TDMST Weekly Round-Up: 2022.05.07

This is the TDMST Weekly Round-Up of news affecting professional truck drivers, written by Vicki Simons for the week ending May 21, 2022.

We welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback on the items of your choice below.

TDMST Weekly Round-Up

1. Regarding limiters, weather, accidents, fatalities, and lawsuit:

Limiters

If you feel that putting speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles is a bad idea, then please write and submit your comments here (noting that there are helpful tips in the Commenter’s Checklist).

Weather

My husband Mike and I have seen it snow in the middle of the summer — in August — in Wyoming, so please understand that foul weather can occur at any time.

Plan ahead and stay safe.

Heavy snow in late May?

Accidents

Tractor-trailer’s failure to stop for construction led to chain-reaction crash, troopers sayQuote: “The tractor-trailer driver, 34, of Flint, Michigan, was cited for a violation of basic speed law and failure to stop within an assure cleared distance.”Remember the total stopping distance you need to bring your truck to a stop and Maintain a Safe Following Distance Behind Other Vehicles.
Blind spot: WATCH: Convertible learns why you don’t just chill on the passenger side of a truckThis accident was totally preventable — by the truck driver!Thanks to all of the professional truck drivers who answered my question in a Facebook group upon my inquiry.
I wanted to know the name of the little mirror that is installed above the passenger window on some tractors to enable a trucker to see what is on the right side of the truck.

Different names for the mirror were provided, but the most common was a “spot mirror” or a “blind spot mirror.”

While a good convex mirror installed on the right side of a tractor’s hood can help a trucker see if one or more vehicles are on the trucker’s right side, the little “blind spot mirror” can prove very helpful (except, perhaps, for narrow tractors).

Pay attention to the traffic around you at all times!
Low clearance: Kansas City police share video of the moment that a notorious bridge defeated a garbage truckThis is another preventable accident: a low clearance accident.If the garbage truck was 13’6″ high, there’s no way it would have fit under a 12’0″ high bridge!
Even garbage truck drivers need to be aware of the height of their trucks!
Oversize: Unknown when WA bridge struck by oversize load will reopenHere we go again!Another oversized load hits another bridge in the northwest.
The article does not provide the dimensions of the rig.

However, this situation makes me wonder if the people in the DOT offices in Washington and Oregon know what they’re doing regarding permitting.
Side swipe: Massive debris field’ following double semi wreck closes highway overnightQuote: “…a semi truck was traveling on I-94 near mile marker 45 when it experienced mechanical issues and pulled off onto the shoulder of the highway. As the trucker was outside of his cab investigating the issue, a second semi truck clipped the rear of the trailer as it passed, ripping open both truck’s trailers and leaving a large trail of debris across the westbound lanes.”Please pay attention to your lane control and don’t let your truck wander.

Fatalities

The first article linked below states:

“According to the preliminary report released by NHTSA on May 17, overall traffic fatalities reached a 16 year high in 2021, with 42,915 people killed in crashes”;
“This marks a 10.5% increase from the 38,824 traffic fatalities in 2020”;
“The NHTSA also reported that fatalities in crashes involving at least one large truck increased 13% in 2021, as compared to 2020. The NHTSA data only noted that a large truck was involved in a fatal crash and did not assign fault to either the commercial vehicle driver or passenger vehicle driver in these crashes.”

To me, at least two things are obvious:

If “overall traffic fatalities” — not just truck crashes — are at a 16-year high, then other vehicle drivers are at least partially to blame for these; and
The “interventions” that the federal government insists on making to impose heavy Hours of Service regulations on truckers — in the name of safety — appear to be moving in the wrong direction.

Do you agree or disagree?

Please comment below.

Lawsuit

Both of these articles refer to the same accident that was load securement-related.

If you have not been trained on how to secure your load — or if you need a refresher — please get that training now.

2. Regarding fuel, autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, and emissions:

Fuel

To give you a feel for the fuel situation in the USA, the titles of selected articles include:

“Gas Tops $4 a Gallon in Every State for the First Time”; and
“Diesel rationing could hit East Coast this summer, refinery owner says”
“Drivers warn that “a lot of these trucks are not going to be here anymore” if the cost diesel doesn’t change”

You may wish to consult with your trucking company regarding fuel availability to keep you loaded and rolling.

Autonomous vehicles

I totally disagree with the idea of self-driving, driverless, or autonomous commercial motor vehicles sharing the roads with the motoring public.

However, I share these articles with you as a courtesy to help keep you informed on the topic.

Electric vehicles

Emissions

3. Regarding inspections and insurance:

Inspections

If you keep yourself and your rig in “inspection-ready” condition, you’ll never be caught off-guard during an inspection.

Insurance

Liability insurance increase held back by lack of insurance data

4. Regarding maintenance, measured, supply chain, and trade:

Maintenance

Tips to inspect and maintain truck wheels

Measured

What gets measured gets managed

Supply chain

Trade

5. Regarding drugs, violation, violence, and fraud:

Drugs

Never ever haul illegal drugs, no matter how large of an incentive you’re offered!

Violation

Always assume that a DOT officer is looking over your shoulder all the time and you’ll never be surprised.

Overloaded trucker told Georgia cops that he didn’t think anyone ‘would be around to stop him’

Violence

If at all possible, protect yourself on the road.

Fraud

Some offers seem too good to be true.

Practice discernment.

Man accused of using gift card scheme to sell fuel to truckers at half price in exchange for cash

6. Regarding employment, shut down, pay, and savings:

Employment

Shut down

Pay

We do not endorse any of the companies listed in this section.

‘Better pay — and?’ Money isn’t everything to high-quality driversSubtitle: “Know what your drivers want better than the recruiters luring them away”
Crete Carrier and Shaffer Trucking boost pay for owner-operators
Why truck driver overtime matters to the last mile
Wisconsin’s Osborn & Son Trucking raises driver pay by12%

Savings

Starting a workplace savings plan for your trucking companyQuote: “A recent poll conducted by CCJ sister publication Overdrive found that most drivers have no retirement savings, and only 14% of drivers polled listed retirement savings as a top priority for them. With so little saved, these drivers will not be able to retire.”Are you looking for a second income as a trucker?

7. Regarding economy, inflation, bankruptcy, and seizure:

Prepare yourself as best you can for some hard times to come.

Economy

Inflation

Bankruptcy

USPS trucking contractor Matheson files for bankruptcy

Seizure

8. Regarding technology, operations, events, issues, and truckers:

Technology

Operations

Events

Issues

Truckers

9. Regarding last mile and parking:

Last mile

Parking

10. Regarding FMCSA, and baby formula:

FMCSA

Two thoughts about this turn of events:

It seems apparent that the federal governments wants to keep the hype over COVID-19 going — long after the most of the impact has worn thin on many Americans; and
If the FMCSA can trust those truckers who haul “special” loads, why can’t they trust all truckers?