TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2022.12.24

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2022.12.24 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending December 24, 2022, written by Vicki Simons.

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

Mike and I wish you and your home support team a blessed Christmas!

TDMST Weekly Round-Up

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1. Regarding weather, travel bans, roads, chains, holidays, and HOS:

Weather

Regarding bad winter weather, please reference these pages on our site:

Meanwhile, here are some of the most recent weather-related articles from trucking websites:

Travel bans

In some cases, it is not the trucker’s call to park until weather conditions improve… it is the call of various states or those who control the roads (such as toll roads).

Roads

Please note which roads will be closed, for how long, and which detours may reasonably be taken.

Chains

Holidays

HOS

While some truckers will be parking due to bad winter weather, others will be rolling to an even greater degree for various reasons (including “emergencies”).

If you are called upon or allowed to drive beyond the federal Hours of Service regulation’s time frame, please stay safe and don’t overextend yourself.

2. Regarding accidents, near miss, fatalities, alcohol, and violations:

Accidents

Please familiarize yourself with the content of these articles so that you can keep from being involved in the same kind of set-up for an accident.

Near miss

Be aware that some motorists take excessive amounts of risk — and truckers can do nothing to control that.

Fatalities

Mike and I extend our deepest sympathies to the families of those who passed away.

Alcohol

Violations

These kinds of violations should be obvious…

3. Regarding fuel, fuel economy, and emissions:

Fuel

Fuel economy

This is the kind of headline that makes one read it again, just to make sure that one understood it…

Emissions

4. Regarding autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, and sustainability:

Autonomous vehicles

I totally disagree with the operation of autonomous, self-driving, or driverless commercial motor vehicles on the same roads as the motoring public.

However, I share these articles to help you stay current on the topic.

Electric vehicles

Sustainability

The most basic definition of “sustainability” is “the ability to be sustained”.

One definition of “sustain” is “To keep in existence; maintain, continue, or prolong.”

On December 13, 2022, I presented a speech to the Aiken County (SC) Council, during which I addressed part of the situation having to do with “sustainable development.”

Part of my speech included the following:

At the 1992 Earth Summit, the UN unveiled its comprehensive plan for “sustainable development” known as Agenda 21, which stands for agenda for the 21st century and was renamed Agenda 2030.

UN bureaucrats and all world leaders who signed on to it, agree that the UN must regulate every aspect of every person’s life on this planet because — they say — every one of us affects the entire planet. (4)

In a 1987 report, the concept of sustainable development was described as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Touted as a solution to everything from poverty to global warming, the 2030 Agenda is nothing more than a scheme to empower a global governing body and severely curtail the individual liberties of all citizens to live our own lives and run our own communities through our elected officials. (5)

Following the objective of “sustainable development,” the proposed global regime would monitor, oversee, and strictly regulate all land, all bodies of water, and the atmosphere of planet Earth and would cover every person on the planet with global programs for healthcare, nutrition, agriculture, education, labor, energy, production, consumption — in short, everything. (6)

Please bear in mind that in order for someone to “buy into” a “new” thing that is supposedly going to help us keep our way of life “sustainable,” we must first become convinced in our minds that the “old” thing that we’ve been doing is not going to let us continue.

Honest question: Who is to say that the “old” thing that we’ve been doing won’t let us continue?

Please see the section named “Oil” in my December 10, 2022, TDMST Weekly Round-Up for more thoughts on this.

Meanwhile, here are a few articles on this topic:

5. Regarding annual review and predictions:

Annual review

I’m confident that as 2022 winds to a close, I’ll be seeing more articles like these:

Predictions

6. Regarding LTL, maintenance, operations, and breakdown:

LTL

Maintenance

Operations

Breakdown

7. Regarding economy, fees, and tolls:

Economy

These are some of the articles regarding the economy, from the trucking industry’s perspective:

Fees

Tolls

8. Regarding tires, retreads, and recalls:

Tires

Retreads

You may wish to read the info on this page of our site:

Retread Tires for Big Trucks: Cost Savings and Other Tips.

Recalls

9. Regarding ELDs, California, TuSimple, and politics:

ELDs

If you drive professionally in Canada, please note these things.

California

I have always opposed AB5 and believe that it:

Meanwhile, here is the most recent article on this topic:

TuSimple

Remember that TuSimple is a company dedicated to autonomous, driverless, or self-driving commercial motor vehicles.

While some may say that other jobs will take up where the displaced truckers once were, these articles indicate that that scenario may not be as rosy as it sounds.

Politics

Containing thousands of pages that I’m confident none of our U.S. Senators read in full, this bill is unconstitutional if it contains anything outside the scope of The Constitution of the United States:

10. Regarding inspections, technology, and testing:

Inspections

Technology

Testing

11. Regarding theft, tipping, buying and selling, and border:

Theft

Please remember to do your best to thwart theft ahead of time.

Tipping

Buying and selling

Border

12. Regarding recognition and awards:

Recognition

We recognize and applaud those who helped their fellow human beings in a time of need.

Awards

For the sake of transparency — and according to the first article in the list just below — “The Transition Trucking program recognizes military veterans who are new to the trucking industry.”

The following articles specify “fleets” for safety, but we all know that it is the professional truck drivers in the “fleet” who deserve the credit:

Kudos, y’all!

My husband Mike and I wish you — and all professional truck drivers — safe travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.






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