TT_070119_AllPages

Vol. 32, No. 13
www.thetrucker.com July 1-14, 2019
Courtesy: PILOT FLYING J
Not so fit
Truck drivers, on average, are
not as healthy as people in the
general population. That’s just one
of the conclusions drawn in an
April 2019 whitepaper published
by Atlas Injury Prevention
Solutions. The paper summarizes
results from medical data collected
from over 15,000 transportation
industry workers over a five-year
period ending in 2018.
Page 4
Navigating the news
Fuel tax hike inadequate........3
Mexico trade surplus..............6
Heavier trucks suggested.......8
Truckstop..............................12
Chaplain’s Corner.................15
Truck sales still up................17
Positive freight index............20
New Bridgestone tire............25
Lane Departures...................27
Associated Press: JULIO CORTEZ
Bad, bad bridges
The length of America’s
structurally deficient bridges if
placed end-to-end would span
nearly 1,100 miles, the distance
between Chicago and Houston,
a new examination of federal
government data shows.
Page 27
Spear commits ATA to working with House panel on new
transportation bill, OOIDA’s Spencer says trucking ‘broken’
Trucking executives testify
before hearing on ‘The State
of Trucking in America’
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
WASHINGTON — American Trucking Associations
President and CEO Chris Spear on
June 12 told members of a House Transportation
and Infrastructure subcommittee the ATA is
committed to working with lawmakers as they
begin work on a transportation reauthorization
bill.
Meanwhile, Todd Spencer, president of the
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association,
told the committee that the state of the
American trucking industry is “broken.”
The two executives were among several witness
who spoke during the hearing — dubbed
“Under Pressure: The State of Trucking in
America” — before the Subcommittee on Highways
and Transit.
Spear also spoke to the industry’s commitment
to strengthen and grow the industry’s
workforce, as well as to maintain fair and free
trade.
“ATA pledges to help this subcommittee
write legislation that takes into consideration
the state and future of the trucking industry,
looking beyond the hood — 5, 10, 15 years
out — and how we can improve safety through
Courtesy: TRUCKING ALLIANCE
Trucking Alliance President Steve Williams
says accident statistics should alarm everyone.
Courtesy: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear, left, told a House panel that ATA
wanted to work with lawmakers as they begin work on a transportation reauthorization bill. Seated
beside Spear is OOIDA President Todd Spencer.
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
WASHINGTON — Although it didn’t have a
seat at the witness table for Tuesday’s “Under Pressure:
The State of Trucking in America” hearing before
the House Highways and Transit, the Alliance
for Driver Safety & Security, better known as the
Trucking Alliance, submitted comments touching
several key areas of the trucking industry.
Among other things, the Alliance said:
• There should be no greater pressure on the
trucking industry than to reduce large-truck crash
fatalities and injuries because large-truck crash fatalities
can be eliminated.
• No industry segment should be exempt from installing
electronic logging devices.
• Thousands of commercial truck drivers are illicit
drug users
innovation; how we can grow a diverse, welltrained
workforce that shores up the very real
and well-documented shortage of talent; how
trucking can generate and invest real money
into our decaying infrastructure; and how trucking
can help you shape free and fair trade agreements
that make the United States the strongest
economy in the world.”
In his testimony, Spear said the industry is
See Hearing on p7 m
Trucking Alliance says there’s no greater pressure
on industry other than to reduce fatalities, injuries
• Truck drivers should be 21 years old or older
to operate commercial trucks in interstate commerce.
• Large trucks should adhere to a reasonable maximum
speed of 65 mph
• Collision mitigation systems should be required
on new commercial trucks
Steve Williams, chairman and CEO of Maverick
USA in Little Rock, Arkansas, who is co-founder of
the Trucking Alliance and serves as the coalition’s
president, noted that 2017, the last reportable year,
there were more than 415,000 large-truck accidents in
the U.S. in which 4,761 were killed, including more
than 600 truck drivers, and 148,000 were injured.
“These statistics should alarm every trucking
company employer, whose drivers share the road
with millions of motorists every day,” Williams said.
“The trucking industry is indispensable to the U.S.
See Alliance on p9m

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2 • July 1-14, 2019 Nation Thetrucker.com T
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Nation July 1-14, 2019 • 3
Report: Raising federal fuel tax won’t
pay for infrastructure improvements
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON — Raising the federal
fuel tax won’t adequately and fairly pay for
future roadway infrastructure needs, argues a
new Competitive Enterprise Institute report released
last month.
“Our interstate highway system is crucial to
promoting commerce and Americans’ quality
of life, and lawmakers must decide how to direct
$1 trillion in needed rehabilitation and enhancement
of that system over the next two decades,”
said Marc Scribner, CEI senior fellow
and author of the report. “With rising vehicle
fuel economy and declining fuel tax revenue
per mile traveled, a new approach is needed to
support roadway investments.”
The report also highlights the fact that motor
fuel taxes are regressive, because lower-income
Americans tend to drive older, less fuelefficient
vehicles and thus pay more to drive
the same distances.
“Instead, Congress should eliminate barriers
to state, local, and private investment,
re-evaluate what transportation infrastructure
projects truly merit federal support, and transition
away from per-gallon taxation toward permile
road usage fees,” Scribner said.
The report urges Congress and the administration
to support crucial reforms for the next
federal surface transportation reauthorization,
also known as the highway bill. The current law
is set to expire at the end of September 2020.
Specifically:
• Reconsider federal priorities. Continue
funding highway freight corridors — major
roadways used by heavy trucks — but stop
funding roadways that are used mostly by state
and local residents not engaged in interstate
commerce.
• Change how roadways are funded. Instead
of a federal fuel tax, switch to a system of mileage-based
user fees whereby users are directly
charged based on the distances (and perhaps
weight of the vehicle) they drive.
• Promote local self-help. Give states increased
procurement and operating flexibility by
eliminating federal restrictions on tolling stateowned
Interstate Highway System segments.
• Harness private investment. Empower states
and localities to seek private partners by eliminating
the $15 billion lifetime volume cap on private
activity bonds used in surface transportation.
• Remove red tape. Take a hard look at procurement,
labor, and environmental rules, and
eliminate the policies that drive up costs and
create delays for no or trivial public benefit.
©2019 FOTOSEARCH
A Competitive Enterprise Institute report
on highway funding suggests that states be
given increased procurement and operating
flexibility by eliminating federal restrictions
on tolling state-owned Interstate Highway
System segments.
CEI recommendations are counter to the
beliefs of the American Trucking Associations,
the Truckload Carriers Association and the
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
that an increase in the fuel tax is needed to
sustain the Highway Trust Fund.
The report drew the immediate praise of
Patrick D. Jones, executive director and CEO
of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike
Association, the worldwide association
representing toll facility owners and operators
and the businesses that serve them.
“The CEI’s report calling on Congress to
embrace alternative sources of transportation
funding like tolling and a mileage-based user
fee is a welcome addition to the growing chorus
of voices speaking out in support of new ways
to invest and fund our nation’s infrastructure,”
Jones said. “The Highway Trust Fund is insolvent,
and Congress continues to use billions
of dollars in general purpose funds to keep it
limping along. The gas tax is unsustainable and
continues to fall well short in paying for our
roads, bridges and tunnels. Our underfunding
and underinvestment in our nation’s infrastructure
is showing in degraded roadways, deteriorating
bridges on the 60-year-old interstate
system and other highways across America. If
we continue to do nothing, or do not properly
invest in our infrastructure, the U.S. economy
and drivers will continue to suffer, slipping further
behind as a world leader.”
According to the organization’s website,
CEI is a nonprofit public policy organization
dedicated to advancing the principles of limited
government, free enterprise and individual
liberty. CEI said its mission is to promote
both freedom and fairness by making good
policy good politics. 8
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4 • July 1-14, 2019 Nation
THETRUCKER.COM
Several factors lead to obvious: driver obesity rate higher
because of dietary options, lack of sleep, irregular schedules
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetrucker.com
Truck drivers, on average, are not as
healthy as people in the general population.
That’s just one of the conclusions drawn in a
whitepaper published in April 2019 by Atlas
Injury Prevention Solutions, “Relationship
between Demographics and Wellness in the
Transportation Industry.”
The paper summarizes results from medical
data collected from over 15,000 transportation
industry workers over a five-year
period ending in 2018. The group included
nearly 6,000 drivers. Other workers included
in the survey were office, terminal and shop
employees.
Atlas is a provider of pre-employment
physical function screening, wellness training,
ergonomics training, healthcare support and
other health-related services.
As expected, the data isn’t kind to the driving
population. The numbers show that obesity
rates are higher for drivers than for nondrivers,
citing limited availability of healthy
dietary options, sleep deprivation, irregular
schedules and lack of physical activity as some
of the reasons for problem.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reports that 38% of the U.S. population
meets the criteria for obesity, while the
Atlas study shows 52% of drivers meeting
those criteria.
Obesity is only a part of the problem.
The screening also measured blood pressure,
blood glucose levels, cholesterol and triglyceride
levels, all of which are more likely to be
higher than normal when obesity is present.
These conditions comprise a cluster of conditions
known as Metabolic Syndrome (MetS).
Individuals who display a combination of
three or more of the MetS conditions have an
increased risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes,
all potential killers.
The study showed that drivers are 80%
more likely than nondrivers to have at least
three of the MetS conditions.
Another area where drivers do worse than
their nondriving counterparts is tobacco use.
Despite years of warnings and negative publicity,
drivers are 130% more likely to smoke
than nondrivers, increasing further their risk of
diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
One major issue cited in the study is the
failure of many drivers to fully utilize available
health care options. Many receive only
the treatment necessary to pass a DOT physical
exam, qualifying them to drive a commercial
motor vehicle, while ignoring ongoing health
concerns and overall wellness. According to
the study, potential barriers to receiving regular
medical care include failure to recognize lifelong
issues, difficulty of scheduling and keeping
appointments, and cost.
Some drivers who are in early stages of
MetS don’t experience outward symptoms
of illness or don’t think the symptoms they
do experience are serious enough to warrant
medical attention. The issue with hypertension
and other conditions is that they do not
generally get better on their own. Aging and
Courtesy: PILOT FLYING J
Truckers get hungry while on the road and when it comes time for a break or to fuel up,
they are tempted by the availability of snacks and drinks that can lead to obesity, diabetes
or heart disease.
increased weight tend to make the problems
worse. Drivers who aren’t compliant with prescribed
treatment, including regular medication
and weight loss recommendations, will
almost certainly experience worsening symptoms
as time goes on.
The difficulty in scheduling and making
appointments with a personal physician can be
daunting, especially when the driver’s carrier
does not do a good job getting drivers home
for appointments. Often, the driver’s time at
home doesn’t coincide with the physician’s
business hours and, even when it does, family
business often takes priority. Then, there’s
the ever-increasing cost of health care, and the
usual confusion over what is covered and the
cost of copays and deductibles. A typical copay
for an office visit, for example, is as low
at $20 under some plans and a prescription for
several months of a generic blood-pressure
medication often sells for $10 or less. Even
so, drivers must make the appointment, pick
up the prescription and take the medication as
described, or the health issue gets worse.
Often, drivers who are obese are counseled
to change their diets and exercise more, both
difficult to achieve on the road without a total
commitment.
If improving the driver’s health isn’t a big
enough concern, the possibility of unemployment
should be. Drivers who can’t obtain a
medical card can’t legally drive commercial
vehicles, period. The newest DOT physical
exam guidelines, updated in December 2017,
give physicians much more leeway in granting
medical qualification. Years ago, a driver
with a medical problem might expect to receive
a three-month certification and might
have to simply pass a retest of blood pressure
or blood sugar levels to move up to a one or
two-year certification. These days, doctors
can request further testing and sign off from
the driver’s personal physician before granting
any certification at all, effectively suspending
the driver’s career until requirements
are complied with.
Changing jobs takes on a new meaning,
as well. While much of the text in the Atlas
whitepaper discusses improvement of driver
health, one described priority is to “assist the
person in charge of health and safety to identify
and prioritize higher-risk drivers.” While
that phrase could be interpreted to mean identification
of current drivers who may need
health care intervention, it also applies to
the increasing number of carriers who utilize
pre-employment “physical agility” testing.
While evaluating the potential driver’s ability
to perform the physical functions of the
job such as climbing, lifting, and so on, the
process can also be used to weed out drivers
who may present increased risk of expensive
health treatment or workers compensation expense.
Carriers must exercise extreme caution
when declining employment to applicants to
avoid the risk of violating labor, unemployment
or equal-opportunity laws, but testing is
often structured to collect data that is difficult
to refute.
Whether used to exclude drivers with
undesirable health characteristics or to identify
those that could benefit from health and
wellness training, data collected from drivers
clearly shows that issues exist.
Those interested in obtaining a copy of
the whitepaper or learning more about services
provided by Atlas can find more information
at atlas-ips.com. 8
USPS 972
Volume 32, Number 13
July 1-14, 2019
The Trucker is a semi-monthly, national newspaper for the
trucking industry, published by Trucker Publications Inc. at
1123 S. University, Suite 320
Little Rock, AR 72204-1610
Trucking Division Senior Vice President
David Compton
davidc@targetmediapartners.com
Vice President / Publisher
Ed Leader
edl@thetrucker.com
Trucking Division General Manager
Megan Cullingford-Hicks
meganh@targetmediapartners.com
Editor
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
Assistant Editor
Klint Lowry
klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Production Manager
Rob Nelson
robn@thetrucker.com
Graphic Artist
Christie McCluer
christie.mccluer@thetrucker.com
Special Correspondent
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetrucker.com
National Marketing Consultants
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jerryc@targetmediapartners.com
Dennis Ball
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megl@targetmediapartners.com
Greg McClendon
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THETRUCKER.COM
FTR notes longstanding surplus
in Mexico trade for rail, trucking
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Although the
U.S. goods trade deficit with Mexico is about
$80 billion, the U.S. has a longstanding trade
surplus with Mexico in terms of rail tonnage
and a growing truck tonnage surplus over the
past three years, according to just-completed
analysis by FTR.
Using the Freight•cast forecasting model,
FTR translated value-based trade data published
by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
into transportation tonnage and loadings to
and from Mexico and Canada.
The forecasting firm’s analysis of crossborder
trade data has been ongoing for several
months and happened to conclude around the
time President Trump announced tariffs on all
imports from Mexico, effective June 10.
“With China continuing to be problematic,
we know that there had been some shifting of
sourcing to Mexico, so potential tariffs on Mexican
imports raise important questions,” said Eric
Starks, chairman and CEO of FTR. “Either we
lose this freight, see increased costs, or both.”
The U.S. rail sector has run a significant
surplus of tonnage into Mexico for years, but
U.S.-Mexico truck tonnage had been more balanced
until 2016, when the U.S. trucking sector
posted its first meaningful surplus since 2008.
The picture looks a bit different regarding loads
into and out of Mexico. Rail loadings are volatile
year to year, but the U.S. runs a deficit of
truck loads to the tune of about 800,000 a year.
Rail movements into and out of Mexico
represent about 3.2% of all U.S. rail moves,
and that portion has grown steadily since 2009.
Excluding intermodal, U.S.-Mexico traffic represents
about 5.5% of total U.S. rail moves, and
that number has nearly doubled since 2009.
FTR estimates that truck loads into and out
of Mexico make up just 1.5% of all U.S. truck
Associated Press: HANS-MAXIMO MUSIELIK
A truck crosses the border between Mexico
and the United States in Nuevo Laredo,
Mexico. FTR estimates that truck loads into
and out of Mexico make up just 1.5% of all
U.S. truck loadings, but that share has risen
by about 50% since 2009.
loadings, but that share has risen by about 50%
since 2009.
“Rail is more exposed than truck even
though it has a smaller portion of overall crossborder
freight,” Starks said. “Changes in freight
would be felt quicker by the rail sector. If we
assume a retaliation by Mexico, rail could be
hit further because Mexico potentially has other
ready sources for some of the most important
rail exports to Mexico, such as fuel and grain.”
With truck, while the share of overall truck
volume dedicated to Mexico is small, a big
piece of that are parts for vehicles, computers,
and machinery.
“If the trucking freight went away, that in
itself would not be a death knell for trucking,
but the broader issue is the exponential impact
on U.S. manufacturing,” Starks said.
For information on how to subscribe to
State of Freight INSIGHTS and other FTR
products, visit ftrintel.com or contact FTR by
email at sales@ftrintel.com or by phone at
888-988-1699, ext. 1. 8
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Thetrucker.com
b Hearing from page 1 b
committed to safety on the nation’s highways
and to the deployment of proven technologies
that will make the roads safer.
“Safety anchors the very foundation of
the trucking industry, shaping our core values
and decision-making,” he said. “That is why
the trucking industry invests approximately
$10 billion annually in safety initiatives, including
onboard technologies such as electronic
logging devices, collision avoidance
systems and video-event recorders.
“These investments also include driver
safety training, driver safety incentive pay
and compliance with safety regulations,”
Spear said, “and while some of these investments
are made to meet a myriad of regulatory
requirements, many of them are voluntary,
progressive safety initiatives adopted by our
members and they’re paying dividends in
highway safety.”
Spear’s testimony outlined ATA’s agenda
for reauthorization, which includes datadriven
improvements to the current hoursof-service
rules, rejection of onerous mandates
for dubious technologies, support for
proven safety technology systems, enhanced
employer notification systems, use of hair
samples for mandated drug screenings,
workforce development measures like the
DRIVE-Safe Act and increased infrastructure
investment.
Spencer shared in his testimony concerns
about the lack of driver training, truck parking
shortage, excessive detention time and
overregulation.
He said that trucking is broken, but certainly
not beyond repair, and that the most
critical components are the drivers.
“Large motor carriers are pressuring Congress
to enact unsafe policies to combat a fictitious
driver shortage, while doing nothing
to address their precariously high turnover
rates. The American economy is stronger
than it has been in years, but many drivers
are still struggling to make ends meet,”
Spencer said.
The association has long sought ways to
address one of the biggest inefficiencies in
the industry, which is excessive detention, a
problem that makes it difficult for drivers to
earn a living since they are typically paid by
the mile and not by the hour.
Spencer said OOIDA also supports robust
training standards for new entrants, including
behind-the-wheel experience. Spencer
also labeled the driver shortage as a myth,
pointing toward high turnover rates among
large motor carriers as one of the industry’s
most pressing problems.
House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-
Ore., opened the hearing by saying the trucking
industry is reaching a tipping point.
“The policies Congress chooses to enact
to relieve this pressure will have real impacts
on public safety, carrier operations, and truck
driver wages and working conditions,” he
said. “Carriers have set the expectation that
they can and will deliver more goods faster
and at the lowest possible cost. In many cases,
drivers absorb the uncertainties of goods
movement — everything from congestion
and wait times at ports and shipper facilities
to fluctuating fuel prices.”
DeFazio said drivers who are compensated
by the mile, not by the hour, face the false
choice of getting paid or getting adequate
rest.
“They often do not see their wages rise
even as their work days get longer,” he said,
“and when states enact progressive laws to
Nation July 1-14, 2019 • 7
provide truck drivers with paid sick leave or
paid rest breaks, most of the industry works
to quash these efforts through federal preemption.”
In light of these pressures on drivers, it’s
no surprise that rigid, complex regulations
— such as hours of service — feel unworkable,
the chairman said.
“But we cannot paper over this problem
by granting exemptions and stretching drivers
even thinner through longer on-duty windows
while ignoring the underlying operational
realities,” he said.
The subcommittee’s ranking member,
Rodney Davis, R-Ill., noted the size of the
trucking industry, pointing out that trucks
moved approximately 10.8 billion tons of
freight in 2017, and the industry employs over
6 million drivers.
Safety has and must continue to be a focus
of a surface transportation reauthorization bill.
“We need to focus federal resources where
they can make the most impact and continue
to provide state law enforcement agencies
with the tools and resources they need to effectively
enforce federal regulations,” he said.
“We must also be careful to not impose burdensome
regulations that impede our ability
to move goods or that do not help us achieve
our safety objective.
“Finally, we must ensure that we make the
necessary improvements to our surface transportation
system to continue to facilitate the
safe and efficient movement of freight.” 8
Become an OOIDA member.
800-444-5791 • www.ooida.com

8 • July 1-14, 2019 Nation
S.H.I.P. advocates for heavier trucks
in states that opt-in to pilot program
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON — The Safer Hauling and
Infrastructure Planning (S.H.I.P.) Coalition,
through the testimony of coalition member Pepsi-
Co, carried its message advocating an increase in
gross vehicle weight to the House Highways and
Transit Subcommittee hearing “Under Pressure:
The State of Trucking in America” held June 12.
“While PepsiCo is proud of our ability to innovate
around the current challenges facing our
trucking fleet, we believe more can be done to
advance safety, reduce emissions, and protect
infrastructure,” Rodney Noble, senior director
of transportation global procurement at PepsiCo,
told the committee. “But we are constrained by
antiquated federal laws.”
Noble is responsible for strategy development
and capacity procurement for all modes of
purchased transportation/freight, as well as North
America Fleet procurement.
The S.H.I.P. Coalition is advocating for the
increase in gross vehicle weight (GVW) limits
on the federal interstate highways in 10 states
that opt-in to the pilot program.
S.H.I.P. said a logical first step is to create a
voluntary pilot program — and in recent years
there have been truck weight pilot programs in
Maine, Vermont, Arizona, Idaho and elsewhere
— to allow a limited number of states to opt-in
and modernize the federal weight limit to 91,000
lbs. on the Interstate System within their borders.
States in the pilot would gather safety data on the
operation of those modern trucks.
“Increasing the weight limit will not mean
longer, higher or wider trucks, just more productive
trucks,” S.H.I.P. said. “Standardsized trucks
Courtesy: IOWA 80
One of the highlights of the Walcott Truckers Jamboree is the fireworks display, which traditionally
draws hundreds of onlookers.
will be fitted with a sixth axle that allows them to
safely carry more because of an additional braking
mechanism and better weight dispersal.
S.H.I.P. said GVW laws have not been updated
since 1982 despite major advancement in
vehicle safety and paving technology.
Thirty states already allow trucks above
80,000 pounds on portions of their federal interstate
highways in some capacity, and their communities
are safer because of it, Noble said.
Bringing trucking into the 21st century will
make roads safer for families, minimize congestion
on state and local roads, and reduce infrastructure
costs, saving taxpayer dollars, he said.
“USDOT has said they don’t have enough information
to know the impact of increased truck
weight with a sixth-axle on our roads, which is
why I have joined with many of my colleagues
and asked for Congress to authorize a pilot program
so we can get that information,” Rep. Mike
Gallagher, R-Wis., said during the hearing.
The S.H.I.P. Coalition is a joint effort of more
than 80 manufacturers, agribusinesses, retailers,
and trade associations who are looking for safe
and smart solutions to address the challenges that
have long plagued our nation’s freight network.
“Our diverse membership is working hard
to educate policymakers on a pilot program that
will allow a limited number of states to voluntarily
opt-in as means to study the benefits of the
modern, six-axle, bridge formula compliant truck
configuration that is already allowed on many
state roads,” said Sean Joyce, executive director
of the S.H.I.P. Coalition..
S.H.I.P. listed two points in its presentation.
• Increasing the federal GVW limit on six axles
will not only make the trucks more efficient,
it will also make them safer. A 10-year pilot in
Idaho found there was no heightened safety risk
with increased weights, and the U.S. Department
of Transportation concluded that six-axle
trucks had better braking. Likewise, a report on
a 20-year pilot program in Maine attributed a
70-year low in road fatalities to increased truck
weights.
• The Minnesota Department of Transportation
found that the addition of a sixth axle created
a 37% reduction in road wear and an overall
reduction in the number of trips needed to transport
products. Modern trucks are also federal
bridge formula compliant.
Some members of the S.H.I.P. Coalition
include Anheuser-Busch, International Paper,
Tyson Foods, the American Chemistry Council,
the Agriculture Transportation Coalition,
Thetrucker.com
Courtesy: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thirty states already allow trucks above 80,000 pounds on portions of their federal interstate
highways in some capacity, and their communities are safer because of it, said Rodney Noble,
senior director of transportation global procurement at PepsiCo.
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
WALCOTT, Iowa — It’s summertime and
for the professional truck driver that means one
thing.
It’s time to head to Walcott, Iowa, for the
Walcott Truckers Jamboree hosted at the Iowa
80 Truckstop located on I-80, Exit 284.
This year’s jamboree is scheduled for July
11-13. Iowa 80 says the event provides a great
place to celebrate and learn about trucking and
those big rigs.
“It’s our way of saying thank you to the millions
of truck drivers that deliver the goods we
consume, whether it’s groceries, gas, clothes or
cars — you can bet it was delivered by a truck,”
Iowa 80 said in its online promotional material.
The 40th version of the jamboree features
all the traditional events, including an antique
truck display, Super Trucks Beauty Contest,
over 150 exhibits, the Iowa Pork Chop Cookout,
carnival games, live country music, the
Trucker Olympics and a fireworks display.
Coming back this year are the Pet Contest
on Friday and a Donut Wall (in lieu of cake)
and PepsiCo, among others. The S.H.I.P. Coalition
is advocating for creating a safer and
more environmentally friendly trucking system
by modernizing GVW limits. Joyce said the
coalition is calling on Congress to create a pilot
program so states can voluntarily collect safety
data on the potential benefits of modernizing
truck weights.
S.H.I.P. advocates for a modern, six-axle,
91,000-pound truck configuration.
In 2016, a U.S. Department of Transportation
Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight
Limit Study found many advantages for this
configuration, including faster braking, a
$358-million reduction in annual congestion
costs, a 1.2 billion-mile reduction in annual
vehicle miles traveled on U.S. roads, and a 2.4
billion-pound reduction in annual carbon dioxide
emissions, Joyce said. 8
40th annual Walcott Truckers Jamboree
scheduled for July 11-13 at Iowa 80 stop
on Saturday in the Super Truck Showroom at
9 a.m.
Admission and parking are free.
Musical acts include the Davisson Brothers
Band on Thursday, July 11 at 7 p.m.; Sawyer
Brown at 7 p.m. Friday, July 12; and The Kentucky
Headhunters at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 13.
Lindsay Lawler and Natalie Stovall will open
for Sawyer Brown beginning at 5 p.m., Friday,
July 12.
“We love that we have a large area to continue
to hold outdoor concerts. The Walcott Truckers
Jamboree truly is a great part of summer and
the very best way to celebrate America’s truckers”,
says Heather DeBaillie, marketing manager.
“All three concerts will be high energy and lots of
fun. This line up is not to be missed.”
Of special interest to Jamboree attendees
in recent years has been the Iowa 80 Trucking
Museum. The museum is celebrating two
100-year-old trucks: a 1919 International and a
1919 Pierce Arrow with a birthday party at 2:30
p.m. on July 12. For more information, visit
truckersjamboree.com. 8

Thetrucker.com
b Alliance from page 1 b
economy,” Williams recently said. “But the industry
has too many accidents. More truck drivers
lost their lives in 2017 than in any year in the
previous 10 years. We must aggressively address
these tragic figures.”
Williams believes a first step is to reverse the
industry priorities. “Support progressive safety
reforms that make sense for our country and citizens
first, our industry second, and our companies
third,” he said. “Yet several trucking-specific bills
before the House Transportation & Infrastructure
Committee would propose the opposite — legislation
to benefit companies first, the trucking
industry second, and our country and citizens,
third. This committee must adopt safety reforms
to reduce large truck crashes and reject legislation
that would appease special interests but sacrifice
public safety in the process.”
Williams noted that ELDs play a major role
in reducing truck crashes, yet rather than embrace
ELDs for the safety benefits they will achieve,
certain industry segments want an exemption
from ELDs.
He said there are at least two bills before the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
that would allow thousands of truck drivers
of agricultural goods to operate “off the grid”
and without a reliable way to verify whether
they are in compliance with on-duty regulations.
These bills would compromise public safety.
Another bill would allow any motor carrier
that operates 10 or fewer trucks to operate without
ELDs.
According to data provided by the American
Trucking Associations, over 90% of the nation’s
motor carriers have 10 or fewer trucks.
In its comments, the Trucking Alliance also
renewed its push for hair testing for substance
abuse.
Williams said the Alliance recently submitted
data to the Department of Transportation showing
“compelling evidence” that thousands of habitual
drug users are manipulating federal drug
test protocols and obtaining jobs as commercial
truck drivers.
He said the survey data compared the pre-employment
drug test results of 151,662 truck driver
applicants who were asked to submit to two drug
tests: a urinalysis and a hair analysis. Almost all
applicants held an active commercial driver license.
Williams said 94% of the truck driver applicants
tested drug-free. However, thousands of
applicants failed either or both drug tests.
“Alarmingly, the urinalysis, the only method
recognized by USDOT and relied on by almost
all trucking company employers, actually failed
to identify most drug abusers,” Williams said.
“The urinalysis detected drugs in 949 applicants,
about 1% of the population. However, 8.6%, or
8,878 truck driver applicants, either failed or refused
the hair test. Put another way, the urinalysis
missed nine out of 10 actual illicit drug users.”
The Trucking Alliance is probably the most
prominent group that is lobbying against any efforts
to allow drivers under 21 to operate in interstate
commerce.
“Most states allow teenagers between the
ages of 18-21 to operate commercial trucks within
their state boundary,” Williams said. “While
statistics are lacking, anecdotal evidence suggests
these teenage truck drivers operate lighter weight,
short trucks, such as delivery vans and straight
or panel trucks. Few teenagers actually operate
Class 8 tractor-trailer combinations within their
state. These big rigs carry a laden weight of up
to 80,000 pounds. These are the tractor trailers
used in interstate commerce. Operating these
tractor trailer combinations requires elevated
skills, considerable experience, maturity and selfdiscipline.”
Williams said the Trucking Alliance supports
a new federal safety standard that would require
all large commercial trucks to maintain a maximum
speed limit of 65 mph on the nation’s highways.
According to NHTSA, in 2017, speeding was
one of the factors for almost 27% of motor vehicle
crash deaths. The World Health Organization’s
“Report on Road Safety” estimates that for
every 1% increase in mean speed, there is a 4%
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Nation July 1-14, 2019 • 9
increase in the fatal crash risk and a 3% increase
in the serious crash risk. The top speed of large
tractor trailer combinations should be limited.
The trucking industry has historically supported
truck speed limiters.
As for safety systems, Williams said collision
mitigation systems installed in commercial trucks
can reduce large truck crashes.
He said the Trucking Alliance supports the
conclusions of a 2017 study by the AAA Foundation
for Traffic Study. The study, titled “Leveraging
Large Truck Technology and Engineering
to Realize Safety Gains,” researched four truck
safety technologies, all of which can greatly reduce
injuries and fatalities in large truck crashes:
• Lane departure warning systems, which
detect when the vehicle drifts out of its lane
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• Automatic emergency braking systems,
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striking the vehicle in front of it and brakes automatically,
if needed
• Air disc brakes, which will eventually be
superior to traditional drum brakes, as these
systems are continually improved.
Some of the largest trucking companies
in the U.S. are members of the Trucker Alliance,
including Cargo Transporters, Dupre,
J.B. Hunt, KLLM Transport Services, Knight
Transportation, Maverick Transportation,
Swift, U.S. Xpress and May Trucking Co. 8
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Letters
Reader says trend in newspaper seems
to be in support of younger drivers
The trend in your publication seems to be
in support of letting 18- to 20-year-olds get an
unrestricted CDL and drive everywhere.
Several articles in The Trucker seem to support
the Truckload Carriers Association, the
American Trucking Associations, etc. lie that
there is a critical driver shortage and that young
drivers are a perfectly safe solution.
Never mind that the Centers for Disease
Control, American Automobile Association and
many others irrefutably and emphatically state
that the most dangerous age demographic of motor
vehicle operators are 16- to 20-year-olds.
That under-20 demographic is three times
more likely to be involved in a fatal motor vehicle
accident than any other age group.
One commentator went so far as to say that
of course young truckers are safe, after all we
don’t see any carnage on the roads from all the
young intrastate drivers.
What young intrastate drivers? I’m on the
roads, loading docks and truck stops 250-plus
days a year and I haven’t seen a single one.
Plus, who’s insuring these lethal young
punks? What company out there is offering
million-dollar freight and liability coverage to
teenagers? Please let me know so I can make
sure I don’t own any investments is such foolish
companies.
Tell your corporate masters that if they want
to solve their “driver shortage” they should pay
a living wage, treat professional drivers with
dignity and respect, run top end equipment and
not demand a company (slave) driver to work
2,700 to 3,000 hours per year in order to maybe
squeak out $50,000.
Thanks for reading my rant.
— Ben Lassiter
Reader points out the fact that there
are no weigh stations on toll roads
If any drivers are still under the impression
that the state is more concerned with safety
than revenue, please allow me in the following
paragraphs to dissuade them of that misapprehension.
A weigh station’s “primary function is enforcement
of tax and safety regulations.” But
one can rarely find a weigh station on a toll
road. About 15 years ago the maximum speed
limit on every interstate in Ohio was 55. Semis
were using the green stamp less and less and
that put a dent in the Buckeye pocketbook.
ODOT told us the reduced speed limit was
for safety reasons, until the bean counters informed
them of how much revenue could be
realized if they encouraged trucks to use the
turnpike by jacking up the speed limit to 65.
And so, they did. They didn’t raise the speed
limit on I-75 or I-70 or I-76 or I-77 (non-toll
roads), only on I-80, the toll road.
All of a sudden, miraculously, 65 mph for
See Letters on p11 m
Perspective July
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
Eye on
Trucking
We at The Trucker collaborate with the
Truckload Carriers Association to publish
Truckload Authority, the official publication of
the association that represents the interests of
the truckload industry.
The magazine is published every two
months, and the week of publication is quite
intense as we simultaneously work on the next
issue of The Trucker.
The week of June 10 was one of those
weeks, as we constantly communicated back
and forth with the fine folks at TCA headquarters
in Alexandria, Virginia, via text, phone and
e-mail.
As I sat at my desk and listened to the lively
— and never tense despite the clock winding
down toward the deadline for transmitting the
publication to the printer — banter back and
forth among our editorial and production staff,
I was reminded that I’d never paid proper homage
to one of the greatest trucking journalists
in the business.
It was her infectious laughter that became
the catalyst for this column.
I first met Dorothy Cox when I went to work
at the Arkansas Democrat in the early 1970s.
She eventually left the Democrat and moved
across downtown to the Arkansas Gazette.
Going to work for the Gazette — which
was considered one of the best newspapers
in the country and which had won a Pulitzer
Prize in 1958 for its pro-integration stance in
the Little Rock Central High School integration
crisis the year before — was the dream of
every journalist in Arkansas.
Dorothy was still working at the Gazette on
October 19, 1991, when the Democrat bought
the Gazette and its employees were ordered
under guard to remove personal property and
leave the building posthaste.
By that time, the Gazette, which had been
owned by the well-respected Patterson family,
had been sold to the national media company
Gannett, which had immense assets with which
to fight the Democrat but received criticism
for bringing in out-of-town reporters and staff
and losing the local feel of the paper. The Gazette,
nicknamed the “Old Gray Lady,” became
flashier, but critics complained that the paper
had lost the respect of its hometown readership
and ultimately the war with the Democrat.
I left the daily newspaper business in Little
Rock in 1983 and lost track of many acquaintances,
including Dorothy, a feisty lady who
was photographed on one occasion puffing on
a big cigar.
Then came one day in 2004 when I began
the interview process that led me to my current
position.
Then-publisher Laura Stacks was showing
me around the office and when we walked into
the editorial department, there was Dorothy
pounding away on one of those old-fashioned
colorful iMacs.
Between November 2004 and late last year
when she went part-time, Dorothy was our assistant
editor, finally retiring full time April 30
of this year.
1-14, 2019 • 10
Thanks for the good times, Dorothy. We certainly miss you
I can tell you why it’s broken:
the 14-hour rule, lack of
sufficient training, incredibly
high insurance rates, lack of a
livable wage, lack of sufficient
parking and federal government
overregulation. Now, to
fix it get rid of the 14-hour rule
and go back to 15 hours on
duty in a 24-hour period. Make
mandatory training a minimum
of three months and 480
hours behind the wheel before
a driver can be turned loose
on his own. Set a cap on the
amount an insurance company
can charge you to insure your
equipment. Pay drivers by the
hour for everything they do not
by the mile. Start opening up
these closed weigh stations
and shut-down rest areas to allow trucks to park. And for goodness
sake, take the paper and pencil out of the hands of the federal government
so they stop writing more and more regulations.
— Keith Becker
Fortunately for us, our management team has
given us the privilege of calling on Dorothy for
occasions such as press day for Truckload Authority,
so she was in the office June 13-14.
It wasn’t long after she arrived, something
funny happened and the room was filled with
Dorothy’s infectious laughter.
There were occasions over the years that
she laughed so hard she would lose her breath
and we’d all rush to her desk, first to make sure
she was going to be able to breath again and
second to see what in the world was so funny
it had set her off.
Dorothy’s knowledge of the industry allowed
her to talk with truck drivers about
anything and everything, and she was always
patient with callers, who were just looking for
someone to listen about their needs.
Her writing and editing skills were impeccable.
And I’ve never seen anyone to could conduct
and interview and literally type every
word the interviewee said in copy so clean that
it could have almost been printed verbatim.
When I tried to do the same, it came out some
like this…”skgd (Smith) said, adging (adding) he
sirht (might) kange (change) hid numd (mind).”
Two of her passions were the fight against
human trafficking and the desire to see more and
more women both behind the wheel and in corporate
offices.
She was a dedicated Christian lady whose
values were always evident in her manners and
her loyalty.
We will miss Dorothy.
To Dorothy, we will say what she wrote at the
end of her Around the Bend column each issue.
Be safe and God bless. 8
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer
told a House panel recently that trucking was “broken.” If you agree, why
is it broken and how do you fix it? Let us hear from you.
Know why trucking is broken?
It’s because the ATA
and OOIDA and other trucking
groups allowed it to break.
These groups were orchestrated
to keep an eye on things and
looked the other way. Big companies
got bigger without responsibility,
shady outfits became
criminal, and then there
are all the reckless accidents
that injured and killed people.
So the government stepped in
and initiated all these regulations.
Do you think membership
fees allowed OOIDA to get
as big as it is? Do you think the
ATA got as big as it did just by
donations? They got kickbacks
from these big companies to
look the other way, all based
on greed and to monopolize
the trucking industry. If groups like the ATA and OOIDA were
doing their job, we wouldn’t be jn this mess.
— Robert Rowe

THETRUCKER.COM
Perspective July 1-14, 2019 • 11
trucks wasn’t so dangerous. It was inversely
proportional: the more dough that entered
Ohio’s coffers, the safer 65 mph became.
Ohio is not alone. Just about every state has
fixed weigh stations, but they are curiously absent
from every toll road.
Oklahoma has weigh stations on I-35 but
none on the I-44 toll road. If you want to avoid
the outrageously costly Indiana toll road (about
29 cents a mile) and you get on US-20W after
leaving Ohio you are immediately confronted
with a sign, “Motor Carrier Target Enforcement
Area.” You will find no such specie of
sign anywhere along the 156 miles of the Indiana
toll road. Why? Because the keeper of
that artery wants the $56 that every 18-wheeler
must expectorate for its use.
New York has about 420 miles of toll road
and not a chicken coop to be found, fixed or
otherwise. Yet, in the past year in the Empire
State I have encountered portable scales on
I-81 and I-84. Albany makes millions of dollars
per year from that passageway. New York
should hang its head in shame lower than the
rest of the leeches because the N.Y. Thruway’s
tolls were scheduled to be removed in the
1980s as the road wasn’t built with tax money
but through a bond offering. I worked there for
three years so I know.
When entering New Jersey from Delaware
on I-95 you come to a split in the road. You can
go left and get on the I-95 toll road or you can
veer right and get on the free I-295, which parallels
I-95. Of course, if you choose the right
you will, within moments, come upon a weigh
station and those guys don’t mess around. You
learn in a hurry that you are better off paying
the N.J. Turnpike toll than subjecting yourself
and your truck to those uniformed martinets.
No matter what our lords and protectors say
about safety of the motoring public being their
primary concern, the numbers don’t lie. By any
metric employed it is clear that, as far as officialdom
is concerned, scratch trumps safety.
— Nicole DeRavin, driver
Cardenas Transfer
Newburgh, New York
65 mph speed limit would essentially
create 2 speeds for cars, trucks
I read the article about The Trucking Alliance
saying the greatest pressure on trucking is
to prevent fatal and injury accidents.
Most of what is being said in this article is
correct. However what bothers me is the 65
mph maximum speed. If imposed on all trucks,
this would essentially create a split speed limit.
These have been proven over and over again to
be counterproductive to safety.
You have disarmed the larger vehicle and
made it a sitting duck in traffic. In many states
that used to have a split speed, trucks were often
involved in being rear-ended by cars.
The real problems are that drivers still are
being pressed for time, trying to make at times
tough schedules, and having to put up with delays
at the customer.
To which many of the aforementioned
members of The Trucking Alliance say that
paying drivers $15 an hour after giving up two
hours is adequate.
They have limited drivers pay for waiting
now they also want to limit their speed, as well.
This translates into drivers being late having
to babysit loads without compensation.
The real problem for the most part is distracted
driving, people in cars who don’t know how to
drive around trucks, and horrible infrastructure.
If a driver of a large truck keeps a good following
distance in front of himself, it doesn’t matter
how fast he is traveling.
Driver sums up state of trucking:
overregulation, overregulation
I’m responding to the hearing about the
state of trucking in our country.
My comment is overregulation, overregulation,
overregulation.
Prisoners have more freedom than drivers.
After 22 years of driving I can’t wait to quit.
Between e-logs and cameras all over the truck,
who would want to do this anymore?
I used to encourage those around me to
drive, but not anymore. This is the most overregulated
industry to the point it is ridiculously
out of control.
Hire people with an IQ higher than a brick
and you wouldn’t have the problems that you do.
Stop making it easier “automatics” for
anyone to drive a truck. I have a saying, just
because you can get a CDL doesn’t mean you
should. And just because you have a CDL
doesn’t mean you should utilize it! I can say
more but, what’s the point, just like writing this
much. Good luck!
— Mike 8
Got an opinion on a key
trucking issue?
Send it online to:
editor@thetrucker.com
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12
AT
THE TRUCK STOP
PRESENTED BY CAT SCALE, VISIT WEIGHMYTRUCK.COM
This driver is finally living his childhood dream,
and living it up with his kids
The Trucker: KLINT LOWRY
Gaylon Walker is spending a good part of the summer spending quality time with his children, bringing them along so they can see what dad does when he’s away from home driving a truck.
Klint Lowry
Klint.Lowry@thetrucker.com
Do teachers still have kids write essays about
“What I did on my summer vacation”? If they
do, Gaylon Walker’s kids will have it made.
It was about 8 a.m., and like a lot of his
fellow truckers at the Petro Truck Stop off
Interstate 40, Exit 161, just east of Little
Rock, Arkansas, Walker was getting ready
for a day on the road. He approached the
food counter with a spring in his step.
“I hope you’re ready for me,” he said to
the woman behind the counter, “because I’m
hungry.”
She stood ready. He kept ordering, and
the way she kept loading up the container,
he was lucky the truck stop didn’t sell their
meals by the pound.
She set the brimming container near the
register. On second thought, Walker said, his
son Kollin is sleeping in the cab, maybe he
should get a little bit more.
“You’re just remembering you son is with
you?” the woman asked. No, that’s not it,
Walker explained. He’d been ordering for
both of them, but it’s easy to underestimate
the appetite of a 15-year-old boy.
School let out for the summer a few weeks
ago, and Walker is letting his kids see what
dad’s job is all about.
Actually, it’s all still pretty new to Walker.
He has been a professional truck driver for
just a bit over a year now. Before that he had
worked at a Kroger distribution center back
home in Houston.
“I was a truck unloader,” he said. “I worked
in the freezer for about five and a half years,
then I started unloading trucks the remaining
time I was there.” It was a setting that constantly
reminded him of a childhood dream.
“I’ve been wanting a truck since I was
for 4 years old,” Walker said. “I saw the
opportunity at 37 years old, and I took the
opportunity.”
Of course, the dreams of a 4-year-old child
are free from adult realities that can put a
damper on those dreams. But he came into
trucking with an adult perspective. The first
company he worked for wasn’t so great, he
said. But that’s to be expected.
“In the trucking industry, you might have
to go through two or three companies before
you find that one company you’re going
to stay with,” he said. He feels like he’s
found one he can stick with. About a month
ago, Walker signed on with John Christner
Trucking. “I’m buying a truck through them.
It’s a good program.”
His goal is to eventually have his own
business with three or four trucks, and if all
goes well, leasing them through Christner.
Having the maturity to know that living out
his dream was going to take some getting used
to, Walker said he’s adapted to life on the road
in his first year. One thing he realized very
quickly is that you burn a lot more calories
unloading trucks than you do driving them.
Don’t let that gigantic truck stop breakfast
fool you, he’s careful about what he eats.
He gets one meal a day at a restaurant or
truck stop. The rest of the time, he keeps a
well-stocked fridge. “I’ve got salads, I’ve
got apples, oranges, bananas, oatmeal” and a
few more fun-food type snacks to keep him
full on the road.
With 10 hours a day behind the wheel,
whenever he has a break, he makes it a point
to walk “at least a mile, mile and a half a
day” to make sure his legs stay strong.
Of course, the biggest adjustment has been
the time away from his wife and five kids.
“I call them when I’m on the road, every
day,” Walker said. “They video chat with me,
make sure I’m all right.
“They’re OK. If anything is needed at
home as far as money or my expertise they
call and talk to me. And when I’m there we
have as much fun together as we can.”
Walker is usually out on the road three
weeks at a time, and now that summer is here,
he’s bringing the kids along on an adventure.
His eldest daughter, Danaijha, just graduated
high school and is busy getting ready to join
the Navy, so Kollin got to go first. Right
now they were running a load of pork from
Washington to Alabama, through the Rocky
Mountains.
“He loves it,” Walker said. “He’s been
taking a lot of pictures.”
Kollin’s been out with him for about three
weeks. Once this run is over, they’ll head
back to Houston, 10-year-old sister Dia’ana
and 7-year-old brother Darius will get to
ride with dad. Kid sister Daphne, who’s 4,
will have to wait a few years. She’ll stay
home with mom as she tends to the family’s
barbeque business back in Houston.
Once the kids are back in school, all he
needs to do is bring a little bit of the family’s
secret family recipe pepper sauce with him
and he’ll feel like he’s right at home. 8

CATTheTrucker051519.qxp_Layout 1 5/15/19 12:31 PM Page 1
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The winner will be selected by TBS Factoring Service, LLC (“TBS”). The grand prize will have
no cash value may not be redeemed for cash or exchanged.
14 • July 1-14, 2019 Perspective
OK, let’s be upfront about this. I am a lawyer
who defends CDL drivers in traffic citations.
It is what I do for a living. It puts food
on the table and a roof over my head.
With that in mind, I have had the pleasure
of speaking with 874 trillion truckers over the
years (a slight exaggeration, but not by much)
about their traffic tickets and the things they
would or would not do to keep the citation off
their record.
It seems that a lot of drivers believe that
you can just pay a traffic citation and it will
go away. Rest assured, IT DOES NOT! If you
pay a traffic citation, you are pleading guilty
to the charges against you. That conviction
goes on your Motor Vehicle Record (MVR)
which can affect your ability to get a better
job or haul for a better-paying shipper.
That conviction can affect your ability to
get a safety bonus. That conviction will definitely
affect the cost of your personal automobile
insurance for you and your family. And,
of course, that conviction may just cost you
your job and possibly your trucking career.
Accordingly, you should always fight any
citation or inspection violation that will hurt
your MVR or impact you under CSA.
In addition, some drivers think they can
scam the system by paying the fine within 24
hours of receiving the citation. Some drivers
send in $5-$10 more than the fine amount for
the citation and then never cash the check the
court sends them back for the overpayment,
thinking that will prevent the conviction from
appearing on their CDL. Also, not true.
Another of my favorites is that some drivers
think they can fail to pay the citation and it
will never show on their MVR. I really don’t
need to tell you all that this is not true, right?
The one thing that all of these drivers that
try to scam the system or fail to address the
citation have in common is that they will
not be driving trucks for long. Failure to pay
fines will result in penalties being added to
the original fine amount, suspension of driving
privileges and an arrest warrant issued for
the driver. The truth about our legal system is
this: it never forgets and it never makes a mistake
(even if it does make a mistake) — and it
works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Instead of trying to game the system, you
really need to ask yourself what you would
be willing to do protect your MVR. Would
you take a day off work to drive to the court,
another day for the trial, plus another day to
get back to your terminal? Would you give
up the loads and the money to make this happen?
Would you be able to get your company
to route you to the court with the knowledge
it could take 30 minutes or two days for you
THETRUCKER.COM
Rest assured, just paying traffic citation
will not keep violation off your record
Brad Klepper
exclusive to the trucker
Ask the
Attorney
to have your day in court? Would you do the
research on the laws you were charged with
violating? Would you represent yourself before
a judge or jury?
If you are unwilling to do that I would
suggest that you hire an attorney who knows
CDL law to represent you. Make sure the attorney
you hire is knowledgeable in the area
you need help. Do not hire a civil attorney
(wills & contracts) for criminal work such
as traffic tickets or accidents. A CDL driver
needs to hire an attorney that does a lot of
CDL defense work so the attorney will know
what will happen in the driver’s home state
and what to do in the state where the driver
received the citation.
In addition, the attorney will likely be able
to handle your legal matter without your appearance
being required and for what will
likely be less than you would pay in travel
costs to handle it yourself. I know you may
think I am being self-serving, but this is no
different than what I would tell my son or
daughter if they drove a truck for a living. In
fact, I would tell them to seek professional
advice for all areas of their life and business.
Hire an accountant to make sure you stay out
of trouble with the IRS and you know how
much money you are making. If you see your
income dropping, an accountant can help you
identify the loss, the reason for the loss, and
how to reverse the loss.
Get friendly with a banker in your home
town. Everyone needs financial help sometime.
You could need financial help because
of a big medical bill or a fire or an accident or
just about any unexpected reason. Make sure
you are in a position to ask for and receive a
loan to pull you through the troubled times.
Ultimately, the best advice I can give a
CDL driver is to follow the laws and drive
safely. Sometimes, even the very best driver
may receive a citation he does not deserve,
but protecting his MVR becomes even more
important. If you want a favor or the benefit
of the doubt from an officer on the side of the
road, your chances are much better if your
MVR is clean and you act in a professional
and courteous manner. Keep in mind that a
clean MVR is a golden ticket to the very best
jobs, the very best carriers, the very best driving
careers and the very best treatment and
respect from law enforcement.
Brad Klepper is president 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 nonmoving violations. Brad is also president
of Driver’s Legal Plan, which allows
member drivers access to his firm’s services
at discounted rates. He is a lawyer that has
focused on transportation law and the trucking
industry in particular. He works to answer
your legal questions about trucking and life
over the road.
For more information, contact him at
800-333-DRIVE (3748) or interstatetrucker.
com and driverslegtalplan.com. 8

THETRUCKER.COM
Perspective July 1-14, 2019 • 15
For a Christian, the greatest desire is to see
others accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
Gaylon Taylor
Chaplain’s
Corner
As a Christian, our greatest desire should
be to see others come to know Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior. It is difficult to see
those we care about reject our urging to be
saved. However, we must remember that it is
not our job to save.
It is our job to sow the seeds, which is to
share the Gospel with others. In Mark 4:1-20,
Jesus used the parable of the sower to teach
his disciples the need for seed sowing. In
verse 4, he speaks of seed which fell on the
hard-packed ground and was quickly gathered
up by the birds. Verse 5 speaks of seed
that fell on rocky soil and sprang up quickly
but had no root systems and died quickly.
The seed fell on thorny ground in verse 7
and was choked out by the weeds and undergrowth.
In verse 8 he speaks of seeds which
fell on good fertile ground and grew strong
and healthy.
Let us focus on the seed that fell on the
hard-packed ground, which was quickly
picked up by the birds and never took root.
These are the people that we become discouraged
with the quickest and determine
that there is not hope for these people, and
so why should we waste our time with them?
These are the ones that we need to work
the hardest with. Just because soil is hard and
packed does not mean it cannot be made fertile.
It takes a lot of work to break up hardpacked
soil. It also takes a lot of time and
determination to make that soil ready to receive
the seed and for the seed to be able to
take root and grow.
I received a call a few days ago from a
friend and former coworker. He informed me
that a friend of ours had just a short time to
live and that hospice had been called in care for
him. We all worked for the same freight company
as line haul drivers for almost 20 years.
After my retirement from driving in 2010 we
continued to keep in contact with each other.
Over the years we had shared the Gospel with
our dying friend many times. The response was
always, “how can you be sure you are right and
everyone else is wrong?” He could not grasp
the idea of accepting Jesus by faith.
However, over the years he has been diagnosed
with cancer three times, and each time
he would ask that we pray for him. I spoke
to him just a few months ago when the doctors
told him that they would not be able to
beat the cancer this time. I ask him if he was
ready to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior
and his answer was the same as always: NO.
A few days after my friend called with the
hospice news we decided we needed to go
visit and share the Good News one more time
before it was too late. The cancer has ravaged
our friend’s body. He is only able to speak
in a mumble and is very hard to understand.
When I asked if he was ready to accept Jesus
he said what I thought was “four weeks.” I
asked his wife to help me understand what he
was saying and a big smile came on her face.
She said he accepted Jesus as his Lord and
Savior four weeks ago. I would not be honest
if I said I would not have loved to have been
the one to have shared the Word with him
and have been the one to pray with him at
that special time.
However, my friend and I could not have
been happier to hear that the one we had
been witnessing to and praying for almost 30
years is now a child of God and will spend
eternity with us in heaven.
In John 4:36-38 Jesus speaks these words
to his disciples as the Samaritans are approaching
after the woman at the well told
them she had meet Jesus: “Do you not say,
‘There are yet four months, and then comes
the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up
your eyes and look on the fields, that they are
white for harvest. For in this case the saying
is true. ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent
you to reap that which you have not labored
and you have entered into their labor.”
I rejoice that God sent the pastor to my
friend to reap the blessing of seeing him
come to Christ. I also rejoice know that my
part was to continue to work the hard-packed
soil and continue to sow the seed of the Gospel
until the Holy Spirit set that seed in my
friend’s heart. I encourage you not to give
up on anyone because they don’t accept what
you are telling them about Jesus. Just keep
working the soil and sowing the seeds. You
may never know how much your labor for
Jesus has paid off until you get to heaven and
witness to bounty of the harvest.
Have a safe trip. I’ll see you out on the
road.
The Asphalt Preacher 8
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16 • July 1-14, 2019 Perspective
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Courtesy: NAVISTAR
The trucking industry continues to add trucks, even though the data says that freight
volumes are slowing and freight rates are beginning to fall. Picture is the International LT
series shown in farm application. International’s 2019 year-to-date market share is higher
than the same period in 2018.
Spot truckload freight volumes fail
to meet DAT expectations in May
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
PORTLAND, Ore. — Spot truckload freight
volumes failed to meet expectations in May, said
DAT Solutions, which operates the largest truckload
freight marketplace in North America.
The number of full-truckload van loads
moved on the spot market declined 12% in May
compared to April, according to the DAT Truckload
Volume Index. Van load counts were down
10% compared to May 2018. Van trailers haul approximately
70% of all truckload freight.
“Simply put, May was a disappointment in
terms of load counts,” said DAT Senior Industry
Analyst Mark Montague. “We’re accustomed to
seeing higher volumes of retail goods, fresh produce,
construction materials, and other seasonal
spot truckload freight moving through supply
Business
chains at this time of year.”
Uncertainty over trade agreements and
slumping imports from China seemed to dampen
truckload demand. Record rainfalls, flooding, and
tornadoes also hampered freight movements in
many parts of the country.
Agriculture producers saw their supply chains
disrupted by the weather, with many harvests ruined
or delayed. As a result, refrigerated volumes
declined 8.3% month over month and fell 12%
year over year.
Flatbed load volume, which includes heavy
machinery and construction material, dropped
9.3% month over month and 3.1% year over year.
Spot truckload rates continued to track well
below last year’s record levels.
See Rates on p19 m
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetrucker.com
New truck sales are strong but aren’t
expected to stay that way for more than a
few more months, orders for new trucks are
plummeting, and used truck inventories are
growing while sales are running well behind
last year’s rate. Those are conclusions gathered
from a variety of industry analysts.
U.S. sales of new Class 8 tractors in May
grew by 425, or 1.7%, from April sales numbers,
according to the latest data from ACT
Research. The month of May contains one
more business day than April, and that ex-
July 1-14, 2019 • 17
New Class 8 truck sales remain strong;
may stay that way only few months
tra day may account for the small increase.
Compared to May 2018, sales grew by
26.9%, or 5,278 trucks, as manufacturers
continue near-maximum production.
“We’re continuing to add trucks, even
though the data tells us that freight volumes
are slowing and freight rates are beginning
to fall,” said ACT Vice President Steve Tam.
Of the May sales, 18,303 were Class 8
tractors, compared to 17,995 in April, a 1.7%
increase. The increase over May 2018 sales
was much larger, at 31.5%, or 4,387 more
tractors. Class 8 vocational trucks experi-
See Sales on p18 m
Courtesy: DAT SOLUTIONS
This chart compares DAT Solutions spot market van volume and rates. Van load counts were
down 10% compared to May 2018. Van trailers haul approximately 70% of all truckload freight.
Data show Tax Cuts and Jobs Act had
positive impact on owner-operators
©2019 FOTOSEARCH
Because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, owner-operator taxable income increased 21% while
actual tax liability increased only 12.6%, according to American Truck Business Services.
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Preliminary data
based on over 3,000 tax returns indicate that the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act had an overall positive
impact on owner-operators in the trucking industry,
according to American Truck Business
Services (ATBS).
ATBS has observed the following statistics
related to how owner-operators fared on 2018
taxes.
First, the average owner-operator’s taxable
adjusted gross income (AGI) went from $43,093
in 2017 to $52,180 in 2018.
This was an increase of $9,087 or 21%. The
increase was predominantly related to a booming
year in the transportation industry.
During the same time, the average owner-operator
total tax liability went from $8,242 (2017)
to $9,284 (2018). This was a much smaller increase
of $1,042 or 12.6%.
The overall effective tax rate for owner-operators
went from 19.1% (2017) to 17.8% (2018)
or a reduction of 1.3%. The net result is that
owner-operator taxable income increased 21%
while actual tax liability increased only 12.6%.
Following are some of the specific reasons
for the reduction in owner-operator tax liability.
• 68% of ATBS owner-operator clients took
advantage of the qualified business income
See Data on p19 m

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18 • July 1-14, 2019 Business
b Sales from page 17 b
enced a similar increase with May sales of
6,602, compared to 6,485 in April, an increase
of 1.8%. The increase over May 2018
sales was smaller, coming in at 891 trucks,
for a 15.6% climb.
With the data indicating caution may
be best, order cancellations remain small,
around 1.5% for May. “That’s up slightly,
but still a very benign number,” Tam said.
“There’s no mass exodus and no crisis of
confidence.”
The order backlog currently sits at 7.1
months, Tam said. As the waiting time between
ordering and receiving the keys grows
shorter, Tam thinks more buyers may be
willing to cancel, losing their place in line
for new equipment. “Within a few months,”
he said, “waiting time to get back on the order
list will be down to a month or so. Giving
up your place in line won’t have the impact
it did when the backlog was approaching a
year.”
While sales of Class 8 trucks already on
the books continue in robust fashion, new orders
lag significantly behind last year’s pace.
ACT Research reported that manufacturers
took orders for 10,800 new tractors in
May, 27% lower than April orders and an astonishing
70% from May of last year.
FTR reported only 10,400 orders, the
weakest month of May since 2009.
It seems that truck buyers are confident
that they can find freight for the trucks they
have already ordered but are cautious about
ordering more.
June is typically the month in which carriers
begin ordering for the next model year,
so it will be interesting to see if orders tick
up.
Pricing of used Class 8 tractors is beginning
to stagnate, too, according to the latest
“State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used
Trucks” published by ACT Research. According
to the report, May used truck sales
declined 22% from May 2018 levels while
year-to-date sales are 16% lower than at the
THETRUCKER.COM
same point of last year. In a June 17 press release,
Tam said: “In the context of lower unit
sales and rising inventory levels, the slowing
price appreciation is a strong indication that
demand for used trucks in waning. Given a
similar story in the freight market, the development
makes sense.”
Getting back to new tractor sales, International
lost its hold as 2019’s second-largestselling
OEM with May sales of 3,168 trucks,
a decline of 10.4% from April sales of 3,537.
Despite the month-over-month decline, May
was still 30.3% better than May 2018, when
the company sold 2,431. International’s
13.0% of total Class 8 sales in May caused
its market share for the year to drop to 14.4%
of trucks sold, but that’s still ahead of the
13.3% after the first five months of last year.
Peterbilt sales of 3,855 helped the company
leapfrog International into second place
for both the month of May and the year-todate.
Only a 0.3% increase over strong April
sales of 3,842, it was enough to capture
14.9% of the 2019 new Class 8 truck market.
PACCAR sibling Kenworth saw a small
decline in month-over-month sales with delivery
of 3,653 units, a 2.7% decline from
3,755 sold in April but an 8.9% increase over
May 2018 sales of 3,355 trucks. Kenworth
sold 15.0% of Class 8 trucks delivered in the
U.S. in May and currently holds 14.0% of the
market for 2019.
Volvo sales of 2,722 Class 8 trucks in
May was a 23.8% improvement over April’s
2,199 units and 7.3% better than May 2018
sales of 2,536. Year-to-date, Volvo commands
9.6% of the new-truck market, down
from 11.2% after five months of 2018.
Mack saw May sales decline to 1,814,
down 5.7% from April’s 1,924 but still
12.9% ahead of May 2018 when 1,607 were
sold. Like sibling Volvo, Mack’s share of the
new Class 8 market is down for the year-todate,
currently at 6.8% compared to January
through May 2018, when Mack claimed
7.4% of the market.
Freightliner continues to lead all OEMs
with 38.0% of the new Class 8 truck market
in the U.S. for the year-to-date. Last year,
See Sales on p22 m
ALL THINGS TRUCKING
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THETRUCKER.COM
b Rates from page 17 b
Compared to April, the national average
spot van rate was virtually unchanged at $1.80
per mile, including a fuel surcharge. That’s 35
cents below the average for May 2018. The
average reefer rate was $2.15 per mile, 1 cent
higher than April and 38 cents lower than May
2018. The flatbed rate averaged $2.27 per mile,
down 5 cents compared to April and 45 cents
lower year over year.
“After a lackluster May, June is shaping up
to be a pivotal month for trucking,” Montague
said. “We will know soon whether the volumes
we expected in May were simply delayed. If
so, the pent-up demand could boost seasonal
volumes at the close of Q2.”
Business July 1-14, 2019 • 19
The DAT Truckload Freight Volume Index
is based on load counts and per-mile
rates recorded in DAT RateView, with an average
of 3 million freight moves per month.
Spot market information is based on transactions
arranged by third-party logistics companies,
while contract volumes and rates are
arranged between shippers and carriers, with
no intermediary.
DAT market trends and data insights are derived
from 256 million annual freight matches
and a database of $60 billion in annual market
transactions. Related services include a
comprehensive directory of companies with
business history, credit, safety, insurance, and
company reviews; broker transportation management
software; authority, fuel tax, mileage,
vehicle licensing, and registration services; and
carrier onboarding. 8
ALWAYS
Moving
FORWARD
WITH PRIDE, INTEGRITY, AND YOU.
b Data from page 17 b
education with an average of $6,235 being deducted
from their tax liability. This was a new
deduction for 2018 as a result of the Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act.
• The average client’s standard deduction
went from $9,439 to $18,862. The number of
drivers filing the standard deduction increased
from 71% to 94%. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
essentially doubled the standard deduction for
most tax filers.
• The average owner-operator depreciation
deduction increased from $17,072 (2017) to
$20,965 (2018). The significant increase in depreciation
was a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act allowing faster depreciation methods than
prior years.
• The only negative consequence of 2018
taxes was the number of drivers that paid the
Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate
penalty. In 2018, 28% of ATBS clients paid
the penalty with an average penalty amount of
$1,027. However, this mandate will no longer
be in effect for 2019 taxes.
Overall, statistics from ATBS show that
owner-operator clients enjoyed a mostly positive
impact from the changes that came with
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
For more information, visit ATBS.com. 8
MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD IN 2019 AND
JOIN THE MERCER TRANSPORTATION FAMILY OF
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS TODAY!
While the industry can go through ups and downs,
experience the stability you need for your business at Mercer
Transportation. A company with proven staying power for
over 40 years, we have a large customer base and the freight
you need to keep your business moving. Mercer offers a wide
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OVER
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888-374-8445
MERCERTOWN.COM | E

20 • July 1-14, 2019 Business
THETRUCKER.COM
DOT’s freight index up 1.5% in April for second straight monthly increase
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON — The Freight Transportation
Services Index (TSI), which is based on
the amount of freight carried by the for-hire
transportation industry, rose 1.5% in April
from March, rising for the second consecutive
month, according to the U.S. Department
of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (BTS).
From March 2018 to March 2019, the index
rose 2.8% compared to 7.9% for the previous
year.
The level of for-hire freight shipments in April
measured by the Freight TSI at 138.4 was 0.2%
below the all-time high level of 138.7 in November
2018. BTS’ TSI records begin in 2000.
The March index was revised to 136.4 from
136.2 in last month’s release. Monthly numbers
for January through March remain unchanged.
The Freight TSI measures the month-tomonth
changes in for-hire freight shipments
by mode of transportation in tons and tonmiles,
which are combined into one index.
The index measures the output of the for-hire
freight transportation industry and consists
of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland
waterways, pipelines and air freight. The TSI
is seasonally-adjusted to remove regular seasons
from month-to-month comparisons.
The BTS said the April increase in the
Freight TSI was driven by increases in rail
carloads, rail trucking, and water, while air
freight, pipeline and rail intermodal declined.
The TSI increase took place against a background
of mixed results for other indicators.
The Federal Reserve Board Industrial Production
index decreased by 0.5% in February,
with declines in manufacturing and utilities
and an increase in mining. Personal income
increased by 0.5%, while housing starts grew
by 0.6%. The Institute for Supply Management
Manufacturing index declined to 52.8,
indicating continued but decelerating growth.
As for trends, the index reached its second
highest all-time level in April following two
consecutive monthly increases that totaled a
2.1% rise. It was exceeded only by the level
of 138.7 in November 2018. The 1.5% rate of
increase from March to April was the fastest
since February 2018 and the fourth time TSI
has grown by 1.2% or more since January
2018. The index has increased in nine of the
last 12 months for a total increase of 2.8% over
its level of one year ago in April 2018. The index
was up 11.0% from April 2017 and 13.2%
from April 2016. The April index was 46.0%
above the April 2009 low during the most recent
recession. For additional historical data,
go to TSI data.
For-hire freight shipments in April 2019
(138.4) were 46.0% higher than the low in
April 2009 during the recession (94.8). The
April 2019 level was 0.2% below the historic
peak reached in November 2018 (138.7).
For-hire freight shipments measured by
the index were up 1.6% in April compared to
the end of 2018.
In the long term, for-hire freight shipments
are up 14.9% in the five years from
April 2014 and are up 46.0% in the 10 years
from April 2009. 8
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THETRUCKER.COM
Business July 1-14, 2019 • 21

Come Join the JanCo Family!
EntErtainmEnt transportation spEcialists sincE 1975
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
WE REQUIRE
Owner-Operators
u Clean MVR
Tags and fuel surcharge program available
u Hard-working and professional
Average 70-75% of line haul
u 2 years verifiable OTR experience
Must be CA compliant
u Passport and ability to enter Canada
u Ability to be on the road up to 4 months at a time.
Please call our recruiting department for more details and to apply.
888.JANCO.NJ or 800.526.9085
Please visit our website at www.jancoltd.com
or like us on facebook.com/JancoLTD
22 • July 1-14, 2019 Business
b Sales from page 18 b
the company took 35.5% of the market in the
same time period. May sales of 8,517 trucks
bested April sales of 8,209 by 3.8% and was
a whopping 40.8% improvement over May
2018 sales.
Western Star, the smallest producer of
the group, sold 695 trucks in May, a 24.6%
increase over April sales of 558 and 19.0%
ahead of May 2018 sales of 584 units. So far
in 2019, 2.8% of new Class 8 trucks sold in
the U.S. carry the Western Star nameplate, up
slightly from 2.6% at the same point last year.
As predictions for the U.S. economy continue
to vary depending on the source, carriers
continue to invest in equipment. “The
trucker is the front line on this thing,” Tam
said. “Yes, there is uncertainty. Most seem
to want to wait for more data points before
changing their plan.”
Those interested in the analytical and
forecasting services provided by ACT Research
can learn more at actresearch.net. For
information on services offered by FTR, visit
ftrintel.com. 8
Find us on
Facebook
search: The Trucker
THETRUCKER.COM
Dart begins national search
for new company president
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
EAGAN, Minn. — Dart Transit Co., in its
85th year as a nationwide transportation service
provider, has begun a national search for
the position of president.
Donald G. Oren, who has led Dart for over
50 years, is currently serving as chairman and
president of the company. Oren, along with
Dart’s executive management team, will be
overseeing the process of hiring a new president.
“As we are commemorating our 85th year
in business and being a part of an ever-changing
and vital industry, we are focused on the future
and seeking to best position our leadership
team to meet the challenges ahead and make
the most of our opportunities. We are looking
forward to our search process for a new president
and bringing in fresh viewpoints that will
allow Dart to continue to move forward as a
market leader and innovator,” Oren said. “I’m
very proud of Dart’s history, but I am even
more excited about Dart’s future.”
Part of Dart’s history is the ownership by
the Oren family.
Dart was started in 1934 by Earl Oren,
Don’s father, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The company,
which is now headquartered in Eagan,
Minnesota, has grown through the years to
become a fleet of 1,800 owner-operators and
company drivers. 8
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RECRUITING at a Glance
Company Driver Owner Operator Teams Lease Purchase Flatbed Van Reefer HAZMAT Expedited Specialized Tanker
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See our ad on page 15!
FedEx Custom Critical
www.customcritical.fedex.com
(866) 729-9789
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Mercer
www.mercertown.com
(888) 374-8445
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P.I.&I. Motor Express
http://www.piimx.com
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Smith Transport
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National Carriers
www.drivenci.com
(888) 439-3196
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ProFleet Transport Corp.
www.profleet.com
(877) 684-8787
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www.ddsextoninc.com
(800) 743-0265
See our ad on page 6!
Landstar
www.lease2landstar.com
(877) 472-0097
See our ad on page 2!
Penske Logistics
www.gopenske.com/careers
(855) 235-1361
See our ad on page 28!
Schneider
www.schneiderjobs.com
(800) 44-PRIDE
See our ad on page 9!
Tribe Transportation
www.TribeTrans.com
(877) 628-6285
See our ad on page 20!
CD OO T LP F V R H E S TK
CD OO T LP F V R H E S TK
CD OO T LP F V R H E S TK
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Diamond Transportation
www.diamondtrans.net
(262) 554-4025
See our ad on page 26!
McColister’s Transportation
www.mccollisters.com
(800) 257-9595 ext. 9490
See our ads on pages 26 & 28!
PFS Brands
www.jobs@pfsbrands.com
(573) 893-1361
See our ad on page 11!
Skelton Truck Lines
www.skeltontruck.com
(800) 387-9796 ext 231
See our ad on page 5!
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24 • July 1-14, 2019 Business
THETRUCKER.COM
Recruitment
Classifieds
Recruitment
Classifieds
For For ad ad information
call call (800) 666-2770
or or email email publisher@
thetrucker.com
thetrucker.com
Join the Janco Family!
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.
See our ad on page 22!
888.JANCO.NJ or
800.526.9085
www.jancoltd.com or like us on
facebook.com/JancoLTD
BECOME A PART OF THE
MCCOLLISTER’S TEAM!
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:
JOE CSIK (EAST)
1-800-257-9595 EXT. 9490
PAUL (WEST)
1-800-257-9595 EXT. 1041
WWW.MCCOLLISTERS.COM
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800-442-4004

Courtesy: CARRIERSEDGE
The “Practical Cargo Securement” course is considered the gold standard guide for cargo
securement in North America.
Equipment
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
MARKHAM, Ontario, — CarriersEdge,
a provider of online driver training for the
trucking industry, has expanded its library of
training courses.
The company recently added two courses
in its Practical Cargo Securement library,
plus a bloodborne pathogens and a spotted
lanternfly course.
CarriersEdge also said it has added Spanish
versions to two existing courses: “Lift
Truck Operator Skills” and “Distracted Driving.”
The new courses for cargo securement —
on securing paper rolls and concrete pipes —
expands the list of cargo securement courses
CarriersEdge offers to 10. All CarriersEdge
Bridgestone makes addition to Ecopia truck tire portfolio
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Bridgestone Americas
has made a new addition to its fuel-efficient
Bridgestone Ecopia commercial truck tire
portfolio.
The Bridgestone R123 Ecopia tire is a
SmartWay verified trailer tire the company said
is engineered to deliver low rolling resistance
and exceptional wear in long-haul and regional
service applications.
Because of to its low rolling resistance
design, the Bridgestone R123 Ecopia tire
delivers nearly $400 in fuel savings over
100,000 miles when compared to the Bridgestone
Ecopia R197 tire, according to Kyle
Chen, brand manager, truck and bus radial
tires, U.S. and Canada, Bridgestone Americas
Tire Operations.
“Bridgestone Ecopia tires are designed with
features that reduce fuel consumption, and they
July 1-14, 2019 • 25
CarriersEdge expands training courses
including 2 cargo securement sessions
are engineered to be fit for retreading later on,
making them a smart, sustainable business
choice for fleets on a number of levels,” Chen
said. “Fuel-efficient tires that also deliver big
on performance are a demonstration of our
dedication to help lower the total cost of tire
ownership and drive efficient mobility for all
fleets.”
Chen said the Bridgestone R123 Ecopia tire
is engineered with features such as an IntelliShape
sidewall designed to reduce the overall
tire weight and minimize rolling resistance.
The tire also uses patented NanoPro-Tech
polymer technology to limit energy loss and
help improve fuel economy, he said.
Additional innovations include:
• A fuel-efficient tread design to lower rolling
resistance and improve fuel economy
• An innovative tread pattern to increase
traction and grip on wet roads, as well as absorption
of tread edge stress to promote long,
even wear
• An optimized tread volume that allows for
long removal mileage, and
• A specialized defense groove structure that
helps establish even pressure at the tire shoulder
and minimize tread edge wear.
“Fleets can leverage fuel-efficient tires and
retreads together to extend the life of their tire
casings, further reduce fuel costs and lower the
total cost of tire ownership,” Chen said. “Designed
to maximize the total tire lifecycle, the
Bridgestone R123 Ecopia tire provides excellent
retreadability and works together with Bandag
FuelTech retreads to capitalize on tire performance
potential, drive down fuel costs and
make mobility more efficient for fleets.”
To learn more about the Bridgestone portfolio
of Ecopia fuel-efficient tires, visit commercial.bridgestone.com/en-us/index.
8
cargo securement courses are based on the
Practical Cargo Securement handbook published
by Techni-Com.
“Practical Cargo Securement is considered
the gold standard guide for cargo securement
in North America,” said Jane Jazrawy,
CarriersEdge co-founder and CEO.
“Through our partnership with Techni-Com,
CarriersEdge is the only driver training provider
with exclusive rights to generate courses
on its contents. This allows us to develop
meaningful courses that help drivers improve
their load securement practices.”
The “Requirements for Paper Rolls” securement
course details the special requirements
needed to transport one or more pa-
See Courses on p26 m
Courtesy: BRIDGESTONE
The Bridgestone R123 Ecopia is a fuel-efficient
tread design to lower rolling resistance
and improve fuel economy, Bridgestone officials
said.
Double Coin/CMA say Thai facility working
at full capacity to produce OTR, TBR tires
Courtesy: DOUBLE COIN/CMA
Built on a 3.6 million square-foot site, the Thailand facility has the capacity to manufacture
over 1.8 million TBR tires as well as over 50,000 OTR tires.
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
MONROVIA, Calif. — Double Coin and
CMA, a tire manufacturer and marketer, says
their Thailand manufacturing facility is now
working at full capacity to produce over-theroad
(OTR) and truck bus and radial (TBR)
products.
“Our new Thailand manufacturing facility
has full OTR and TBR availability and the
production capacity to fulfill container-level
orders,” said Tim Phillips vice president of
marketing operations for Double Coin/CMA.
“Not only does this production facility have
the capacity to meet the demand for commercial
tire products, we are offering them
at competitive prices since they are not subject
to anti-dumping and countervailing duties
or tariffs penalties associated with products
produced in China. With many of our
competitors having to rely on China alone,
Double Coin customers will be in an excellent
purchasing position in the face of product
shortages and higher prices from China.”
Phillips said some U.S. suppliers claim
they have production availability in Vietnam
or Thailand, but it remains to be seen if older
plants in these areas that are already running
See Tire on p26 m

26 • July 1-14, 2019 Perspective
THETRUCKER.COM
OWNER OPERATORS!
BECOME A PART OF THE MCCOLLISTER’S TEAM!
• OPPORTUNITIES - CLASS A & B OTR & REGIONAL
• SPECIAL COMMODITIES/TRUCKLOAD
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u $2,500 t
b Courses from page 25 b
per rolls with a combined weight of 5,000
pounds or more. The course covers the importance
of correctly restraining paper rolls,
describes the common methods to properly
secure paper rolls, as well as how to secure
paper rolls with different orientations.
The “Requirements for Concrete Pipes,”
course details special requirements needed to
transport one or more concrete pipes loaded
onto a flatbed trailer, using the loading method
of ‘eyes crosswise’ to prevent rolling. The
course breaks down the importance of correctly
securing concrete pipes, devices used
to properly fasten concrete pipes and things
to consider before loading concrete pipes
onto a trailer. The course also includes techniques
on how to properly secure concrete
pipes on a flatbed trailer.
Also new to CarriersEdge subscribers
is a course on bloodborne pathogens, titled
“Bloodborne Pathogens Safety Awareness.”
This course is designed to help drivers understand
the hazards associated with bloodborne
pathogens and provide guidance on
how to stay safe in potential exposure areas.
Bloodborne pathogens are disease-causing
b Tire from page 25 b
at full capacity can offer any additional TBR
and OTR products.
“The combination of our new state-of-art
manufacturing facility and warehousing in
Thailand where we can offer very competitive
pricing, Double Coin is emerging as the
clear choice for TBR and OTR tire products,”
Phillips said.
Built on a 3.6 million square-foot site, the
Thailand facility has the capacity to manufacture
over 1.8 million TBR tires as well
as over 50,000 OTR tires. The entire plant
is controlled by the Manufacturing Execution
System and is integrated with the SAP
microorganisms that are transmitted through
bodily fluid. After completing the course,
drivers will be able to identify major bloodborne
pathogens, how they are transmitted
and what to do if exposed. Drivers will also
learn ways to minimize the spread of an infection,
and how to properly dispose of contaminated
material.
For those travelling through the Northeast
region of the U.S., the “Preventing the Spread
of Spotted Lanternfly” course CarriersEdge
now offers teaches drivers how to identify
a spotted lanternfly in different stages of its
lifecycle, the threat spotted lanternfly poses,
and how to kill, remove the eggs and report
a spotted lanternfly sighting. The course also
explains how to avoid having the insect attach
to your vehicle and where it might “hide.”
The spotted lanternfly is indigenous to parts
of Asia, but has recently been found primarily
in Pennsylvania, where there is a quarantine.
The invasive insect is considered a threat to
vegetation and valuable crops in the area.
Lastly, CarriersEdge continues to offer
courses in other languages. “We just added
Spanish versions for our “Lift Truck Operator
Skills” and “Distracted Driving” courses,” Jazrawy
said. “Our goal is to help fleets become
safer, and these additions are great resources
for our clients to achieve that.” 8
management system. Plans for expansion at
the Thailand facility are currently underway.
“In addition to our production capacity
at our Thailand facility, we currently have
full capacity of Double Coin tires at our five
warehouses in Memphis, Tennessee; Rancho
Cucamonga, California; Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada; San Jose; Costa Rica;
and Queretaro, Mexico,” Phillips said.
For more information about Double Coin
Tires, visit doublecointires.com. 8
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Features
July 1-14, 2019 • 27
Nearly 50,000 of nation’s bridges are
unsafe, in poor condition, study says
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON — The length of America’s
structurally deficient bridges if placed
end-to-end would span nearly 1,100 miles, the
distance between Chicago and Houston, a new
examination of federal government data shows.
And it’s a problem that hits close to home.
The American Road & Transportation
Builders Association (ARTBA) analysis of
the U.S. Department of Transportation National
Bridge Inventory (NBI) database reveals
47,052 bridges are classified as structurally deficient
and in poor condition.
Cars, trucks and school buses cross these
compromised structures 178 million times every
day, the data show. Nearly 1,775 are on the
Interstate Highway System.
The most traveled structurally deficient
bridges are on parts of Route 101, Interstate
405 and Interstate 5 in California, where daily
crossings are as high as 289,000 vehicles per
day.
Although the number of structurally deficient
bridges is down slightly compared to
2017, the pace of improvement has slowed to
the lowest point since ARTBA began compiling
this report five years ago.
“Sadly, this report is no April Fool’s joke.
At the current pace, it would take more than
80 years to replace or repair the nation’s structurally
deficient bridges. That’s longer than the
average life expectancy of a person living in
the U.S.,” said Dr. Alison Premo Black, the
ARTBA chief economist who conducted the
How would you like to drive where ‘road warriors’ are real and you’re the target?
I’m going to play the odds here and guess
that at some point today, or at least this week,
anybody reading this has had to put up with
some aspect of being a truck driver that they
really hate. And it’s probably something that
you have to put up with on a regular basis.
Something unavoidable. Something that’s just
part of the job or of the life that goes with the
job. In fact, I’ll bet there’s more than one thing
about the job that eats at you. Even if, overall,
you would say you like being a professional
truck driver, there are those pet aggravations
that make you wonder to yourself, “Why do I
put up with this?”
Always remember, it could be worse.
Also playing the odds, I’m guessing that at
least once in your childhood, you refused to eat
what was on your plate and some adult tried to
pull the old “There are starving children in Africa”
routine. It didn’t make the Brussel sprouts
any more appealing, but maybe it gave you an
early taste of perspective.
Putting the two together, whatever it is
about the truck driving profession that you
find unpalatable, there are truck drivers in
analysis. “America’s bridge network is outdated,
underfunded and in urgent need of modernization.
State and local governments just
haven’t been given the necessary resources to
get the job done.”
The report comes in the backdrop of ongoing
discussions between Congress and the
Trump administration about how to address
the nation’s transportation infrastructure challenges,
discussions which bogged down after
Trump walked out of a meeting after Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi accused him of taking
part in a cover-up.
“The best way to ‘bridge’ the infrastructure
investment gap is for Congress and Trump administration
to provide a permanent revenue
solution for the federal Highway Trust Fund,”
ARTBA President Dave Bauer said.
The Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is the
source, on average, of more than 50 percent of
highway and bridge capital investments made
annually by state transportation departments.
The HTF is facing major financial difficulties.
Absent congressional action, states could see a
40 percent cut in federal investment beginning
in 2021.
“Since the 2016 election, leaders on both
sides of the aisle have regularly cited upgrading
America’s infrastructure as an area for
common ground,” Bauer said. “This report
makes clear that it’s about time Congress and
the Trump administration stop talking and start
solving this national problem.”
See Bridges on p28 m
Klint Lowry
klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Lane
Departures
South Africa who would love to have your
working conditions. At least no one is trying
to kill you.
Have you heard about what’s going on
over there? On other parts of the continent,
they may be concerned about poachers going
after elephants and rhinos and other big game.
In South Africa, truck drivers are the endangered
species. So far in 2019, there have been
hundreds of attacks on trucks in South African
highways. The country’s Road Freight
Association — South Africa’s equivalent to
the American Trucking Associations — estimates
that in the past year fatalities from these
attacks are occurring at a rate of nearly one
per day. The attackers have used projectiles,
Associated Press: JULIO CORTEZ
A vehicle rides on Liberty Avenue ahead of a project to remodel the Route 495 bridge which
feeds into the Lincoln Tunnel in North Bergen, New Jersey. The repairs will take two years to
complete. The connection between the New Jersey Turnpike and the tunnel into New York
City is already one of the worst bottlenecks in the northeastern U.S. More than 150,000 motorists
drive daily over the 80-year-old viaduct, which is considered structurally deficient and
functionally obsolete.
dropping boulders and bricks from overpasses.
They’ve blockaded roads. And in some
parts of the country, they’ve taken to using
firebombs.
Just as the methods have varied in these attacks,
so have the motivations. South Africa
does not have a driver shortage. If anything,
they have too many qualified truck drivers. In
the part of the country where the firebombs
have been most prevalent, South African officials
have said the attacks have been in protest
of unscrupulous carriers who try to save a buck
(or in South Africa, a rand) by hiring uncredentialed
foreign nationals, keeping native-born
drivers on the sidelines.
In one incident two brothers were driving
tandem, and they decided to pull over for some
rest. One of the trucks was firebombed, and
when the driver got out and ran, a second gasoline
bomb was thrown directly at him.
But in large part the attacks are seen as being
directed at carriers, with the drivers being
collateral damage. In a recent case that has become
a stop-the-violence rallying symbol, two
men, both credentialed South Africans, stopped
their truck to rest. Someone threw a Molotov
cocktail into the cab. One man escaped. The
other died from his burns 12 days later.
Many of the attacks, especially near the
coast, have been motivated by nothing but
sheer greed in the growing chaos by gangs who
will toss something through the windshield of a
passing truck so the driver will lose control and
crash. Then the robbers swarm in like hyenas
on a wounded zebra. In one incident, it was
reported that the driver had survived the crash
but died in the stampede of looters.
The attackers have shown little or no concern
for bystanders. The South African government
has issued an advisory to all motorists to
avoid using the highways at night, when the
majority of the attacks occur.
The situation has gotten to the point that
it is having a serious effect on the entire nation.
We often talk, in hypothetical terms, of
what would happen if the trucks stopped running
in this country even briefly. Could you
imagine what would happen if they could
only move safely in full daylight? South Af-
See Lane on p28 m

28 • July 1-14, 2019 Features
b Lane from page 27 b
rica is close to not having to imagine.
What makes the situation so scary is it illustrates
just how vulnerable we all are, how much
we depend on each other to uphold and live up
to the standards of civilized behavior.
You may say, well, that’s South Africa. It’s
happening there, not here. And even if it did,
we’d quash it quick. I’m not sure I agree, but
if you believe that, it just shows we have things
better than a lot of other people do.
There is a lot of room for improvement in
the world of the professional truck driver, and
some days just seem determined to point out to
you everything that’s wrong with your career.
But never let it get you too discouraged. Every
job has its good parts and bad. At least you
don’t face the prospect of people trying to kill
you every time you hit the road.
If you do, that’s on you, brother, and yes,
you need to make some changes. 8
b Bridges from page 27 b
Including structurally deficient bridges,
there are nearly 235,000 bridges — or about
38% — in need of some sort of structural repair,
rehabilitation or replacement, according
to ARTBA’s analysis of the NBI data. The association
estimates the cost to make the identified
repairs is nearly $171 billion.
Black noted the Federal Highway Administration
changed the definition of “structurally
deficient” in January 2018 as part of a final rule
on highway and bridge performance measures
required by the 2012 MAP-21 federal surface
transportation law.
Two measures FHWA previously used to
classify bridges as structurally deficient are no
longer used. This includes bridges where the
overall structural evaluation was rated in poor
or worse condition, or where the adequacy of
waterway openings was insufficient. The new
definition limits the classification to bridges
where one of the key structural elements — the
deck, superstructure, substructure or culverts
— is rated in poor or worse condition.
States with the largest number of structurally
deficient bridges are Iowa (4,675 bridges);
Pennsylvania (3,770); Oklahoma (2,540); Illinois
(2,273); Missouri (2,116); North Carolina
(1,871); California (1,812); New York (1,757);
Louisiana (1,678); and Mississippi (1,603).
Those with the most structurally deficient
bridges as a percent of their total bridge inventory
are Rhode Island (23 percent); West
Virginia (19.8 percent); Iowa (19.3 percent);
South Dakota (16.7 percent); Pennsylvania
(16.5 percent); Maine (13.1 percent); Louisiana
(13 percent), Puerto Rico (11.7 percent),
Oklahoma (10.9 percent) and North Dakota
(10.7 percent).
Specific information from the analysis —
including rankings and the locations of the
250 most heavily travelled structurally deficient
bridges in the nation and top 25 most
heavily traveled in each state — is available at
artbabridgereport.org.
thetrucker.com
Established in 1902 and with more than
8,000 public and private sector members, the
Washington, D.C.-based ARTBA advocates for
strong investment in transportation infrastructure
to meet the public and business community
demand for safe and efficient travel. 8
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