Archive for April, 2015

Recent study results from ATRI has confirmed what many professional drivers have been adamantly saying, ” 2013 HOS restart provisions have compromised truck safety”
Although there are many issues that drivers and carriers may not agree upon, the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rule change of July 2013 is not one of them.

ATRI-
The American Transportation Research Institute

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Dan Murray  

(651) 641-6162

April 29, 2015

“After many years of crash decreases, everyone knows our industry has experienced an uptick in crashes,” said Dean Newell, Vice President, Safety of Maverick USA, Inc. and a member of ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee.  “This latest analysis from ATRI validates both changes in operations and crash risk that seem to be associated with the restart rule.  Regulations should serve to improve safety, not create additional safety risks.”

ATRI is the trucking industry’s 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization.  It is

engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation’s essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system.

© 2015, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: 2013 HOS changes, 34 hour restart provisions, ATRI, hours of service, professional drivers, Safety, truck crashes

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TruckerToTrucker.com today launches a scholarship resource to inform transportation workers and their families about the scholarship opportunities available in this industry

Culver, IN, April 25, 2015 –(PR.com)-– TruckerToTrucker.com today launches a scholarship resource to inform transportation workers and their families about the scholarship opportunities available in this industry.

There are eight different scholarship programs totaling $18,000+ in annual award opportunities on the Trucker to Trucker resource page with more to be added in the coming months. Awards can be used to pay for college and graduate school, as well as commercial truck driving schools.

The scholarship resource consolidates various programs and grants offered by companies, non-profits, and state and national transportation organizations across the US to provide a single source of information for trucking and transportation industry specific scholarship opportunities.

“There are dozens of generous scholarships available to the members of our industry and their families, but few people know about them,” said Jimmy Steele, communications coordinator for TruckerToTrucker.com. “We wanted to make it easy for people to find a program that will help make their education more affordable.”

Each program has unique requirements and eligibility guidelines. The resource page is located at http://www.truckertotrucker.com/trucking-scholarship-resource.cfm, and provides links to the full details of each scholarship to help students find current information on the awards.

“In 2013, we started to offer a scholarship for students to attend a commercial driving program. Even after reaching out to schools and organizations to spread the word, it was almost impossible to give the money away,” said Steele. “After talking with other groups who had the same issue, we realized that the industry needed a single resource that students can visit to understand all their opportunities.”

Announcement can be found here –

TruckerToTrucker.com offers two types of award each year. A $1000 college scholarship for the children or grandchildren of those working in the transportation industry. And, a $500 truck driving school scholarship for those who wish to start a career as a professional driver.

About Trucker to Trucker:

TruckertoTrucker.com launched in 2003 with the purpose of making it easy for owner operators, dealers, and fleet owners to sell their commercial trucks, trailers, and equipment online. With thousands of daily visitors, TruckertoTrucker.com has become a leading online marketplace for all brands of trucks and trailers. Trucker to Trucker also provides digital marketing services like website design, promotion, and inventory management for dealers and other high volume sellers. For more information, visit http://www.truckertotrucker.com

Contact Information
Trucker To Trucker
Jim McCormack
800-240-5811

Contact
www.truckertotrucker.com

© 2015, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: scholarships, truck driving schools, Trucker To Trucker, truckertotrucker.com, Trucking, trucking industry

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Freedom Drivers Project

With yesterday’s passing of bill S. 178, known as The Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking Act of 2015, American society has taken one step closer to fighting such atrocities against humanity.

Unanimously passing in the Senate by a vote of 99-0, the bill focuses on providing justice for the victims of trafficking as well as additional support in combating the illegal trade.

Based out of Englewood, Colorado, Truckers Against Trafficking continues their drive to educate, inform, train and bring help and solutions to combat domestic human trafficking. With their first-of-its-king mobile exhibit, The Freedom Drivers Project travels the country providing an inside look into human trafficking by offering educational information for trucking professionals and the general public as well.

Beginning as an initiative of Chapter 61 Ministries in 2009 and officially becoming a 501(c)3 organization in 2011, Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) continues to have an impact on the atrociousness of human trafficking. Most recently, Conway Truckload driver, Kevin Kimmel “made the call” which led to the rescue of a young lady who had been kidnapped out of Iowa. Mr. Kimmel was recognized on April 3, 2015 when Truckers Against Trafficking presented the driver with their 2015 Harriet Tubman Award.

Additionally on yesterday, the same day of the passing of bill S. 178, Truckers Against Trafficking received the Suzanne McDaniel Memorial Award for Public Awareness as part of the annual Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus Awards at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D. C.

TAT was chosen for the award by U. S. Representative Ted Poe (R, TX). Bill Brady, an 18-year veteran over-the-road truck driver for Lodestar, accepted the award on behalf of TAT. A dedicated trucker against trafficking, Brady has been working with TAT since 2012, speaking at schools and colleges, working trucking shows for TAT and often driving the Freedom Drivers Project to various locations around the country.

Kylla Lanier

Kylla Lanier, Deputy Director of Truckers Against Trafficking will join us as our special guest on Ask The Trucker “LIVE”  on Saturday, April 25, 2015 at 6 PM Eastern Time.

Tune in “live” as Mrs. Lanier will discuss the continual efforts of Truckers Against Trafficking, more on The Freedom Drivers Project and share the successful stories of professional truckers who are “making the call” and saving lives.

© 2015, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: ask the trucker live, Bill Brady, bill S. 178, Conway truckload, harriet tubman award, human trafficking, kevin kimmel, kylla lanier, Ted Poe, The Freedom Drivers Project, The Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking, truck drivers, Truckers, truckers against trafficking

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17th Annual 75 chrome shop Truck Show will be a three-day event scheduled for April 24-26th, 2015

Many truckers are familiar with the 75 Chrome Shop located in Wildwood, Florida. Established in 1990, the shop has grown into much more than the name implies.

Their 17th Annual Truck Show will be a three-day event scheduled for April 24-26th, 2015.

In 2014, the event displayed over sixty show trucks with over 4,000 spectators while offering food and entertainment which includes a spectacular light show as well as a Bounce House and Games for kids.

For this year’s Pride & Polish Truck Show, they have added a new category, “Everyday Truck Drivers” which offers non-chrome truck show contestants the opportunity to participate by “showing off” their trucks in an “exterior judging” only competition.

The 75 Chrome Shop is located just west on State Road 44 off of I-75 at exit 329.
Donna and I will be enjoying the event this year and hope to see you there.

Read more about OverDrive’s  25 years of Pride & Polish

© 2015, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: chrome shop, florida, I-75, pride and polish, truck chrome, truck show, Trucking, wildwood

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Con-way Truckload driver Kevin Kimmel from Tavares, Florida has been named the 2015 Harriet Tubman award winner by Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) SOURCE Truckers Against Trafficking

 

Kevin Kimmel received the Harriet Tubman Award from Truckers Against Trafficking at a ceremony on April 3rd.  He also has been announced as a TCA Highway Angel.

Below is the Truckers Against Trafficking press release. Kylla Lanier, deputy director fro Truckers Against Trafficking , will be our guest on AskTheTrucker “Live’ on Blog Talk Radio  sharing the outstanding accomplishments of TAT and the heroic actions of our nations drivers which have saved so many innocent lives from the atrocities of human trafficking.

Truck Driver Kevin Kimmel to Receive 2015 Harriet Tubman Award from Truckers Against Trafficking

TAVARES, Fla., April 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Con-way Truckload driver Kevin Kimmel from Tavares, Florida has been named the 2015 Harriet Tubman award winner by Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) for his actions which saved a woman from torture and modern-day slavery.

The award, which carries with it a $2,500 check, is named in honor of famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman, whose courageous personal actions resulted in the transportation of 300 slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad and whose overall role in the freedom movement was instrumental in the freeing of thousands more. Born into slavery in 1820, Miss Tubman was the first African American woman buried with full military honors and the first to have the inaugural Liberty ship named after her – the SS Harriet Tubman – by the US Maritime Commission.

“Because of Harriet Tubman’s connection to transportation through the Underground Railroad and her heroic work to free thousands of slaves, TAT believes she epitomizes the symbol of freedom a trucking anti-trafficking award represents,” said Kendis Paris, TAT executive director.  “And we’re proud to say that Con-way Truckload partners with TAT in the training of their employees with TAT materials. To date, they’ve trained over 1500 of their employees. Driver Kevin Kimmel’s actions in reporting the suspicious activity he saw while resting at a truck stop is exactly the type of action we want to recognize with the Harriet Tubman award. This award was created to honor a member of the trucking industry each year whose direct actions help save or improve the lives of those enslaved or prevent human trafficking from taking place.”

On the morning of Jan. 6, 2015, Kimmel caught a glimpse of a distraught-looking young girl in the darkened window of an RV which had pulled into the New Kent, Virginia truck stop where Kimmel had stopped for some sleep.

Suddenly, her face was gone, almost as if it had been yanked away by someone.

Kimmel reported later to media that he, “saw a guy come up and knock on the door, then go inside the truck stop, then quickly came back and knocked again, all of the sudden the thing was rocking and rolling.”

He decided things didn’t looked right and called the police. When police responded, they found an Iowa couple in the RV, along with a 20-year-old malnourished and frightened young woman, who said the couple had kidnapped her two weeks earlier in Iowa, had physically and sexually abused her and then forced her into prostitution. The couple was arrested and charged with sex trafficking.

Kimmel, who has daughters and granddaughters, learned the gruesome details of the case through the news. “I’m just happy I helped her,” he said.

Kevin Kimmel received the Harriet Tubman Award from Mark Brown, TAT Board president, and Kylla Lanier, TAT deputy director, at a special ceremony at Con-way Truckload’s headquarters in Joplin, Missouri on the morning of April 3.
SOURCE Truckers Against Trafficking

Kimmel will receive the Harriet Tubman Award and the check from Mark Brown, TAT Board president, and Kylla Lanier, TAT deputy director, at a special ceremony at Con-way Truckload’s headquarters in Joplin, Missouri on the morning of April 3. At that same ceremony, he will be awarded the Truckload Carrier Association’s Highway Angel Award

 

 

For more information on TAT’s Harriet Tubman Award, go to

Truckers Against Trafficking

Truckers Against Trafficking is a 501c3 organization whose mission is to educate, equip, empower and mobilize members of the trucking industry to fight human trafficking as part of their everyday jobs.

www.truckersagainsttrafficking.org

SOURCE Truckers Against Trafficking

Kevin Kimmel also received the  TCA Highway Angel Award  read more

 

 

 

© 2015, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: AskTheTrucker Live, Conway truckload, harriet tubman award, highway angel award, kevin kimmel, kylla lanier, truckers against trafficking, Truckload Carriers Association

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• 

  Tom Byerley- 40+ year Owner Operator trucking veteran- Owner of UrTruckBroker.com

  Recently 44 year trucking veteran and 4 million safe miles owner operator “Tom” Byerley, had enough regarding the “unfair and faulty” Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program.

  After decades of driving, Tom elected to become a broker, helping other owner operators receive fair and honest rates, and offering the option of small and personalized service (rather than mega brokers)

  Tom has experienced and empathized greatly with many small carriers as they struggle with misleading and publicly shared CSA scores.
  Tom then felt compelled to write to members of Congress expressing his concerns regarding the controversial methodology and data collection of the FMCSA’s (CSA) program carrier ratings.

  CSA’s goal was suppose to increase highway safety by determining a carrier safety score in attempt to identify unsafe ones. CSA’s ultimate goal for safety was based on their method to target, identify, and then make public these scores. These scores could then be used by insurers, brokers, freight-forwarders and others interested in reviewing registration and safety performance information of motor carriers.”
  The outcome however is far different than that of CSA’s original goals as determined by the GAO report of Feb 2014.

  Their method, ( Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program) has been in high question ( and scrutiny) as to the accuracy of it’s methodology.

  In Feb of 2014  the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the scoring system used by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in its Compliance, Safety, Accountability system is flawed and is made up of an incomplete data set. The GAO also concluded the program is particularly unfair for small carriers. It also stated that it would “raise questions about whether the Safety Measurement System (SMS) is effectively identifying carriers at highest risk for crashing in the future,”

  Recently in March,  The House introduced a bill targeting the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountabilityprogram and would, if it becomes law, force FMCSA to remove its carrier rankings from public view and restructure the program. The Safer Trucks and Buses Act of 2015, is similar to a bill introduced in the previous Congress, again introduced by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.).

   LETTER to CONGRESS by Tom Byerley

  “My name is Carl (Tom) Byerley. By way of back ground, I operate a transportation business called Urtruckbroker.com. I am also a member of the broker trade group Association of Independent Property Brokers & Agents’ (AIPBA) Board of Directors and a serve on the broader industry trade group Small Business in Transportation Coalition’s (SBTC) Advisory Council.

  The APBA & SBTC has been gathering data from trucking companies on their use of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA) program ratings and we are examining how CSA has affected their driver hiring and termination practices. I believe that this information might be helpful to you in your bill to remove CSA data from public view and we offer it in furtherance thereof. I would also suggest that you please consider incorporating into your bill an additional, specific restriction in the language of your bill that prohibits FMCSA’s from making CSA information available to motor carriers’ insurance companies.

  We are looking at supporting a bill and/or commencing litigation that would cause the FMCSA to change the current appeal process used (DataQ). The way the system currently works in reality, a driver receives points against the company’s CSA — SMS statistics in addition to the points he gets with respect to any violations found in relation to the original reason for the vehicle stop (i.e. if the officer states he stopped the driver for speeding in a construction zone and decides not to issue a citation for speeding, the driver still gets CSA-related points that could ultimately put him out of a job and/or prevent him from getting another job. In essence, the driver gets convicted without due process and gets no opportunity to defend himself against what should be a mere allegation of a violation. We believe this is a violation of drivers’ Constitutional rights.

  We would be very interested in your views on this and other issues concerning the FMCSA’s CSA program.

  As a courtesy, I offer the enclosed copy of my individual company’s Carrier CSA report as a further example for your review.

  Thank you for your consideration.

  Sincerely,

  C. Tom Byerley, Urtruckbroker.com

  AIPBA Board Member SBTC Advisory Council

  ******************************************************************

  Tom asks those who are reading this to feel free in writing him to discuss how FMCSA’s CSA and SMS has affected them and to share your thoughts and ideas.

  email Tom Byerley at
  tom@urtruckbroker.com

  *****************************************
  Tom will also be calling in on AskTheTrucker ‘Live’  during one of our OPEN FORUM shows. ”
  Show Link: Open Trucking Forum- Addressing FMCSA shortcomings

  Saturday April 11 2015 6PM ET 
  Join in the conversation!  347-826-9170
  Listen from your computer OR dial in to listen
  To be a part of the show- press “1″ on your keypad after dialing in

   

   

   
  

   

  
  

   

© 2015, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.

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