RVP Gas

As Florida gas prices continue to decline, discussion on radio talk shows point to the fact that prices should continue to fall as the State moves from the 7.8 Summer blend, back to the traditional 9.0 blend. What many never realized however, is that the Summer blend was not used this year within the State.
Summer-grade versus Winter-grade Fuel

Between the period of June 1 and September 15, the EPA regulates gasoline volatility through the VOC reduction season. Certain counties within the State were required to use the 7.8 RVP (Reid Vapor Pressure) gas blend. In Florida, these counties were: Broward, Dale, Duval, Hillsborough, Palm Beach and Pinella. The counties in North Carolina included the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill and Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point areas.

2014 was the first year that Florida remained with the 9.0 blend through the Summer season, eliminating the usage of the formerly required 7.8 blend. Florida, as well as North Carolina, will no longer be mandated to use the 7.8 RVP blend during the Summer season.

The decision comes from a document signed by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on March 19, 2014 detailing the action, submitting the document for publication in the Federal Register. However, the rule went into effect without any further notice since the agency received no adverse comments within 30 days of the Federal Register publication.

The original proposal to the EPA by The Florida Department of Environmental Protection was submitted as a request for a “Uniform Statewide Reid Vapor Pressure Standard” which many believe could lead the way for other States to request the same standard.

© 2014, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: 7.8, 7.8 rvp, 9.0, 9.0 rvp, epa, florida, gas, gas blend, north carolina, summer blend, Uniform Statewide Reid Vapor Pressure Standard

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Special broadcast planned for Thursday 8-21-14 6PM ET ( 5PM Dallas Time)

Special Guests “LIVE” from the Great American Trucking Show

Great American Trucking Show

For all of us who wanted to be at GATS but just couldn’t make it!

There are some pretty alluring people and events at the Great American Trucking Show this year and we have a few folks calling into Truth About Trucking ‘Live’ on Thursday night to share it all with us.

Some of our callers will include: Singer Songwriters Tony Justice, Lindsay Lawler and Brad James;
Kylla Leeburg of Truckers Against Trafficking, Christina Schnese of Make It Happen USA, Emily Weymouth, winner of OverDrive’s 2014 Most Beautiful, The HTAA to discuss the launch of their Hepatitis C Campaign, Trucking Solutions Group’s yearly Blood Drive, Tom Kyrk of Road Tested Living, James Lamb to discuss SBTC’s launch to unite the trucking community,  Team Run Smart’s Henry Albert and Jimmy Nevarez, sneak previews from vendors about their latest and greatest, and whoever else gets pulled in.

Truth About Trucking “Live” on Blog Talk Radio

 SHOW LINK
Join us Thursday 8-21-14 6PM ET ( 5PM “GATS” Time )

© 2014, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: blog talk radio, brad james, Christina Schnese, Emily Weymouth, GATS. Great American Trucking Show, HTAA, James Lamb, kylla leeburg, Lindsay Lawler, Team Run Smart, Tom Kyrk, tony justice, truth about trucking live

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Truck Parking Shortage

There has been once again a growing concern regarding the dangers of Truck Parking Shortages throughout the nation. The recent murder of Michael Boeglin, a trucker parked outside of  shipper ThyssenKrupp’s property, waiting to be loaded, has created many folks from all sides of the industry to take a stand and speak up regarding the risks associated from the lack of truck parking. These risks include dangers to professional drivers as well as the motoring public.

The SBTC met with FMCSA & FHWA in Washington, DC on the Safe Truck Parking Issue on Thursday August 14th. SBTC called for Industry-Government Partnerships to identify, solve and reconcile industry and public safety problems and the creation of a Special Dual-Agency Safe Truck Parking Task Force.

A letter was  presented during the meeting from James Lamb of SBTC

August 14, 2014
Mr. Larry Minor, Associate Administrator for Policy
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590

Dear Mr. Minor:

On behalf of the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (“SBTC”), I would like to thank you for the opportunity to meet with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) and Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA”) to discuss what we believe might be a role for FMCSA with respect to Jason’s Law (Sec. 1401 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act “MAP-21”) and the Safe Truck Parking issue.

By way of background, SBTC is a network of transportation professionals, associations, and industry suppliers that is on the front lines when it comes to issues that affect transportation professionals in small business. We seek to promote and protect the interests of small businesses in the transportation industry. We support teamwork, cooperation, transparency, and partnerships among truckers, carriers, brokers, and shippers and seek to promote ethical business practices and the utmost integrity. SBTC is a non-profit Florida corporation established as a 501(c)6 business league. SBTC offers this packet to the Agency and FHWA in the interest of stimulating our discussions on this issue and formalizing an industry-government partnership in this and other areas grounded in identifying, solving and reconciling industry and public safety problems.

During the course of researching this issue, we learned that in 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”) issued a report (Appendix A) entitled: “Highway Special Investigation Report: Truck Parking Areas.” On page 23 of this report, NTSB stated:

“The Safety Board believes that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), in cooperation with the FHWA, ATA, OOIDA, National Private Truck Council (NPTC), and NATSO, should create a comprehensive guide, available both on paper and in electronic format, for all truckdrivers to use that will inform drivers about the locations of all parking areas (both private and public) and the space availability. The FMCSA should also develop a plan for its distribution and maintenance. In addition, the ATA, OOIDA, and NPTC should distribute the guide to their members and urge them to use it to direct drivers to the nearest parking areas.

 Fourteen years later, we agree.

SBTC believes that such a guide should be developed to incorporate and address two ideas: (1) best practices with respect to drivers choosing safe places to park and (2) NTSB’s recommendation to help drivers identify the locations of all safe parking areas (both private and public) and the space availability.

In the interest of developing such a guide, we recommend the creation of a dual agency task force, comprised of interested parties and safety advocates, industry and government leaders. Among the interested parties FMCSA & FHWA might choose from are:

Hope Rivenburg, driver safety advocate and widow of trucker murder victim Jason Rivenburg, for whom Jason’s Law is named.

Ashley Boeglin, widow of Michael Boeglin recent trucker murder victim, who has already begun advocating for other drivers’ safety in the aftermath of her loss.

David Clark, father-in-law of Michael Boeglin, who has also started advocating for other drivers’ safety.

Desiree Wood of the 501(c)6 group Real Women in Trucking, women trucking advocate, whose group issued the 2013 “Truck Parking Special Report” (attached hereto as Appendix B), which reports results of a driver survey and was previously filed with Tom Kearney of FHWA.

Allen and/or Donna Smith of Truth About Trucking, who, along with the help of Warcaba & Associates, Ms. Rivenburg and others, were instrumental in creating the survey referenced above.

We also make reference here to FWHA’s 2002 “Study of Adequacy of Commercial Truck Parking Facilities — Technical Report and attach it hereto as Appendix C.

On page 2 of this report, FHWA stated:

“The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has tentatively estimated that driver fatigue is a primary factor in 4.5 percent of truck-involved fatal crashes and is a secondary factor in an additional 10.5 percent of such crashes.”

SBTC believes that “driver fatigue” is indeed the central problem that FMCSA has properly been tackling, but that this problem has various underlying components that need to be addressed and dealt with by the Agency and safety advocacy groups as well. For instance, notwithstanding bona fide safety concerns surrounding manipulation of paper logs, we would point to how many drivers are concerned that upon implementation of mandated electronic hours of service logging devices (“E-logs’) they might be forced to shut down by a computer in an unsafe location and fall victim, too, along the likes of the late Jason Rivenburg and Michael Boeglin.

Similarly, running out of hours on the 14 hour clock and unreasonable detention time are too often culprits in motivating otherwise ethical and responsible law-abiding drivers to drive while fatigued out of desperation.

Indeed, SBTC believes the mission of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration should transcend the matter of protecting the public from the industry to include protecting and promoting the safety of the members of the industry.

Finally, with respect to the 18 month FHWA study of the state of truck parking facilities in the states mandated by MAP-21, that we understand is currently in progress, the SBTC seeks a mechanism to ensure that once this Federal report is complete, that those states identified with truck parking deficiencies properly use MAP-21 funding to address those deficiencies and we look to the Federal Government to encourage the states not to improperly divert these earmarked funds for unrelated purposes.

Once again, I thank both agencies for this opportunity to share our thoughts and insight into the Safe Truck Parking issue and we look forward to working in partnership with the government to tackle this and other important issues.

Sincerely,
JAMES P. LAMB,

SBTC Chairman

James Lamb- Chairman of Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC)

PO Box 480370, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33348-0370
Toll Free Tel: (800) 215-6704 — Fax (954) 900-4397
Website:  www.SmallTransportation.org
Email: Membership@SmallTransportation.org

SBTC has requested that a best practices guide and parking directory be developed to assist truckers in finding a safe haven while on the road.

Safe Truck Parking Resources:

Real Women in Trucking 2013 Truck Parking Special Report (Survey):
http://www.realwomenintrucking.com/2013/12/03/truck-parking-special-report/#sthash.mYrorwG5.dpuf

FHWA 2013 Presentation: http://www.smalllinks.com/36RW

FHWA 2002 Report: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/01158/01158.pdf

NTSB 2000 Report: http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/safetystudies/SIR0001.pdf

© 2014, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: FHWA, FMCSA, James Lamb, parking directory, safe truck parking, SBTC, truck parking shortage, Truckers, Trucking

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In a decision issued August 11, 2014, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has found that truck owner Terry Unrein fired truck driver Rebecca Barnhard for refusing to drive a truck with a defective steer tire and for complaining that a headlight on the truck operated only intermittently. Unrein owned and operated five trucks, and transported goods under contract with Gulick Trucking.

OSHA ordered Unrein to reinstate Ms. Barnhard to her former position as a truck driver, to pay her back pay, and to pay her attorney fees. OSHA also ordered Unrein to post a copy of a notice at its work place indicating that Ms. Barnard had won her case, and that the Surface Transportation Assistance Act protects drivers from retaliation for making complaints about violations of commercial vehicle safety regulations, and for refusing to drive in violation of a commercial vehicle safety regulation.

Ms. Barnhard states, “I am delighted with OSHA’s decision and feel that my decision to refuse to drive an unsafe truck has been vindicated. My employer wanted me to take shortcuts to sidestep DOT regulations and I am happy that the law protected me when I refused to take shortcuts with safety.”

Attorney Paul Taylor

Mr. Barnhard was represented by Mr. Paul Taylor, an attorney with Truckers Justice Center in Burnsville, Minnesota.

A complete copy of OSHA’s decision may be viewed here.

© 2014, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: attorney, law, legal, osha, Paul Taylor, Trucking

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NetworkFOB- Leading the way in support for Jasons Law and Trucker Safety

Since the June 26th murder of truck driver Michael Boeglin in Detroit, much attention has been directed towards the serious lack of truck parking crisis and its direct association with truck driver fatigue and driver safety.

Not only is there already insufficient truck parking, but there are additional hindrances which further enhance the existing crisis, intensifying the safety hazards for professional drivers.

Other obstacles which are exacerbating the parking shortage and driver risk include:

Forced to Park Illegally– Because of the combination of lack of truck parking and the HOS of service rule, which prevents truckers from driving after their allowed hours of driving time, truckers at times are forced to pull over on the side of a road to rest, many times on an exit or entrance ramp, causing severe highway safety risks for themselves and the general public.

Shippers and Receivers – According to the data of the 2013 Truck Parking Survey, a major problem drivers are faced with is their pick up and deliveries at shippers and receivers. Many time drivers arrive early and are not allowed to park on the property of either, even though many facilities have ample parking available. Again this was the case for Jason Rivenburg who parked in a nearby abandoned gas station.

Forced to Park in unsafe surroundings – Drivers are forced many times to park in unsafe surroundings in order to get their much needed rest. This was the case for Jason Rivenburg, who parked in an abandoned gas station waiting to be able to unload his early morning delivery, which resulted in his violent death. Jason was an open target for predators as he parked in an isolated area and was shot and killed before he could make his early morning delivery at Food Lion.

In response to the previous article on AskTheTrucker,‘ What the General Public needs to know about Highway Safety, Truck Driver Fatigue, and Truck parking’ Tim Taylor of NetworkFOB has responded on LinkedIn and to his mailing list with the following statement.
It is our hope that the rest of the Industry will follow his lead with this call

Tim Taylor
Executive Chairman at Network FOB

Response by Tim Taylor-Executive Chairman at Network FOB

“As a company we would like to have our agents support our efforts to implement Jason’s Law, a law written to make parking safer for drivers. The law is in place, the implementation is not.

The basics are this:

Truck driver Jason Rivenburg, kissed his 2-year old son and pregnant wife good-bye on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. He dropped a load in Virginia and then headed off to his second delivery in South Carolina. He was 12 miles away from his destination when he needed to pull off the road. He was ahead of schedule and trucks are not allowed to show up at delivery sites early. The only place he had to park was an abandoned gas station – he’d heard through the grapevine it was safe.

The grapevine was wrong. Jason was murdered in his truck that night. His killer stole $7.00. Thirteen days later, his wife Hope gave birth to twins.

We as a company and as an industry need to help ensure the safety of drivers. If you tweet, tweet about it, if you LinkIn post about it. If you simply want to help in other ways, talk to shippers, receivers, drivers and dispatchers about it. This is something to give back to those who do so much for us. Nobody should have to place themselves in dangerous places to comply with rest requirements. The new HOS regulations demand more rest periods, those places to rest should be safe.
Read about Jason’s Law here: http://jhlrivenburg.com/cgi/wp/
and here:
Elite Freight Agents (all Network FOB personnel are invite to join our group)”

This is not the first time that Mr. Taylor has expressed concern for professional drivers as he contacted us 7/23/14 on Twitter with this tweet.

Tim Taylor ?@TimNaples Jul 23 @askthetrucker Allen. We need a bullet point on Jason’s Law to keep publicizing it to non-trucking folks. It’s known in trucker community

In response to Tim’s request, AskTheTrucker created the Jasons Law Bullet Point
“Jasons Law for Improved Highway Safety Addressing Truck Driver Fatigue”

Tim continued to express his concerns for professional drivers by stating to me personally,

“I personally abhor the practices of some shippers (warehouses etc) that abuse or mistreat drivers. I don’t like mistreatment by anybody to anybody. A driver at the bottom end of the economic scale is especially vulnerable to the “system”, being forced basically to sleep in unsafe areas”

AskTheTrucker applauds Mr Taylor for taking this vocal and moral step, supporting the hard working truckers of this country, and acknowledging the obstacles and sacrifices they endure.

Related reading by Tim Taylor “High responsibility cannot be compensated with low pay”

© 2014, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: Jason’s law- H.R.2156 S971, NetworkFOB, Receivers, shippers, Tim Taylor, truck parking, trucker safety, Truckers, Trucking

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Hope Rivenburg of Jasons Law Filmed at 2012 Trucking Social Media Convention-by Investigation Discovery

Jasons Law for Improved Highway Safety: Addressing Truck Driver Fatigue

Addressing Truck Driver Fatigue caused by insufficient truck parking, not allowing drivers to comply with Hours of Service Federal Regulations, therefore preventing them to receive rest after driving 11 hours driving.

Federal Regulations continue to be placed on Commercial Drivers, however, the causes for Truck Driver Fatigue are continually not addressed. Besides an Hours of Service Rule set in place by the FMCSA, which has in many drivers opinions INCREASED their fatigue

Truck driver Jason Rivenburg, kissed his 2-year old son and pregnant wife good-bye on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. He dropped a load in Virginia and then headed off to his second delivery in South Carolina. He was 12 miles away from his destination when he needed to pull off the road. He was ahead of schedule and trucks are not allowed to show up at delivery sites early. The only place he had to park was an abandoned gas station – he’d heard through the grapevine it was safe.

The grapevine was wrong. Jason was murdered in his truck that night. His killer stole $7.00. Thirteen days later, his wife Hope gave birth to twins.

Jason’s Law to allow for more safe truck parking, received bi-partisan support in both the Senate and the House. H.R. 1803.sponsored by U.S. Reps Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Erik Paulsen (R-MN), with signatures from 26 supporting congressman. In the Senate, Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of NY brought forth S 1187.

Jason’s Law was passed and made law in the 2012 Transportation Bill Map 21 As of this date there has been no significant addition of Truck Parking. The widow of Jason Rivenburg who has tirelessly fought for more safe truck parking initiated the National Truck Parking Survey which has been presented to the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Lack of parking has been a major complaint for truckers for decades, confirmed though extensive research and funding by branches of the Department of Transportation, including the FMCSA.

Because of a sluggish economy, many more parking facilities are closing down, increasing the need for more government awareness and public concern for the problem.

What many do not realize is that the lack of truck parking facilities poses an extreme danger to the general public as well as professional truck drivers. The problem with inadequate truck parking affects everyone driving the highways:

• A MUST READ: TRUCK PARKING SPECIAL REPORT

Drivers are strictly regulated by law on how many hours they are allowed to drive

• Drivers are allowed to drive only 11 hours/day ( Hours of Service Regulations setby Federal Government)Knowing this, a driver must plan their trip accordingly in order to comply with regulations, not exceeding their driving limits. The Hours of Service rule for truck drivers contains an 11-hour daily driving limit and 14-hour work day limit.

Note that this is strictly enforced and a driver who violates HOS receives a violation. Since the FMCSA inception of CSA (Compliance Safety, and Accountability), these violations can prove to be damaging to both the driver and the carrier, as all violations will be recorded and maintained. If a driver can not find parking to rest, he/she not only risks receiving a violation, but more importantly risks the lives of those sharing the highways with them.

• Sleep is the cure for fatigue– A truck drivers job is demanding, and the lack of rest can cause serious ramifications in regards to highway safety. If a driver plans his/her trip and there is no adequate parking available in either the rest area or truck stop, he/she is forced to move on, many times driving fatigued, looking for an available spot, whether that be legal or illegal parking.

The fact that truck drivers many times are forced to drive fatigued because of a lack of parking is a contradiction to the goal of improving safety set by the FMCSA

• Forced to Park Illegally– Because of the combination of lack of truck parking and the HOS of service rule, which prevents truckers from driving after their allowed hours of driving time, truckers at times are forced to pull over on the side of a road to rest, many times on an exit or entrance ramp, causing severe highway safety risks for themselves and the general public.
• Forced to Park in unsafe surroundings – Drivers are forced many times to park in unsafe surroundings in order to get their much needed rest. This was the case for Jason Rivenburg, who parked in an abandoned gas station which resulted in his violent death. Jason was an open target for predators as he parked in an isolated area and was shot and killed before he could make his early morning delivery.
• Shippers and Receivers — According to the data of the 2013 Truck Parking Survey, a major problem drivers are faced with is their pick up and deliveries at shippers and receivers. Many time drivers arrive early and are not allowed to park on the property of either, even though many facilities have ample parking available. Again this was the case for Jason Rivenburg who parked in a nearby abandoned gas station.
  

  Courtesy of RealWomenInTrucking.com

One solution suggested by SBTC is the Community Oriented Approach.

Recently, on June 26^th 30 year old OTR trucker Michael Boeglin of Ferdinand, Ind. was shot and killed in his truck as he parked at an abandoned building waiting to pick up a load from the nearby ThyssenKrupp steel plant.

• According to the data of the 2013 Truck Parking Survey, it has come to our attention that law enforcement, including DOT, has been waking drivers up for either ID, inspections, or asking them to move. Drivers are mandated to REST as part of the Hours of Service Regulations of the FMCSA ( Hours of Service Regulations set by Federal Government)This behavior is unacceptable and unlawful, adding to the already serious concern of truck parking shortages resulting in lack of or interrupted sleep for driver.

It also compromises safety of the highway for all as it encourages fatigued drivers to drive, ironically by those who are sworn to secure our safety.

One solution has been brought up by SBTC, who is calling on law enforcement agencies to engage in sensitivity training to stop the unlawful practice of waking drivers up during the Federally mandated sleep periods currently plaguing drivers. SBTC has determined there is a mechanism to report those local law enforcement agencies that habitually interfere with federally mandated sleep to the U.S. Department of Justice and we are inviting truckers to file Sleep Interference Complaints with the SBTC.

There are many other reasons which affect Truck Driver Fatigue, however, we must address the Issue of “Allowing Drivers to Sleep” if we are ever going to “cure” this problem.

No Truck Parking- A common sign within the Industry

RESULTS for Truck Parking Survey Open Comments Downloadable Links:

• “What are the circumstances and how often does it take 60 minutes or more to locate truck parking to comply with your federally mandated hours of service (HOS) rest break?”  Click Here for PDF

• “States that need most improvement.” Click Here for PDF

• “Please identify which Ports and/or surrounding facilities have an inadequate amount of safe parking.” Click Here for PDF

• “Cities most mentioned that need more truck parking.” Click Here for PDF
• “Shippers and Receivers that detain drivers but do not allow them to remain parked safe on their properties.” Click Here for PDF

Supplemental information :

Jasons Law Courtesy of TruckerToTrucker.com

Jason’s Law (Section 1401)

• Truck Parking Special Report : PDF
• Trucker Shooting Rekindles Plea to Officials for More Safe Truck Parking
• Engagement on parking safety, availability in the wake of driver’s murder
  • Replay of “Truck Parking Shortage-Drivers at Risk”  Truth About Trucking Live 

© 2014, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: DOT, FMCSA, hope rivenburg, hours of service, jason rivenburg, Jason’s law- H.R.2156 S971, Map21, Michael Boeglin, SBTC, truck driver fatigue, truck parking survey

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