This is the TDMST Weekly Round-Up of news affecting professional truck drivers, written by Vicki Simons for the week ending October 24, 2020.
We welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback on the items of your choice below.
1. Regarding Distracted Driving Awareness Month:
Lytx recently sent an email in which they stated, “October is… the National Safety Council’s official distracted awareness month. This issue impacts everyone on the road, so we put together a plethora of resources to help you tackle this issue.”
- Empowering Drivers to Reduce Distracted Driving
- Reduce Distracted Driving: 5 Tips for a Safer Fleet
- Distracted Driving Awareness Month
- Distracted Driving in 4 Dash Cam Videos
- Distracted Driving Statistics and Tips: Infographic (PDF)
- What is distracted driving?
- Distracted Driving Resources
Speaking of distracted driving, we learned how Police [ticketed] 32 drivers for using phones to record fatal 3 semi truck crash
2. Regarding CARB’s warnings and fines:
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been cracking down:
- CARB issues warning to vehicle, engine manufacturers about hiding ‘defeat devices’ affecting emissions
- EPA orders 3 trucking companies to pay more than $400,000 for violating CARB’s pollution regulations
- EPA settles with three trucking companies for violating California trucking emissions laws
- Trucking companies fined for violating CARB’s Truck and Bus Regulation
3. Regarding low clearance accidents, illegal actions, and staged crashes:
Low clearance accidents
Always, always, always engage your brain and don’t rely on technology — especially technology that is not designed for big rigs — when you’re driving a big truck!
- Infamous bridge strikes again for poor ‘lost’ driverQuote:”A semi truck struck the 11 foot 6 inch railroad bridge on Young Street in Tonawanda, New York at around 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, October 20th, making it somewhere around the 60th time the bridge has been struck since 2000, reported WYRK News. “
- Semi truck strikes bridge after driver “ignored the signs,” police sayQuote:”29-year-old truck driver Thomas Bayavuge told police that he had been following GPS directions and ignored the signs with flashing lights warning of the low clearance. …
“This incident comes just two weeks after a box truck struck the same bridge while also following GPS instructions.”
Illegal actions
- Police make surprising discovery when investigating ‘abandoned’ truck
- Semi truck stowaway caught on camera
- Florida troopers DO have marked semis and they ABSOLUTELY use them for traffic enforcement
- New Jersey town plans to ban Jake Brakes, proposes fines and jail time for violators
Staged crashes
- CCJ Daily Dispatch, Oct. 21: More charged in Louisiana staged-accident fraud scheme
- Four more charged in New Orleans staged crash fraud conspiracy
- Four who settled for $4.7 MILLION now indicted in New Orleans semi crash scheme
- More individuals charged in staged-accident fraud scheme
4. Regarding autonomous vehicles:
To keep you informed, here’s the most recent news about autonomous vehicles:
- Driverless middle-mile deliveries could begin by next summer (with video)
- I, Robot: Agility Robotics raises $20M for bipedal automation
- Tesla ‘full self-driving’ vehicles can’t drive themselves
- Testing planned for ‘next-generation’ Freightliner Cascadia equipped with Level 4 self-driving tech
- Waymo: Lessons from Light-Duty Shaping Class 8 Autonomous Project
5. Regarding Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse content and disputes:
What information is included in the FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse?
If you find inaccurate information, how can you dispute it?
- Driver records: What information is reported to the Clearinghouse and how you can dispute inaccuracies
- How To: Request Violation Removal from Clearinghouse
Also, check out this article:
What medications can cost you your CDL?
6. Regarding economy:
Here are some of the most recent articles about the economy from the perspective of the trucking industry:
- ATA Truck Tonnage Increases in September, Down Year over Year
- ATA truck tonnage index rebounds 6.7% from August to September, still lags behind 2019 figures
- Canadian trucking CEO: Many companies want to sell
- Commentary: Think 2020 is weird so far? Buckle up for Q4
- Demand for commercial vehicles ‘not on the worry list,’ ACT says
- DOT spending $220 million to speed cargo at 18 ports
- Drilling Deep: Trucking capacity, the pandemic and holiday season
- Truck arrivals up 2% during Oct. 12-18
7. Regarding electric trucks, fuel, technology:
Electric trucks
- Everything to Know About the Electric 2022 GMC Hummer Pickup Truck
- Grants to Help Deploy 70 All-Electric Volvo Trucks
- Plan electric vehicle infrastructure early
- Volvo awarded $21.7 million to launch nation’s largest deployment of zero-emission electric Class 8 trucks
- Volvo gets $21.7 million in grants for 70 electric Class 8 trucks
Fuel
- Diesel fuel additives for winterizing truck fueling systems
- Diesel inventories have done something in the US not seen in at least 30 years
- Diesel price dips a penny on average, EIA reports
- Hydrogen: Truly Green Power
- Hyliion finds partner to build natural gas fueling stations
- RNG: The Energy Source No One’s Talking About
- Why 2020’s Low Oil Prices Won’t Last Forever
Technology
- Maintenance KPIs help reign in equipment costs
- Georgia police using laser technology to nab tailgating truckers
- Telematics Data Could Help Businesses Grow
- The Daily Dash: OOIDA backs HOS changes; peak season opportunity for regional carriers
8. Regarding inspections and insurance:
- Commercial truck inspection myths
- Hard truck insurance market leads to search for creative solutions
9. Regarding money and politics:
- Carriers reviewing training records due to nuclear verdicts
- DAT: Spot truckload rates plateau as demand slows down
- Spot rates offer opportunities despite truckload demand edging down
- Localized capacity constraints create spot market ripple effects
- Oversight commission still waiting on Pentagon’s explanation of YRC loan
- The 5 Most Common Cash Flow Errors in Trucking Management
- Steer Clear’ law revisions in Pennsylvania continue to advance
10. Regarding protests and violence:
Protests
Should passengers be on roads where they are prohibited? NO!
I posted this on Facebook on October 22:
Aren’t there signs along that interstate prohibiting pedestrians?
The image linked here is from Wikipedia and the file name is Freeway Entrance Sign Minnesota.
Yet, one trucker is facing charges for driving into gathered protesters who were on an interstate highway in Minneapolis, Minnesota!
- CCJ Daily Dispatch, Oct. 23: Trucker faces felony, misdemeanor charges for driving into crowd of protesters
- Mexican truckers set to block Texas bridge Saturday
- Mike Landis, C.J. Karman on Mayday protests’ ripple effects
- News Alert: Investigators charge trucker who drove through protesters on I-35
- Tanker driver who drove into crowd of Minneapolis protesters in May faces felony, gross misdemeanor charges
- Truck Driver in Minnesota Protest Incident Charged Months Later
- Trucker who accidentally drove into protest now facing criminal charges
- Trucker who drove into crowd of protesters in Minnesota now facing charges
- Trucker Who Drove Into Massive Protest Along I-35 Bridge Charged With Multiple Crimes
- Trucker who drove into protesters on I-35W charged with felony threat
Oh, Father, God, please vindicate this trucker, I pray!
Violence
Please do everything you can to protect yourself and your truck from violence.
- Truck driver badly beaten in road rage incident
- Truck driver dead at the scene after driving through Arizona visitor center
- Truck driver injured by rock thrown from PA overpass, second truck targeted in a week
11. Regarding operations, safety, theft, tires and tolls:
Operations
- Here’s a chilling inside-look at the realities of trucking
- Michigan DOT reminds drivers to ‘know their load,’ keep it secured
- Who’s stealing your cargo? – WHAT THE TRUCK?!? (with video)
Tires
- NACFE issues updated Confidence Report on effectiveness of low rolling resistance tires
- NACFE Updates Low-Rolling-Resistance Tire Reports
Tolls
12. Regarding travel and weather!
Please be careful everywhere and every time you drive.
Pay attention to weather forecasts and road conditions.
If you need to do so, park safely and legally until conditions improve.
Remember: No load is worth your life!
My husband Mike and I wish you — and all professional truck drivers — safe travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.
Return from TDMST Weekly Round-Up: 2020.10.24 to our TDMST Weekly Round-Up Trucking Commentary or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.
