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BEST FLEETS TO DRIVE FOR | CAPITOL RECAP | HIGHWAY ANGELS
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION o f t h e TRUCKLOAD CARRIERS ASSOCIATION
JULY/AUGUST 2020
IN THIS ISSUE
SENATE SHOWDOWN
Democrats eye four seats they say are key to gaining majority | 6
MAYDAY, MAYDAY!
A tale of two sides of a dispute over spot rates | 18
$64,000 QUESTION
Can trucking emerge from COVID-19 stronger than ever? | 22
Finally
Flexible
DOT SECRETARY ELAINE CHAO SAYS
ADMINISTRATION LISTENED
TO DRIVERS’ HOURS OF
SERVICE CONCERNS

JULY/AUGUST | TCA 2020
President’s Purview
On the Road to Normalcy
As I write this, the state of Virginia is still in Phase One of reopening postcoronavirus.
Our governor is remaining cautious but optimistic. By the time
many of you read this, your states will have reopened many businesses, and
life will be on the road to getting back to our pre-COVID-19 normal.
As COVID-19 cases slow, and North Americans return to their jobs, stores,
restaurants, and visiting with family and friends, TCA also prepares to reopen
its office.
TCA’s leadership team has crafted a reopening plan which will allow TCA
staffers to slowly return to their offices and begin the process of collaborating
again in person. Like in many of your companies, we have had to make many
changes to our building to face our new reality: installing touchless sinks, light
switches that are automatic, and more to ensure the safety of not only our
staff but our guests.
Since going remote in mid-March, TCA has kept its membership up to date
by providing a daily COVID-19 news brief. We are proud to share that more
than 510,000 messages have been sent throughout the last three months.
We hope you found these to be informative.
As we look ahead to the fall and a continued return to normalcy, I encourage
you to join TCA and colleagues Sept. 22-23 for our fourth annual Call on
Washington and Fall Business Meetings in Washington, D.C. TCA’s Call on
Washington is your opportunity to meet directly with members of Congress,
key congressional staff and federal regulators to discuss legislation and regulations,
such as infrastructure funding mechanisms and the trucking industry’s
support for an increased federal fuel tax; opposition to any increases to federal
truck size and weight restrictions; F4A federal preemption of state meal and
rest break laws; and more affecting our industry.
To view our events calendar, and our COVID-19 resources page, visit
truckload.org.
In trucking, we are survivors and will do what it takes to get the job done.
Your incredible tenacity, determination, and driver-centric compassion has
and will prove out to be the fuel in keeping North America’s economy and
employment moving forward.
We are a proud bunch, and at the same time humbled by the awesome
responsibilities bestowed upon us as the “Knights of the Highway.”
Stay safe,
John Lyboldt
President
Truckload Carriers Association
jlyboldt@truckload.org
John
PRESIDENT’S PICKS
Quick to React
Chairman Dennis Dellinger helps chart
TCA response to COVID-19 pandemic
Page 24
Those Who Deliver
National Carriers revels in an
environment where drivers are praised
Page 30
Safety First
Bison Transport, Erb International
win TCA safest fleets awards
Pages 36, 38
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 3

Starting the Process of
Designing Your Compensation Plans
Beth Carroll
MANAGING PRINCIPAL, PROSPERIO GROUP
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
FIRST VICE CHAIR
Did you attend the Truckload Live Distance Learning session in January on SECOND the VICE topic CHAIR
of compensation for Load Planners, CSRs, and Driver Managers? If not, attendees
learned that there’s a process to follow for developing compensation for any role in
your organization. Here’s four key steps:
To take a deeper dive into your compensation strategy, visit my blog at
www.prosperiogroup.com or join me and Truckload Academy for an upcoming
TRUCKLOAD LIVE DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE:
Incentive Compensation for Human Resource & Administrative Roles
JULY 9
Using Excel for Compensation Modeling
JULY 30
Best Practices for Communicating Compensation Plan Changes
AUGUST 27
Annual Review and Governance to Keep Your Plans On Track
SEPTEMBER 17
For more information, visit www.truckload.org/events
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
VICE CHAIR TO ATA
TREASURER
1) Establish your target total compensation and pay mix;
2) Define accountabilities, set expectations and select performance measures;
AT-LARGE OFFICER
John Culp, President
Maverick USA
assign weights to the measures;
AT-LARGE OFFICER
Karen Smerchek
3) Figure out how the calculation is going to work for the measures; and
Veriha Trucking, Inc.
4) Calibrate the metrics based on historical data.
AT-LARGE OFFICER
About the Author
Beth Carroll is the Founder and Managing Principal of Prosperio
Group and has worked with more than 100 transportation &
logistics companies. For 21 years, Beth has been developing
compensation strategies to help large and small companies
from all industries maximize, focus and improve engagement
and morale throughout their organization.

Phone: (703) 838-1950
Fax: (703) 836-6610
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
Dennis Dellinger, President and CEO
Cargo Transporters, Inc.
JULY/AUGUST 2020
PRESIDENT
John Lyboldt
jlyboldt@truckload.org
VP - OPERATIONS AND EDUCATION
James J. Schoonover
jschoonover@truckload.org
MANAGER - GOV’T AFFAIRS
Kathryn Sanner
ksanner@truckload.org
FIRST VICE CHAIR
Jim Ward, President and CEO
D.M. Bowman, Inc.
SECOND VICE CHAIR
John Elliott, CEO
Load One, LLC
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
Josh Kaburick, CEO
Earl L. Henderson Trucking Co., Inc.
AT-LARGE OFFICER
John Culp, President
Maverick USA
AT-LARGE OFFICER
Karen Smerchek, President
Veriha Trucking, Inc.
publication are not necessarily those of TCA.
In exclusive partnership with:
1123 S. University Ave., Ste 325, Little Rock, AR 72204
Phone: (800) 666-2770 • Fax: (501) 666-0700
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Bobby Ralston
bobbyr@thetruckermedia.com
MGR. - DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
Hunter Livesay
hlivesay@truckload.org
VICE PRESIDENT - GOV’T AFFAIRS
Dave Heller
dheller@truckload.org
VP-MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH
Zander Gambill
zgambill@truckload.org
SENIOR DIRECTOR - OUTREACH
Marli Hall
mhall@truckload.org
TREASURER
David Williams, Executive VP
Knight Transportation
VICE CHAIR TO ATA
Joey Hogan, Co-Pres. & Chief Adm. Officer
Covenant Transport
SECRETARY
Pete Hill, Vice President
Hill Brothers Transportation, Inc.
AT-LARGE OFFICER
Ed Nagle, President
Nagle Toledo, Inc.
AT-LARGE OFFICER
Jon Coca, President
Diamond Transportation System, Inc.
GENERAL MGR. TRUCKING DIV
Megan Cullingford-Hicks
meganh@thetruckermedia.com
PRESIDENT’S PURVIEW
On the Road to Normalcy with John Lyboldt | 3
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Senate Showdown | 6
Capitol Recap | 10
TRACKING THE TRENDS
Finally Flexible | 16
Mayday, Mayday! | 18
Accountability Factor | 20
$64,000 Question | 22
A CHAT WITH THE CHAIRMAN | 24
Quick to React with Dennis Dellinger
TALKING TCA
Carrier Profile with National Carriers, Inc. | 30
Best Fleets to Drive For with Nussbaum Transportation | 32
Best Fleets to Drive For with Boyle Transportation | 34
Fleet Safety Award with Bison Transport | 36
Fleet Safety Award with Erb International |38
Member Mailroom: Be Heard in Washington |40
Small Talk |41
New Members | 46
Become a Rigster 46
Truckload Academy Online| 46
T H E R O A D M A P
EDITOR
Lyndon Finney
lyndonf@thetruckermedia.com
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Kris Rutherford
krisr@thetruckermedia.com
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetruckermedia.com
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
Meg Larcinese
megl@thetruckermedia.com
PRODUCTION
Christie McCluer
christie.mccluer@thetruckermedia.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Wendy Miller
wendym@thetruckermedia.com
STAFF WRITER + PRODUCTION
Linda Garner-Bunch
lindag@thetruckermedia.com
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Sam Pierce
samp@thetruckermedia.com
PRODUCTION MGR. + ART DIRECTOR
Rob Nelson
robn@thetruckermedia.com
PRODUCTION
Leanne Hunter
leanne@thetruckermedia.com
For advertising opportunities, contact Meg Larcinese at
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REACHING TRUCKING’S
TOP EXECUTIVES
“It isn’t good enough to react to changes
in the marketplace; I HAVE TO STAy
AHEAd Of THEM. Truckload
Authority provides me the knowledge to
make informed decisions today, but more
importantly, GIVES ME THE INSIGHT
I need to handle the future decisions
CRITICAL TO OUR SUCCESS.”
— Roy Cox
PResident, Best LogistiCs gRouP
TRUCKING’S MOST ENTERTAINING
EXECUTIVE PUBLICATION
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 5

JULY/AUGUST | TCA 2020
Legislative Update
SENATE SHOWDOWN
Democrats eye four seats they say are key to gaining majority
By Lyndon Finney
Then Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure
Committee Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican, stood
before delegates to the American Trucking Associations
Management Conference & Exhibition in mid-October 2015
and delivered a message that caught no one by surprise.
“As someone who’s been there and seen the good work
you’ve done [in Washington] in an environment that for at
least the last several years has been very, very hostile to your
industry, I want to thank you,” said Shuster. “The (Obama)
administration and its agencies that put the rules out are not
friendly to your industry” in a reference to hours of service,
greenhouse gas emissions and Mexico-domiciled trucks
being operated in the United States beyond the commercial
trade zone.
Among other issues of concern to the industry, Shuster’s
statement came amid efforts by trucking industry stakeholders
6 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

to challenge what the industry deemed inflexible hours of
service rules imposed by the Obama administration.
Almost seven years later, trucking applauded new rules
issued by the Trump administration, which has been visibly
pro-trucking.
The political makeup of the House and Senate are a vital part
of any administration and the policies it seeks to put forth.
To gain control of both chambers (no one is predicting a flip of
the current House line up), Democrats are focusing on four states
in particular: Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and North Carolina.
Currently in the Senate, there are 53 Republicans, 45
Democrats, and two independents, Angus King of Maine and
Bernie Sanders of Vermont, both of whom caucus with the
Democrats.
Based on the polls, it looks as though the Democrats have
a chance to pull it off.
The following pages offer a snapshot of those four races.
Polls were taken in late April and during May and early June.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 7

Arizona
Incumbent Martha McSally (R)
vs. Democrat Mark Kelly (D)
Kelly, a former astronaut, leads in 13 of 15 polls reported by
RealClearPolitics (RCP) by as much as 13 points in four and 12 in two
others. McSally, a former fighter pilot, leads in one poll by two points,
another by one point.
Despite the polls, RCP calls the race a tossup.
In the money race, Kelly is the top fundraiser of all Senate candidates in
the country. McSally is in the top 10.
Her strategy is clear: run side-by-side with Trump and attack Kelly’s
liberal leanings.
But Kelly has no history in elected politics, no past votes to attack, and
has been a sought-after Democratic candidate for years.
Arizona being a state where seniors like to retire, one of Kelly’s campaign
promises is aimed directly at them.
“Arizonans want to know that the Social Security and Medicare that
they’ve paid into and earned are going to be there when they retire — and
I’m running for Senate to make sure they will be,” he said.
In the most recent poll, Hickenlooper led Gardner 54% to 36% among
likely voters surveyed, with 9% undecided. The former Colorado governor’s
lead increased to 58% versus 28% among unaffiliated voters, with 12%
undecided. Hickenlooper actually still had to face Andrew Romanoff in
a late June primary, but pollsters seemed confident of Hickenlooper’s
victory.
Gardner became the first challenger to unseat an incumbent in Colorado
in roughly a generation when he defeated former Sen. Mark Udall in 2014.
Gardner labels himself as a common-sense conservative.
One of the highlights of Gardner’s campaign website claims his support
for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act brought real benefits to Colorado
families, saying over 70% of Coloradans received a tax cut and dozens of
Colorado companies provided their employees with new benefits due to
the tax cuts.
Hickenlooper’s campaign website states that he is fed up with the
inaction and partisan paralysis in Washington and wants to go to the
Senate to actually get results.
“With climate change threatening our future, skyrocketing health care
costs, and workers who need more opportunities for training, now is the
time for a different approach,” he said.
Colorado
Incumbent Cory Gardner (R)
vs. John Hickenlooper (D)
8 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

Maine
Incumbent Susan Collins (R)
vs. Sara Gideon (D)
Collins has been a member of the Senate since 1997, but the polls
indicate she is in a tough fight with Gideon, who is the current Maine
Speaker of the House.
The latest polls give Gideon a lead of anywhere from 1% to 4.5%.
Collins’ website boasts that she is seen as one of the few bipartisan
figures in Congress willing or able to work across the aisle.
Published reports say Collins is facing the race of her life despite her
universal name recognition and bipartisan reputation. Those reports say
President Donald Trump is targeting Maine as a battleground while his
politics has cleaved the state in two, and Collins must share the ticket
with him.
She is currently a senior member of the powerful Senate Appropriations
Committee, where she chairs the Subcommittee on Transportation,
Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.
Reforming Washington is one of her top priorities, Gideon said.
“Washington is clearly broken,” said Gideon. “Politicians are too
responsive to wealthy donors and corporate special interests, promoting
their agendas over the people they were elected to represent. Elected
officials are failing to make progress on many of the issues that matter
most to Maine residents, like lowering the cost of prescription drugs,
reducing their tax burden or making health care more affordable, all
because special interests hold the power.”
Based on polls, this race is also a toss-up.
Of the five latest polls, RCP reports that Cunningham leads in two with
his largest lead being two points. Tillis leads in two polls by two and one
points.
Tillis says he is a common-sense fiscal conservative.
“I’m an outspoken critic of tax increases and wasteful government
spending,” he said.
One of Cunningham’s top priorities in healthcare.
“One of the most frequent issues I hear about as I travel across the state
is the urgent need to improve access and bring down the cost of health
care for families,” he said. “North Carolinians continue to struggle with the
rising cost of premiums, co-pays, and prescription drugs, and there are
still more than 1 million people in our state without any coverage at all.”
Coming in the September-October Truckload Authority: The race for
President.
North Carolina
Incumbent Thom Tillis (R)
vs. Cal Cunningham (D)
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 9

COMPILED BY LYNDON FINNEY
The months preceding the expiration of a highway reauthorization bill normally feature a whirlwind of activity, but a
new bill is rarely passed and signed into law before the expiration date. The current bill, Fixing America’s Surface
Transportation (FAST) Act, which was passed in 2015, expires Sept. 30. Before the FAST Act was passed in late 2015,
Congress had to pass 13 continuing resolutions (CRs), thus throwing the nation’s surface transportation enterprise,
and the millions of jobs that come with it, into a period of uncertainty. There’s little question that there will be CRs
of the FAST Act, but at least the next highway reauthorization process is formally underway with the Democrats’
introduction of the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST in America)
Act. This issue’s lead Capitol Recap article outlines the details of that bill.
NEW HIGHWAY REAUTHORIZATION BILL
House Transportation & Infrastructure
Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4)
on June 8 introduced the Investing in a New
Vision for the Environment and Surface
Transportation (INVEST) in America Act.
DeFazio said INVEST in America is a key
component of the Moving Forward Framework
that House Democrats introduced earlier this
year. The current Fixing America’s Surface
Transportation (FAST) Act, which provides
authorization for federal surface transportation
programs, expires Sept. 30.
“The INVEST in America Act, which enables
the completion of critical projects through
long-term, sustainable funding and is fueled
by American workers and ingenuity, thanks
to strong Buy America provisions and labor
protections, authorizes nearly $500 billion over
five years to address some of the country’s most
urgent infrastructure needs,” said DeFazio.
Truckload Carriers Association Vice
President of Government Affairs David Heller
shared that TCA is in the process of examining
the bill’s contents.
“We are encouraged by the dialogue
regarding this important issue and
finally moving the needle on meaningful
infrastructure legislation that will be the
framework of freight transportation for years
to come. We remain committed to being
actively involved in these discussions and
communicating the positions of TCA with all
parties involved,” said Heller. “The effects of
our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, as well
as various other aspects of the bill, certainly
present TCA with another opportunity to tell
our story to our congressional leadership in an
effort to fully educate them on the issues that
present themselves in this legislation.”
DeFazio said the nation’s infrastructure needs
include:
The INVEST in America Act authorizes nearly $500 billion over five years to address some of the country’s most
urgent infrastructure needs.
• Tackling the massive backlog of roads,
bridges, and transit systems in need of repair and
replacement.
• Building resilient infrastructure that will
withstand the impacts of climate change and
extreme weather.
• Designing streets that are safer for all road
users, including pedestrians and cyclists.
• Putting the U.S. on a path toward zero
emissions from the transportation sector
by prioritizing carbon pollution reduction,
investing in public transit and the national rail
network, building out fueling infrastructure for
low- and zero-emission vehicles, and deploying
technology and innovative materials.
• Sharply increasing funding for public
transit options in urban, suburban, and rural
areas in order to integrate technology and
increase routes and reliability with tools such as
bus-only lanes and priority signaling; and
• Improving access to federal funding to help
communities around the country undertake
transformative projects that are smarter, safer,
and made to last.
In introducing the bill, DeFazio pointed to
the plight of the nation’s infrastructure.
“The bulk of our nation’s infrastructure — our
roads, bridges, public transit, and rail systems,
the things that hundreds of millions of American
families and businesses rely on every single day
— is not only badly outdated, in many places it’s
downright dangerous and holding our economy
back,” he said.
“Yet for decades, Congress has repeatedly
ignored the calls for an overhaul and instead
simply poured money into short-term patches,”
he continued. “The result? We’re still running
our economy on an inefficient, 1950s-era system
that costs Americans increasingly more time and
money while making the transportation sector
the nation’s biggest source of carbon pollution.”
DeFazio said the INVEST in America
Act is an opportunity to replace the outdated
systems of the past with smarter, safer, more
resilient infrastructure that fits the economy
of the future, creates millions of jobs, supports
American manufacturing, and restores U.S.
competitiveness.
10 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

The Commercial Vehicle Training Association said roughly 13,000 jobs are created per
$1 billion spent on road construction.
INFRASTRUCTURE BILL
NEEDED, CVTA SAYS
Don Lefeve, president of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association
(CVTA) says that as the nation transitions from stay-at-home orders to
slowly reopening amidst the COVID-19 pandemic’s wake, Congress has
a bipartisan opportunity to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges, and other
infrastructure while also enhancing the nation’s economy.
The trucking industry, which has long supported an infrastructure package,
would benefit not only from the positive economic effect produced from the
passage of such a bill, but the bill would also aid America’s truck drivers, who
are responsible for transporting 71% of goods, according to Lefeve.
“I think an infrastructure bill makes sense now for short- and long-term
reasons because it creates more economic activity, which includes truck
drivers,” he shared. “Congress has the ability to enhance our infrastructure,
which is sorely needed, but it also has the added benefit of boosting employment,
which helps our economy at a time when it’s desperately needed.”
Proposed in late March and supported by President Donald Trump, the
infrastructure bill would provide significant funding for construction, road/
bridge repairs, and other public works projects.
Lefeve said House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman
Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4), also believes an infrastructure bill to be the best
way to restart the economy “that would help benefit future generations.”
“Some 13,000 jobs are created per $1 billion spent on road construction,”
said Lefeve. “This could be monumental for the country, as currently more
than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment since mid-March.”
As the economy begins to rebound, the infrastructure bill presents an
excellent opportunity to aid those looking for work, including commercial
drivers, added Lefeve.
“An infrastructure bill makes complete sense, but one major concern we
have is [that] as of late May, 17 states’ DMVs remain closed and the other states
are only producing limited amounts of commercial drivers as a nation,” he said.
“As the economy rebounds, and assuming an infrastructure bill is completed,
this creates a perfect storm where we will need more commercial drivers. We
are not producing any drivers in roughly one-third of all states. This means
that tens of thousands of new truck drivers cannot obtain their Commercial
Learner’s Permits (CLPs) or their Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs).”
Without a CLP, an individual cannot even begin the process of training
— much less transition into the national supply chain as a CDL driver,
said Lefeve, adding that the CVTA believes the infrastructure bill could
serve as a legislative vehicle to address potential policy solutions to ensure
Americans can obtain and adequately test for their CDL.
SEE INFRASTRUCTURE, PAGE 12
www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 11

NATION EXPERIENCES DECLINE IN FATALITIES IN 2019
The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) has released
preliminary estimates for the Fatality
Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2019
data on highway crashes showing a continued
decline in traffic fatalities.
The nation experienced a decline in
traffic deaths during 2018 and 2017, and
these newest estimates suggest a continuing
decline in traffic-related deaths.
“Safety is our top priority, so this report
that traffic fatalities appear to have decreased
again for the third year is great news,” said
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary
Elaine L. Chao.
Fatalities decreased in most major traffic
safety categories:
• Drivers (down 3%).
• Passengers (down 4%).
• Motorcyclists (down 1%).
• Pedestrians (down 2%).
• Pedalcyclists (down 3%).
A statistical projection of traffic fatalities
for 2019 shows that an estimated 36,120
people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes,
representing an estimated decrease of about
440 (down 1.2%) from the reported 36,560
fatalities in 2018, even though Vehicle
Miles Traveled (VMT) increased by 0.9%.
As a result, the fatality rate for 2019 was
1.10 fatalities per 100 million VMT, down
from 1.13 fatalities per 100 million VMT in
2018. If these estimates are reflected in the
final data, the fatality rate per 100 million
VMT would be the second lowest since
NHTSA started recording fatal crash data.
This new data also shows that nine out
of 10 NHTSA regions are estimated to have
decreases in traffic-related fatalities in 2019.
“Providing effective behavioral safety
programs is one of NHTSA’s top safety
missions,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator
James Owens. “And we know that without
the unyielding efforts from our determined
A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for 2019 shows that an estimated 36,120 people died in motor vehicle
traffic crashes, representing an estimated decrease of about 440, a 1.2% decline from 2018.
and passionate safety partners at the state
and local levels, we could never achieve
the projected drop in traffic-related fatalities
that have been announced today.”
Fatalities in crashes involving at least one
large truck are expected to increase slightly
by 1% in 2019. The FARS data do not
distinguish if the large trucks are privately
owned. FARS counts or estimates large
trucks as those with a gross vehicle weight
rating greater than 10,000 pounds, on a public
highway, involved in crashes. This includes
large pickup trucks.
Last year, the department established an
intermodal truck and bus working group that
focuses on increasing safety and reducing truckand
bus-related crashes.
NHTSA has accelerated its efforts to
continue the decline of traffic fatalities.
In February, NHTSA released $562 million in
grants for highway safety programs to the Offices
of Highway Safety in all 50 states, the District
of Columbia, U.S. territories, and the U.S.
Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian
Affairs. The grants were issued to help state and
local law-enforcement agencies enhance trafficsafety
efforts to combat risky driving behaviors.
The fatality counts for 2018 and 2019 and the
ensuing percentage change from 2018 to 2019
will be further revised when the final file for 2018
and the annual reporting file for 2019 become
available later this year. These estimates may be
further refined when the projections for the first
quarter of 2020 are released in late spring.
INFRASTRUCTURE, FROM PAGE 11
When it comes to the recent production of CDLs in normal circumstances, CVTA
predicted the industry to only produce 60% in March, 10% in April, and 30% in May.
The organization estimates that this amounts to a net loss of 50,000 drivers over the
three-month period. For the overall year, CVTA predicts the country will produce
just 60% of the CDLs that it would have if DMVs had not been closed. As many
state DMVs remain closed, CVTA and other organizations have proposed federal
legislation that would give temporary authority to the Secretary of Transportation to
issue temporary CLPs and CDLs through third-party entities.
“For infrastructure, you need to move goods and materials. This starts with
commercial drivers and maintaining a pipeline of new drivers,” said Lefeve.
“There will be a need to expand drivers. The infrastructure of the DMVs and
testing needs to be evaluated. We are only as good as our ability to test.”
Congress has the ability to
enhance our infrastructure,
which is sorely needed,
but it also has the added benefit of
boosting employment, which helps
our economy at a time when it’s
desperately needed.”
— DON LEFEVE
PRESIDENT, COMMERCIAL VEHICLE TRAINING ASSOCIATION
12 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, having less traffic on the highways during the COVID-19 pandemic may be encouraging some drivers to
ignore traffic safety laws, including speed limits.
SPEEDING TO BE FOCUS OF CVSA WEEK
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s
(CVSA) 2020 Operation Safe Driver Week will
go on as scheduled July 12-18. This year, the
event will be primarily focused on speeding.
During the weeklong traffic-enforcement
safety initiative, law enforcement throughout
North America will look for drivers who
are engaging in unsafe driving behaviors.
Identified drivers will be pulled over and may
be issued a warning or citation.
According to the Governors Highway
Safety Association (GHSA), having less
traffic on the highways during the COVID-19
pandemic may be encouraging some drivers
to ignore traffic safety laws, including speed
limits. Many jurisdictions report seeing a
severe spike in speeding despite the lighter
volume of traffic.
As the number of vehicles on roadways
decreased in March and April, average speeds
measured during the first week of April
increased significantly in the five largest U.S.
metropolitan areas. According to recent data,
the average speed on interstate highways, state
highways, and expressways in those areas
increased by as much as 75% compared to
January and February.
In New York City, transportation officials
reported an increase of more than 60% in
the number of speed-camera tickets issued
in March compared to a year ago. At the
same time, traffic was down more than 90%
compared to January.
In Washington, D.C., traffic decreased 80%
in March compared to January, while officials
recorded a 20% increase in March speeding
tickets. Of those tickets, violations for driving
21 to 25 mph over the speed limit rose by
nearly 40%.
During just one weekend, in Toronto,
Ontario, police charged 18 drivers with stunt
driving at speeds of 80 to 106 mph on the
Don Valley Parkway, a major freeway that is
limited to 55 mph.
California reported an increase in speeding
violations, and although the California
Highway Patrol’s call volume has decreased,
the crashes they have recently responded to
have been worse.
In Tucson, Arizona, police reported a 40%
increase in one-vehicle wrecks, which usually
happen when a driver is going fast enough that
they lose control of the vehicle.
In Minnesota, motor-vehicle crashes and
fatalities more than doubled compared to
the same time period in previous years. Half
of those deaths were related to speeding or
careless or negligent driving.
In Colorado, Indiana, Nebraska, and Utah,
police have clocked highway speeds of more
than 100 mph.
Chicago and Los Angeles reported travel
speed increases of 35% to 38% above average
to 74% to 75% above average in just one week.
To address this trend of increased speeding
on North American roadways during the
pandemic, CVSA selected speeding as the focus
for this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week.
“It’s essential that this enforcement initiative,
which focuses on identifying and deterring
unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, go
on as scheduled,” said CVSA President Sgt.
John Samis with the Delaware State Police.
“As passenger vehicle drivers are limiting their
travel to necessary trips and many commercial
motor vehicle drivers are busy transporting vital
goods to stores, it’s more important than ever to
monitor our roadways for safe transport.”
Historically, drivers’ actions have
contributed to 94% of all traffic crashes,
according to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Traffic
Safety Facts Report. In addition, although
NHTSA’s 2018 highway crash fatality data
showed a 2.4% decline in overall fatalities, the
number of fatal crashes involving large trucks
increased by 0.9%.
“While, of course, we’re pleased to see a
decrease in the overall number of fatalities, it
was also devastating to learn that the number
of fatalities involving large trucks increased.
Any increase whatsoever in roadway fatalities
is unacceptable,” said Samis.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 13

HUGE SUPPORT FOR
ANTI-TRAFFICKING PUSH
In January, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine
Chao called on the nation’s transportation industry to “put the brakes on
human trafficking.” Chao asked for 100 pledges within a 100-day period
from industry organizations to train employees to fight the crime of human
trafficking and help raise public awareness of the growing problem.
Recently, the DOT revealed that more than 200 transportationindustry
leaders have answered the Secretary’s call to help fight human
trafficking. The commitment has come from transportation, labor, and
nongovernmental organizations across the country. The signatories
represent leaders across all modes of transportation, in addition to
leaders of organizations that intersect with transportation, who have
committed to raising public awareness regarding human trafficking and
to training more than one million employees to help fight the crime.
“Over 200 transportation organizations — double the original goal
— are joining the department to ensure that America’s transportation
systems are not hijacked to facilitate human trafficking. These
companies are on the front lines of helping to ensure the safety of our
traveling public,” said Chao.
In late January, Chao announced a series of efforts to combat
human trafficking in the transportation sector. Among those efforts,
she called upon transportation leaders to take a public stand against
human trafficking by signing DOT’s “Transportation Leaders Against
Human Trafficking” pledge. To date, more than 450 transportation
industry leaders have signed the pledge, and the DOT continues to
invite additional transportation leaders to join the effort.
The Truckload Carriers Association stepped up to support the
initiative during the Agency’s “100 Pledges in 100 Days” event in
Washington, D.C., in late January.
Secretary Chao said human trafficking is modern-day slavery,
affecting nearly 25 million adults and children in the U.S. and
worldwide. Victims are of every age, race, gender, background,
citizenship, and immigration status. Some are trafficked within their
own communities, while others are transported to new locations using
America’s roadways, airways, railways, and waterways.
In addition to DOT’s commitment to prevent human trafficking,
Secretary Chao established an annual $50,000 “Combating Human
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the goal of the anti-trafficking
initiative is to ensure that America’s transportation systems are not hijacked to
facilitate human trafficking.
Trafficking in Transportation Impact Award” to provide added
incentive for individuals and entities to think creatively in developing
innovative solutions to combat human trafficking in the transportation
industry. DOT received applications from organizations across the
private sector as well as from state and local government organizations.
Secretary Chao revealed the United Against Slavery’s (UAS)
National Outreach Survey for Transportation as the first-ever recipient
of this award.
UAS proposed a national countertrafficking survey of up to 15,000
respondents, with the results made available to the public. This effort
could either expand upon a current UAS flight-attendant survey to
include other public-facing aviation employees or be conducted within
another mode of transportation.
Busing on the Lookout, a program of Truckers Against Trafficking,
earned second place for its proposal targeting human-trafficking
loopholes that exist between buses and casinos. ArtWorks for Freedom
earned third place for Airports to Freedom, a proposal to install a
multimedia countertrafficking educational kiosk in up to nine airports
to educate and engage the aviation industry and traveling public.
To learn more about this initiative or to get involved, visit www.
transportation.gov/TLAHT/TakeAction.
FMCSA INITIATES CDL RULE FOR DRUG, ALCOHOL ABUSERS
Under new rules proposed by the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA), state driver’s licensing agencies
(SDLAs) would be prohibited from issuing,
renewing, upgrading, or transferring a
commercial driver’s license (CDL) or
commercial learner’s permit (CLP) for drivers
who have been barred from operating a
commercial motor vehicle (CMV) because of
drug or alcohol violations.
The proposal is designed to provide real-time
information from the FMCSA’s Commercial
Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol
Clearinghouse to SDLAs to keep drivers with
drug or alcohol offenses off the road until they
comply with return-to-duty requirements.
The notice of proposed rulemaking
(NPRM), posted April 28, calls for SDLAs to
The proposed program is designed to provide
real-time information from the Drug and Alcohol
Clearinghouse to state driver’s licensing agencies to
keep drivers with drug or alcohol offenses off the road
until they comply with return-to-duty requirements.
check commercial license applicants’ status
in the Clearinghouse. If the results show a
driver is prohibited from operating a CMV, the
Agency would be required to deny licensing.
Affected drivers could re-apply for licensing
after completing return-to-duty requirements.
The notice also outlines how state licensing
agencies would use Clearinghouse information
to help enforce CMV driving prohibitions.
As an alternative, FMCSA proposes that
SDLAs receive “push” notifications from the
Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse indicating
when drivers licensed within the state are
prohibited from operating a CMV.
“Currently, most states are not aware
when a CDL holder licensed in their state
is prohibited from driving a CMV due to an
alcohol or drug testing violation,” noted the
proposal. “Consequently, there is no federal
SEE ABUSE, PAGE 15
14 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

Under normal circumstances, food trucks are prohibited from operating on federally
funded, interstate-highway rest areas. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, that
prohibition has been temporarily relaxed.
FOOD TRUCKS PERMITTED
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in April issued a notice
to state departments of transportation that the Agency is suspending
enforcement measures under the federal-aid highway program for states
that choose to permit commercial food trucks to operate and sell food,
in accordance with state laws, in designated federally funded interstatehighway
rest areas.
“America’s commercial truck drivers are working day and night during
this COVID-19 pandemic to ensure critical relief supplies are being
delivered to our communities,” said FHWA Administrator Nicole R. Nason.
“I am grateful to our state transportation partners for bringing this idea to
the department and for their leadership in thinking outside the box. It is
critical to make sure truck drivers continue to have access to food services
while they’re on the job, serving our nation during these challenging times.”
By statute, commercial activity in the federally funded interstate rightof-way
is prohibited, with limited exceptions. The FHWA administrator has
the discretion to take any action deemed appropriate to bring a state into
compliance with these federal requirements.
However, given the extreme and unprecedented nature of the
COVID-19 pandemic, Nason has chosen not to take remedial measures
against states that allow food trucks to provide food in rest areas off the
federally funded interstate right-of-way for the duration of the national
emergency declared by President Donald Trump in response to the
COVID-19 public-health crisis.
Since these actions are temporary, states must come back into compliance
with federal law once the presidentially declared emergency ends. Any
states that do not come back into compliance after the emergency is over
may be subject to remedial measures designed to achieve compliance.
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ABUSE, FROM PAGE 14
requirement that SDLAs take any action on the license of drivers subject to
that prohibition. As a result, a driver can continue to hold a valid CLP or
CDL, even while prohibited from operating a CMV under FMCSA’s drug
and alcohol regulations.”
This alternative proposes a licensing downgrade to align a driver’s licensing
status with his or her current CMV driving status, closing a current loophole in
regulations. To achieve the mandatory downgrade, SDLAs would change CDL
and CLP holders’ commercial status from “licensed” to “eligible.”
FMCSA’s proposal also addresses operational questions and legal
considerations identified by SDLAs, both individually and through the
American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
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www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 15

JULY/AUGUST | TCA 2020
Tracking The Trends
FINALLY
FLEXIBLE
Carriers, drivers applaud HOS revisions
By Cliff Abbott
Long-awaited revisions to the hours of service (HOS) regulations
were released on May 14 to mixed reviews. The changes,
published in the Federal Register on June 1, will become effective
on Sept. 29. The 120-day period before the ruling becomes effective
allows time for training of enforcement
“
agencies and updating of ELD equipment.
In announcing the ruling, Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Acting
Administrator Jim Mullen said: “The Department
of Transportation and the Trump
administration listened directly to the concerns
of truckers seeking rules that are safer
and have more flexibility—and we have acted.
These updated hours of service rules are
based on the thousands of comments we
received from the American people. These
reforms will improve safety on America’s
roadways and strengthen the nation’s motor
carrier industry.”
“America’s truckers are doing a heroic job
keeping our supply chain open during this
unprecedented time and this rule provides
greater flexibility,” said U.S. Transportation
Secretary Elaine C. Chao. “The DOT listened
directly to the concerns of truckers seeking
rules that are safer and more flexible and we
have acted.”
The revisions having the greatest impact
on most over-the-road drivers were a change to the required
30-minute break and a change to the method of splitting the 10-
hour rest period into two segments. Also, the on-duty period for
short-haul drivers was increased, as was the miles limit that defines
“short-haul,” along with a change to the two-hour “adverse
conditions” allowance.
The 30-minute break, which is required after being on duty for
eight hours, will only be required after driving for eight hours. Further,
the break can be logged as any
activity other than “driving.” With
This rule is a product
of our industry’s dedication
to data-driven decisions
used to revise a regulation
in order to provide our
professional truck drivers
an opportunity to be more
flexible with their time in
relation to how their day
shapes up.”
— David Heller,
TCA Vice President
of Government Affairs
the change, the driver can spend the
break fueling, completing paperwork
or on other “on-duty” activities.
The change to the rest period split
is also larger than it may at first appear.
Currently, the driver can split
the rest period into two parts, one
of which must be at least two hours
long. The remaining hours must be
spent in the sleeper berth. The twohour
period counts against the 14-
hour day. Under the revised rule,
the number of hours the driver is
required to spend in the sleeper is
reduced to seven. The shorter rest
period, up to three hours, does NOT
count against the 14-hour window.
This will give the driver greater freedom
in choosing when to rest, without
penalizing driving time.
Another revision is the adverse
driving conditions exemption. Currently,
if adverse conditions, usually weather-related, occur that the
driver didn’t know about when dispatched, he or she can continue
driving for up to two additional hours to get to their destination
16 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

or to a place of safety. Those extra two hours, however, had to be
driven within the 14-hour window. Since the 14-hour window wasn’t
extended, drivers often couldn’t take advantage of the extra driving
hours. Under the revised rules, the 14-hour period is extended, up to
16-hours, if the two additional hours of driving are needed.
Finally, the short-haul exemption, excusing drivers from logging
(ELD or paper) if they return to their home terminal and don’t exceed
the area of a 100-air-mile radius, is changed to make the radius
150 miles. Further, the 12-hour work period is extended to 14 hours,
matching their over-the-road counterparts. This exemption may benefit
drivers of local routes that are home each night.
The 232-page FMCSA release contained the statement, “The flexibilities
in this final rule are intended to allow drivers to shift their
drive and work time to mitigate the impacts of certain variables (e.g.,
weather, traffic, detention times, etc.) and to take breaks without penalty
when they need to rest.”
The announced changes were welcome news to those who had
long fought for the revisions. TCA Vice President of Government Affairs
David Heller commented, “TCA applauds the work of the FMCSA
regarding the new hours of service regulations that will be effective
this fall. This rule is a product of our industry’s dedication to datadriven
decisions used to revise a regulation in order to provide our
professional truck drivers an opportunity to be more flexible with
their time in relation to how their day shapes up.”
Heller continued, “Communicating our industry’s need to incorporate
greater flexibility into the rule, TCA is viewing the final rule as
a positive start to a conversation that will continue to improve upon
our industry’s safety record and demonstrate that data, derived from
newly implemented technology, will continue to play a major role in
how this rule evolves in the future.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA),
whose petition to the FMCSA was credited in the final ruling with
initiating the revision process, said in a May 15 letter to its membership,
“Do we think the provisions are great? No. Do we think they are
a step in the right direction? Absolutely.”
Kevin Steichen, president and co-founder of United States Trucking
Alliance (USTA), thought it best to withhold judgment until fully
reading the 232-page FMCSA release. “It’s a good start,” he said. “It
does allow for a little more flexibility in how drivers use their hours.
It’s a little early for anyone to be picking it apart. Knee-jerk reactions
don’t get us anywhere.”
Any or all of the revisions could be held up or eliminated if legal
action threatened by safety advocacy groups actually takes place.
Since the 2003 HOS revision that included the 14-hour period and
34-hour restart, “final” rulings have been changed or overturned
by the courts three times, due to litigation initiated by safety advocacy
groups.
During the comment period, multiple organizations submitted
comments opposing the revisions. Among them were the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the National Safety Council
(NSC), the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), Advocates
for Highway and Auto Safety (AHASP), RoadSafe America, the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), and the Truck Safety Coalition
(TSC). Two members of Congress, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
and Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4), also submitted opposing
comments.
After the final ruling, opponents expressed their displeasure. In a
Teamsters press release, General President Jimmy Hoffa said, “In
an effort to increase so-called ‘flexibility’ for trucking companies,
Will INVEST in
America Act pause
the clock on HOS
revisions?
By Lyndon Finney
The Investing in a New Vision for the Environment
and Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act, introduced
June 3 by House Transportation & Infrastructure
Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4), includes
a section that would delay implementation of the new
hours of service rule.
The bill calls for U.S. Department of Transportation
Secretary Elaine Chao to initiate a comprehensive review
of hours-of-service rules and the impacts of waivers,
exemptions, and other allowances that limit the applicability
of such rules.
The bill also requires Chao to undertake a statistically
valid analysis to determine the safety impact of
the new rule, including enforcement, exemptions, waivers,
or other allowances of the rule.
And lastly, Chao is required to start the review within
60 days of the enactment of the bill and has 18 months
to send the report to Congress.
Once completed, the new hours of service rule could
not be implemented until 60 days after the submission
of the secretary’s report.
There is a lengthy road for the bill to become law.
The House and Senate would have to approve the bill
and then a battle between the two entities to determine
the final language.
the FMCSA is abandoning safety and allowing drivers to push themselves
to the limit even further.”
AHASP President Cathy Chase said, “Any regulatory changes
should be focused on reducing this preventable death and injury toll.
Extending truck drivers’ already highly demanding workdays and reducing
opportunity for rest will endanger the public. The rule issued
today contradicts the FMCSA’s statutory duty to reduce crashes, injuries
and fatalities.”
Joan Claybrook, chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways
(CRASH) had this to say; “It’s no coincidence that this latest effort
to expand hours of service began once truck companies and drivers
were required in 2017 to objectively verify their driving time by using
[ELDs] to ensure compliance with federal rules. We know that in
the past, skirting the rules or falsifying hours of service records was
common and widespread. Now that it is harder to do, segments of
the industry have been clamoring to eviscerate hours of service limits
and pushing dangerous changes like the ones issued today.”
No matter how the revisions are received, one thing is for certain
– trucking regulations will continue to evolve along with the industry
and the world it serves.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 17

Mayday,
mayday!
A tale of two sides of
a dispute over spot rates
By Cliff Abbott
Frustration over spot freight rates bottoming out due to the
COVID-19 pandemic drew more than 100 small-business owner
-operators to Washington, D.C., for a “May Day” protest that
lasted for three weeks.
The protest group, comprised mostly of members of various
Facebook groups, began the protest without a clear objective,
other than to draw attention to low freight rates. Proposed solutions
to the problem ranged from investigating brokers for price
gouging to permanent suspension of hours of service rules, elimination
of the requirement for electronic logging devices, and even
the abolishment of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA). As the protest evolved, a demand for a White House
meeting moved to the forefront. President Donald Trump helped
encourage the protesters with supportive tweets and comments.
Trump appeared to side with the protesters, tweeting, “I’m
with the TRUCKERS all the way” after sending an administration
official to greet the group with a bag of hats bearing the messages
“USA Strong” and “Keep America Great.”
The following morning, during a call-in interview on the popular
“FOX and Friends” television show, Trump answered a question
from host Ainsley Earhardt by saying, “Oh, they are price
gouged.” He continued, “All they want is to be treated fairly.”
The frustration caused by low freight rates was real, and has
been felt by many carriers who depend on the spot market, some
of them TCA members. Unfortunately, many of the protesters
attempted to deal with the issue by assigning blame for the ups
and downs of a free market.
Spot freight rates rose in the first half of March in response to
increased demand for food and household products spurred by
sales to a public preparing for shelter-at-home orders. It didn’t
take long, however, for rates to plummet as manufacturers
and distributors shut down or restricted operations. With less
freight to haul, rates were bound to drop, but then it got worse.
“A lot of carriers who normally haul contract freight are forced
to come to the spot market when their customers aren’t providing
as many loads,” said DAT Solutions Senior Analyst Ken Adamo.
“That’s a double-whammy to owner-operators who depend on the
spot market. Rates are already down, and suddenly they’re competing
with carriers that aren’t normally in the spot market.”
Brokers were an easy target for protesters, who accused them
of lowering rates paid to carriers, retaining a larger percentage
of payments from shippers. Some were convinced that brokers
were colluding to keep rates low, demanding investigation from
the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
While many of the truck drivers were voicing accusations on
various social media websites, others were taking a more reasoned
approach. Discussions were often heated as some voiced
the opinion that the way to raise spot rates was to refuse to haul
cheap freight.
That was the message from Robert Voltmann, president and
CEO of Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), an industry
group representing brokers. “3PLs and transportation brokers
are not price gouging,” said Voltmann, who has announced he is
leaving TIA at the end of September after 23 years leading the association.
“There is simply not enough freight to support all of the
carriers. In this case, we simply aren’t shipping much of anything
and there are too many trucks chasing too little freight.”
Voltmann added that suspension of hours of service (HOS)
regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic “created more artificial
capacity in the marketplace.” He added, “To blame 3PLs for
this situation is not only irresponsible but also reckless.”
The protest escalated on May 13, when the DOJ announced it
found no grounds to investigate brokers for price gouging. That
same day, hundreds of buses rolled into the capital, carrying out
a protest by members of the American Bus Association and the
United Motorcoach Association. Trucking protesters temporarily
blocked Constitution Avenue, forcing the bus caravan to reroute.
18 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

Two days later, blaring
air horns were the backdrop
to a Trump press conference
in the Rose Garden
where he outlined the
nation’s steps to combat
COVID-19. The president
raised eyebrows, and attracted
the national media
to the trucker protest, when
he said “They’re protesting
in favor of President
Trump” and claimed the
horns were sounding as “a
sign of love.”
On May 20, the protesters
achieved their primary
goal of obtaining a White
House meeting. Although
the president was not in attendance, protester representatives
said they were told that he was listening in via live
audio feed. After much discussion and dissent, the group
decided to go with broker transparency as their main issue,
followed by further HOS revisions and better representation
of small trucking businesses in government.
The transparency issue stems from 49 CFR 371.3, which
requires brokers to disclose full rate information to any party
to a transaction upon request. In many cases, brokers instead
demand that carriers waive their right to see the information
in the contracts they are presented. When rights aren’t
waived, there are claims that brokers refuse to do business
with carriers that request the records. When access to the
records is given, brokers often require carrier representatives
to view the records in-person at the broker’s place of
business during normal working hours, requirements that
effectively prevent carriers from seeing them.
The Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA)
“A lot of carriers who normally
haul contract freight are forced
to come to the spot market when
their customers aren’t providing
as many loads. That’s a doublewhammy
to owner operators who
depend on the spot market.”
— DAT Solutions Senior Analyst Ken Adamo
sent a letter to congressional
members
on May 6, asking for a
revision to the regulation
that requires brokers to
submit electronic copies
of the records to carriers
within 48 hours of
completion of the load.
Protesters, however, demanded
access prior to
acceptance of the load.
Many feel that the ability
to see what the shipper
is paying, and how much
the broker is keeping,
will help reveal if the carrier
is being treated fairly
in negotiations.
The TIA responded to the OOIDA letter with a letter to
its members that placed the blame for the waiver on confidentiality
requirements from shippers. While the letter
instructed members to comply with 49 CFR 371.3 and be
courteous to carriers, it also reminded them of the legality
of requiring in-person access at their offices.
Since the White House meeting and breakup of the
Washington protest the following day, OOIDA and TIA have
repeatedly lashed out at one another. There has been no
word of a revision at FMCSA, however, the DOJ has reopened
its investigation into broker dealings. Representatives
of the protesters claim they are communicating with
both agencies and progress is being made.
Perhaps the best solution came from Ken Adamo. “I
think returning back to normal will assuage a lot of this
conflict,” he said. The desire for a return to normal is
something carriers of all sizes, brokers and government
agencies can agree on.
Opposite page: Trucks lined Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., for 20 days in protest of low spot rates. Above, left: Janet Sanchez, one of the organizers of the protest,
marches along the sidewalk during the first week of the protest. Above, right: Protesters hold a sign asking for transparency to be required of freight brokers.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 19

ACCOUNTABILITY
FACTOR
Program removes not
preventable crashes from CSA
By Lyndon Finney
Lost amidst the excitement of the release of the new, more
flexible hours of service rule, and the attention appropriately
being given to the pandemic gripping the nation is this: 2020
is the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, and
Accountability (CSA) initiative and its Safety Measurement
System (SMS).
Since that time, the FMCSA has used safety performance
information in the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement
Categories (BASICs) to prioritize carriers for safety
interventions.
One of the BASICs is the Crash Indicator category which
uses a motor carrier’s crashes from the previous 24 months
to calculate percentiles for motor carriers.
Although the Crash Indicator BASIC percentiles have never
been publicly available, trucking industry stakeholders have
long expressed concern that the use of all crashes in SMS,
without an indication of preventability, may give an inaccurate
impression about the risk posed by the company, thus
increasing the number of targeted compliance interventions
and giving insurance companies more reasons to impose
higher premiums.
In response to this concern, on July 27, 2017, the FMCSA
announced a demonstration program to evaluate the preventability
of certain categories of crashes.
“
For years, we have
communicated that accidents
over which we have no control,
or which have been determined
to be non-preventable, should
not be attributed to a carrier’s
safety record.”
— David Heller,
TCA Vice President of Government Affairs
Based on the results of the demonstration program, FMCSA
in May announced it was initiating the Crash Preventability
Determination Program (CPDP).
Through this program, motor carriers and drivers may
submit eligible crashes for preventability determinations
through FMCSA’s DataQs system.
FMCSA will remove crashes that were not preventable by
the motor carrier or driver from the SMS prioritization algorithm,
will note the not preventable determinations in the
driver’s Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) record,
and will also note not preventable, preventable, and undecided
determinations in the motor carrier’s list of crashes on
the public SMS website.
“FMCSA’s Crash Preventability Determination Program
is a prime example of the Agency listening to the concerns
of the industry,” said Truckload Carriers Association Vice
President of Government Affairs David Heller. “For years, we
have communicated that accidents over which we have no
control, or which have been determined to be non-preventable,
should not be attributed to a carrier’s safety record.”
Heller added that it has even been noted that approximately
75% of the accidents involving a truck and passenger vehicle
had been determined to be the fault of the passenger vehicle,
yet the accident had a negative impact on the motor carrier’s
CSA score.
“The CPDP is an opportunity for carriers to dispute the
preventability of a questionable accident in order to more
accurately depict their safety performance,” he said. “As
an industry, we should not shy away from determining our
safety fitness. However, we should insist that the determination
be as accurate as possible. The CPDP certainly helps in
portraying that.”
During the demonstration program, motor carriers submitted
more than 14,700 requests for data review (RDRs).
Of the 14,710 RDRs, 9,116 were eligible crash types and of
these, 8,444 were found to be not preventable. That means
almost 93% of eligible crash type RDRs were found not to
be preventable.
FMCSA said 1,950 carriers submitted one RDR, 1,912 carriers
submitted between two and nine RDRs, 229 carriers
submitted 10 or more RDRs.
The highest number of RDRs submitted by one carrier was
287.
The overwhelmingly largest category of RDRs submitted
(6,334) was for an accident when the commercial motor
20 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

75%
of the accidents involving a truck
and passenger vehicle had been
determined to be the fault of the
passenger vehicle, yet the accident
had a negative impact on the motor
carrier’s CSA score
229
carriers submitted 10 or more
requests for data reviews during the
FMCSA’s demonstration program
vehicle (CMV) was struck in the rear. Eighty-three such
accidents were determined to be preventable and no
decision could be reached on 360.
There were 772 RDRs submitted for accidents when
the CMV was struck while legally stopped or parked,
including when the vehicle was unattended. Of those,
660 were determined not preventable, 21 preventable,
and 41 were undecided.
Next came CMVs struck by a motorist driving under
the influence (or related offense) with 688 RDRs submitted,
and of those, 636 were determined to be not
preventable, 16 preventable, and 36 were undecided.
The FMCSA said that on average, carriers with not
preventable crashes removed have a percentile drop of
nine points in the recalculated Crash Indicator BASIC.
Finally the determination program found that removing
not preventable crashes from the Crash Indicator
BASIC should not have an impact on the effectiveness
of FMCSA’s prioritization programs.
The FMCSA pointed out that a crash preventability
determination does not assign fault or legal liability for
the crash.
Crash Preventability
Determination Program
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has released detailed information
about the Crash Preventability Determination Program.
The following crash types are eligible for participation in the program:
Struck in the rear type of crash when the commercial motor vehicle (CMV)
was struck:
• In the rear; or
• On the side at the rear.
Wrong direction or illegal turns type of crash when the CMV was struck:
• By a motorist driving in the wrong direction; or
• By another motorist in a crash when a driver was operating in the wrong
direction; or
• By a vehicle that was making a U-turn or illegal turn.
Parked or legally stopped type of crash when the CMV was struck:
• While legally stopped at a traffic-control device (e.g., stop sign, red light or
yield); or while parked, including while the vehicle was unattended.
Failure of the other vehicle to stop type of crash when the CMV was struck:
• By a vehicle that did not stop or slow in traffic; or
• By a vehicle that failed to stop at a traffic control device.
Under the influence type of crash when the CMV was struck:
• By an individual under the influence (or related violation, such as operating
while intoxicated), according to the legal standard of the jurisdiction where the
crash occurred; or
• By another motorist in a crash where an individual was under the influence
(or related violation such as operating while intoxicated), according to the legal
standard of the jurisdiction where the crash occurred.
Medical issues, falling asleep, or distracted driving type of crash when the
CMV was struck:
• By a driver who experienced a medical issue which contributed to the crash;
or
• By a driver who admitted falling asleep or admitted distracted driving (e.g.,
cellphone, GPS, passengers, other).
Cargo/equipment/debris or infrastructure failure type of crash when the CMV:
• Was struck by cargo, equipment or debris (e.g., fallen rock, fallen trees, unidentifiable
items in the road); or crash was a result of an infrastructure failure.
Animal strike type of crash when the CMV:
• Struck an animal.
Suicide type of crash when the CMV:
• Struck an individual committing or attempting to commit suicide.
Rare or unusual type of crash when the CMV:
• Was involved in a crash type that seldom occurs and does not meet another
eligible crash type (e.g., being struck by an airplane or skydiver or being struck
by a deceased driver).
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 21

$64,000 Question
Can the trucking industry
emerge from the COVID-19
pandemic stronger than before?
By Kris Rutherford
The COVID-19 crisis isn’t the type of tunnel one enters with
an optimistic eye. After all, a global enemy infecting more
than seven million people to date and killing hundreds of
thousands is difficult to look beyond. Likewise, as proven in
the U.S. economy, a crisis of COVID-19’s magnitude can destroy
businesses that have taken decades to build.
The adage “every cloud has a silver lining” is not on many
people’s minds amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But if it does
hold true, which industries could emerge stronger than before
2020 began? Anecdotal evidence suggests the silver lining is
actually chrome — dual stacks and trim of the 18-wheelers
traveling America’s highways. Public opinion of the trucking
industry appears to be on the upswing, maybe as high as
when truck drivers became cultural icons of the 1970s. Will
this upswing in public appreciation for truck drivers hold? If
so, the industry stands to benefit. Ultimately, if the industry
is thanked for its efforts, an indicator could be in the courtrooms,
where juries have increasingly returned “nuclear” verdicts
against the industry.
The shift in public opinion has been a long time coming.
Crises tend to pull the veil from decades of misconceptions
and negative publicity. 2020 may become the year truck drivers
attained a status like that of first responders — heroes, or
at least doers of heroic deeds.
“No one thinks of trucks until they are needed,” said Interstate
Trucker Ltd. and Drivers Legal Plan President Brad Klepper.
“COVID-19 has shown how important trucking is in the
U.S. Medical supplies are delivered by truck. Without truck
drivers at work, the health care system can’t do its job.”
Public-opinion surveys as recent as last October deemed
trucks and drivers menaces of highways. But as the COVID-19
crisis spread, a change was felt.
“I think public opinion has changed,” said Klepper. “The bias
I’ve seen against truckers has decreased the last few months.”
The role of the trucking industry in the U.S. has shone
brightly this year. Americans seem to recognize it. Billboards
offering thanks to truck drivers have popped up along highways,
and strangers have often gone out of their way to thank
these newfound “Knights of the Highway.” Politicians, including
President Donald J. Trump, have even come out in support
of the industry.
Klepper wonders if changing perceptions will affect jury deliberations
when truck drivers are the defendants.
“When it comes down to it, 12 individuals, legally considered
the defendant’s peers, decide a case. Truck drivers’ ‘peers’ have
probably brought a negative bias to the courtroom. Identifying
enough jurors with neutral opinions is difficult,” he said.
A driver is seldom the sole defendant in a case, as insurance
companies hold stake in the verdict. Americans might
have had a negative view of truck drivers, but insurance companies
receive even less respect. Dealing with an insurance
company can bring much more aggravation than an accident.
“Defending a driver is difficult enough,” Klepper shared.
“When insurance companies are involved, it’s an uphill battle.”
Klepper estimates that even in the most solid cases attorneys
defend, their success rate is only 70%.
When an insurer meets its obligations, the result is normally
a skyrocketing premium or outright policy cancellation.
22 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

“
COVID-19 has shown
how important trucking
is in the U.S. Medical
supplies are delivered by
truck. Without truck drivers
at work, the health care
system can’t do its job.”
— Interstate Trucker Ltd. and Drivers
Legal Plan President Brad Klepper
Crippling premiums can prevent truck drivers from fulfilling
their “heroic” role.
Some insurers became more difficult to work with after
personal-injury lawyers entered the scene. Their skills at encouraging
juries to return “nuclear” verdicts against the trucking
industry, as well as their marketing efforts based on successes,
have helped shape the public’s perception of trucking.
The tactics an attorney uses to reverse fault in an accident
are simple. One Midwest law firm openly explains its approach
to vilifying truck drivers on its website. Fault in an accident,
according to the firm’s site, does not necessarily rest with either
driver; instead, the truck is at fault. For instance, the law
firm claims that in cases where 18-wheelers are equipped with
“truck underride guards” (TUGs), the number of fatal accidents
plummets. The firm claims federal safety standards require
TUGs on specific trucks but not all. It also notes the FMCSA is
considering strengthening requirements to include TUGs on the
front, rear, and sides of all trucks. In other words, the attorney’s
argument is that the law does not necessarily require TUGs in
all situations, but it should.
While insurance companies hold a tremendous stake in verdicts
involving freight carriers, if the improved public image of
truck drivers it real, it may show up in the numbers — the percentages
of cases won and the damages awarded when cases
are lost.
It is too soon to decide if the public’s rediscovered support
for truck drivers will carry into courtrooms. But with government
officials and business owners lauding them as heroes,
will lawyers continue viewing the industry as a rolling ATM machine?
Klepper’s outlook is one of hope surrounded by pure
speculation.
“No matter how solid a case an attorney representing a truck
driver presents,” he shared, “validity of the evidence can’t overcome
bad facts put forth by personal injury lawyers.”
The silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic may be that the
bias against truck drivers permanently decreases. For now,
though, those monitoring the truck-versus-personal-injury-lawyer
battle may find counting billboards to be the most accurate
barometer of public opinion. A window does appear to be open,
and the trucking industry may climb through it. If so, at least
COVID-19 will have left something positive in its wake.
“The trucking industry needs to capitalize on any improvement
in public opinion and push it for all its worth,” Klepper said.
Drivers Legal Plan delivers bottom line
beneets at no cost to your company.
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TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 23

July/August | TCA 2020
A Chat With The Chairman
Quick to
React
TCA responds with timely, relative
information on pandemic
Foreword and Interview by Lyndon Finney
Want to talk about slipping in right under the wire? When members of the Truckload Carriers
Association met Feb. 29-March 3 for their annual convention, little did they realize that within
only a few days, the United States would become part of a global crisis now known as the CO-
VID-19 pandemic. The TCA convention would be among the last face-to-face assemblage within
the trucking industry — perhaps even within all major U.S. business sectors — before the country
replaced handshakes and hugs with social distancing and quarantines. It was in this environment
that Dennis Dellinger began his term as TCA chairman. Under normal circumstances, the incoming
chairman would face an arduous travel schedule and a whirlwind of meetings. Instead, virtual
reality set in. That did not stop Dellinger from carrying on with his duties from Cargo Transporters’
headquarters in Claremont, North Carolina. In this second chat of his chairmanship, Dennis
talks about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on his job and the trucking industry,
speaks to the importance of the new hours of service rule, and elaborates on how the trucking
industry has stepped forward in a big way during the pandemic.
24 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

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As we conduct this interview, you’ve just
completed your third month as chairman.
Share with our readers what that experience
has meant to you, some of the things you’ve
accomplished during that short time frame,
and what you will be working on in the next
couple of months.
Six months ago, as we prepared and went through
our leadership transition discussions, COVID-19 was
not a familiar word to me, nor to many others in our
industry. We, as an industry and an association, discovered
quickly that we were in unchartered territory
by early March and dealing with many unknowns.
TCA had to react quickly and decisively to become
a resource and conduit of timely and relative information
surrounding the effects that COVID-19 was
having on the truckload environment and our overall
economy. Amid this pandemic, accomplishments may
be hard to measure, but through collective collaboration
and leadership, TCA will be a stronger association.
The challenge moving forward is to promote our
agenda and platform as our country slowly begins its
reopening process.
Under normal circumstances, at this point in
your tenure you would have spent much of the
time on the road, attending Truckload Carriers
Association meetings and visiting with the TCA
staff and with TCA members. How has COVID-19
impacted the manner in which you are carrying
out your duties?
I have continued to report to the office on a daily
basis, which has given me a sense of normalcy in a
world far from that. I am a very social person, having
come from a large family, and thrive being around
people. The hardest adjustment was respecting the
safety of our employees, vendors, and customers
by choosing not to have face-to-face meetings and
discussions during the stay-at-home orders. I was
looking forward to my TCA travels this year; yet I realize
we are in different times, and this pandemic has
highlighted the necessity for effective communication
systems. Those of us baby boomers and Gen Xers
have been forced to move into the world of millennials
relative to communications.
I know you have spent a lot of time in virtual
meetings and on the phone with TCA members.
From your perspective and the perspective of
what you’ve learned thus far, what are the
top two or three ways in which COVID-19 has
impacted operational aspects of the truckload
industry?
I think each of our companies has been impacted
in many different ways. The difference could vary
based on the regions of the country in which you
operate, the truckload segment of which you are a
part, and/or the commodities you transport. While
fuel cost and its availability has been a positive impact,
the negatives include lower freight volumes,
cash flow issues related to extended terms or even
no payment, and limited forecasting that tilts the
scales, creating opportunities at a level that may not
have existed six months ago prior to COVID-19. What
has become most evident is that our drivers are essential.
Our industry has always recognized this, but
I am encouraged knowing it is being recognized outside
our industry.
There have been many examples of how
trucking has stepped forward to respond to the
urgent needs of Americans during this crisis
in terms of food, medicine, and other supplies.
In your opinion, is this changing the public’s
perception of the trucking industry?
It is my opinion that the public has seen the necessity
of our industry and the commitment of our drivers.
As I shared before, my involvement at TCA began
with the Image and Communications Committee.
I have always believed in our industry drivers. As a
whole, they are characterized as committed, humble,
and trusting individuals. They see value and a sense
of duty in their respective workdays. To recognize
them personally might get you the response, “I’m
just doing my job.” Let’s hope we can ride the momentum
and sustain this positive perception for our
highway heroes and the companies they represent. I
am proud to be a part of this industry.
26 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

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Speaking of the driver shortage, a recent
study revealed that company driver pay has
increased $6,000 annually between 2017 and
2019. How will that impact the recruitment of
new drivers to the industry?
Any increase to the average annual salary of
our professional truck drivers should be viewed as
a good thing, but at the same time, it cannot be
construed as the only factor that impacts the recruitment
strategies of potential drivers. As motor
carriers, we stress quality of life, family time, and
additional benefits that coincide with annual salary
in an effort to attract quality drivers. The impacts
of the #ThankATrucker efforts have raised the
bar on how our drivers are perceived and should
continue to permeate across the country, as the
general public now recognizes that everything they
own has been on a truck at some point in its life
cycle. This movement certainly helps the recruitment
process go that extra mile (pun intended)
when exposing this profession to the people across
the nation that could be looking for new careers as
our society moves toward getting back to work.
In recent weeks, the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration has made two
significant announcements. Let’s address
them one at a time. First is the new final rule
on hours of service that many believe will
provide much-needed flexibility in day-today
trucking operations. Please address the
major changes in the rule and how those
changes will impact the industry.
Will an enhanced public image of the
industry attract new drivers and help
alleviate the driver shortage?
There is no silver bullet that will alleviate the
driver shortage as we define it today, but anything
that may garner positive attention will create interest.
We could be on the cusp when high school
graduates look to vocations that do not require a
college education. The trend over the past several
years seems to be leaning toward technical schools
and training for skilled labor. If they turn toward
opportunities in our industry that pay higher wages
than those competing industries, we may see improvement.
As a truckload carrier, the most important
aspect of the new provisions is the integration of
flexibility into the regulations. For years, we have
communicated the need to be able to stop the
14-hour clock so that our drivers have the opportunity
to address issues like detention time,
congestion, and bad weather they may encounter
on a daily basis. The incorporation of the 7-3 split
allows drivers the ability to now address some of
these issues without the continuous countdown of
that on-duty window. While the new flexibility provision
is not ultimate flexibility, it certainly represents
a start to new data-driven rules that should
allow our industry to improve upon its safety record.
As we continue to interpret the data generated
by the electronic logging devices (ELDs), our
industry will be able to make the argument that
even more flexibility will be needed in the future.
This recent rule change adds credence to the fact
the ELD merely makes our industry compliant, but
the HOS rule itself, if implemented correctly, can
make our industry safer.
28 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

The second announcement concerns crash
accountability. It is a fact that as many as
75% of the accidents involving a large truck
and a passenger vehicle have been determined
to be the fault of the passenger vehicle; yet
regardless of fault, those accidents have a
negative impact on motor carriers’ Compliance,
Safety, Accountability (CSA) score. As a result of
its Crash Preventability Determination Program
(CPDP), motor carriers can submit a request
for data review in an effort to have a crash
deleted from its CSA score. Please speak to the
importance of this new program.
The Crash Preventability Determination Program
was derived from the successful demonstration project
that FMCSA had implemented in August of 2017.
The program has expanded from what it was to now
include even more accidents for consideration. In
a nutshell, it becomes important for carriers to be
judged correctly for accidents that are inherently not
their fault, which is what this program is designed to
do. Our industry should never have a problem publicizing
its safety programs; however, we, as an industry,
must insist that the publication of our crash data
should be accurate and true. FMCSA will make a preventability
determination based upon the data that is
presented to them by carriers. It certainly emphasizes
the age-old data that you referenced in your question
about accident fault, and clearly paints a more accurate
picture in regard to the safety performance of
carriers.
There are a few key things to note. First and foremost,
just because you submit an accident for review
does not necessarily mean the Agency will side with
you. It is important for everyone to submit as much
information as they have available. Second, more carriers
need to be involved in this program. The original
demonstration project netted just over 4,000 unique
motor carriers submitting accidents for review. As an
industry with more than 500,000 registered carriers
operating on our nation’s highways, less than 1% of
our industry participated, which shows this is something
for which we need to spread more awareness.
model as we speak, with the results expected sometime
this fall. The concern with IRT will almost always
be the same that occurred with the original program:
The data generated may be wholly biased based on
your operating area. Any program designed to measure
a carrier’s safety performance should strive to
be as accurate as possible when painting that portrait.
That being said, if the data is not entirely correct
and has some shortcomings to it, the program,
as a whole, will suffer. Designing an accurate system
has been problematic for years, even going back to
the old Safestat program; however, it does seem as
though improvements are at hand, and the Agency
is genuinely interested in any improvements to this
system.
On a personal note, are you enjoying your term
as TCA chairman, and how has it impacted your
professional and personal life?
Even though outside forces have changed the complexity,
TCA must move forward and serve its membership.
It is with that same commitment that I am
here to serve TCA’s membership and learn along the
way. I know that I have truly been blessed, and being
a part of TCA has further substantiated that for me.
Sherel and I have missed seeing many of you, and
look forward to the day that we can once again gather
together.
Speaking of CSA, the program is turning 10 years
old. Is it time to review where CSA has been
helpful in improving safety on the nation’s
highways?
CSA is already 10 years old? Wow, time flies. That
review is already taking place through the DOT’s Office
of Inspector General and incorporating “Item Response
Theory” (IRT) into the scoring measure. This
could theoretically improve the program, as IRT is
intended to account for variables better than the previous
scoring system. The Agency is testing the IRT
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 29

JULY/AUGUST | TCA 2020
Talking TCA
Those
Who Deliver
PROFILE
with National Carriers, Inc.
By Sam Pierce
Jim Franck fell into trucking mostly by accident.
Originally, he planned to go to law school, but there was an abundance
of attorneys at the time, so Franck decided to take a year off
and work for a driver training school. After working there, he decided
to stay in the business, and he said it has been a pretty good
decision so far. His professional trucking career began in 1980 and
he’s been in a management role of a trucking operation for 40 years
except for a short period when he ran his own business.
Franck has been the president at National Carriers, Inc. since 2012.
“I enjoy the people,” he shared. “Whether it be the drivers or the
executives, we have good hard-working people and the technology
is getting very intriguing, especially over the last few years.”
Franck said some of the technology that National Carriers has
been looking into is alternative fuels and artificial intelligence (AI)
robotics, adding that it is all merging and happening quickly.
Franck said National Carriers is particularly seeking to attract younger
drivers who are interested in both trucking in general and technology
in particular. Manufacturers have been testing more and more autonomous
trucks, which most industry stakeholders say will become
reality in the future, albeit still with considerable driver involvement.
“It is not something that is going to happen overnight, because
there are a lot of variables out there such as insurance and how secure
the technology is – can it be hacked?” said Franck. “Driverless
trucks will work much like a self-driving car; it is the same technology,
but in my lifetime, I don’t think we won’t ever not have a driver
involved in some way or another.
“A plane can take off and land on its own, but a pilot oversees
the operation,” he continued. “It is driving on its own, but there is
someone in the seat – this is a dynamic time in our industry.”
After starting with a leasing company in South Bend, Indiana, in
1980 and working for them for a year, Franck grew tired of the winters
and moved to Texas, where he worked for a company hauling
processed meats to Hunts Point and brought liquor back to Dallas
out of New Jersey. He did that for about three years. He has also
worked for Tandy Transportation, as well as the old Radio Shack
Group as operations manager for its private fleet for a few years.
“I have never driven for a living,” he said. “I drove some construction
trucks in the summer while in college, but it was mostly
flatbeds, hauling some equipment around.”
National Carriers was started in 1968 by John Jacobson, as part
of what was originally National Beef Packing Company in Liberal,
Kansas. Franck described National Carriers as a family, with most
of the turnover coming from retirement or drivers who had a medical
condition that prevented them from driving over the road.
He said the company does lose some drivers after they decide
to drive local, but for drivers who want to drive over the road and
make good money, National Carriers can be the right environment.
Clockwise, from left: National Carriers, Inc. 3 Million Safe Miles driver, Steve Neal, is recognized for earning the President’s Award of Excellence
from NCI President Jim Franck. NCI President Jim Franck presents 2018 Driver of the Year Jeff Gutzler a bonus check for $10,000. NCI President Jim Franck
leads a First Friday Forum discussion. These monthly forums provide NCI drivers a chance to have a discussion with the management team over companyprovided
lunch. National Carriers 2014 Driver of the Year Goldie Seymour poses next to a company trailer bearing her photo and her granddaughters’ photos.
The trailer is in recognition of her driver of the year honor.
30 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

NCI BY THE NUMBERS
700 trucks | 1,200 trailers
1,000 employees | 680 drivers
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Jim Franck, president
Steve Gleisner, EVP
Mike Rinehart, VP finance
Mark Phillips, VP Operations
Rick Ham, director of recruiting
Jason Greer, director of livestock/hide
Jill Maschmeier, director of safety/compliance
Dennis Baxter, director of brokerage
Johnny Branstine, director of maintenance
Ed Kentner, director of social media
“
Whether it be the drivers
or the executives, we have
good hard-working people and
the technology is getting very
intriguing, especially over
the last few years.”
— Jim Franck,
President at National Carriers Inc.
“We don’t always do it right, but we will work harder than anybody
to make it right,” shared Franck.
National Carriers has about 1,000 employees, and 75% of its
transport is food. They carry for Hershey, Nestle, Anheuser Busch,
ConAgra, and of course, National Beef — just to name a few.
Franck said National Carriers also has a livestock fleet of about 120
trucks in southwest Kansas.
“I don’t want us to grow for growth’s sake,” he said. “We haven’t
grown the last couple of years. Two years ago, when the rates were
good, we had a bit of a conundrum. When the economy is good, drivers
have a lot of choices, and when it isn’t, we can keep them longer.”
Right now, the biggest deterrent to growth is the
COVID-19 pandemic, which Franck described as
an ever-changing dynamic. He said for
a month, drivers had dealt with
a real demand for services,
which
kept them busy, but now the demand has shrunk dramatically.
However, demand seems to be turning the corner as the economy
starts to open up.
He said it is a completely different environment and, “We always
have to be on our toes and understand what is going on around
you and react accordingly.” He said the demand has been much
like a roller coaster, but for the most part, has kept the drivers busy.
Franck said National Carriers has been fortunate enough during
the pandemic to not have to furlough any of its employees. He said
the drivers have taken a lot of pride in their work and, “It has been
amazing, because of the positive attention they are getting from
President Trump and the media.”
“I hope that stays when we get past this virus, because they
deserve the recognition,” said Franck.
By their very nature, most drivers are self-isolated by being in
the cab most of their day. He said unfortunately, it also means they
can’t sit down and get a meal, so they are living, eating, and sleeping
in their trucks, as most restaurants are carry-out only.
“It has been incredible the way the public has acknowledged the
truck driver and treated them as heroes,” he continued. “If you
bought it, a truck brought it, and it makes me
feel proud to be a part of this industry.
People are recognizing
the work they do.”
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 31

Best Fleets to Drive For
Purpose
driven
Trust and integrity
guide operations at
Nussbaum Transportation
By Lyndon Finney
Visit any motor carrier website and it’s likely that the home
page will include flashy photos, and a litany of words looking
to encourage drivers to apply.
That is not so with the home page of Nussbaum Transportation
where two words dominate: Purpose Driven.
Those two words are the guiding lights at Nussbaum Transportation
of Hudson, Illinois, which was recently named winner of the
large carrier category in the 2020 Best Fleets to Drive For contest at
Truckload 2020: Orlando – TCA’s Annual Convention – on March 2.
Then click to the next page and find what could be called the company’s
philosophy:
“No matter where we are, on the road or at home, life has its victories
and its storms. Moments we’ll never forget, and moments we
wish to forget. Through it all, we are purpose driven. That means we
do more than show up. We put people and family first. We lead with
faith and integrity. We own our actions, and we strive to positively
impact every person we meet. Because at the end of the day, we recognize
that each moment and every encounter is a God-given gift.”
Read on and you’ll find Nussbaum Transportation’s statement of
faith: “We believe God owns this business and we are just stewards
of it for a season.”
“That statement is everything to us,” shared CEO Brent Nussbaum,
who has headed the company since 2000. “We believe that
God is the reason for our success, and we believe that we’re just
stewards of what He owns. He owns the company and He just expects
us every day to take care of what He has given to us to take
care of. People come up to me all the time and say ‘You know, how
do you sleep at night?’ I tell them it’s very easy. I remember that it’s
not mine and that it belongs to God. And then all He wants me to do
is do my best to take care of it. In the meantime, He provides and has
seen us through a lot of challenging times over 75 years.”
Nussbaum promotes the carrier’s mission to represent God to the
best of one’s ability to all those the company encounters, whether they
be employees, customers, or vendors.
Nussbaum Transportation CEO Brent Nussbaum, center, accepts the award for
winning the Best Fleets to Drive For large carrier category from EpicVue CEO
Lance Platt and CarriersEdge CEO and Co-Founder Jane Jazrawy.
“We do trucking because trucking supports our mission,” he shared.
Nussbaum Transportation was founded by Alden Nussbaum in
Fairbury, Illinois, with a single truck and a simple vision: “If you
take care of your people, the rest will take care of itself.”
The company has always made its people its first priority rather
than its customers, said Nussbaum.
“I’m not afraid to tell a customer that, ‘ I’m sorry, you’re not our
first priority. Our people are because if I don’t have good people then
you know I’m out of business,” shared Nusbaum. He singled out
professional drivers.
“This industry has not been very kind to drivers and you know,
between the way they’re treated and then just the amount of time that
they spend away from their families to keep goods flowing across
the U.S. to keep our economy going, they don’t receive the appreciation
they should,” he added.
32 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

Focus on
FLEETS
A look at the Best Fleets to Drive For contest
Nussbaum Transportation driver Don Marshall chats with CEO Brent
Nussbaum.
To further invest in its employees, Nussbaum Transportation became
employee-owned in 2018 through a benefit plan called an employee
stock ownership plan (ESOP) when the Nussbaum family
transitioned 35% of the company ownership to employees.
Brent Nussbaum said a few years ago, the Nussbaum siblings (there
are seven with six having been in the trucking business at one time or
another; three are still in the business) sat down to discuss the future of
the company and decided that at no time in the future did they envision
selling the company to another carrier.
“Becoming employee-owned fits the company’s values of taking
care of employees, rewarding commitment, and protecting Nussbaum’s
heritage and culture,” said Nussbaum.
Until 2001, Nussbaum had both a truckload and a less-than-truckload
business.
A trend in the late 1990s prompted Nussbaum Transportation to go
strictly truckload.
“In the late ’90s, we started seeing all the big box stores come into
existence. We were in the LTL business, which meant we hauled a lot
of freight back and forth between shippers and mom and pop businesses
such as appliance stores and plumbing stores,” shared Nussbaum.
“When the big box stores took over, they were ordering in truckload
quantities. We started watching the whole debacle and said if we don’t
get out of the LTL business, it’s going to take us out of business. I don’t
know what that statistic is today because I would say with Amazon it
has come back up, but LTL got down as low as 7% of everything that
moved in the U.S. and truckload went the other direction.”
To be considered for the Best Fleets to Drive For award, carriers
must be nominated by a company driver or independent contractor
working with them. They are then evaluated across a broad range of
categories reflecting current best practices in human resources.
Nussbaum Transportation has been among the Top 20 for six consecutive
years and in 2019 won the small carrier overall category.
The overall large category winner contest was sponsored again this
year by EpicVue.
Visit bestfleetstodrivefor.com for more information about the
contests.
In 2015, Nussbaum Transportation officially launched a series of trailers displaying
the “Faith & Family” mark with each showcasing a different scene depicting
family moments and activities.
By Wendy Miller
CarriersEdge Co-Founder Mark Murrell was surprised to learn
that there was no overall best place to work award for trucking
companies. He knew, though, that the industry had a long history
of a driver shortage.
“Coming to trucking, everyone was talking about a labor shortage,
but no one was going down that road of identifying the best
employers,” said Murrell, adding that his background in the tech industry
had shown that companies who were awarded as “the best”
were able to recruit and retain great talent.
With that in mind, the Best Fleets to Drive For competition was
born. Since 2008, CarriersEdge along with the Truckload Carriers
Association has been awarding this designation to fleets who complete
and excel in a rigorous evaluation process, which is divided
into a small fleet category and a large fleet category.
“The objective of the program has always been to recognize the
good ideas and to those things with other companies,” said Murrell.
The process begins with a nomination from a driver. The next
phase is a “long and miserable” questionnaire for the company’s
corporate leadership to complete. Next is an interview, which Murrell
feels is an “integral part” of the process.
Murrell noted that oftentimes a company might not realize it is
doing something interesting and effective because it has grown accustomed
to it. An interview allows information to be shared about
programs that might otherwise not be noted.
The final piece of the process is a driver survey. This portion of
the process allows for a correlation to develop between drivers and
the company regarding their efforts.
“We want to see alignment between the company saying, ‘we are
doing these things’ and the drivers saying ‘yes, they do a great job
on this,’” shared Murrell.
All of this data is then analyzed and aggregated to define a Top 20 in
the competition. Murrell noted that winners are not simply “picked.”
“We let the numbers tell us who the winners are,” related Murrell.
The overall process evaluates the company on all aspects ranging
from safety to company culture and just about everything in between.
Murrell shared that he has seen several fleets grow throughout
years of entering the contest.
“We see the growth of fleets every year,” he noted. “It is almost
unheard of now for someone to come into the program and make
the Top 20 on their first try.”
It also is not uncommon for a fleet to move from the small fleet
category into the large fleet category.
“For instance, Nussbaum was in the small fleet category last year
and the large fleet category this year and they won in both,” he said.
For more information about the 2021 contest, visit bestfleetstodrivefor.com.
The nomination period begins the Monday after
Independence Day in the United States - July 6.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 33

Best Fleets to Drive For
Proudest
moments
Best Fleets award,
response to pandemic
source of appreciation
for Boyle Transportation
Top: Team drivers Rich Swan, left, and Steve Marden prepare to leave on a trip.
Middle: Team drivers Mark Padlo and Chelsea Douglas display their creative face
masks they wore during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bottom: Husband and wife team
drivers Tricia and James Dankof are among Boyle Transportation’s 133 drivers, all
of whom work as teams.
By Lyndon Finney
Boyle Transportation Co-President Andrew Boyle smiled
and walked to the podium during Truckload 2020: Orlando
– TCA’s Annual Convention – on March 2.
His company — Boyle Transportation — had just been called
as the overall winner in the small carrier category of the 2020
Best Fleets to Drive For competition put on by the Truckload
Carriers Association and its partner CarriersEdge.
“At that point, I called it the proudest achievement in our company’s
history,” said Boyle during an interview in late April.
“Then, just a few weeks later we stared into the abyss of this
COVID-19 crisis and every day since has been the proudest moment
in our company’s history.”
In part, the pride comes from his company’s long-time role in
the trucking industry.
“Historically most of our business has been in the defense
world and now the two verticals we serve are the government
defense world and life sciences, which includes pharmaceuticals
and health care distributors,” shared Boyle. “The trucking industry
as a whole plays a vital role in our nation’s economy and the
role has become even more pronounced in this crisis. What our
company does is a little more important so far as we are either
transporting life-saving medicine or critical military material to
support military service members. We’ve been called upon by
many makers of medicine to deliver COVID-19 related products
to sustain life.”
Boyle Transportation was founded in 1971 when Andrew’s parents
— Tom and Elisabeth — purchased the authority of an existing
carrier.
Today, the company is headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts,
with service centers in Bloomfield, Indiana; Kiowa, Oklahoma;
and Yorktown, Virginia.
For the past 17 years, the company has been managed by Andrew
Boyle along with his co-president and brother Marc.
The Best Fleets to Drive For contest begins with the naming
of the Top 20 carriers based on nominations from company
drivers and independent contractors. From that group,
a winner is chosen for both small carrier and large carrier
categories.
2020 marked the sixth consecutive year Boyle Transportation
34 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

Boyle Transportation Co-President and CFO Andrew Boyle, center, accepts
the award for Best Fleets to Drive For small carrier category from TruckRight
President Dirk Kupar and CarriersEdge CEO and Co-Founder Jane Jazrawy.
has been among the Top 20, but it is the carrier’s first overall win.
The fact that the Top 20 and overall awards are the result of driver
nominations makes the honor more special, Boyle shared.
Boyle has 133 drivers and all work as teams.
“This is a people business and what is especially gratifying
and motivating and stimulating about this great industry is that
we have the unique capacity to create good blue-collar jobs. The
cool thing about the Best Fleets to Drive For program is that
it helps us determine whether we are simply creating jobs and
whether we’re creating good jobs,” Boyle said with pride. “It
provides very comprehensive, systematic methodology to help
guide you to high achievement in terms of creating a good work
environment.”
Boyle Transportation values include quality, safety, and security.
“We have a very simple philosophy. We invest in great people,
those people perform exceptionally well
for our customers and in turn the cus-
“
tomers will want to continue to do business
with us,” said Boyle.
Quality, safety, and security require a lot
of attention to detail, Boyle pointed out.
“Everyone throughout the company
from Marc and myself, our management
team, our maintenance staff, professional
drivers and administrative staff have
to adopt and embrace a concept called
continuous improvement. People who
do well here consider themselves high
achievers and professionals. If someone
gets a job offer to work with us, it’s a
pretty big achievement and I tell them
that because you are here you are good
but we need you to embrace the chance
to get better.”
Each week, Boyle management,
drivers and administrative staff get together
as a cross-function team to see where the company came
up short and where it can do better.
“Sometimes we talk about customer service. Sometimes we’ve
had to invest in different specifications on equipment and we offer
our drivers a chance to give input. Sometimes we talk to them about
how they score on things such as safe driving and attention to detail,”
shared Boyle.
Boyle’s driver compensation program is significantly different
than most in the industry.
“We basically provide drivers a weekly wage at a very significant
The cool thing
about the Best Fleets
to Drive For program
is that it helps us
determine whether we
are simply creating
jobs and whether we’re
creating good jobs.”
— Andrew Boyle,
Boyle Transportation Co-President
Boyle Transportation team drivers Kathy Cooper and Markus Clark celebrate the
carriers award as Best Fleets to Drive For in the small carrier category.
rate. It’s not based on mileage but on quality, safety and security measures,”
he added.
There is a guarantee that ranges from $1,500 to $2,000 per person per week.
“We’re not talking about a minimum wage type of pay, but rather pay
based on how you execute on your attention to detail matrix and safe
driving,” added Boyle. “In addition, we have safe driving incentive compensation
and we pay them more with an incentive
to get inspections. Then they get a quarterly incentive
compensation.”
As a result of its philosophy, Boyle said the
company had gone to great lengths to invest in the
safety of its teammates, including:
• Distributing care packages of protective and
cleaning equipment, including 280 hand sanitizer
bottles, 5,000 gloves, and 1,300 masks;
• Minimizing contact at pickup and delivery
through new protocols and engaging customers to
work with the carrier in implementing those new
protocols.
• Increasing the frequency of cleaning services
at terminals;
• Paying for motel use while laid over at its
Bloomfield, Indiana, service center;
• Developing a process and procuring recommended
materials to disinfect trucks; and
• Establishing a relationship with a telemedicine
service and network of 14 urgent-care facilities at truck stops.
“Obviously, these are all massive costs that cannot be recouped from
our customers, but they are consistent with our philosophy to invest in
our most important assets — our people, so that our people can perform
well for our customers and those customers in turn will continue to do
business with us,” said Boyle.
The overall small category winner contest was sponsored by TruckRight.
Visit bestfleetstodrivefor.com for more information about the
contests.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 35

Fleet Safety Award
Once again
Bison Transport earns
top safest fleet award for
10th consecutive year
By Lyndon Finney
Believe it or not, professional football and trucking have
something in common.
Both rely heavily on the term “safety.”
In football, the safety position is a team’s last line of defense
against a wide receiver or runner who has gotten loose in the secondary
and is headed for the end zone.
In trucking, safety is the first line of defense against accidents
and the No. 1 priority among motor carriers.
Another commonality is that both have a Super Bowl. In football,
the best of the National Football Conference and the American
Football Conference meet in February to determine the National
Football League champion.
In trucking, the best carriers come together to determine who’s
the best in safety in the Truckload Carriers Association’s Fleet
Safety Award program, with the winners in the large and small carrier
categories being announced at the TCA convention each year.
You might call it the Super Bowl of Safety.
Much like the New England Patriots’ domination in football, so
is Bison Transport’s recognition as the benchmark of carrier safety.
The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based carrier has been named the best
among larger carriers the last 10 consecutive contests.
Bison Transport President and CEO Rob Penner credits teamwork
for the carrier’s success in the safety arena.
“We have assembled an incredible team of professionals that
work together as ‘one Bison,’” shared Penner. “We set lofty goals
for ourselves as individuals and collectively for our business. We
are more strategic than we are reactive, and we execute as well as
anyone in our industry. Beyond that, the sheer pride our fleet has
in the brand we have created — North America’s Safest Fleet — is
something truly special.”
Penner said Bison openly shares its vision for safety with anyone.
“We have no competitors when it comes to safety,” he added.
“We share the roads with everyone and we want everyone to come
home safely, every trip, every time.”
Bison Transport considers safety as an investment in its people
and for the family and friends who wait for the safe return of their
loved ones, Penner said.
“We have policies, procedures, and systems in place, but these
alone are not what will make people want to be safe. People need
to understand why it is important to be safe,” Penner commented.
“If people understand the why, if they personalize it, they are more
likely to act on it. Beyond that, we attract and retain those who
believe in this mantra. Our driver retention rates have allowed us
to personalize a skills-development cycle for individuals, versus
focusing on compliance programs like many businesses are forced
to adopt.”
One policy that is well-received among Bison Transport drivers
and employees is the empowerment to put safety first regardless
of the circumstance.
“With our entire organization focused on safety, it creates an
environment where people are respected, can speak up, and can
make decisions that keep them and others safe,” added Penner,
continuing that whether it’s equipment or in their professional development,
people see Bison’s investments in safety.
Drivers especially like the “right to decide” policy that gives all
drivers the right to make decisions that ensure their own safety.
36 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

“
We have assembled an
incredible team of professionals
that work together as ‘one
Bison.’ We set lofty goals for
ourselves as individuals and
collectively for our business.”
— Rob Penner, Bison Transport
President and CEO
If at any time the driver deems it is too hazardous to continue,
they are empowered to discontinue driving until they feel it is
safe to do so.
Bison carefully monitors its safety performance among its
drivers.
“The driver safety performance report provides a fair and
meaningful measure for drivers so they can understand the
impact of their performance and where improvements can
be gained or have been achieved. It is a key indicator of
the safety and health of our drivers and is the main influencer
in how we improve safety whether it comes in the form
of training, equipment options, technologies, or supports,”
said Penner. “The driver’s overall risk level, or risk level in
any category prioritizes intervention. All incidents are discussed
with the driver. The driver safety performance report
is viewable through the driver’s intranet login so they can
view their risk level, in what areas they are at high risk, and
how their risk level is impacting their safety. Drivers know
exactly where they stand.”
Bison’s safe driving rewards program rewards each safe mile
with the financial payout increasing as higher levels are reached.
Since starting the program mid-2005 and continuing through
the third quarter of 2019, more than $38,968,353 has been
paid to drivers with 2018 being the highest payout to date at
$3,277,045.
Penner said a top-level driver earns 15% more under this
program.
Bison’s safety record is also good for the bottom line.
“We have several shippers who have sought us out to handle
their freight — typically high risk or high value — but mostly
it allows us to retain their business as they know that we can
deliver intact, on time and damage free. All things being equal,
our safety record and our driver retention rates are what set us
apart,” he said.
Penner predicts a marked improvement in highway safety
with the implementation of the new American hours-of-service
(HOS) regulations.
“Electronic logs were a game changer in a positive way. Our
concerns regarding driver fatigue and driver stress as it related
to HOS regulations were no longer our opinion, they became
documented fact. We could easily demonstrate and validate the
concerns of professional drivers,” shared Penner. “Our drivers,
widely regarded as among the safest in industry, would continue
to tell us that they have never been so fatigued. The current HOS
regulations forced them to drive continuously without the ability
to adapt to their personal stress or environment or suffer substantial
financial penalty. To allow drivers some flexibility is truly a
step in the right direction.”
Bison’s culture goes far beyond compliance and compliance
alone does not equate to safety.
“Safety is measured in all areas of our business, not just the
priority or measurement for the safety department,” he concluded.
“From equipment specifications, operational deliverables, customer
selection — everything is geared to support the safety of
our people and those we share the road with.”
Opposite page: Bison Transport driver and 2016 Company Driver of the Year recipient, Murray Manuliak, heads out on a trip. Bison drivers especially like the
“right to decide” policy that gives all drivers the right to make decisions that ensure they always make it home safely. Above, top: Bison Transport President and
CEO Rob Penner, a past Truckload Carriers Association chairman, says his company has assembled an incredible team of professionals that work together as
“one Bison.” Above, bottom: Bison Transport’s Director of Safety and Driver Development Garth Pitzel, center, accepts the award as the grand prize winner of the
large carrier division of TCA’s Fleet Safety Award contest. With him are Great West Casualty Company’s EVP and CEO Mandy Graham and TCA Chairman Josh
Kaburick. Great West sponsors the program.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 37

Fleet Safety Award
People culture
Employee involvement key to Erb International
winning TCA Fleet Safety Award
By Linda Garner-Bunch
To say that safety is a top goal at Erb International, part of the
Erb Group of Companies, would be an understatement. It
is more accurate to say that safety is an integral part of the
company’s culture at every level, from drivers and maintenance
staff, all the way to the corporate offices.
At Erb International, which specializes in refrigerated
freight, every employee, regardless of his or her position, is
considered a safety manager and is responsible for promoting
safety not only for themselves, but also for employees in other
roles throughout the company. Communication at all levels is
key to ensuring that the fleet and equipment are kept in tiptop
condition, that drivers are fully trained and compliant with all
regulations, and that each load is delivered to the customer on
time and in a safe manner.
That culture of safety, paired with the company’s stellar safety
performance in 2019, resulted in Erb International receiving top
recognition in Truckload Carriers Association’s Fleet Safety Award
contest for the small carrier division (total annual mileage of less
than 25 million). The award was presented to Erb International
President and CEO Wendell Erb at the Truckload Carriers Association’s
annual convention, Truckload 2020: Orlando, in March.
Wendell Erb, son of company founder Vernon Erb, said receiving
the Grand Prize award is an honor for the company, which is
headquartered in New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada.
“Traditionally, we’ve been above 25 million miles, but last year
we dropped below 25 million miles,” shared Wendell Erb, adding
that fellow Canadian trucking company Bison Transport has won
the large carrier award several years in a row.
“So in my acceptance speech, I said, ‘Yeah, we cut back our
miles a little bit just to get into the small mileage category and
have a chance at this award,’ and everybody got a chuckle,” he
said with a laugh.
Wendell Erb credits the company’s employees for its success
in the refrigerated truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) freight
industry, noting that the LTL side brings with it a unique set of
challenges, including refrigerated terminals, warehouses, and specialized
equipment that must be maintained.
“What makes us different than other carriers, I think, is our
people,” he stated. “Our business is complicated. We pay our
38 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

drivers above average, and we have expectations that are above
average. Our customers have high expectations.”
Founded in 1959 by Vernon Erb, the company grew from a
one-man operation to a group of companies with more than 1,500
employees, more than 900 of which are professional drivers. In
addition to serving most of Canada, the company serves the 48 contiguous
United States. The Erb Group of Companies now includes
Erb Transport Limited, Erb International, and Erb Transport.
Erb International’s tagline, “We bring food to your family’s table,”
is backed up by the company’s vision statement: “As a transportation
industry leader, we strive to improve the lives of our employees/customers
and members of our community. We accomplish this through
having engaged employees and providing excellent, unparalleled
customer service, resulting in profitable business results.”
In addition, Vernon Erb instilled into his company high standards
of excellence, impeccable ethics and integrity, environmental sustainability,
diversity, respect and trust, teamwork, and creating a
safe work environment.
Wendell Erb followed in his father’s footsteps, starting out as a
driver in the early 1980s before becoming a dispatcher.
“I still have my CDL,” he said, adding that he still makes deliveries
when needed. “I was out there the day before Easter this year,
driving straight truck.
“Once a year, I make sure I go on a long trip. Last year I went to
Winnipeg and then down into Iowa and over to Nebraska and then
back home for a week,” he continued. “I love every minute of it
when I’m on the road. It gives me time to think as I go up and down
the road. You see what your drivers are going through.”
That insight into the life of a driver helps Wendell Erb make decisions
that, he said, hopefully make drivers’ lives “a lot more simple.”
A love of driving runs in the family.
“My dad grew up on a dairy farm; he was the oldest son,” noted
Wendell Erb. “He would see the milk trucks coming in to pick up
the milk every other day, and he was quite enthralled with the trucks.
“When he turned about 18, he kept bothering his dad, saying,
“
What makes us different
than other carriers, I think,
is our people. Our business
is complicated. We pay our
drivers above average, and
we have expectations that are
above average. Our customers
have high expectations.”
— Wendell Erb,
Erb International President and CEO
‘Gee, I want to go drive a truck.’ His dad finally said, ‘You go drive
a truck and get that out of your system,’” he continued, adding that
Vernon Erb built his company with a farmer’s work ethic of long,
hard hours and doing the job right.
More than 40 years later in the late 1990s, Vernon Erb semiretired
from trucking, returning to his roots in farming, and Wendell
Erb took over the reins of the company.
“Dad’s ‘retirement’ was working on a farm,” Wendell Erb said
with a smile. “He bought a farm and fixed it up, and when he wasn’t
farming, he was driving a truck. He did that right up until November
of last year. … He was working right up until two days before
he was diagnosed with cancer.”
After a short battle with leukemia, Vernon Erb died May 20,
2020. Vernon Erb’s legacy lives on, however, through his family
and his company, which still operates under that “farmer’s work
ethic” that forms the basis of the company’s success.
Opposite page, right: Founded in 1959 by Vernon Erb, Erb International has grown from a one-man operation to a group of companies with more than 1,500
employees. Opposite page, right: Wendell Erb, president and CEO of Erb International, center, accepts the award as the grand prize winner of the small carrier
category of TCA’s Fleet Safety Award contest. With him are Great West Casualty Company’s EVP and CEO Mandy Graham and TCA Chairman Josh Kaburick. Great
West sponsors the program. Above, left: Each summer, Erb International hosts employee-appreciation barbecues at all of its terminals. This photo, taken at the
Baden terminal in Ontario, Canada, shows, from left, Wendell Erb, Vernon Erb, and Wayne Baechler. Above right: More than 900 of Erb International’s employees
are professional drivers.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 39

Be the Voice of Truckload – Join TCA on The Hill
Make plans to join the Truckload Carrier Association’s
fourth annual Call on Washington set for
Sept. 23, 2020.
TCA’s Call on Washington is an opportunity to
meet directly with members of Congress, key congressional
staff, and federal regulators to discuss
legislation and regulations affecting the trucking
industry.
The event will be held in conjunction with TCA’s
fall business meetings.
Important trucking topics discussed during Call
on Washington meetings with lawmakers and their
staff include:
Infrastructure funding mechanisms and the
trucking industry’s support for an increased federal
fuel tax;
Opposition to any increases to federal truck size
and weight restrictions;
F4A federal preemption of state meal and rest
break laws;
Hours of service regulations and associated exemption
requests;
The electronic logging device mandate and associated
exemption requests; and
Drug and alcohol testing requirements.
To view photos from historic events, or a
2019 day-of video compiled by TCA member
National Fleet Repair Solutions’ Chris Petersen,
visit: truckload.org/advocacy/tca-call-onwashington.
For more information, or to register for this
year’s event, contact TCA’s Government Affairs
Manager Kathryn Sanner at ksanner@truckload.
org or at (703) 838-1950.
truckload.org/advocacy/
tca-call-on-washington
40 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

HIGHWAY ANGELS
Professional truck drivers Chris Delancey, John
DeGood, Eric Eaton, and Frank Martin have been
named Highway Angels by the Truckload Carriers
Association for performing heroic actions while
on the job.
Chris Delancey
Delancey is from Chattanooga, Tennessee,
and drives for Covenant Transport. He is being
recognized for quickly responding to pleas for help
for an unresponsive child.
Delancey was aggravated. It was the day after
Christmas, around 4 a.m., and he was finally on the
road on Interstate 20 heading for Fayetteville, North
Carolina, after dealing with serious delays in Atlanta.
“It was just after the holidays and the shipper was
really backlogged,” he shared. His bladder was telling
him he needed to make a stop. Begrudgingly, he
pulled off at the next exit and into a Flying J. Delancey
parked at a fuel island and went inside. On his way
out, he could hear a man and woman screaming and
yelling, “Something’s not right! She’s not breathing!”
Delancey dropped his coffee and ran over to the
distraught couple. He saw a little girl, still in her
booster seat in the back of the vehicle.
“I told them I’m a volunteer firefighter and asked
if I could touch their daughter to check her out,” he
said. They agreed, and he leaned in with his flashlight
to see if she had choked on something, but the
airway appeared clear. “I looked at her eyes, but they
were unresponsive and showed no dilation.”
Delancey quickly pulled her out of the vehicle and
laid her down on his rain jacket. “I told the father I
was going to do chest compressions, and when I got
to 30 he needed to cover the girl’s nose and mouth
and breathe into her mouth as hard as he could.” After
several attempts, Delancey still couldn’t get a pulse.
Delancey had lost his own 18-month-old daughter
to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) a year
earlier. “I saw my daughter’s face in that little girl,”
he shared with TCA. “Something told me to keep on
going.” He continued to work on the child. “Just as
an ambulance pulled up, she took a breath,” recalled
Delancey. “It’s music to your ears. Although she had
a weak pulse, she was breathing. She opened her
eyes and said, ‘Daddy.’” Delancey quickly scooped
her up, ran to the ambulance, and handed her over.
Afterward, Delancey climbed back in his truck
and broke down into tears.
“It hit me that what I couldn’t do for my daughter,
I was able to do for this girl so her family could have
a second chance with her,” he shared. If I hadn’t
been running late that night and if I didn’t have a
weak bladder, I would have kept on going. I believe
there’s divine intervention all around us.”
John DeGood
DeGood, who lives in Plummerville, Arkansas,
and drives for ABF Freight System, is being
recognized for stopping to help the driver of a Ford
passenger van after it collided with a trailer hauling
fracking equipment.
It was a little after 2 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2019, and
DeGood was traveling eastbound on Highway 315
near Clayton, Texas, when he came upon the accident.
DeGood slowly maneuvered around the accident
scene, made a U-turn, and returned in the westbound
lane. As he was doing so, the driver of the fracking
trailer slowed, but did not stop at the scene. A piece of
the trailer’s DOT bumper was lying in the road.
DeGood said the van had veered off the road and
into a stand of trees. He positioned his truck to shine
his headlights on the scene and used his four-way
flashers as warning signals. He grabbed a flashlight
and went to check on the driver of the van, who told
him he was having chest pain.
Since there was no smoke coming from the
vehicle and he couldn’t smell any gas, DeGood told
the driver to remain in his vehicle. He then called
911 and reported the accident.
DeGood is a part of the fire department at home.
He checked the driver out to make sure he hadn’t
sustained any cuts or broken bones.
“He told me he’d had open heart surgery a
few years ago,” shared DeGood. “He said he had
medication with him and asked me to help him find
it, but he was so jumbled up in there, I couldn’t find
anything. He said he didn’t see the trailer. It must
SEE ANGELS, PAGE 42
CHRIS DELANCEY
JOHN DEGOOD
ERIC EATON
FRANK MARTIN
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org www.TruCkloAd.org | TRUCKLOAD Truckload auThoriTy AUTHORITY 41

ANGELS, FROM PAGE 41
have been coming off a dark road and pulled
onto the highway.”
DeGood said emergency vehicles arrived
just a few minutes later. He said he is hopeful
everything turned out okay for the driver.
Eric Eaton
Eaton, who resides in Hudson, Ohio,
is a professional truck driver with Garner
Trucking. He is being honored for his driving
skills, which prevented a collision under icy
conditions from becoming a fatal accident.
Eaton was traveling near Twinsburg,
Ohio, during one of the worst ice storms of
2019. He was in the right lane and driving
well under the posted speed limit. As he
looked in his side mirror, he caught a glimpse
of three vehicles quickly approaching on his
left, so he took his foot off the gas. As the
first vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee, crept up next
to the front of Eaton’s truck, it lost traction
and began swerving.
“I started lightly tapping my brake,”
said Eaton. “I didn’t want to hit my brakes
too hard and create a bigger incident. I had
a semi behind me. Next thing I know, the
Jeep swerved all the way to the median.
The median caught the Jeep and turned it
sideways, projecting it right back in front of
me.” Eaton was already slowing down and
tapping the brakes.
“There was nothing I could do except
brace for impact. My first thought was not
to kill someone,” he shared. The Jeep struck
Eaton’s truck, bounced off, and ended up in
the median.
It was a quarter mile before Eaton was
able to safely stop and pull over.
“I turned on the flashers and started running
back toward the Jeep,” he said. “In my mind,
I thought I had killed someone. It (the Jeep)
hit so hard and went flying. The police were
already on their way, and before I could get
back to the Jeep, a police officer came and
picked me up and took me back to my truck.”
The officers told Eaton it was too
dangerous for him to be out on the road.
“But my major concern was whether there
was a passenger in the Jeep, as the passenger
side was crushed by the impact. Boy, I don’t
know if they would’ve made it. I kept asking
the officer if everyone was okay,” shared
Eaton. The officer radioed back to the scene
and learned the driver wasn’t critically injured
and that there was no passenger in the vehicle.
Recently, the young woman who was
driving the Jeep sent a note to Eaton and
My grandfather
was a trucker. I’d
go out with him
as a kid, and if he’d see a car
broken down or an accident,
he’d stop to make sure
everyone was okay. That left
a big impression me. To me,
it’s still a brotherhood. There
are a lot of good truckers out
there, and a lot of us want to
make a difference. That’s a
big part of why I stopped that
day. Helping people out when
they’re in trouble is more
important than getting
a load in on time.”
— FRANK MARTIN
PROFESSIONAL TRUCK DRIVER,
VERIHA TRUCKING
Garner Trucking, thanking him for his quick
thinking and safe driving.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for
saving my life that day,” she wrote. “I believe
that the speed you were going and how you
maneuvered the truck saved my life; other
than Jesus Christ, I truly believe you saved
my life, and I cannot write the words ‘Thank
You’ enough times.”
Frank Martin
Martin, from Menominee, Michigan,
a professional truck driver with Veriha
Trucking, was recognized for stopping to
help a couple after their vehicle left the
road during icy conditions and rolled down
an embankment.
On Dec. 10, 2019, the road conditions
were poor as Martin was heading through
northern Wisconsin with a load bound
for Duluth, Minnesota. Up ahead in the
southbound lanes, he noticed a large four-door
pickup truck losing traction on the icy road
and sliding from side to side. It was the only
vehicle on that side of the road.
“I think they hit an icy patch coming
around the bend and couldn’t recover,”
said Martin. All he could do was watch as
the driver lost control, hit the median, and
skidded off the road.
“He went tail end over front end, and
when he got to the bottom of the ravine, he
then went side over side,” described Martin.
“I pulled over and called 911 as I was running
across the road.” When he reached the
vehicle, it was lying on its side, driver’s side
up. There was a middle-aged couple inside,
conscious, and still in their seat belts.
Quickly, Martin climbed up on the
driver’s side of the truck and opened the
door. The driver was pressed up against
the passenger, pinning her against the
passenger door. “His seatbelt was jammed,”
shared Martin. “I asked if they were hurt or
bleeding, but they thought they were okay. I
could tell they were scared.”
He ran back to his truck and grabbed
a blanket. He then handed it down into the
truck so the couple could stay as warm as
possible. Martin was able to help the driver
lift himself off the passenger a bit, which
helped to calm her. Emergency vehicles
arrived 25-30 minutes later.
“My grandfather was a trucker. I’d go out
with him as a kid, and if he’d see a car broken
down or an accident, he’d stop to make sure
everyone was okay,” Martin said. “That
left a big impression me. To me, it’s still a
brotherhood. There are a lot of good truckers
out there, and a lot of us want to make a
difference. That’s a big part of why I stopped
that day. Helping people out when they’re in
trouble is more important than getting a load
in on time. It’s the right thing to do. If it were
my family, I’d want someone to stop.”
For their willingness to assist fellow
drivers and motorists, TCA has presented
each newly awarded Highway Angel with
a certificate, patch, lapel pin, and truck
decals. Their employers have also received
a certificate acknowledging their driver as a
Highway Angel.
To meet more recipients, visit highway
angel.org.
Since the program’s inception in August
1997, more than 1,250 professional truck
drivers have been recognized as Highway
Angels for the exemplary kindness, courtesy,
and courage they have displayed while on
the job. EpicVue sponsors TCA’s Highway
Angel program.
42 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE
APPROACHING
Since 1973, the Truckload Carriers Association Scholarship Fund
has been helping students with connections to the truckload industry.
The fund awards up to $6,250 per year, per full-time college
student. Much of the program’s support comes from within the
truckload family — companies and individuals who are committed to
our community’s future.
Deadline for applying is Friday, July 10. The application is
accessible via the TCA website at truckload.org/scholarships.
Any student in good standing (minimum grade point average
of 3.0) who will be attending an accredited, four-year college or
university as a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior and who
is either the child, grandchild, or spouse of an employee or an
employee of a TCA member or is the child, grandchild, or spouse
of an independent contractor or an independent contractor affiliated
with a TCA member, is encouraged to apply.
The Fund awards its scholarships without regard to race, color, sex,
national origin, religion, age, equal pay, disability, or genetic information.
Adhering to its bylaws, numerous TCA Scholarship Fund Trustees
will judge the applicants, taking into considering the applicant’s
GPA, major, extracurricular activities, hours worked, and more.
In the 2019-2020 school year, the Trustees awarded more than
50 students totaling to more than $150,000.
The TCA scholarship helped me to
focus on my academic goals and
not my financial struggles; thus I
earned a 3.6 GPA my freshmen year as an honor
student at North Carolina Central University.”
— IMANI DIGGS
SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT,
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA
The seven largest scholarships are named after dedicated members,
affiliates, and past TCA chairmen.
In 2019-2020 the largest scholarship — named after the National
Association of Independent Truckers (NAIT) in the amount of
$6,250 — was awarded to Imani Diggs of Columbia, South Carolina.
“The TCA scholarship helped me to focus on my academic
goals and not my financial struggles; thus I earned a 3.6 GPA
my freshmen year as an honor student at North Carolina Central
University,” shared Diggs. “Thank you, TCA I could not have done
it without your help!”
Diggs’ father, Horrace Tobin, is a professional truck driver with
KLLM Transport Services.
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TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 43

DRIVER OF THE YEAR CONTEST
The Truckload Carriers Association is
preparing to accept nominations for one of the
association’s most prestigious awards — driver
of the year.
There are two categories — Company Driver of
the Year and Owner-Operator of the Year.
Nominations will be accepted beginning Aug.1
and can be made online at truckload.org.
The overall goal of the contest is to recognize
and pay tribute to the company drivers and owneroperators
who provide reliable and safe truck
transportation in moving the nation’s goods.
Three finalists will be chosen in each category.
A grand-prize winner will be selected from each
group of finalists.
The grand-prize winners will be recognized
and honored as the outstanding company driver
and owner-operator for 2020 based on his or her
ability to operate in a safe manner on the public
highways, efforts to enhance the public image of
the trucking industry, and positive contributions to
the community in which he or she lives.
The Company Driver of the Year contest is
open to any company driver employed by an overthe-road
carrier, who has safely driven one million
consecutive, accident-free miles. A company
driver must be nominated by the motor carrier
by which he or she is currently employed, and
must have been employed by and driving for that
company for the past three years.
Fleet operators who own no more than five
power units used in five-axle or more tractortrailer
combinations and who drive one of the
power units as a full-time occupation are eligible to enter the Owner-
Operator of the Year contest.
An owner-operator who holds his or her own state or federal operating
authority or who is incorporated under the laws of his/her or a
trucking company’s domicile is also eligible for the contest.
Entrants must substantiate five years of job history as a commercial
truck driver, with the last three years as an owner-operator.
An owner-operator may enter on his or her own behalf, be
DON LEWIS
2019 Company Driver of the Year
KEVIN KOCMICH
2019 Owner-Operator of the Year
WEBSITE TO HIGHLIGHT TCA MEMBERS
nominated by his or her spouse, or be nominated
by a motor carrier with which he or she has been
under a long-term contract continuously for three
years or more.
Previous grand-prize winners of the two
divisions are not eligible to reenter the competition.
The application must be completed online
and submitted through TCA’s online application
process.
When entering as a team, both drivers’ names
should be entered into application. It is not
necessary to complete two separate applications.
Verification of submitted information will
include direct contact with the motor carrier by
which the entrant is employed and may include
credit reports, motor vehicle reports, and other
investigation as required.
Each company may nominate up to five drivers.
However, only one driver per company can qualify
for placement among the top three finalists.
Contest judges will scrutinize claims of an
excessive number of miles driven annually. Any
claim of more than 125,000 miles driven annually
must be accompanied by a statement from the
company CEO explaining average length of haul,
number of hours on duty, and how the miles were
logged legally.
Erroneous or false information provided
in the application will result in immediate
disqualification.
The top three finalists were announced in
January 2021.
The grand-prize winners will be announced
during TCA’s 2020 Annual Convention, Truckload 2021, scheduled
for Jan. 23-26, 2021 at Nashville, Tennessee.
Don Lewis of Wilson Logistics, Inc. was named the 2019 Company
Driver of the Year.
The 2019 Owner-Operator of the Year was Kevin Kocmich of
Diamond Transportation System, Inc.
TCA’s partners in the contests are Trucker News and Overdrive
magazine. Sponsors are Cummins and Love’s.
Since 2018, the TCA Profitability Program (TPP) and FreightWaves
have shared exclusive editorial and insights via truckloadindexes.
com. This microsite tells the story of truckload while providing visitors
with a timely pulse of this valued transportation segment, which many
feel is the “Main Street of Trucking.”
Utilizing the latest data from the TPP — and combining this data
with the powerful editorial and data science team at FreightWaves —
TCA provides insights and predictions on the truckload market.
To be revamped in the upcoming months, TCA will highlight TPP
groups and the Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For winners in 2020.
Learn more about the interworkings and best practices from truckload
carriers, both large and small.
Visit truckloadindexes.com to read data and commentary.
44 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org TCA 2020

ACCESS TIMELY WEBINAR RECORDINGS
Throughout this unprecedented time, the
Truckload Carriers Association has made
it a priority to provide our members with
valuable resources.
In addition to daily news briefings and
COVID-19 resources page, TCA has hosted
numerous webinars about truckload-specific
topics relating to the pandemic as well as the
overall success of its members.
Financial Navigation
in Uncertain Times
This webinar featured expert speakers
from the TCA Profitability Program (TPP)
and KSM Transportation Advisors who
shared financial best practices and strategies
to build a strong contingency plan for your
company during these uncertain times.
Managing Operations
During Uncertain Times
This webinar featured key updates about
how to protect trucking operations, recruiting
professional truck drivers, contingency
strategies, and more during COVID-19.
Industry experts weighed in from TCA, TPP,
and KSM Transportation Advisors.
Leadership During Times of Crisis
This webinar featured TCA Profitability
Program’s Shepard Dunn and Ray Haight
and The John Maxwell Team’s Allen Phibbs.
They discussed how to recognize effective
leadership strategies in times of crisis;
identify and define what is meant by “crisis”;
strategies to maneuver through times of
difficulty and adversity; and successful
thinking habits to apply during any crisis.
Maintenance Procedures
in Uncertain Times
This webinar featured TCA Profitability
Program’s (TPP) Jack Porter; Decisiv, Inc.’s
Dick Hyatt; Prime, Inc.’s Kevin Bergman;
and Bison Transport’s Mike Gomes. The
speakers shared strategies to utilize for onroad
repair, procedures to ensure driver
safety, and protocols for tractor sanitation
during COVID-19.
Managing Independent Contractors
in Uncertain Times
This webinar featured industry professionals
from the TCA Profitability Program (TPP)
including Chris Henry; ATBS’ Todd Amen;
and Scopelitis, Garvin, Light Hanson & Feary
P.C.’s Greg Feary. The group shared the biggest
opportunities in the CARES Act for owneroperators.
Perfecting the New Normal:
Building a Solid IT Infrastructure
and Social Media Strategy
This webinar featured industry professionals
from the TCA Profitability Program (TPP)
including Jack Porter; Bison Transport’s Mike
Ludwick; Roehl Transport’s John Paape;
and digital and social marketing consultant
Jessica Columbo, who shared IT and socialmedia
do’s and don’ts to consider during this
uncertain time.
Leadership’s Role in the
New Freight Normal
This webinar featured TCA Profitability
Program’s (TPP) Jack Porter and Jetco
Express CEO and thought leader Brian
Fielkow. They discussed strategies for reenergizing
a company’s workforce and
leading staff through the COVID-19 crisis.
Predictive Index
Talent Optimization
This webinar featured TCA Profitability
Program’s (TPP) Jack Porter; Stay Metrics
CEO Tim Hindes; and The Predictive Index’s
Adam Vassar and Mike Wells. The group
discussed how the use of talent optimization
best practices and behavioral science can
unlock employee potential to support
companies in stabilizing their workforce
during these challenging times.
All recordings can be accessed from the
TCA website.
For questions, contact TCA’s Jim
Schoonover at jschoonover@truckload.
org or by calling (703) 838-1950. Join the
conversation online by using the hashtag
#TruckloadAcademy.
RETAINING YOUR WORKFORCE
To help address the industry-wide driver-retention issue, the
Truckload Carriers Association offers its TCA Profitability Program
(TPP) Retention Program.
Former TCA chairman and passionate trucking industry
advocate Ray Haight has helped numerous trucking companies
reduce their turnover by up to 50% in the first year.
The core of the TCA Profitability Program Retention Project
(TPP Retention Project) is a focus on managerial discipline.
Haight has developed a Carrier Retention Strategic Plan, which
provides carriers a roadmap to reducing driver turnover, as
well as consulting every step of the way. It provides a step-bystep
process that is designed with a focus on creating a drivercentric
culture at any given trucking company and starts with the
commitment by the senior management team to the successful
execution of the program.
To learn more about the process or how you can start addressing
driver turnover at your company, visit truckload.org or connect
with Ray at ray@tcaingauge.com.
2020 AND 2021
REFRIGERATED MEETING
The Truckload Carriers
Association’s 2020 Refrigerated
Meeting, which was originally
scheduled for July 15-17 in Acme,
Michigan, has been canceled due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Make plans to connect with
colleagues at TCA’s 2021
Refrigerated Meeting set for July 14-16, 2021, at the Hyatt
Regency Tamaya in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
First time attending? This is the premier event for industry
professionals focusing their operations on temperaturecontrolled
equipment.
Those who previously registered for the 2020 event will
receive full refunds for their registrations. For questions, contact
TCA Meetings Department at (703) 838-1950.
TCA 2020 www.Truckload.org | TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY 45

VIRTUAL
LEARNING
The Truckload Carriers
Association welcomes
companies that
joined our association in
April and May.
As the country experiences a global pandemic
with COVID-19, the Truckload Carriers Association
is offering industry professionals complimentary
webinar recordings available from the comfort of
your home.
Truckload Academy On-Demand (TAO) offers
more than 90 prerecorded webinars.
Topics range from content focused on
improving leadership during a crisis to optimizing
brokerage operations, to recruiting and retaining
professional truck drivers.
To begin, navigate to tla.sclivelearningcenter.com
and click on “My Content.”
For questions regarding your account, email
truckloadacademy@truckload.org or call
(703) 838-1950.
APRIL
TCI Business Capital
MAY
Crum Trucking Inc.
Central Marketing Transport
Do you know of someone who may
be interested in joining TCA?
Connect with TCA’s Zander Gambill
at zgambill@truckoad.org or call
him directly at (571) 444-0301.
If the company becomes a TCA
member, you will be recognized as
a Rigster during Truckload 2021:
Nashville. For more information visit
truckload.org/refer-a-member.
Cover Photo:
U.S. Department of Transportation
Additional magazine photography:
Associated Press: P. 12
Bison Transport: P. 3, 36, 37
Boyle Transportation: P. 34, 35
Diego HZ: P. 18
Erb International: P. 38, 39
FMCSA: P. 21
iStock: P. 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 22
Mark Kelly Campaign: P. 8
National Carriers Inc.: P. 3, 30, 31
Nussbaum Transportation: P 32, 33
Photo-Sports USA: P. 24, 25, 29
Rebecca Doty: P. 19
Sara Gideon Campaign: P. 9
State of North Carolina: P. 9
TCA: P. 3, 32, 35, 41, 44, 45
U.S. Department of Transportation: P. 14
U.S. Senate: P. 8, 9
46 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | www.Truckload.org

Honoring essential
workers of the highway
Each year, the Truckload Carriers Association, Overdrive magazine, and
Truckers News recognize professional truck drivers.
Show your support for up to five drivers with a history of providing reliable,
safe transportation of the nation’s goods. It’s an excellent way to pay tribute
to professional drivers, deemed essential workers, who continue to shine as
“Knights of the Highway” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The winning owner-operator and company driver will be announced at TCA’s
annual meeting, Truckload 2021: Nashville, Jan. 23-26.
THE WINNERS WILL RECEIVE $25,000 EACH. RUNNERS-UP WILL RECEIVE $2,500 EACH.
To nominate a driver between Aug. 1 and Aug. 31, visit
truckload.org/DOY.
Entrants do not have to drive for a fleet that is a TCA member.
The entry form has been significantly shortened.
Sponsored by: