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with elaborate backstories
as a strategy for engaging
schoolchildren through the
Trucker Buddy Program.
See Buttigieg on p9 m
THETRUCKER.COM FEATURES
OCTOBER 1-14, 2021 • 25
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The live streaming feature allows safety
managers to view real-time video — roadfacing,
inward-facing or both — for coaching
and training that would normally be done in
person. As a privacy feature, in-cab alerts notify
drivers when a live stream starts and ends.
Driver video share
Safety managers can share event videos
directly with drivers, enabling remote and
self-guided coaching.
When a video is sent, drivers will receive
a text alert with a link to the event details
and video; the driver can then follow the link
when he or she is safely stopped. This allows
evidence-based, self-guided coaching. 8
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Survey shows truck parking
remains top concern
The FHWA has released an
updated version of its Jason’s
Law truck parking survey that
revealed new statistics but no
real solutions.
Page 4
Navigating the news
Truckers kidnapped, killed ..........3
Oregon’s transportation plan .....6
The Trucker Trainer ................8
Rhythm of the Road.............12
Ask the Attorney ..................13
At the Truck Stop .................14
Chaplain’s Corner ................... 16
Truck sales end on high note ....17
Safety Series ..............................18
Charitable giving ...................... 23
Dash cams for ‘new normal’ ....21
iStock Photo
Dwain HebDa
SPECIAL TO THE TRUCKER
Features
January 1-14, 2021 • 23
A true zoo story: Driver keeps Trucker Buddy classrooms engaged
by sharing the fun adventures of his ‘menagerie’ of ‘mascots’
In three decades on the road, Bill McNamee
has piled up enough adventures to fill several
volumes — but he hasn’t done it alone. For the
past 27 years he’s brought along a “menagerie”
of companions including mice, a lizard, a
hedgehog, a duck and the occasional bulldog,
all of whom have come along for the ride.
Along the way, his “mascots,” as he calls
them have accumulated their own share of experiences
and gotten into the occasional mischief,
notwithstanding the fact that each is stuffed.
“I started out with a mouse called Seatbelt
Sam in ’99. I saw this mouse at Cracker Barrel
and I thought, ‘You know, this would be a good
mascot,’” he said. “I got another mouse; that was
Mario, Mario Provolone. And then, I found this
girl mouse and I named her Cheddar Mouse.
“Cheddar married Seatbelt Sam,” McNamee
continued his story. “Two years later, we
went out and got three little mice — three little
catnip toys — named Colby and Pepper and
Jack. So, they had three kids.”
Told out of context, this backstory about
McNamee’s collection of stuffed animals with
elaborate backstories might suggest a guy
who’s been out on the road just a little bit too
long. In fact, however, his furry pals are all part
of McNamee’s strategy for engaging schoolchildren
through the Trucker Buddy Program, McNamee said he is also able to share lessons
about seatbelt safety and distracted drivrooms
of Christopher Elementary second-grad-
how important the trucking industry is,” he said.
Currently he’s currently assigned to three class-
and while we’re doing that, we teach them about
and it’s an effective strategy.
“The concept of that program is to show ing that children can share with their parents. ers in Christopher, Illinois. That’s 62 kids in “This thing just grows and grows. It seems
kids what we have in our beautiful country. “We throw in anti-bullying messages, sharing
the road messages, how to be good friends postcard or send a photo of the mascots; while at
all. While on the road, he’ll drop the classes a like every couple of months, I can think of a new
It’s also to show the necessity of the trucking
lesson for them about something,” he continued.
industry in everybody’s life,” he said. “We to their classmates. We’re doing all of that and home, he’ll pay the students an in-person visit.
promote a positive image and show them that making it all fun,” he said.
“You know, a lot of kids never leave their
In fact, the stories have become elaborate
(truckers are) normal people, just like their McNamee, who drives for Carbon Express, hometown. Some kids never go coast to coast. enough to qualify as their own daytime dramas.
McNamee staged a wedding for Seatbelt
moms and dads. We just don’t get to come has been assigned to various classrooms during
his time in the Trucker Buddy program. see New York City. So, we share that with them
See MaScotS on p24
They’ll never see the Rocky Mountains; never
home every day.” m
Courtesy: Bi l McNamee
Bill McNamee uses a collection of stuffed animals with elaborate backstories as a strategy for engaging schoolchildren through the Trucker
Buddy Program. His “menagerie” includes Seatbelt Sam and a mouse named Mario Provolone, among others.
Courtesy: Trucking Moves America Forward
Left: Rachel Lewis, who organized the Apex Capital office gift drive, is pictured with
some of the gifts donated by employees. Right: CRST partnered with Central Furniture
Rescue to help deliver furniture donations to the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, area after
a straight-line wind storm devastated the community. Kendal George, left, and Chris
Landwehr picked up the donated furniture.
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON — Trucking Moves America
Forward (TMAF), an industry-wide education and
image movement, shared stories of the unique ways
that the trucking industry has continued to give
back to their communities over the holiday season.
Trucking companies and organizations submitted
their stories of charitable works to TMAF after a
call for submissions through email and social media.
“During one of the most difficult years in our nation’s
history, the trucking industry not only stepped
up to deliver the essential goods we have relied on
throughout the pandemic; but also gave back to their
community through charitable acts and giving,” said
Kevin Burch, co-chairman of TMAF and president
of Jet Express Inc. “Trucking companies and organizations
of all sizes and from states across the
country stepped up once again year to help make
the holidays a little brighter for those in need. From
donating food, toys and transportation, to delivering
food, medicine and supplies on the frontlines of the
pandemic, trucking has helped keep our communities
strong all year.”
The following are a few of the trucking companies
and organizations that gave back to their communities
during the 2020 holiday season.
Advantage Truck Group (ATG), based in
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, hosted its annual Haulin’
4 Hunger initiative to provide meals to those in
need. With an increased need for food assistance because
of the COVID-19 pandemic, ATG increased
its efforts this year and provided 6,000 meals and
support to 12 local food pantries.
Employees of Fort Worth, Texas-based Apex
Capital hosted a Virtual Walk for Breast Cancer
Charitable works: Organizations continue to give back during year of unprecedented challenges
‘No greater honor’: Truckers play vital role in
distribution of long-awaited COVID-19 vaccines
Linda Garner-Bunch
For most of the world’s population, 2020
brought never-before-seen challenges, beginning
with a global pandemic caused by a new
coronavirus first discovered in China in late
2019. As 2020 came to a close, the number of
COVID-19 cases — along with deaths related to
the disease — continued to climb.
The year also brought the trucking industry
into the international spotlight, as professional
drivers put in countless hours on the road, working
to provide hospitals and pharmacies with
medical supplies, and grocery stores stocked
with essentials (who could ever forget the great
toilet-paper shortage?).
For most truck drivers, those hours spent on
the road were “all in a day’s work.” Many were
surprised when they were greeted with cheers
as they made their deliveries. As the year progressed,
some of that appreciation faded — but
drivers continued to work behind the scenes,
making sure vital supplies, as well as little luxuries,
reached their destinations in a safe and
timely manner.
On Sunday, Dec. 13, truck drivers and other
members of the transportation industry once
again found themselves in the spotlight as the
first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine approved
for emergency use in the U.S. by the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) departed Pfizer’s
Portage, Michigan, facility. The day was the
lindag@thetruckermedia.com
history, an effort that health officials are encouraging
the public to embrace, even as many
people expressed skepticism or worry about the
Vol. 34, No. 1 | JaNuary 1-14, 2021 | www.thetrucker.com
A truck loaded with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine leaves the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo
manufacturing plant in Portage, Michigan on Dec. 13, 2020. In addition to FedEx and UPS,
Massachusetts-based Boyle Transportation was part of the Dec. 13 vaccine rollout, with two teams of
drivers participating in the first convoy to leave Pfizer’s Michigan facility.
AP Photo/Morry Gash
a new milestone of 300,000 with those numbers
expected to skyrocket during the following weeks.
See GivinG on p25 m
drug’s safety and effectiveness.
start of the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. See VaccineS on p10 m
As the first of many freezer-packed COVID-19
vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites
that day, the nation’s pandemic deaths approached
Because Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at an
extremely low temperature — about minus 94
degrees Fahrenheit — quick transport is vital to
the success of the immunization effort. On the
Buttigieg officially announced as Biden’s
Courtesy: Bi l McNamee
A true zoo story
Bill McNamee uses a
“menagerie” of stuffed animals
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
nomination for secretary of transportation
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden
post, was virtually unknown nationally when
on Dec. 15 formally announced Pete Buttigieg as
his pick for the secretary of transportation. Buttigieg,
38, served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana,
from 2012 to 2020.
he launched a longshot bid for president, but he
became a formidable political force in the early
primary states, finishing well ahead of Biden in
Kevin Lamarque via AP
During a Dec. 16 event in Delaware, Biden introduced
Buttigieg, hailing him as “a new voice with
new ideas determined to move past old politics.”
Iowa and New Hampshire. Buttigieg eventually
endorsed Biden’s presidential bid.
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg,
President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to
Page 23
be transportation secretary reacts to his nomination
during a news conference at The Queen
“We need someone who knows how to work
with state, local and federal agencies,” Biden said,
Beyond standard transportation fixes, which are
easier to promise than for administrations to get
theater in Wilmington, Delaware, Dec. 16, 2020.
noting that the nation’s highways are in disrepair
through Congress, Biden says he wants to rejuvenate
and that some bridges “are on the verge of collapse.”
Buttigieg, who would be the first openly gay
the post-coronavirus pandemic economy and create
thousands of green jobs by making environmentally
friendly retrofits and public works improvements.
person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet
“At its best, transportation makes the American
dream possible, getting people and goods to