TT_051519_AllPages

Perspective May
15-31, 2019 • 12
Now more than ever it is
important to manage your
health; job may depend on it
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetrucker.com
“Touch your toes, turn your head and
cough, pee in the cup.” Many experienced
drivers can remember when obtaining or renewing
a medical certification was a minor
biannual inconvenience. In recent years,
however, regulations have tightened.
Passing the DOT medical exam isn’t as
easy as it once was. To begin with, medical
examiners now must be registered with
the government. The Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration maintains a National
Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
Unless your family doctor is listed in the
National Registry, you may have to go elsewhere
for your physical exam.
That doesn’t mean your family doctor or
primary care physician doesn’t play a role,
however. Increasingly, the FMCSA is interested
in health conditions that could impact
driving and making sure each driver is properly
treated. Your regular doctor may very
well need to communicate or provide documentation
to your physical examiner to validate
that you are complying with treatment
and that treatment is effective.
One of the oldest issues is hypertension,
or common high blood pressure. Age, weight
gain, stress and smoking all contribute to
hypertension problems. In some cases, the
driver can reverse, or at least delay, blood
pressure issues with weight loss and quitting
smoking programs. For most, however, the
problem only gets worse with time.
Fortunately, many cases of high blood
pressure can be addressed with an inexpensive,
daily pill. Unfortunately, the problem
must be diagnosed and a prescription written,
and then the driver must keep up with
prescription refills and periodic doctor visits.
Many don’t, choosing to ignore the issue
until they can’t pass the next DOT physical
exam. That’s dangerous, and dumb. Once the
driver flunks the exam or is granted a shortterm
expiration date, it may take more than
simply restarting the medication to get certified
for a year. The examiner may want to
see data that you’re following doctor’s orders
and that the medication is working over a period
of time.
Another medical condition that stops a
driver’s career quicker than a flat steer tire
is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This is
another condition that gets worse with age,
weight gain and smoking. Those who suffer
from OSA may not even realize a problem
exists as their sleep is frequently interrupted
by periods of not breathing. The sufferer may
or may not remember waking up gasping for
air, but the result is poor quality sleep and
low blood oxygenation that leaves the driver
tired for the next driving shift.
See Safety on p18 m
Trip shows importance of trucking to cruise ship industry
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
Eye on
Trucking
Cleaning out the notebook while wondering
when it’s going to stop raining every week …
* * *
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I had
the privilege of taking a weeklong cruise on the
Carnival Dream out of New Orleans.
The ship docked at 7 a.m. May 5.
It was scheduled to leave for its final voyage
out of New Orleans at 4 p.m. that afternoon
(the Dream is being relocated to a new home
port in Galveston, Texas, and will make shorter
trips in the Caribbean.
You only have to be around a ship of that
magnitude to appreciate the role trucking plays
in that transition from inbound to outbound.
At 15 decks high and one thousand feet
long, the Dream would be the largest building
in most American cities and towns.
On a cruise, its population is larger than
most of those cities and towns.
It has a capacity of 3,646 guests and operates
with a crew of 1,367, most of whom are
working under a six-month contract with Carnival.
The ship serves over 14,000 meals a day.
Imagine the tons of meat, fruit and veggies
and paper goods that have to be loaded at the
home port, because we didn’t see any tractortrailers
on the docks at ports in Jamaica, the
Cayman Islands and Cozumel.
Bad, rough roads and highways cause
all sorts of physical harm. Your body is
shaken and bounced, your nerves are on
edge, and you are exhausted. And don’t
get me started on the way roadwork is set
up or just trying not to run over stupid car
drivers.
— Kathy Blailock Williamson
How does all that food get to the home
dock?
Mostly in big rigs, which are at the pier
when the ship docks and continue to unload
well up into the day.
In fact, as we drove away from the pier,
there were several tractor-trailers queued up
on a road leading to the port area.
I’m sure those 3.600 guests on our ship
took for granted how those goods and supplies
got to the ship.
We didn’t.
* * *
From time to time, you see articles in our
paper and on our website about Highway
Angels (Truckload Carriers Association) and
Highway Heroes (Goodyear Tire and Rubber
Co.).
Once in a while, we get a nomination from
a reader, in this case of former professional
truck driver Veronica Fiorina, who writes:
“On March 11, trucker Johnnie Gillins,
Jr., an owner-operator contracted to CFI, was
driving his truck on Interstate 4 heading east
from Tampa, Florida, on the way home to
Lakeland, Florida. He observed the driving of
a day cab swerving over the white lines into
other traffic, then returning to his lane.
“This was happening continually. He did
manage to write down the transport’s name
and truck number as well as the truck license.
“As the driver neared Exit 33, he negotiated
the off ramp at an extremely high rate of
speed and swerved to the left and drove off the
road. The day cab rolled over with trailer still
connected and the driver was wedged between
the steering wheel and floor.
“Johnnie stopped immediately, but was
Got an opinion on a key
trucking issue?
Send it online to:
editor@thetrucker.com
Talk continues about how much America needs to improve its infrastructure.
Recently, Democrats met with President Donald Trump and said they’d agreed on
a plan to spend on $2 trillion on the infrastructure, but so far, no one has come up
with a plan to fund all the work that needs to be done. How do poor roads impact the
ability to do your job and how do poor roads impact your compensation?
The poor road conditions impact my ability
to do my job by the resulting delays from
all of the lane closures and detours. We need
media to help us educate drivers on how to
keep traffic flowing better through these restricted
areas. Somebody needs to review
how many strobe safety lights are necessary,
as they hinder flow by blinding drivers — especially
truck drivers sitting four feet above
the roadways. Every day, I unsafely, suddenly
have to brake firmly because somebody
has seen a flashing light (of any color) and
dropped their anchor abruptly.
—James Stark
unable to open either door. The driver of the
day cab seemed to be unconscious and was
not replying to shouts. Johnnie called 911
and waited for professional people to arrive
to assess the driver’s injuries, secure the area
against possible fires and to give a report to
the police.
“Johnnie showed concern for a fellow driver
and took the initiative to stop. More people
should set an example and show that kind of
empathy. His company has a good driver.”
We are told the driver of the day cab was
not seriously injured and is now OK.
Way to go, Johnnie. And thanks, Veronica.
* * *
Elsewhere in today’s edition, you’ll find a
story about President Donald Trump and members
of Congress agreeing we need to spend $2
trillion to fix the nation’s infrastructure — and
were all smiles.
But they never decided where the $2 trillion
could be located.
As Yogi Berra used to say, “déjà vu, all over
again.”
Come on, up there in Washington, get
with it. 8
I am a team driver. I can’t sleep while he
is on these poor roads. It makes it dangerous
for me to drive at night when I couldn’t
sleep all day.
— Linda Simpkins