020 class
of America’s Road Team. The drivers will immediately
begin their service as the premier group of
trucking industry ambassadors to the general public,
elected officials and members of the media.
“These drivers represent the diverse experiences
of the 3.5 million professional drivers
across the country and will be able to bring
their unique stories to new, critical audiences
as part of America’s Road Team,” said ATA
President and CEO Chris Spear.
America’s Road Team is an outreach initiative
that utilizes professional truck drivers to
impress upon the motoring public, lawmakers
and media the importance of the trucking industry.
Since it was established in 1986, America’s
Road Team has educated millions of drivers
about the trucking industry’s safety record,
necessity, and professionalism.
The 2019-2020 America’s Road Team Captains
are:
• William C. Bennett III, UPS Freight,
Maytown, Pennsylvania
• Sammy Brewster, ABF Freight, Powder
Springs, Georgia
• Jorge Chavez, Jetco Delivery, Houston
• Timothy Chelette, Big G Express, Murfreesboro,
Tennessee
• James Clark, Penske Logistics, Otter
Lake, Michigan
• April Coolidge, Walmart Transportation,
Mint Hill, North Carolina
• Scott Davis, ABF Freight, Kearney, Missouri
• Douglas Frombaugh, FedEx Freight, Carlisle,
Pennsylvania
• William Goins, Old Dominion, Cloverdale,
Indiana
• Billy Hambrick, Werner Enterprises, Yoder,
Wyoming
• Russell James, YRC Freight, Bonner,
Montana
• Gary Martin, FedEx Ground, Galt, California
• William McNamee, Carbon Express,
Christopher, Illinois
• Tina Peterson, FedEx Ground, Blaine,
Minnesota
• Theldorine “Dee” Sova, Prime Inc., Sacramento,
California
• Ronald Vandermark, UPS Freight, Delran,
New Jersey
• Nicolette Weaver, FedEx Freight, New
Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, and
• Todd Wilemon, ABF Freight, Fulton, Mississippi.
“These Captains have dedicated their lives
to spreading the message of safe driving while
promoting a positive perception of the trucking
industry. They are leaders in their communities,
role models in their companies, and truly embody
the professionalism and dedication that comes
with the passion that they have for the industry,”
said ATA Senior Advisor and Executive Vice
President of Industry Affairs Elisabeth Barna.
The Captains will have the opportunity to
share their passion for trucking as they travel
the country on behalf of ATA and the industry.
They will share their experiences as professional
truck drivers and the critical role the
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industry plays in the delivery of goods and services
while also stressing the importance of a
safety-first mentality. The drivers will continue
to work full-time for their ATA member companies,
appearing on behalf of ATA anywhere
from 3-5 days per month. The new Captains
will tour the country in ATA’s Interstate One
Image Truck, a Volvo VNL 760, featuring a
truck driving simulator and mobile classroom.
“Volvo Trucks is honored to continue our
sponsorship of America’s Road Team with a
brand new Volvo VNL 760 and take part in this
week’s selection of the 2019-2020 Captains,”
said Volvo Trucks North America President Peter
Voorhoeve. “America’s Road Team is one
of the most visible groups of professional truck
drivers in the country, and we believe their
hard work and dedication pays dividends for
our industry.”
ATA held its final round of selections from
January 27-29. The drivers were judged on
their ability to express their knowledge of the
industry, their skills in effective communication
about safety and transportation, and their
overall safe-driving record.
“I’m excited to start off 2019 by welcoming
these new Captains to the America’s Road
Team family. America’s Road Team is an important
tool for our industry and I can’t wait to
see how they will continue to spread our message
of safety and professionalism,” said ATA
Chairman and professional truck driver Barry
Pottle, president of Pottle’s Transportation.
Trucking industry professionals can support
America’s Road Team’s mission by following
the team on Facebook and Twitter and interacting
with the Captains at industry events, conferences
and community visits.
To learn more about the 2019-2020 America’s
Road Team and view the team’s biographies, visit
the official America’s Road Team webpage at
trucking.org/article/art-captains-2019-20. 8
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Letters
ELDs were never about highway
safety; drivers now employees
Being that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration has required all trucks to have
ELDs, except the ones that are exempt, are we
no longer truck drivers and now “employees” like
union and non-union company drivers?
Because we are no different than employees
that work in a factory or any other business that
has to punch in to go to work and punch out at
quitting time.
With all the new technology motor carriers
have at their disposal and are using to track their
employees’ every move, [it] is no different than a
boss in a factory watching all employees’ every
move to direct and control.
With all the en route “on duty not paid” delays
at shippers’ and receivers’ docks, construction,
accidents, bad weather and big city traffic
congestion, it has drivers rushing against the ELD
time clock as they are only paid by the mile.
This causes stress and is very unhealthy and
unsafe.
The ELD time clocks had nothing to do
with “safety.” It was a “maximum productivity”
push by the American Trucking Associations,
the Truckload Carriers Association lobby
and FMCSA.
It’s evident “now” that the ELD time clocks
don’t fit all movements of the trucking industry
and should be done away with immediately for
driver and public safety.
— Sincerely,
David P. Gaibis,
Truck driver for 60 years
Following are comments by readers of
thetrucker.com on various posted news articles.
On a story about the National Safety Council
estimating that in the U.S. there were at least
40,000 deaths from traffic accidents in 2018 —
making it the third year in a row — Trevor W.
Frith said:
Nineteen of these deaths each day are pedestrians
and cyclists — all caused by the right foot
braking method.
In order to get our driver’s licenses we are
forced to brake an electric or automatic vehicle
using the right foot braking method. Those in
charge of driver legislation and training at the
state and federal levels have known about the
dangerous flaws of this method for years.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
the Governors Highway Safety Association
and the Transportation Research Board
produced reports (DOT HS 811 597, 812 058
and 812 431). These reports showed that rightfoot
pedal errors (pedal misapplication) occur
40,000 times per day by drivers of all ages and
gender but especially for women drivers, which
they blamed for most of the crashes. But for some
unknown reason which no one in charge wants
to talk about, no more research has been done.
One would have expected that instead of just continuing
to blame female drivers they might have
asked themselves two basic questions:
See Letters on p11 m
Perspective March
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
Eye on
Trucking
As if the trucking industry wasn’t already
being harangued enough …
PR Newswire was founded in 1954 to provide
public relations agencies and in-house
public relations departments a worldwide
platform for distribution of news releases.
In 2017, it was integrated into Cision
Communications Cloud, which, according to
its website “is the only platform that empowers
you to manage, execute and measure your
earned media campaigns — all in a single integrated
solution.”
Cision has 35 offices in 18 countries, including
10 in the United States.
It’s obviously a powerful player in the
communications business.
But, in our opinion at least, the credibility
of both the PR Newswire and Cision wavers
when it sends out releases such as the one
that crossed our desk recently.
It was from the Semi Truck Accident Victims
Center and started like this:
“About a week ago we started a national
initiative intended to identify the most skilled
and qualified local law firm for innocent victims
of a semi-truck accident in the top 100
U.S. metropolitan areas. We thought no problem.
Unfortunately, what we soon discovered
was either there are not extremely capable
semi-truck law firms in every single top 100
These days I use it as my distance reference.
I still rely on a phone call for local
instructions then compare that with maps.
After 12 years out here, I pretty much know
my way around.
— Paul Stone
U.S. metro area, or these law firms have some
serious work to do on their websites.
“What we did discover is dog bite attorneys,
slip-and-fall attorneys or Social
Security disability attorneys listing on their
website’s assistance for truck accident victims
with no supporting proof they know
what they are doing. We (the Semi Truck
Accident Victims Center) are the top-ranked
semi-truck accident victims advocate in the
United States and if you are a partner in a
law firm that specializes in assisting innocent
victims of a serious semi-truck accident in
a major metro area, please call us at (866)
714-6466 and please let us know who you
are, and we’ll provide you with information
about our initiative.
“If we can’t find a competent local law
firm to represent an innocent victim of a
catastrophic accident involving a semi-truck
or commercial vehicle in the state or local
metro [area] where the accident occurred, we
seriously doubt an innocent victim, or their
family members, will be able to find them either,
as we would like to discuss.”
We didn’t call the number to express our
displeasure at anyone trying to recruit lawyers
to go after victims of accidents involving
a big rig, but we are recommending a few
changes to the organization’s website where
it lists reasons why a big rig might be involved
in an accident.
What the organization listed is in lightface
type; our recommendations are in boldface
type.
• The truck was traveling too fast.
• The passenger car was traveling too
fast.
1-14, 2019 • 10
‘News’ release promotes those big rig crash-chasing lawyers
Recently, a driver, relying on GPS tried to cross a bridge in Arkansas
that was weight limited at 6 tons. His rig wound up in the Petit Jean
River. How much do you rely on GPS to plan your routes and guide your
trips as opposed to using a map and why?
I use a combination of GPS, map, phone
call and simple memory. I have been to
some places a couple of times and remember
how to get there.
— Yvonne Lander
• The truck was involved in an improper
lane change.
• The passenger car was involved in an
improper lane change.
• The truck driver had highway or roadway
unfamiliarity.
• The passenger car driver had highway
or roadway unfamiliarity.
• The semi truck or commercial truck
driver was distracted or talking on a cellphone.
• The passenger vehicle driver was distracted
or talking on a cellphone.
• The semi truck or commercial vehicle
was involved in illegal maneuvers.
• The passenger car was involved in illegal
maneuvers.
• The semi truck, or commercial truck
driver was driving too aggressively.
• The passenger car driver was driving
too aggressively.
• The semi truck, or commercial vehicle
driver had alcohol/drug/prescription drug issues.
• The passenger car driver had alcohol/
drug/drug prescription issues.
• The semi truck, or commercial vehicle
driver was overdriving for current weather
conditions.
• The passenger car driver was overdriving
for current weather conditions.
The list could go on, but you get the
point: The Semi Truck Accident Victims
Center is trying to find more lawyers to plaster
on those billboards that show the smiling,
dental-veneered lawyer along with a car
smashed by a tractor-trailer (and there is a
See Eye on p11 m
I need my GPS; I admit I have zero common
sense when it comes to maps. I also
have dyslexia when it comes to anything
with a number. Extremely frustrating, but I
admit it. I also double check with Google
maps.
— Brian Cowen

THETRUCKER.COM
b Eye from page 10 b
75 percent chance the car ran underneath the
tractor-trailer).
The news releases continued, “The reason
this service is so vital is because if you
have been innocently involved in an accident
with a semi-truck or commercial vehicle
and you do not retain the services of the
most skilled and experienced truck accident
attorneys, you or your loved one will probably
not receive the best possible compensation
results.”
Yet, who out there is trying to recruit
lawyers who will help the small trucking
company owners and independent contractors
who can get wiped out with a single
jury decision?
The PR Newswire ought to be ashamed
of itself for sending out this “fake news,” to
paraphrase the man who lives in the White
House. 8
b Letters from page 10 b
1. Is it possible to develop a braking method
that would be more suitable for female drivers
(and male drivers if they would admit it), which
would prevent these crashes?
2. Do we actually have any scientific justification
for teaching the right foot braking method?
The answer to point one is yes and the answer
to point 2 is no!
It turns out there is no scientific justification
for teaching the right foot braking method which
is too complicated and difficult to mentally retain
with age, inefficient (poor reaction and stopping
distances) and even more dangerous (susceptible
to pedal misapplication) compared to the simpler,
more efficient and safer left foot braking method.
Deaths to date [are] 150,000 (or 19 every
day) pedestrians (in and out of buildings) and
cyclists. This is not about which braking method
is safer but why they refuse to scientifically
compare the two methods. Apparently, ME
Perspective March 1-14, 2019 • 11
TOO is not the only victim of a male systemic
belief! Was it driver error or the way we taught
them to brake?
Regarding the truck driver who followed his
GPS and drove onto a 6-ton limit bridge, causing
the bridge to collapse with the rig into the water,
Giovanni Socci wrote:
Oh my gosh! My heart goes to this driver. I
think he panicked [and] took his chances going
forward because he knew backing up would’ve
been very hard.
His career may be over, and from the sound of
it, he was a newbie.
If you are ever in this situation, do not panic.
Stop, and the police will come and help you back
out, block traffic, whatever it takes.
The police prefer to give out a citation if need
be rather than writing a whole one- or two-day
report.
I am sorry for this driver. We old hands have
been in tough situations, too, but we managed to
keep our wits about us.
Socci also wrote in response to the Ohio-licensed
CMV driver who was put out of service by
the FMCSA after he killed two pedestrians on the
side of the road in the last six months:
OK. Why wasn’t he forcefully retired when
he killed the first victim?
I-81 is narrow in some portions and a busy
highway, but that’s no excuse for carelessness.
I don’t know why he was still driving.
I’ve been a safety director and I can say that I
would not have hired this driver. He had no business
driving, not without a couple or three years
to cope and deal with the psychological effects of
taking a life.
Regarding the story posted about self-driving
truck company TuSimple raising $95 million in
series D funding, Andy Bud wanted to know:
So it [TuSimple] delivers less-than-truckload
and last mile [freight]?
And finally, Richard Youell had some nice
things to say in response to the story about Montgomery
Transport feeding drivers from its food
truck named “Breaker 1-Swine:”
Montgomery goes over and above other
transport companies and it just keeps getting
better. 8
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12
AT
THE TRUCK STOP
PRESENTED BY CAT SCALE, VISIT WEIGHMYTRUCK.COM
Driver finds that so long as the job’s getting done
on time, life sets its own pace
The Trucker: Klint Lowry
The daughter of a truck driver, Wendi Congdon decided to give the profession a try to break the sense of monotony she was feeling in her life. Two years later, she has no doubt she
made the right choice.
Klint Lowry
Klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Compared to most of the people going about their business at
the truck stop on a late Saturday morning, there was a lightness
in Wendi Congdon’s step, an openness in her expression as she
made her way to breakfast. She was mindful of the time, but she
didn’t feel rushed.
Peace of mind, freedom from the stresses that accompany
most other jobs, that’s one of the things she likes most since
becoming a professional truck driver about two years ago.
“I don’t have to worry about someone standing over my
shoulder,” she said. “I don’t have to worry about somebody
chewing me out in my ear. As long as I do my job, drive, do
what I need to do.”
And she sure doesn’t miss the inevitable prattle and gossip that
comes with working in one place. “I listen to other drivers on the
CB,” she said. “If I don’t want to listen to that, I can just turn it off.”
On this morning, she was homeward bound. Congdon runs a
dedicated route for .A 2 .B Synchronized Logistics (pronouncing
the “points” is optional), based in Morristown, Tennessee. Her
route runs from Hopkinsville, in her home state of Kentucky, to
Laredo, Texas. She hauls various goods, but mostly auto parts.
Congdon’s been with .A 2 .B for a few months. Before that, she
drove for Paschall Truck lines, or PTL for short. At 46, Congdon
could be the poster girl for what many people in trucking see as an
encouraging trend of more women coming into trucking.
As she explained what drew her to the profession, her
Kentucky drawl made it sound like she was reciting the lyrics to
a country music song.
“Tired of being home alone, kids are grown, want something
different with my life,” she said. That’s what she’s loving most
about the job, all the “different,” it’s such a departure from the
“get up, go to work, go home” rut she felt like she was in before
she hit the road.
Sure, there’s a certain amount of routine to truck driving, she
said, but even within that routine, there is variety – “different
places, you’re constantly meeting new people.”
Current estimates say women make up just under 8 percent of
the drivers. Congdon’s not going to argue with the statistics, but
to her, that figure seems low.
When she pulls in to a truck stop, if there’s 100 trucks, she’ll
see 10 or 15 of those trucks will have women, especially in teams.
“There’s a lot of us out here, more than you probably realize,”
she said.
As to why there aren’t more women in trucking, Congdon
says, “A lot of women aren’t able to do it.”
That’s not to say there’s any physical reason women can’t
handle the job, she added. She’s not a large person, some might
even say she’s bordering on petite. And there’s nothing about
operating a truck that’s all that hard, well, once you get the hang
of backing up.
“Anybody can go forward,” she said with a laugh.
What she meant was that a lot of women decide they aren’t
cut out for the truck driving lifestyle.
“A lot of women think they want to do it, and I’ve seen them
just …” and she finished the thought with a sputtering sound.
“Folded within a week,” she added. They’re like, ‘no, I can’t
do this.’
Some women can’t reconcile the idea of not always being
able to stop when they want, Congdon said, not being able
to shower when they want, not spending a lot of time on hair
and makeup before they start their day.
Using herself as an example, she said, you have to be
comfortable with the natural look, “You know, brush your
hair, brush your teeth and go, that’s pretty much what you
got to do.
“I look like a regular ol’ truck driver, to me.”
She occasionally encounters bit of resistance, or at least
condescending attitudes from a few who still question
whether this is the right line of work for a little lady.
How does she handle it? The question makes her laugh in
a way that would make anyone think twice about wanting an
actual demonstration.
“Usually, either you ignore it, or you give them a piece of
your mind,” she said, adding that she’s more the piece of her
mind type.
One lifestyle concession she wouldn’t make as a truck
driver was with food. Congdon used to be a cook, “and I love
cooking. I cook in my truck. I have a crock pot, refrigerator,
microwave, electric skillet, George Foreman grill.”
Occasionally, she’ll make exceptions, like on this day. She
was headed home and had calculated if she got her meals to
go, she might just make it.
Still, when invited to sit down for a brief interview, she felt
relaxed enough that she figured, sure, she had enough time to
make a new acquaintance, chat for a few minutes.
After all, life’s too short to always be in a hurry. 8

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14 • March 1-14, 2019 Perspective
You knew it was going to happen. We
all did. A commercial vehicle hauling “legal”
hemp/marijuana would be stopped, the
cargo seized, and the driver prosecuted.
On January 24, Idaho State Police seized
6,701 pounds of allegedly illicit marijuana
at the East Boise Point of Entry. Not surprisingly,
the driver was arrested and is facing
marijuana trafficking charges.
What makes this case so interesting is
that the driver was not transporting marijuana
from the cartels but was instead hauling
industrial hemp — at least according to
his bill of lading.
At the stop, the driver presented his bill
of lading. However, the trooper became
suspicious that the cargo was not hemp but
was instead marijuana.
To that end, the officer opened up one
of bags and tested a sample of the alleged
hemp. The test came back positive for THC
— the chemical in marijuana that provides
the high. A K9 unit also alerted to the cargo.
The driver was arrested and, if found guilty
of the trafficking charges, faces at least five
years in prison and a $15,000 fine. None of
this would be out of the ordinary except for
the fact that hemp is legal nationwide.
Hemp and marijuana are basically different
varieties of the same plant. While
marijuana contains high amounts of THC,
hemp does not. However, it is very difficult
to visually tell the plants apart. Herein lies
the problem. The fundamental difference is
that under federal law, hemp must contain
less than 0.3 percent of THC.
In 2018, the federal government passed
the Farm Bill, which made industrial hemp
and its byproducts, including CBD, legal.
CBD stands for cannabinoid, which are active
molecules found in the cannabis plant
that are thought to give it its medicinal
properties. Because of the alleged benefits
of CBD in dealing with anxiety, stress, arthritis
and other conditions, CBD dispensaries
have turned it into big business.
This is why Big Sky Scientific, the owner
of the hemp, got involved in the Idaho
stop and is suing the county prosecutor’s
office and the Idaho State Police for return
of its hemp.
In its lawsuit, Big Sky Scientific says it
THETRUCKER.COM
Truck driver in middle of fight over whether
industrial hemp haul is legal or contraband
Brad Klepper
exclusive to the trucker
Ask the
Attorney
bought 13,000 pounds of hemp from a registered
federal hemp grower licensed with the
Oregon Department of Agriculture. The company
also says it conducted tests on 19 samples
so the hemp at issue and its THC content
was compliant with federal requirements.
In response, Idaho says that the drug
test and canine search were done correctly.
However, the test conducted in the field and
the canine search can’t distinguish between
hemp and marijuana. The field and canine
tests only look for the presence of THC.
Idaho law defines marijuana as any part of
the cannabis plant that shows any evidence
of THC. Thus, it does not matter how low
the level of concentration of THC is. The
presence of any THC is enough to violate
the law. This is where it gets interesting.
Big Sky Scientific’s attorney claims that
federal law prevails in this scenario and that
not only is Idaho violating the Farm Bill but
also the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Of course, the prosecuting attorney disagrees
and the Idaho State Police have stated
that under Idaho law any amount of THC
is illegal in the state and they will continue
to aggressively enforce Idaho law.
So what does this mean for the trucking
industry? It means that the poor driver
of the truck transporting the hemp inadvertently
found himself in the middle of what
could be an epic fight about marijuana vs.
hemp. It also means that we are heading for
a showdown between the states and federal
government as everyone struggles to get
their heads around the booming CBD/medical
marijuana issue.
With that in mind, any carrier transporting
industrial hemp across state lines should
make sure they understand the laws of each
and every state they will enter. Failure to
recognize the differences could very well
place you in the same scenario as we discussed
here because Idaho is not the only
state that takes a hard-line position.
Brad Klepper is chairman of Interstate
Trucker Ltd., a law firm entirely dedicated
to legal defense of the nation’s commercial
drivers. Interstate Trucker represents truck
drivers throughout the 48 states on both
moving and non-moving violations. Jim is
also Chairman of Drivers Legal Plan, which
allows member drivers access to his firm’s
services at greatly discounted rates. He is
a lawyer that has focused on transportation
law and the trucking industry in particular.
For more information contact him at
800-333-DRIVE (3748) or interstatetrucker.com
and driverslegalplan.com. 8
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Perspective March 1-14, 2019 • 15
©2019 FOTOSEARCH
John the Baptist had but one mission in life and that was to prepare the people for the
coming of Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist had mission of telling others
about Jesus; we have exactly the same calling
Gaylon Taylor
Chaplain’s
Corner
He found first his own brother, Simon, and
said to him, “We have found the Messiah.”
(John 1:41)
In the first chapter of John we find the testimony
of John the Baptist. John had one mission
in life and that was to inform people that Jesus
was coming. The Jewish people were looking
for the Messiah to come and establish His kingdom.
When John came proclaiming the coming
of the Lord, many thought he might be the one
they were waiting for. Some of the leaders even
came to him and asked, “Who are you?”
John’s answer to them was, “I am not the
Christ.” John could have made himself to be
more than he was, but he made it very clear that
he was only the messenger proclaiming that the
true Messiah was coming.
John had even been baptizing and making
disciples. Men were following him because
they believed the message he was preaching.
However, when it was time for Jesus to make
his entry, John had no trouble stepping aside
and pointing to Christ.
One of the disciples of John was Andrew.
When Andrew realized that Jesus was the one
they had been waiting for, his first action was to
find his brother, Peter, and tell him about Jesus.
When we find something good we don’t want
to keep it to ourselves. We want to share what
we have found with others. Andrew had found
something that he could not keep secret.
I remember when I came to Christ I wanted
everyone to experience the joy and forgiving
grace that I had found in Jesus. I began to tell my
friends about my relationship with Jesus. Many
were overjoyed that I had found the Savior.
However, I soon found that many of my socalled
friends resented the change in my life
and tried to drag me back into the pit of sin I
had been saved from. We cannot let those who
refuse to believe in Jesus keep us from sharing
the good news of Jesus with our family, friends
and anyone with whom we come in contact.
Many of my family members came to
Christ after my acceptance of Jesus as my Savior.
But it is easy to become a Christian and
then get comfortable. Some people say we pay
the preacher to do the visiting and telling folks
about Jesus. When we accept the gift of eternal
life we also accept the responsibility of sharing
that gift with others.
I want to ask you: Are you taking your responsibility
seriously? Are you seeking out
your brothers and sisters and telling them, “I
have found the Messiah?” If not, you are missing
the greatest blessing ever. As you travel
this great nation you will come into contact
with people who may never have set foot in a
church.
I have actually talked to people who have
no idea who Jesus is. They have heard His
name and have some idea in their mind who
He is. But, when they began to tell you what
they believe, it in no way describes the Jesus of
the Bible. We have a responsibility as believers
to seek out and tell our brothers and sisters we
have found the Messiah.
Have a safe trip. I’ll see you out on the road.
— The Asphalt Preacher
Gaylon Taylor 8
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16 • March 1-14, 2019 Perspective
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Business
March 1-14, 2019 • 17
Courtesy: DAIMLER TRUCKS NORTH AMERICA
Freightliner led the January sales pack with 9,205 trucks sold, good for 45.6 percent of the
market and a gain of 178 or 2.0 percent from December sales. Pictured is the Freightliner
Cascadia.
New England Motor Freight files for relief
in bankruptcy citing costs, driver shortage
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
ELIZABETH, N.J. — New England Motor
Freight (NEMF) on February 11 said the
company and 10 related entities have voluntarily
filed for relief under Chapter 11
of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the District of New Jersey
in Newark.
NEMF said it intends to use these proceedings
to facilitate an orderly wind-down
of its operations.
“We have worked hard to explore options
for New England Motor Freight, but
the macro-economic factors confronting
this industry are significant,” said Vincent
Colistra, a senior managing director with
Phoenix Management Services and chief re-
Klint Lowry
klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Lane
Departures
A couple of Saturdays ago, I had nothing
to do and all day to do it, so I decided to go
out to the nearby truck stop where we look
for people to interview.
Usually, when I go to the truck stop the
trip is very purposeful. I show up with my
camera around my neck, notepad and digital
recorder in hand, and try to find a truck
driver who’s in the right frame of mind to
chew the fat for a few minutes. We talk, I
snap a couple of photos, and I’m off.
This time, I thought, I’m going to do
something I’ve always thought about doing.
structuring officer for the company.
In a news release, the company said
that upon the recommendation of its advisors,
NEMF had determined that a Chapter
11 proceeding was the best mechanism to
maximize the value of its assets for the benefit
of its employees and various creditor
constituencies.
Phoenix Management Services is serving
as the company’s financial and restructuring
advisor.
The following letter was sent to employees
February 11 from Thomas W. Connery,
president and chief operating officer:
To The Workers of NEMF:
It is with a heavy heart that I am writ-
See Nemf on p18 m
I want to take my time, just hang out, spend
a couple of hours and just observe. I mean,
who spends that much time at a truck stop,
other than truckers or the people who work
there?
So, I plopped myself down at a small
table near the restrooms and doodled in my
notepad while watching the people go by.
As a sat for a while, the prevailing impression
that came over me was what an
anonymous experience the truck stop can
be. People pass through, do whatever they
are there to do and pay little attention to
anything or anyone else. I’d sat there for a
couple hours, hadn’t spoken to anyone and
no one had spoken to me.
I started to play a game — guess who’s
a trucker and who’s a four-wheeler. Some
were obvious. The white-haired little old
lady in the shiny Disney jacket making a
beeline for the restroom, I’m pretty sure
she’s travelling by car.
Truck sales, freight rates could level
off, making for a very interesting year
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetrucker.com
Sales of new Class 8 tractors came roaring
out of the gate in 2019, reaching a new
high-water mark for the month of January.
According to the latest numbers from
ACT Research, 20,701 Class 8 trucks were
sold in January, a whopping 39.6 percent
more than the 14,827 sold in January 2018.
As expected, January sales dropped from
December sales by 22.1 percent or a total of
5,877 trucks.
Anybody wearing a headset, even if
it’s around their neck — almost for sure a
trucker. If they’re lugging a duffle bag full
of laundry, that’s another safe bet.
I’ve also noticed more and more, a trucker
is probably anyone wearing flip-flops or
Crocs in the dead of winter — for some reason
that seems to be a fashion trend among
drivers, stretched-out socks optional. Why
do I see more and more drivers at the truck
stop not wearing grownup shoes? I must
look into that sometime.
Eventually, an employee parked a utility
cart outside the men’s room, temporarily
closing it for maintenance. A minute later, a
would-be patron decided to wait it out and
to put the time to good use helping out his
fellow man.
Every few moments, another guy would
approach, and when stopped by the utility
cart barricade, his body language would express
mild panic and confusion, as though
The year-over-year comparison, however,
shows that sales of Class 8 tractors grew
much more than the heavy-duty vocational
segment. January sales of 15,656 tractors
represented a gain of 55.3 percent over sales
of 10,079 in January 2018. Sales of vocational
trucks, which include straight dump trucks
and other vehicles with a GVWR of 33,000
pounds or more, grew at a more modest 6.3
percent with sales of 5,045 trucks in January
vs. 4,748 in January 2018.
See Sales on p19 m
Courtesy: NEW ENGLAND MOTOR FREIGHT
New England Motor Freight has long been considered a major less-than-truckload player in
the Northeast.
We’re all just passing through, and it’s easy to be more than just a face in the crowd
the realization the men’s room was closed
had snapped him out of a trance.
Every time, the man who was waiting
would say, “it’s closed,” as though his
soothing words were there to help ease the
others on their jolting transition back into
reality. Some would simply sink back into
their comfortable private stupor and trudge
off in a different direction. A few acted as
though they were personally offended by the
inconvenience.
Finally, one guy saw the cart, and when
the first guy offered the complimentary,
“it’s closed” confirmation, just smiled and
decided to wait it out, too. The two immediately
started comparing their trips. One of
them had started in Joplin and was headed
to Charleston. The other was on his way to
Houston from Indiana. They talked about the
weather they’d encountered. The driver from
Indiana won, his weather had been worse.
See Lane on p18 m

18 • March 1-14, 2019 Business
b NEMF from page 17 b
ing this letter to inform you of our intent to
undertake a wind-down and liquidation of
our company, New England Motor Freight.
The costs of running an asset-based
trucking company have soared, with labor
and benefits consuming an ever-larger
portion of revenue. Add in the high cost of
equipment, a severe industry shortage of
drivers, ever increasing regulations and
tolls, technology investments and the overall
risk environment of our business.
After much discussion as well as consultation
with outside financial advisors,
it was concluded that it does not make
sense to continue operations to support a
business in which our margins continue to
shrink, thereby resulting in significant financial
losses.
No one is more devastated than our
Chairman Myron ‘Mike’ Shevell and his
THETRUCKER.COM
family, namely Nancy, Susan and Zachary.
They built this company by walking handin-hand
with thousands of dedicated workers
like yourself. To all of our co-workers,
many of whom are dear friends, and to our
thousands of customers, the family extends
sincere gratitude and they share in our collective
sorrow that we could not continue to
operate this great enterprise.
Our corporate offices and human resources
department will provide further information
today as we move forward with
the wind down.
Gratefully yours,
Thomas W. Connery
President and Chief Operating Officer
New England Motor Freight has long
been considered a major player in the
Northeast.
Shevell is the father-in-law of musician
Paul McCartney of The Beatles fame,
and his daughter, Nancy Shevell, has held
various roles in the company, including vice
president. 8
b Lane from page 17 b
The two men chatted and chuckled for
two or three minutes. Then the restroom
reopened, and the conversation ended as
quickly as it had started. The second man
headed into the facilities. Oddly, the man
who’d been waiting longer did not. He went
off in a different direction.
I didn’t even notice that until I replayed it
in my head. Come to think of it, the two guys
never introduced themselves to one another,
and there was nothing in their clothes or their
conversation that indicated whether either of
them was a truck driver or just a guy on a
road trip. Plainly, they’d never met, and I’d
be willing to bet by the time this is published,
they might not be able to pick each other out
of a lineup if they were asked to. But for a
couple minutes, they made their trips and
each other’s trips a little more enjoyable.
Maybe it was just the setting that lent to
the symbolism I was reading into it, there at
the truck stop, a place designed for people’s
paths to intersect but not necessarily connect.
It was such a perfect example of how
easily it is to pass through life anonymously,
and how easy it is not to.
I decided I wasn’t going to snag any interviews
just sitting there, so I got up and
started pulling out my equipment. Just then a
woman walked by and I noticed the blinking
headset draped around her neck.
“Excuse me, are you a truck driver?”
You can read my interview with Wendi
Congdon on page 12. 8
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b Sales from page 17 b
The biggest factor in current sales figures
is the huge number of orders for new trucks
placed by the industry in the second half of
2018.
Orders slowed drastically in January. As
reported by ACT Research in a February 5 release,
the industry booked 15,800 orders for
the month, down 26 percent from December
and down 68 percent from a year ago January.
So, if orders are down, how can truck
sales still be way up? ACT President and
Senior Analyst Kenny Vieth explained it
this way: “At the end of 2018,” he said,
“the backlog of Class 8 orders was nearing
297,000. If the industry completely stopped
ordering trucks today, it would take over 10
months to build just the trucks that have already
been ordered.”
While delivery of so many new tractors
is good news for manufacturers and drivers
hoping for a company upgrade, there are
clouds on the economic horizon. Carriers
have benefited from an imbalance in available
freight. Without enough trucks available,
freight rates have risen while carriers
have had the ability to be more selective in
the loads they accept. Carriers purchased
more trucks to take advantage.
At some point, however, the capacity imbalance
will swing the other way.
“We’re in this classic point in the cycle
where freight volumes are slowing while
supply is coming on in a hurry,” said Vieth.
“When supply, as capacity, gets ahead of demand
or freight volumes, we enter the downward
part of the cycle.”
How soon that will happen is anyone’s
guess, but trucks are selling at rates that suggest
the good times will last for a long time.
“We’re adding capacity every month,” Vieth
said. “Current underlying replacement demand
is 11,000 to 12,000 units per month.
We’re way ahead of that,” he concluded.
Vieth believes that order numbers will continue
at a reduced pace as the industry prepares
for a downturn in the economy. As the manufacturing
backlog decreases, orders may continue
to stay low as freight rates and volumes
stagnate or shrink. “Right now, that slowing
in orders is due to backlog in the build,” said
Vieth. “At some point, orders will be more reflective
of the supply/demand issues.”
He also expects an increase in order cancellations
as carriers attempt to adjust their
fleet sizes to available freight.
Vieth declined to predict the point when
industry capacity outpaces freight availability
but thinks that the picture will be clearer
in the second quarter.
Freightliner led the January sales pack with
9,205 trucks sold, good for 45.6 percent of the
market and a gain of 178, or 2.0 percent, from
December sales. December is usually the best
month of the year. Compared with Freightliner
sales in January 2018, however, sales numbers
leaped by 76.1 percent over the 5,228 sold in
the same month last year.
Business March 1-14, 2019 • 19
Navistar also showed gains month-overmonth
lower than December sales of 2,983 but 2017. In January, however, 45.6 percent of
and year-over-year. Sales of 3,150 26.1 percent ahead of January 2018 sales of all Class 8 tractors sold bore the Freightliner
tractors in January bested December’s 3,020 1,266. Volvo-owned Mack reported January nameplate. The sudden leap is likely an indication
by 4.3 percent and were 45.9 percent better 2019 sales of 1,019, a 61.6 percent decline
of delivery schedules or production
than the 2,159 sold in January 2018. from December numbers and 17.0 percent lines running full-bore to clear up a backlog
Paccar entity Kenworth couldn’t repeat beneath January 2018 sales of 1,228. of orders.
strong December sales of 4,512, dropping Western Star’s 479 tractors sold in January
Market share percentages frequently fluc-
49.6 percent to 2,273 in January. First-month
was 15.1 percent beneath the 564 sold tuate from month to month and typically
2019 sales were 34.3 percent ahead of January
in December but a 28.8 percent improvement level out closer to annual norms as the year
2018 levels of 1,693.
over January 2018 sales of 372 units. progresses. The sales differences in Class 8
Sibling Peterbilt lost ground on both While January performances vary widely
tractors vs. vocational trucks might help to
month-over-month and year-over-year sales
among manufacturers, the percentage of explain why some OEMs captured a greater
figures. January 2019 sales of 2,469 units the market each OEM commands can help share of the January market while others
were down 25.7 percent from December’s indicate how “normal” January sales were. didn’t do as well.
3,322 and down 1.4 percent from 2,503 sold Freightliner, for example, captured 36.3 percent
As strong truck sales continue while major
of the new Class 8 market for the full indices point to leveling freight levels, 2019
in January 2018.
Volvo sales of 1,597 were 46.5 percent year of 2018 after taking 37.5 percent in could prove to be a very interesting year. 8
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20 • March 1-14, 2019 Business
THETRUCKER.COM

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Equipment
March 1-14, 2019 • 23
International offers Bendix Wingman
Fusion on its on-highway equipment
Courtesy: NAVISTAR
Offering Bendix Wingman Fusion is part of International Truck’s DriverFirst philosophy, a
company executive said. Pictured is the International LoneStar.
Keller to offer dash camera for driver
coaching, risk management solutions
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
NEENAH, Wis. — For fleet managers,
few things provide more valuable insight
than witnessing a driver’s behavior firsthand.
By adding video event hardware and management
tools to its line of safety and compliance
solutions, J.J. Keller & Associates
has made it possible for fleets to do just that.
The J.J. Keller Encompass Video Event
Management solution and Dash Cam Pro
will become available in early April, offering
an additional way for fleets of all sizes
to manage risk, identify problematic driver
behavior and provide remedial coaching and
training.
“A quality in-cab video recording solution
is crucial to helping fleets mitigate risk
and protect their brand,” said Tom Reader,
senior director of marketing at J.J. Keller &
Associates. “Capturing driver video footage
provides evidence leading up to an event or
accident, exonerates innocent drivers, identifies
fatigued or distracted driving, and delivers
more information on driver behaviors
— all of which can lead to reduced insurance
See Keller on p24 m
Courtesy: TUSIMPLE
TuSimple is developing a commercial-ready Level 4 (SAE) fully-autonomous driving solution
for the logistics industry. TuSimple is the only self-driving truck company capable of driving
from depot-to-depot without human intervention and does so every day for its customers.
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
LISLE, Ill. — International Trucks now offers
Bendix Wingman Fusion, an integration of
advanced safety technologies, as standard equipment
on the entire lineup of on-highway tractors,
including the International LoneStar, LT Series
and RH Series trucks.
Bendix Wingman Fusion is the Bendix flagship
collision mitigation technology integrating
radar, camera, and the vehicle’s brake system
into a driver assistance system that delivers driver
alerts and interventions to help them mitigate
rear-end collisions, rollovers, and loss-of-control
situations.
Wingman Fusion combines and cross-checks
information from sensors that are working together
— not just in parallel — along with computing,
to typically assess situations faster and react
earlier, while also helping to significantly reduce
false alerts and false interventions, according to
Jim Nachtman, director of heavy-duty marketing
for International Truck.
By creating a highly detailed and accurate
data picture, he said, Bendix Wingman Fusion
delivers enhanced rear-end collision mitigation,
and adaptive cruise control, along with following
distance alerts, stationary object alerts, lane departure
warning, alerts when speeding, and braking
on stationary vehicles — all while prioritizing
See Wingman on p24 m
Courtesy: J.J. KELLER
The new J.J. Keller dash cam offers an additional way for fleets of all sizes to manage risk,
identify problematic driver behavior, and provide remedial coaching and training.
TuSimple raises $95 million to fund
commercial autonomous fleet growth
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
SAN DIEGO — TuSimple, a global selfdriving
truck company, has raised $95 million in
Series D funding based on a pre-money valuation
of $1 billion.
The new capital investment will be used to
fund TuSimple’s commercial ramp-up and product
development.
With this round, TuSimple will continue to
grow its commercial autonomous fleet, which
makes daily fully-autonomous deliveries in Arizona,
and soon in Texas, for large shippers and
fleets, according to Dr. Xiaodi Hou, founder,
president and chief technology officer.
The fleet allows the company to earn revenue
while validating its SAE Level 4 fully-autonomous
system, he said.
The company currently has 12 contracted customers
and is making three to five delivery trips
per day. It will use the funds to grow the fleet to
over 50 trucks by June.
The investment will also be used to fund critical
joint production programs with its OEM, Tier
1, and sensor partners in order to achieve full
commercialization, Hou said. Suppliers essential
to truck manufacturing are working with TuSimple
on the integration of autonomous software
with powertrain, braking and steering systems, an
essential step for the commercial production and
operation of self-driving trucks.
The $95 million financing was completed in
December 2018.
This brings TuSimple’s total funding to date
to $178 million. This latest round was led by Sina
Corp., a technology company widely recognized
for developing Weibo, a social media platform.
Composite Capital, a Hong Kong-based invest-
See TuSimple on p24 m

24 • March 1-14, 2019 Equipment
THETRUCKER.COM
b Wingman from page 23 b
alerts to help reduce driver distraction. Eventbased
data — including video — can be wirelessly
transmitted for driver coaching and analysis by
fleet safety personnel. Other options include blind
spot detection that helps drivers address vehicles
in their blind spots that may not be visible in their
mirrors. The forward-facing camera of Wingman
Fusion is powered by the Mobileye System-on-
Chip EyeQ processor with state-of-the-art vision
algorithms.
“As part of our DriverFirst philosophy, we
concentrate on consistently improving the overall
driver experience, specifically safety,” Nachtman
said. “Partnering with Bendix to make Fusion
standard on all of International Truck’s heavyduty
vehicles makes for an important joint contribution
to make North American roadways safer
for everyone.”
Since the introduction of Bendix Wingman
Fusion in 2015, International Truck has offered
the technology as an option for all on-highway
models. Bendix Wingman Fusion is also available
as an option on International’s medium-duty
lineup, including the International MV Series,
HV Series, HX Series and CV Series trucks.
“Bendix’s ongoing partnership with Navistar
is built on years of shared commitment to driver,
vehicle, and highway safety,” said Scott Burkhart,
Bendix vice president — sales, marketing, and
business development. “International Truck’s positioning
of Wingman Fusion as standard equipment
on its complete line of on-highway tractors
is both a point of pride for the entire Bendix team
and another step forward alongside a true leader
in our industry.”
According to Bendix, its safety technologies
complement safe driving practices and are not intended
to enable or encourage aggressive driving.
No commercial vehicle safety technology replaces
a skilled, alert driver exercising safe driving
techniques and proactive, comprehensive driver
training. Responsibility for the safe operation of
the vehicle remains with the driver at all times.
For more information on International
Truck’s product lineup or to locate a dealer,
visit internationaltrucks.com. 8
b Keller from page 23 b
rates and timely driver coaching, resulting in
a tremendous return on investment.”
J.J. Keller’s dash-mounted camera technology
reads traffic signs and records driving
footage. Reader said captured data can
help with driver compliance and coaching by
providing evidence of hard acceleration, hard
braking, cornering, lane drifting, following
too close, rolling stops, and more. Footage
is available for review through a back-office
dashboard featuring detailed driver and event
reporting, data trends, and mapping to pinpoint
where specific events took place. Combining
video intelligence with J.J. Keller’s
proven Encompass driver compliance dashboard
delivers a unique scope of guidance
particularly beneficial to fleets, Reader said.
In studies conducted by the Virginia Tech
Transportation Institute (VTTI), an eventbased
video system, combined with a driver
behavior modification system, accounted for
estimated reductions in fatal and injury crashes
of 20 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
Similarly, the National Transportation Safety
Board concluded that onboard video systems
provide valuable information for evaluating
the circumstances leading to a crash, as well
as critical data for assessing survivability.
“We are focused on, and leading experts
in, safety and decision tools that help fleets
ensure their drivers and vehicles are operating
safely and in compliance,” said Rustin
Keller, J.J. Keller president and CEO. “Video
event management is a game changer when it
comes to helping fleets determine if they have
safe drivers and safe vehicles, improving CSA
scores, and reducing accidents and risk.”
Learn more about the J.J. Keller Dash Cam
Pro and Encompass Video Event Management
solution at JJKeller.com/Video. 8
b TuSimple from page 23 b
ment firm focused on consumer, technology and
transportation companies globally, also participated
in this round.
“TuSimple consistently reaches their milestones
on and ahead of schedule and we are
confident that they are poised to bring the first
commercial self-driving trucks to market,” said
Colin Xie, vice general manager, investment department,
Sina Corp. “We are focused on finding
the global leaders in artificial intelligence and
TuSimple is ahead of the pack. The combination
of technical excellence and an impressive
leadership team has propelled the company into
unicorn status.”
“Autonomous driving is one of the most
complex AI systems humans have ever built.
After three years of intense focus to reach our
technical goals, we have moved beyond research
into the serious work of building a commercial
solution,” Hou said. “We are thankful for the
continued support of our investors and partners.
This is not only a great sign of confidence in
TuSimple, but also for the future of autonomous
trucking.”
TuSimple’s Level 4 fully-autonomous semitrucks
are the only trucks capable of driving
from depot-to-depot without human intervention,
Hou said.
To support Level 4 driving on complex highway
and local streets, the company has developed
an innovative camera-centric perception solution
that allows TuSimple’s trucks to see 1,000 meters
ahead of the vehicle, Hou said, noting that the vision
range is farther and delivers better visibility
than any other autonomous driving system today.
This level of performance is essential for autonomous
commercial trucks to operate safely at
highway speeds — rain or shine, he said.
“TuSimple is aiming to transform the
$800-billion U.S. trucking industry by increasing
safety, lowering costs, reducing carbon emissions
and providing tools to optimize fleet logistics for
operators,” Hou said.
TuSimple is headquartered in San Diego
and operates self-driving trucks out of Tucson,
Arizona. 8
Total-cost-of-ownership
calculator offered by Dana
for fleets, owner-operators
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
MAUMEE, Ohio — Dana Inc. has launched
a total-cost-of-ownership calculator for the commercial-vehicle
market.
Fleets and independent operators can utilize
the calculator to make comprehensive cost comparisons
between traditional diesel platforms and
all-electric powertrain solutions, according to
Mark Wallace, president of Dana Commercial
Driveline Technologies.
“Fleets are closely evaluating the costs to
potentially transition from diesel to electric platforms
as they seek to move goods more responsibly,”
Wallace said. “Our new analytics tool
provides an extensive review of the total cost of
ownership for diesel and electric powertrains,
aiding fleets as they explore electrification’s role
in their operations.”
The calculator requires minimal input and
includes visual prompts for simple navigation,
Wallace said. Prior to beginning an assessment,
a user may choose to include their specific costof-ownership
details, such as vehicle acquisition
cost, taxes, tolls and maintenance fees.
Designed with the flexibility to tailor the calculations
to a user’s unique situation, Dana’s calculator
is able to address the needs of its diverse
customer base, including regional considerations
for units of measurement and currency.
Total cost-of-ownership calculations include
fuel, equipment, and a total of “other”
costs to provide a summary assessment of the
total cost per mile and the total annual cost for
operation.
Wallace said future enhancements to the calculator
will include alternative power variants,
as well as the ability to customize powertrains
featuring specific Spicer Electrified with TM4
systems.
To find out more about the Dana calculator,
visit dana.com/tco. 8
DiamonD has historically kept our Drivers loaDeD, we have the freight to continue.
FUN FACT:
DiamonD founDer L.r. Jenkins was born
into trucking in 1906. His fatHer anD
granDfatHer useD Horse anD wagon to
move LoaDs to anD from raiL points in tHe
Dakotas prior to moving to wisconsin.
Call 262-554-4025 or visit www.diamondrecruit.com

THETRUCKER.COM
Equipment March 1-14, 2019 • 25
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ENTIRE TRUCKING
INDUSTRY
MARCH 28-30, 2019
at the KENTUCKY EXPO CENTER
The Mid-America Trucking Show is the largest annual heavy-duty trucking event in the
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26 • March 1-14, 2019 Equipment
THETRUCKER.COM
WABCO reveals new safety solutions, reman steering gears
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
LAS VEGAS — WABCO Holdings, a
global supplier of braking control systems and
other safety technologies used the platform of
the Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week to reveal
new safety solutions as well as certified Sheppard
remanufactured steering gears for the
North American aftermarket.
The announcements reflect the company’s
continued investment in high-quality systems
and parts for commercial vehicles at
every stage of the ownership lifecycle, said
Abe Aon, WABCO regional aftermarket sales
leader, North America.
Aon said products unveiled during the
show included:
• WABCO OnSide and OnGuardAC-
TIVE Retrofit Kits. Fast and easy to install,
these kits enable fleets to add the latest,
market-proven collision mitigation/avoidance
technologies to existing vehicles, Aon said.
OnSide Blind Spot Detection is a radar-based
system that supports drivers in passing and
lane-change maneuvers. The system provides
a warning when it detects a moving vehicle
within a 160-degree blind spot range. On-
GuardACTIVE is a radar-based active safety
system that can offer collision mitigation,
adaptive cruise control and forward collision
warning. When needed, the system can actively
apply the brakes to help avoid or mitigate
a collision.
• WABCO Remanufactured Enhanced
Easy-Stop Trailer ABS Systems. Available
in one- and two-modulator configurations to
meet the requirements of virtually any trailer
application, these original equipment-quality
systems ensure proper braking force is delivered
for exceptional trailer stability and
control. With the combination of OE-quality
construction and performance, WABCO remanufactured
Enhanced Easy-Stop systems
also help avoid wheel lock-up and reduce excessive
tire wear and flat spotting, Aon said.
• Genuine Sheppard Remanufactured
Steering Gears. In 2017, WABCO acquired
R.H. Sheppard Co., Inc., a global leader in
steering gears and other products for the
original equipment and replacement markets.
WABCO now offers nearly 400 genuine
Sheppard remanufactured steering gear variants,
each guaranteed to both look and perform
like new. Each unit must pass a 17-point
performance check before being approved
for market use. In addition, these remanufactured
units are covered by the same warranty
as Sheppard OEM-service new replacement
gears.
For more information, visit wabco-auto.
com. 8
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• Receive outstanding benefits
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Opportunity Employer.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:
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609-526-9490
PAUL (WEST)
972-538-4356
WWW.MCCOLLISTERS.COM

Alabama carrier feeding OTR drivers
through food truck Breaker 1-Swine
Montgomery Transport marketing team comes up with
name that is play on words for ‘breaker, breaker one nine’
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Montgomery
Transport & Entities has begun feeding professional
over-the-road drivers throughout
the industry with the launch of a new food
truck, Breaker 1-Swine, the name apparently
a reference to “breaker one nine” from the
1978 movie “Convoy.”
The 24-foot food trailer will serve Friday
lunches to Montgomery Transport staff and
drivers each week as a gesture of gratitude for
all the hard work they do week in and week
out, according to CEO Rollins Montgomery.
In addition, Breaker 1-Swine will travel
around to nearby shippers and industry events
to serve other Montgomery entity professional
flatbed drivers and driver prospects.
“We saw a need for more accessible food
for professional drivers as they wait at shippers,
and although our drivers get home on
the weekends, we’re excited to provide a taste
of comfort while they’re on the road,” Montgomery
said. “Breaker 1-Swine will serve as a
token of our gratitude and a demonstration of
our commitment to improving the quality of
life for our professional drivers.”
Flatbed drivers of the Montgomery entities
(Montgomery Transport, MT Select, MT
Dorothy Cox
dlcox@thetrucker.com
Around
the Bend
Come April 1, I will be retiring from The
Trucker newspaper and pursuing what God has
next for me.
It’s a little sad after more than 20 years of
working here, and a little daunting confronting
retirement with a capital “R.”
I have immensely enjoyed getting to meet so
many men and women who move this country
and its economy.
Early on in my career here, I heard it said that
The Trucker was a community newspaper whose
readers were on 18 wheels and their neighborhoods
were the highways and byways of this nation.
When I came here, I knew nothing about
the trucking industry. Sometimes it seems like I
know even less now, because industry technology
is moving at such a fast pace.
I have been on an overnight haul from Little
Features
Rock to Chicago and back and I’ve test-driven
a truck or two out West. I’ve also taken a look
under a number of hoods and seen some pristine
engines. But I could write a series of books on
what I don’t know about trucking.
Most of you readers are technologically savvy.
You’ve been forced to be by your job.
We still get letters to the editor written by
hand on lined paper but those are getting fewer
and further between. People in general, and many
truck drivers, have reverted to text-speak, which
means sentences aren’t complete, there’s little or
no punctuation, and groups of words are strung
together any which way and separated only by
spaces.
Early on, none of the truck drivers I met had a
laptop or cellphone and they lined up at truck stop
pay phones to find their loads and communicate
with dispatchers.
Weigh-in-motion technology was just getting
off the ground, or make that in the ground, satellite
in-cab communications were being experimented
with, and CBs were still widely used.
At that time, one didn’t see many women operating
CMVs, although there were a few. I met
one petite gal who said the carrier she applied to
had a height requirement so she wore lifts in her
Dedicated and RM Logistics) receive complimentary
“driver-themed” dishes from Breaker
1-Swine both on the road and when the mobile
eatery is parked at headquarters.
Staff and drivers have their choice of everything
from “heavy-haul” entrees like the
Big Rig Beef Sandwich, the Bandit Burger
and the OD Dog (complete with foot-long hot
dog extending beyond the bun) to “bungees”
such as Bobtail Parm Tots featuring white
truffle and parmesan, golden-fried Mac Haul
Bites, and the shoestring Fry Stack “tarped”
with melted cheese.
Born out of a brainstorming session over
dinner about innovative recruiting, it occurred
to Montgomery that a food truck could be the
ideal solution to the challenge of finding creative
ways to tap into the existing skilled labor
pool.
Montgomery contacted his marketing
team, and they went to work creating what
would eventually become Breaker One-
Swine.
The team hired a chef consultant to work
with Concession Nation to help create the
food trailer concept from the ground up.
The Montgomery team worked alongside
Flex Digital to come up with a logo that embodied
the spirit of the cuisine served as well
as the exterior wrap design on the trailer.
Then, in the true spirit of keeping things
in the Montgomery family, a Montgomery
professional driver picked up the trailer from
Deerfield, Florida, to bring it back home to
Birmingham, Alabama.
Anna Lacy McMains, director of marketing
for Montgomery Transport, noted that the
endeavor was a true labor of love.
“We learned a lot about what it takes to
open and run a restaurant establishment and
we’re excited to be able to serve our team
and other driver prospects quality menu items
named after the industry specifics they’re so
familiar with,” McMains said.
On February 6, Breaker 1-Swine served
March 1-14, 2019 • 27
Courtesy: MONTGOMERY TRANSPORT
After the idea came from a brainstorming session about recruiting, Montgomery Transport’s
marketing team hired a chef consultant to work with Concession Nation to help create the
food trailer concept for Breaker 1-Swine from the ground up.
cowboy boots to get the job. By the time I met
her she had already had a long career of hauling
about everything you can put on a flatbed.
I’ve met drivers who hauled everything from
swinging beef to heavy equipment, to oversized
loads and anything in between. Some couldn’t
talk about their loads for security reasons.
Some hauled circus animals, others hauled
race cars and one I interviewed hauled equipment
for the rock band Kansas.
I’ve met truck drivers who formerly had been
doctors, nurses, accountants, farmers, ranchers,
students, computer IT folk, people who had
served with the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, and
vets of the Vietnam War, the Afghanistan War and
the Iraq War.
I met a great driver who had lost part of his
arm, not in a war but because of an injury, and he
is one of the most successful and happiest drivers
out there.
Many of you I’ve talked with have had some
type of first-responder training, and I interviewed
one driver who delivered a baby on the floor of a
truck stop restroom.
I’ve met truckers who were down on their
luck, down on trucking and negative about pretty
much everything. Many others I’ve met continue
its first official meal to one of the company’s
most tenured drivers, a seven-year Montgomery
Transport veteran.
This trucker-centric food trailer is also
slated to serve as an innovative mobile recruiting
tool. Prospective drivers will be asked to
fill out a short form application asserting their
interest and contact information in exchange
for free Breaker 1-Swine meals.
“Skilled labor, in general, is a very large
challenge our entire economy is faced with
today,” Montgomery said. “We knew we had
to provide an innovative solution that could
reach out to different skilled labor pools and
penetrate areas most could not reach.”
For more information, visit driveformontgomery.com.
8
Past 20 years have meant getting to know courageous, caring, creative truck drivers
to look on the bright side, despite the long and
sometimes tedious hours.
I’ve talked with drivers who survived hurricanes
and tornados, floods, fires, and all manner
of wrecks that they should never have walked
away from. Many have taken their own time to
haul water, food and other supplies to natural disaster
victims.
I’ve met some fine musicians and songwriters,
some successful inventors and some history
and literary buffs whose command of the English
language puts me to shame.
Most I’ve met love what they do, despite the
over-regulation, worsening traffic, bumpy roads
and inconsiderate and impatient drivers around
them.
Most truck drivers I’ve met are giving people.
They will stop to help a motorist in need, buy dinner
for a hungry person, and go running toward a
bad highway accident when everyone else is running
away.
Then they go on their way saying they were
just doing their job and anyone else would have
done the same.
I’m not sure I would. I can’t imagine running
to pull someone out of a burning vehicle.
See Bend on p28 m

OWNER OPERATORS!
BECOME A PART OF THE MCCOLLISTER’S TEAM!
• OPPORTUNITIES - CLASS A & B OTR & REGIONAL
• SPECIAL COMMODITIES/TRUCKLOAD
• LTL ELECTRONICS - EVERYTHING FROM DELICATE
ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT TO ANTIQUES AND
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• CLIMATE - HIGH END ELECTRONICS, ART WORK, AND
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u $2,500 t
28 • March 1-14, 2019 Features
THETRUCKER.COM
McDonald’s says it’s set to race with
Kyle Larson, No. 42 team in 2019
NASCAR.COM
CONCORD, N.C. — In their 10th year
of partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing
(CGR), McDonald’s has revealed plans to
serve as the primary sponsor for multiple
races in 2019 on the No. 42 McDonald’s
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, driven by Kyle Larson,
in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series.
McDonald’s has not only been a valuable
partner to CGR for nearly a decade on the
No. 1 Chevy driven by Jamie McMurray,
they have also been a supporter of Larson’s
for several years. Although the increased
presence in 2019 on the No. 42 Chevrolet
will be a slightly new look, Larson has sported
the Golden Arches on six occasions in his
NASCAR career, having raced a McDonald’s
entry in each of NASCAR’s three national
touring series.
The partnership with Larson will officially
start in Atlanta, with McDonald’s first
primary paint scheme of the 2019 season on
the No. 42 Chevrolet. The paint scheme will
highlight McDonald’s current campaign featuring
bacon on several of their Classics: the
Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, and World Famous
Fries. The campaign begs the question,
b Bend from page 27 b
But then I can’t imagine, either, driving for
a living, day in and day out.
I feel my gut tighten up just thinking about
having to drive through the Dallas area.
But that doesn’t faze you. You take it all
in stride, although I’ve heard many of you say
you won’t drive around Manhattan. I’ve been
in traffic there, too, and I won’t even go into
that nightmare or driving through Boston,
do Classics make bacon better, or does bacon
make Classics better?
Quoteboard
• John Lewicki, Head of Global Alliances,
McDonald’s: “McDonald’s has enjoyed a partnership
with Chip Ganassi Racing for nearly a
decade and we are excited to continue that relationship
with The No. 42 team and Kyle Larson
in 2019. Like Jamie McMurray previously,
Kyle embodies many of the same qualities as a
family man and a competitor, that are important
to McDonald’s and we look forward to having
him as an ambassador to our brand.”
• Chip Ganassi, Owner, Chip Ganassi
Racing: “It says a lot about our team, both on
and off the track, that we will be celebrating
10 years of partnership with McDonald’s this
coming season. McDonald’s has been a great
partner over the past nine seasons, and we
are looking forward to what this season holds
with Kyle as their driver. I am sure there will
be plenty of exciting moments throughout
the year.”
• Kyle Larson, Driver No. 42 McDonald’s
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1: “It’s always great to
announce a new partner, and it means a lot that
one of our team’s longtime partners will join
me and the No. 42 team this season.” 8
where they create lanes by just moving over to
which one they want to be in, no turn blinkers,
no arm out the window, no nothing. They just
laterally move over and amazingly, everyone
moves with them.
So, after 20 years of listening to you on the
phone, interviewing you at the truck stops and
truck shows, and for a few years, judging your
rigs at truck beauty contests, my proverbial hat
is off to you.
I am privileged to have met and crossed
paths with so many of you.
Thank you. 8
T
Come Join the JanCo Family!
EntErtainmEnt transportation spEcialists sincE 1975
WE REQUIRE
u Clean MVR
u Hard-working and professional
u 2 years verifiable OTR experience
u Passport and ability to enter Canada
u Ability to be on the road up to 4 months at
a time.
Owner-Operators
Tags and fuel surcharge program available
Average 70-75% of line haul
Must be CA compliant
Please call our recruiting department
for more details and to apply.
Currently hiring company drivers and owner operators.
Excellent salary and benefit packages available. Lead driver pay
and cash bonuses. Assigned late model conventionals.
Company-paid life insurance.
TEAMS ARE
URGED TO CALL
888.JANCO.NJ or 800.526.9085
Please visit our website at www.jancoltd.com or
like us on facebook.com/JancoLTD

thetrucker.com March 1-14, 2019 • 29
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The ultimate trucker’s toolbox
Lifetime guaranteed on all moving parts
Utilizes more of you cubbyhole space
Affordable heavy duty product
Organize your life on the road
No more hassle getting to your tools
20 % OFF ALL “IN STOCK” CUBBY BUDDY’S
TEXAS LOCATION ONLY, SALE ENDS 3/31/19
Texas Location (888)763-4833 See our ad on page 11!
BROKER SCHOOL
BROKER SCHOOL
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TICKET DEFENSE
TICKETS
FREE REVIEWS
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Nationwide & Canada
DISCOUNTED ATTORNEYS
Win 9 out of 10 Cases*
1-800-525-HAUL (4285)
24 hrs (7 days a week)
TICKET DEFENSE
All Legal Problems
CSA/DAQ Help
www.AmericanTruckersLegalAssoc.com
30 Years Fighting for the Trucker!
*Past performance of attorneys who represent ATLA members does not guarantee future performance.
EQUIPMENT
Chain toolS
Strap rollerS
Strap Roller
• ROLLER BEARING ALLOWS
FOR SMOOTHER OPERATION
• CAN BE MADE RIGHT
OR LEFT HANDED
• CLAMP STYLE AVAILABLE
NEW
Built to last a
LIFETIME!
Super Chain Tool
• USE BOTH HANDS FOR MORE
LEVERAGE
• SOLID STEEL
• NOW 2 DIFFERENT SIZE
KEYS TO FIT PEWAG &
OCC STANDARD CHAINS
• OTHER STYLES AVAILABLE
Call us at (541) 941-0226
CHAINTOOL.com • STRAPROLLER.com
EQUIPMENT
No more ‘loco’ motion
Donvel DVI Motion Controls turn
air springs into a powerful
source of ride control for your
entire truck.
Donvel Stabilizers are for the
steer axle, while DVI Motion
Controls work with existing air
springs on the cab, sleeper,
seat, drive axles and trailer
axles.
Safer cornering, less body and
cargo roll, greater ride safety,
stability, less pain and fatigue,
longer shock absorber and tire
wear.
DONVEL INC.
(800) 411-1725 www.donvel.com
FACTORING FACTORING TICKET DEFENSE TICKET DEFENSE
Got a Ticket? FIGHT IT!
• 95% SUCCESS RATE
• Get a FREE quote • No Membership
• National or Local Coverage
• 24 Hour Legal Action
• The Truckers’ Voice in court!
NATIONWIDE COVERAGE
800-687-7218
www.tvclegalservice.com
Protect your CDL!
Coast to Coast Legal
855-838-2925
www.coast2coastlegal.com
2 • The Trucker NATIONAL EDITION August 1-15, 2005

30 • March 1-31, 2019 thetrucker.com
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EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
There’s never been
a better time to buy!
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
Save on Fuel and Engine Wear ... The Ultimate Combination
INSURANCE
HEALTH & LIFE
INSURANCE
Schneider has hundreds of well maintained
tractors and trailers ready to sell!
TRACTORS: 2005-2009 FREIGHTLINER C120’S
WITH DETROIT DIESEL
Prices between $15,000 to $50,000
Mileage between 400,000 to 1,000,000
10 Speeds and Automated (Ultra-shift) Transmission
70” Raised Roof, 58” Mid Roof, 70 XT Extra Tall and Day Cabs
12V Bunk Warming Pad
800-990-4622
Fall, Winter, Spring
www.electrowarmth.com
BREEZEWAY
Truck Window Screens
800-548-4013
Spring, Summer, Fall
www.breezewayscreens.com
• Enjoy a better night’s sleep • Pays for itself in fuel savings
• No fumes, noise, vibrations • Made in USA
Use 15% discount code TT16 ONLINE ORDERS ONLY!
Found in Truck Stops Nationwide • Call for Fleet Pricing
FACTORING
EQUIPMENT
Licensed Life, Health,
Disability &
Medicare Agent
CALL TODAY!
JON BODIN
248-790-7254
gjbodin3@sbcglobal.net
FACTORING
TRAILERS: 1999-2004 WABASH 53’ VAN TRAILERS
Prices between $3,500 to $14,000
2005 @ 53’ Utility & Great Dane trailers, Pup Trailers and Dolly Converters
LOCATIONS
Atlanta | Charlotte | Columbus | Dallas
Fontana, CA | Sacramento | Gary | Harrisburg, PA | Houston
Indianapolis | Laredo, TX | New Orleans | Portland
Salt Lake City | St. Louis | Toronto | West Memphis, AR
schneidertrucks.com | 800-635-9801
TruckSales@schneider.com
No Long-Term Contract
Same Day Pay
Full Advance
Flat Rate
888-316-7570
www.corefundcapital.com
Ask us about our new
Dispatch program!
VeeBoards
• Protects your load from
strap damage.
• Protects your straps.
• Holds your freight in place.
• Saves money on claims.
• Made from HD Polyethylene.
• Crack resistant.
• Light weight and user friendly.
• Hundreds of happy customers.
• Special BrickGuards available.
CALL 1-866-628-3621
www.veeboards.com
Small Fleet
FACTORING
Family Owned & Operated
No Long Term Contracts!
Factoring Friendly!!!
585.742.9030
IntegratedFactoring.com
LOADS
LOADS
GetMotorCarrierAuthority.com
$515 Includes Filing Fee, BOC-3 & FREE Access to 4 Loadboards
LoadSurfer.com
LoadSolutions.com
HotShotCarrier.com
StepdeckCarriers.com
Freight-Terminal.com
CALL TODAY 239-603-6500 - OR FIND US ONLINE
TICKET DEFENSE
Truckers Voice in Court
Tickets
CSA Point Removal
Serious Accident
Protection
www.prodriver.com/rhnot
TICKET DEFENSE
Also offering
affordable insurance
including: Big Truck,
Auto, Home Owner’s,
Business, Life &
Health
405-464-7351
TICKET DEFENSE
“Voted Best Legal Service”
– 6 years running –
By Trucker Readers
TICKET DEFENSE
NO MEMBERSHIP FEES
MOVING & NON-MOVING
NO MONTHLY DUES
1-800-333-DRIVE
INTERSTATE TRUCKER
www.interstatetrucker.com
TICKET DEFENSE
See our ad
on page 6
TAX SERVICES
Call for FREE Consultation!
OTRDRIVER
Tax Services, Inc.
Bookkeeping, Permits,
Incorporation
HABLAMOS ESPAÑOL
3010 Mountain Pass Blvd.
Anthony, TX 79821
915-886-3747
915-253-7413
Go to otrdrivertaxservices.com for coupons
4 • The Trucker NATIONAL EDITION August 1-15, 2005

THETRUCKER.COM
Features March 1-14, 2019 • 31
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