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TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2024.09.07

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2024.09.07 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending September 7, 2024, written by Vicki Simons.

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

TDMST Weekly Round-Up

1. Regarding bridges, NTDAW, and protests:

Bridges

Most of the articles in this section have to do with the Michigan Department of Transportation easing restrictions regarding hazardous materials crossing the Ambassador Bridge.

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While I’m sure that some people find this a move in the right direction, I would hate to think that something like what happened to the Francis Scott Key bridge would happen to this one.

According to Wikipedia:

The Ambassador Bridge is an international suspension bridge across the Detroit River that connects Detroit, Michigan, United States, with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1929, the toll bridge is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume, carrying more than 25% of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada by value. A 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the Detroit–Windsor region and US$13 billion in annual production depend on the Detroit–Windsor international border crossing.

Please be on your guard.

NTDAW

In the USA, National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW) is coming up on September 15-21, 2024.

I have stated many times that we should appreciate truckers and the hard work they do all year long!

Still, you may want to look for special offers and discounts, and freebies associated with this designated holiday.

Protests

As I’ve written on this site at least twice before:

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Please be aware of the Hobbs Act:

18 U.S. Code § 1951 – Interference with commerce by threats or violence

(a)Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

While this is a matter for attorneys and judges to decide, in my opinion, any action by people on a road that “shuts down” or “completely stops” commerce is a violation of federal law and the perpetrators need to be held responsible for their actions.

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2. Regarding autonomous vehicles, battery – electric, electric vehicles, emissions, fuel, fuel card, fuel efficiency, hydrogen, and oil:

Autonomous vehicles

I 100% opposed to the operation of autonomous, self-driving, or driverless commercial motor vehicles on the same roads as the motoring public — but I share articles on this topic with our readers to help us stay current on the topic.

Battery – electric

Electric vehicles

Before you buy an all-electric Commercial Motor Vehicle, please do your due diligence by asking some questions and getting answers.

Emissions

Fuel

Fuel card

If you use a fuel card and it saves you money consistently over time, please contact me for an interview.

Fuel efficiency

Hydrogen

Oil

3. Regarding economy, insurance, pay, rates, and tolls:

Economy

Insurance

Pay

Do you believe the articles about truck driver pay increasing?

Is it happening to you?

Please share through the form below. Thanks.

Rates

Tolls

4. Regarding contraband, drugs, fatalities, fraud, smuggling, theft, vandalism, and violence:

Contraband

Drugs

Never ever haul or take illegal drugs.

Fatalities

I express my deep sympathy — and offer my condolences — to the families of those whose loved ones died in these crashes.

Can you learn anything from the articles below that would help prevent being involved in a fatal large truck crash?

Fraud

Never attempt to deceive, misrepresent something, intentionally pervert the truth, or pretend to be someone else for the purpose of trying to get something valuable.

Smuggling

Never ever transport people made in the image of God as if they were cattle or cargo — no matter how large of an incentive you’ve been offered.

Theft

Never take something that doesn’t belong to you, unless you have permission.

In our day, there are many types of surveillance cameras, so be on guard!

Vandalism

It is never right to damage or destroy the property of someone else without his/her/their permission.

This “Ice Pick Bandit” must be caught and brought to justice.

Violence

It is never right to perpetrate violence upon someone in an unprovoked manner.

All perpetrators of violence must be dealt with in a just legal manner.

5. Regarding fire, hitchhiking, jumping, operations, and parking:

Fire

Please make sure that the fire extinguisher that should be in your truck is there and fully charged and ready to use.

Hitchhiking

Please see the article on this site:

Hitchhikers On Trucks; How Can Hitchhiking Be Stopped?

Jumping

How can this kind of thing be stopped?

I express my condolences to the family of the boy who jumped and died.

Operations

Every trucker needs training in how to properly use one’s truck brakes and to control his/her truck’s descent down mountain grades.

Please see the article on this site:

Hot Brakes or Worse: Improperly Driving Downhill in a Big Truck

Parking

6. Regarding ELDs, inspections, safety, and violations:

ELDs

Inspections

If you keep yourself and your rig in perpetual readiness for an inspection, you’ll never be caught off-guard.

Safety

Violations

In response to this situation, I wrote the following on Facebook on September 3, 2024:

This situation occurred in Canada.
This is the first article I’ve ever seen where drivers were ticketed for filming a rollover crash scene while driving.
Here in the U.S., we know that truckers aren’t supposed to have cell phones in-hand while driving.
Hands-free phone laws and laws against distracted driving most likely vary from place to place.
Please operate your vehicle safely. 🙂

Someone posted this response to my comment:

Canada has the same hands free laws as the US. And it also has the same careless drivers as the US.

7. Regarding leasing, legal, politics, and weight:

Leasing

There are numerous mentions regarding truck leasing on this site.

One article is entitled:

Commercial Truck Leasing: Beware of Designed-to-Fail Schemes

Legal

Politics

Weight

8. Regarding crashes: general, health, looting, raised bed, and struck:

Crashes: general

Please look through these articles to see if there is anything you can learn to help you prevent being involved in a similar crash.

Crashes: health

Unfortunately, this article does not say what may have led up to the trucker having a seizure, so there’s no way to know if forcing him to retire from trucking was a good move or not.

Crashes: looting

This is sad and the thieves need to be caught and punished, in my opinion.

Crashes: operations

Obviously, the trucker forgot to lower his trailer’s bed before starting to drive.

There has to be a way to prevent this from happening in the future, such as a warning light and sound that the truck bed is up and that it must be lowered before getting up to a certain speed.

Crashes: struck

Please be attentive to pedestrians around your rig.

9. Regarding employment, retention, shut down, and technology:

Employment

Retention

Shut down

This is another one of those “suddenly” shuts down type situations.

If the trucking company did not follow the law regarding this matter, truckers may be entitled to some kind of compensation.

Technology

10. Regarding infrastructure, roads, and weather:

Infrastructure

Roads

Weather

11. Regarding business, maintenance, ports, and Red Seal:

Business

Maintenance

Ports

Red seal

I added this term to the glossary on this site.

12. Regarding awards: championship, driver of the year, milestone, recognition, and Road Warrior:

Awards: championship

Congratulations to all truckers who took part in the competition and to the trucker who won!

Awards: driver of the year

According to the article just below:

Kirt McDougall of Bison Transport has been named the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) and Volvo Trucks Canada’s National Driver of the Year. The award recognizes McDougall’s outstanding contributions to the trucking industry.

Congratulations!

Awards: milestone

I recognize and applaud the achievement of John Moeller, Roehl Transport’s 45-year, 6-million mile safe driving achievement!

Awards: recognition

Thanks to all those who help their fellow human being in a time of need!

Awards: Road Warrior

According to the first article in this section:

…Pilot is kicking off its annual Road Warrior contest with a $25,000 grand prize. The Road Warrior contest recognizes the individuals who weather the storms, long hours, and tight schedules, day in and day out to keep North America moving.

If you feel compelled to participate, go for it!

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









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