Trucking Safely on Snowy Roads

November 25, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

For workers who make their living on the roads, it’s of the utmost importance that traffic continues moving, even during winter weather.

For emergency planners, this isn’t necessarily always an easy feat–especially when multiple car accidents occur in the same area.

For semi truck drivers Michelle and Floyd Goss, keeping a close eye on upcoming weather systems can make or break their hauls between Montana and Colorado. If conditions get bad enough, there’s a huge strain on the timeliness of their deliveries.

“If it’s too bad, then we just stay here, we have enough food in the truck to last us about three weeks,” said Floyd, who owns and operates his vehicle-hauling truck.

Both Michelle and Floyd had to put chains on their tires for the incoming weather, and they say all drivers–not just truckers–should keep with them an emergency kit at all times, but especially during winter. Things to include are food, water, jackets, and blankets. More importantly, though, is making sure other drivers are aware of all semi trucks they may be sharing the road with in snowy conditions.

“It takes so much longer for us to stop, and if anything happens, that’s an 80,000 pound vehicle versus your 2,000 to 2,500 pound car,” Floyd said. “If we tangle, you’re going to lose.”

The biggest thing for drivers to keep in mind is to always give trucks plenty of room, take it slow, and stay patient.

For truck drivers, though, safety precautions are doubly important in winter weather.

On top of extra food, water, and blankets in your emergency kit, truckers should also keep on board:

-Rain/snow gear, extra gloves

-A coat that can support both day and night temperatures

-A flashlight

-A bag of sand/salt

-Extra windshield washer fluid

-A windshield scraper

-Jumper cables

-Tire chains/traction mats

-At least a half tank of gas at all times

In addition, Roadmaster Drivers School also has these tips for truckers planning a trip during inclement weather conditions:

-Complete pre-trip inspections–Commercial drivers must inspect their vehicles prior to every trip. They should do a hands-on visual inspection and check tires, wiper blades, fluids. and lights. Truckers should check their vehicles more often in extreme temperatures.

-Slow down–Because most winter accidents take place when drivers go too fast for the road conditions, and hydroplaning can happen easily at higher speeds in slush, a slower speed will give you more time to react.

-Brake and accelerate lightly–Doing anything forcefully in bad weather can be detrimental. If your vehicle has an anti-locking brake system, use it properly by pressing and holding the brake down as far as possible in the event of an emergency. ABS prevents wheels from locking so you can steer around obstacles. If your vehicle does not have ABS, lightly pump your brakes when needing to slow down quickly on slick roads–this will decrease your likelihood of sliding out of control.

-Give yourself plenty of safe space–Keep an ample following distance between yourself and other vehicles so that you always have space and time to move out of the way of a dangerous situation.

-Hold the steering wheel firmly–Sudden moves can easily make you lose control of your vehicle, so be sure to keep both hands on the wheel and keep your vehicle steady through heavy wind and when ice or ruts appear on the road.

-Watch out for black ice–Black ice is a thin layer of clear ice that shows up when temperatures are near freezing and can make the road look only slightly wet. Never assume that just because the sun is shining that the road is only wet, and use these clues to be able to spot black ice when the temperature is getting close to freezing.

Ice build-up on antennas, windshield corners, or mirror arms
Spray from tires on vehicles ahead will stop

-Use caution on bridges–Elevated structures tend to freeze first, and are often not treated with snow-melt materials (like salt), whereas other parts of the road may be. Black ice is often found on bridges, and vehicles driving easily on the highway may spin out of control on a bridge or highway overpass.

-Be wary of mountain driving–Weather on mountains can be unpredictable during the winter months and can change rapidly. Be on the lookout for emergency vehicles, snowplows, and wind gusts. Do not stop in avalanche zones. Tire chains may also be required for some of these routes.

-Remain in your vehicle if you get stuck–Stay put if you end up getting stuck in a storm or if you slide off the road and can’t see a nearby place to find help. Bundle up and keep moving to stay warm. Keep your exhaust pipe clear of snow, open a downwind window for ventilation, and run your engine for only around 15 minutes each hour.

-Obey all road signs–Warning information is always posted for good reason, and a curve posted at 35 mph is because testing has determined that is the safest maximum speed for any vehicle on the road.

-If conditions look too bad for driving, get off the road–Use your best judgment, listen to weather reports and act accordingly. Don’t push your luck.

-Treat your fuel–Cold temperatures can cause diesel to gel, so it may be helpful to stock up on anti-gel ahead of bad weather.

-Keep in mind the ‘Five Keys to Space-Cushion Driving’ that many carriers make required training for drivers—

Aim High in Steering: Look far enough ahead of your vehicle so you have time to react to any hazards.
Get the Big Picture: Keep a lookout all around our vehicle.
Keep Your Eyes Moving: Scan the entire area as often as possible.
Leave Yourself an Out: Have an escape plan for you and your vehicle.
Make Sure They See You: Make sure other drivers are aware of your presence.

October Trucking Conference Tackles Marijuana Legalization, Cybersecurity

November 24, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

SAN DIEGO — We recently reported on the American Trucking Associations’ 86th annual Management Conference and Exhibition, which took place at the San Diego Convention Center in early October.

A main topic of discussion was of course the upcoming changes proposed in regards to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service rules, which the ATA fully supports.

Another big issue at hand included the legalization of recreational marijuana as more and more states are hopping on board–which continues to push the trucking industry and its current challenges to their limits.

In response, the ATA recently endorsed a set of policies related to marijuana, such as relaxing federal regulations on cannabis studies.

A working group from the ATA, which researched state legalization efforts and their impact on impaired driving and road safety has inspired the association’s Board of Directors to support the increase of marijuana research, especially regarding drug testing technology. According its recommendations, the group has said it aligns with “lifting federal restrictions on marijuana research” in order to continue this kind of research.

At the management conference, the American Trucking Associations explained that it also supports maintaining employers’ rights to test employees for marijuana usage, and that it advocates for the improvement of testing methods, investigation into impairment standards, and further research on the drug’s effects.

Although it is currently unclear what actions the ATA is pushing for in regards to lifting blocks to research, there is an understanding that rescheduling cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act will be an important tool in reaching that goal.

However, ATA’s Controlled Substances and Driver Health and Wellness Working Group do have a few recommendations, such as developing a policy that ensures employers can test all drivers for marijuana, implementing legislation changes to permit drug testing using “alternative specimens” like hair and saliva as opposed to just urine samples, as well as the use of oral fluid testing.

“ATA has long been an advocate for reducing impaired driving–in all its forms–so it only makes sense that we would call upon state and federal governments to consider the impact of increased use of marijuana on our roadways,” said ATA President Chris Spear in a press release. “As an industry that operates in all 50 states and across national borders, we need all levels of government to help us keep our roads and drivers drug-free.”

Spear also mentioned cannabis policy in his conference keynote speech, giving a look into the ATA’s reasoning around establishing such a working group.

“Eleven states, D.C. and Canada have now legalized the recreational use of marijuana, all while our federal government turns a blind eye,” he said. “And guess who gets caught in the middle?”

The ATA has even more controversial endorsements, such as the establishment of a “marijuana victim’s compensation fund,” which would be funded completely by dispensaries, manufacturers and growers. It also recommends the adoption of both state and federal legislation that would “require that each time marijuana is dispensed to an individual, it is reported to the state.” However, these policies do not explain who would qualify for compensation, how the funding would be sourced, or how prescription drug monitoring could legally be put into place.

An additional attention-grabbing topic of conversation at the event included that of cybersecurity, as transportation organizations have become a major target for ransomware attacks.

“This is why we’re doing a session on cybersecurity,” said Ken Craig, vice president of special projects at McLeod Software, as he referenced Forbes’ data showing that the transportation industry currently ranks fifth on the list of the most cyber-attacked industries.

Sharon Reynolds, chief information security officer for Omnitracs, said that small trucking companies are often the biggest targets for hackers as they typically have unsophisticated protection software. Larger companies who do have high-quality protection are still a large target, though, as they often pay hackers highly to disable their computer systems.

Saunders said motor carriers need to start conducting annual assessments of their systems, as well as to begin applying software patches and implementing an incident response plan.

CEO of RunSafe Security Inc., Joseph Saunders, also weighed in, recommending truckers initially protect personal information on both employees and customers, and start educating their employees about phishing scam threats and protecting accounts payable information.

As for computer protection quality right now, “by the time you get the notice, you’re in deep yogurt,” said panel moderator Craig.

Chicago Transit 2020 Budget Announced–What Upgrades are in Store for the City?

November 19, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority has proposed its operating budget of $1.57 million for 2020, which will luckily call for no service cuts or fare increases.

The budget, announced late last month, will use tens of millions of dollars to modernize Chicago’s public transit infrastructure and will aim to make for an overall better commute experience for all city travelers.

The proposed $5.1 billion five-year budget for 2020 to 2024 will also include a monumental funding plan for the passage of the State of Illinois’ Rebuild Illinois capital bill from June of this year.

It will also continue more than $8 billion of historic transit investment that has been started, completed or announced since 2011. These particular projects include: rehabilitating rail stations and implementing new ones, expanding public arts, rail and bus modernization, rail slow zone removal, and new technology additions. This work will aim to increase reliability, reduce commute times, improve safety, and strengthen the transit experience for all customers.

“Public transportation is the great connector of Chicago, and this city has a fundamental obligation to ensure all residents of all communities have access to affordable, accessible and equitable transportation options,” said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as the new CTA budget was revealed. “I’m proud to say this budget reflects not only our priorities, but most importantly our values.”

According to the CTA, public transportation usage has dropped significantly in recent years. To gain more riders, the CTA plans to upgrade rail stations and improve the system’s reliability and quality of service.

“Despite continued cuts by the state legislature to the CTA operating funds,” said CTA President Dorval Carter, “we are grateful to Mayor Lightfoot and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for fighting to finally provide CTA with a capital program that will help improve and modernize our infrastructure.”

From this budget, the CTA will invest $310 million into the $2.3 billion Red Line rail route extension project, which will work to extend the Red Line–which connects Chicago’s north side and south side to the Loop business district–south by 5.3 miles. The Red Line Extension project will also include four new and fully accessible stations at 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue and 130th Street.

These funds are the largest contribution the CTA has ever committed towards the RLE project, and be funneled into the new engineering and design work needed in order for it to receive federal funding.

The 2020 budget will also fund $78 million for the All Stations Accessibility Program, a plan to make all CTA rail stations completely vertically accessible. This plan was announced by President Carter in 2018 and is the first blueprint of its kind that aims to modernize rail stations that are currently non-vertically accessible. The plan will improve 42 of Chicago’s rail stations in this manner and will also upgrade elevator systems to align with the renovations.

For the first time in a decade, CTA received an extremely significant funding commitment in 2019 for a State capital plan, which came in the Rebuild Illinois bill.

This capital bill will give CTA $1.2 billion in bond funding through the next five years, and includes $141.5 million in proposed projects–implementing an overhaul of the Cottage Grove Green Line station and the first phase of the Red and Purple Modernization Program, which broke ground this fall and will include a rail bypass to meet future capacity requirements and will rebuild four Red Line Stations.

Additional projects from 2020 funding will include 20 new electric buses, Blue Line O’Hare Branch traction power upgrades, Blue Line station and signal improvements, and 10 new prototypes of the 7000-series railcar, the transit system’s newest generation railcar.

The 2020 budget also includes over $26 million in cost savings and operational efficiencies such as the hiring freeze, which is projected to affect at least 200 positions–an increase of 50 from 2019. The savings will also lock power costs in at historically low prices.

CTA has continued to be negatively impacted by operating fund cuts by the State of Illinois, President Carter said. “CTA losses since the state cut our operating funds will total $180 million through 2020. We continue to call for the restoration of full operating funding for this agency so that we may better serve our customers.”

Hours-of-Service Changes Highlighted in October Trucking Conference

November 18, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

SAN DIEGO — At the American Trucking Associations’ 86th annual Management Conference and Exhibition early last month, industry leaders contemplated how federal regulation and international trade policy changes will affect truck drivers, carriers and manufacturers.

The most prevalent issue discussed at the event–which ended up brining 2,764 attendees to the San Diego Convention Center–appeared to be the changes coming to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service rules.

These new regulations would bring increased flexibility to the previously mandatory 30-minute rest breaks and time splits between off-duty and on-duty hours for truck drivers. It would also allow for extended duty time during inclement weather by two hours and would lengthen the maximum on-duty period from 12 to 14 hours.

The ATA strongly supports these regulations.

“What we submit will be laced with a lot of justification, as we always do,” said ATA President Chris Spear during the event’s closing press conference.

The proposal for these regulation changes sparked from the Trump Administration and trucking lobbyists’ beliefs regarding rules becoming excessively strict around truck drivers working in heavy traffic and poor weather, as well as concerns for drivers’ abilities to complete deliveries on time.

Once these rules do soften, truckers will have to stay on the road for hours longer, and proper safety measures will fall onto drivers’ shoulders to self-regulate.

Without a way to make sure truck drivers will get the necessary amount of rest to drive alertly, lenient regulation doesn’t make much sense–especially after a July PBS report which found that 60 truckers involved in fatal crashes back in 2017 were asleep at the wheel or extremely fatigued.

At the closing press conference, both Spear and ATA’s chairman, Randy Guillot, explained the association’s intent to mark tort reform as a major industry priority.

“I’m excited that we’ve moved tort reform up to the highest level of priorities here at ATA,” said Guillot, who is also the president of Triple G Express Inc. “I think we’ll see a lot of activity with that topic this year.”

In Spear’s October 7th keynote address, he explained his plan to fight against trial lawyers who target trucking companies and often secure large jury awards. Spear believes most of these cases are not settled fairly, and claims the ATA always quickly compensates those involved in cases in which the association is at fault.

However, Spear and the ATA have been known to handpick specific cases in order to spotlight situations that they hope will bring public attention and pushback against lawsuits opposing the trucking industry.

For reference, in a recent Transport Topics interview, Spear referenced a case from 2014 that involved a pickup truck and a tractor-trailer. The pickup crossed a median on a Texas interstate and collided with the trailer. One passenger of the pickup was killed in the crash and another was left paralyzed. Their family argued in court that the trucker was driving recklessly in inclement weather and should have pulled over. The jury awarded the family nearly $90 million.

Although Spear believes the truck driver was not at fault (even though court documents from the case show Werner Enterprises, the trucking company, staying quiet about its blatant disregard for safety policies), it clearly makes little sense to relax regulations regarding truck drivers working in dangerous weather, like the driver in this case, or to allow for drivers to potentially work while even more fatigued than they already are.

If safety regulations call for even less rigidity around truckers driving in storms or under the influence of extreme exhaustion, wouldn’t the number of nuclear verdicts against truck drivers increase? Isn’t that in direct contradiction of what Spear and the ATA want?

Additionally, placing tort reform as a high-priority issue would mean recoveries awarded to those harmed by lack of trucking industry safety would potentially decrease even further. Of course, the American Trucking Associations wants to spend as little in payouts as possible, but why is profit a bigger priority than the safety of everyone on the road? Decreasing truck driver safety with hours-of-service regulation flexibility will clearly make for many more cases against the industry, which is obviously counter-productive for the ATA.

It appears the ATA needs to spend much less time fighting for regulations that work against itself.

Amazon Threatening the Trucking Industry Once Again

November 14, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Over the years, Amazon has slowly but surely built an entire fleet of delivery and transportation vehicles to maintain its foothold on the behemoth of a business it has created. According to Business Insider, Amazon reportedly has an incredible number of vans used for the “last mile” of delivery, bringing product from the company’s warehouses to our doorsteps, with over 100,000 vans nationwide. As one could clearly understand, one company maintaining as much volume and control over the delivery of its own product certainly effects the ability for drivers to gain valuable work from a multitude of manufacturers and retailers. However, up until this point, there has been one key aspect of Amazon’s business that has allowed for drivers and the trucking industry to breath easy; the company has long welcomed third parties for shipping its product that goes beyond that “last mile.” Unfortunately, the trucking industry now may be facing a harsh reality, one that sees Amazon bringing all of its delivery resources in-house and creating a fleet that handles the entire delivery process for its business.

As we recently wrote, the trucking industry is already facing a steep drop-off of its own workforce due to retirement and an overall lack of incentives to take on the grueling job. Additionally, the industry has found it much more difficult to keep large fleets of trucks on the roads for trucking companies as retailers and manufacturers continue to consolidate and tighten their grip on shipping costs. That’s why the most recent sightings and word of Amazon’s branded Class 8 tractors are certainly cause for concern. Just last year Business Insider wrote an article on how Amazon was playing a significant role in the driver shortage. At the time of that piece being written, the online publication noted that “Amazon only operates 300 semi-trucks – FedEx, by contrast, operates more than 20,000 semi-trucks.” Additionally, in 2017 it had then been reported that the company was also reportedly attempting to bring 30,000 drivers into its company for solely its “last mile” services. Fast forward two years and we are not only seeing the driver shortage as be far more of an issue, but the trucking industry as a whole has been negatively affected. Most importantly, this is all prior to Amazon actually using the thousands of semi-trucks it has now purchased in 2019.

Amazon’s past decision to lure trucking industry drivers to its company has clearly had an impact on the industry as a whole. Unfortunately, the driver shortage is likely the least of trucking companies’ concerns at the moment. For example, in its article from 2018, Business Insider noted that the move by Amazon led some trucking companies to “primarily target the ‘spot market,’ which is for shipping agreements made only a few days before goods are shipped.” The reason for the trucking fleets to move to the spot market was primarily because this area in the market was far more lucrative than signing a third-party contract that could result in the manufacturer spending far more than is necessary over a longer period of time. At this time, the industry is suffering due to “spot market” rates crashing, not necessarily due to a driver shortage. Overall, while there have only been a few sightings of Amazon’s new tractors, the reality is that one of the world’s largest retailers is about to take the next step to maintain complete control over all of its business.

It cannot go without being said that the ramifications of Amazon bringing its delivery in-house will hinder much more than just the trucking industry. Large decisions such as these have ripple effects that will ultimately affect us all. Earlier in 2019 we wrote about how the trucking industry is losing many drivers, thus forcing older drivers to continue past retirement and potentially hiring drivers who may not actually be all that qualified or properly trained for the job. Such instances then potentially lead to older, overworked, and improperly trained drivers that are asked to drive thousands of miles across the country. Clearly there are circumstances that lead to traffic collisions and fatalities on the road, but decisions such as this, although rightfully made, certainly don’t make them any less likely to occur.

Automated Trucking Startup Offers More Questions Than Answers With New Announcement

November 13, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Ike Robotics, Inc. has been using a unique approach to developing and preparing its self-driving commercial trucks for market; however, there are growing concerns that such testing may be far too little to prove truly “safe.” Many have heard the horror stories of self-driving vehicles being tested on the road and the severe risks associated with such tests. The reality is that the companies releasing self-driving functions in their vehicles are doing so at a slow pace as they already know the roads are not quite ready to handle fully autonomous vehicles. For instance, what happens when a vehicle quickly cuts off another driver, or happens to try and dodge a pothole causing them to swerve slightly over the lane? While it is clear that self-driving vehicles have the ability to learn from simulations and situations that occur on the road while the vehicles are driving, there seems to be an issue as to whether testing such vehicles on public roadways is the proper thing to do. These are the exact factors these companies are having to consider to ensure that another Tesla mishap or uber autonomous car incident does not occur. Instead, we have seen auto manufacturers releasing impressive high-tech safety functions for their vehicles, including commercial trucks. Recently, Volvo announced it would be implementing a new driver assistance system that has the ability to automatically press a vehicle’s brakes at a much higher speed under circumstances that would have typically led to a collision. And that’s where the news of Ike’s safety tests for its state-of-the-art trucks comes into play.

Ike recently produced a 90-page safety report it provided to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which outlined that its process for testing was done solely on “simulation and private-track testing,” wrote Automotive News, a newspaper covering the trends of the industry. In addition, the publication reported that Ike’s safety report was the “16^th the federal agency has received from industry players and perhaps the first from a company that has yet to test its technology on public roads.” What this shows is that the self-driving technology we continue to hear about in the news from the likes of Tesla and other manufacturers is quickly becoming widespread even though there are already a growing number of concerns surrounding its use. Although Ike’s belief and decision to not test vehicles on the road is understandable and will likely prevent more collisions from occurring in the testing phase, how much “safer” is it to actually withhold testing on roads? It appears that at this time, unfortunately no one really knows, with Volvo’s own executive claiming in July that “measuring progress by miles was ‘a myth,’” stated Automotive News. Although an automobile manufacturing giant such as Volvo certainly has a track record of success in the industry, the reality is that many of the companies involved in actually testing these vehicles happen to be startups similar to Ike. The key word there is “startup.” Unfortunately, while Ike may believe that it is safer for its company to test on a track and under a variety of simulations, it could also be the fact that the company and other startups in this industry do not have the proper amount of funding to actually place a fleet of trucks on the roads for testing. The technology alone for these trucks costs millions of dollars, so for a startup banking on huge success and having to prove themselves to continue gaining the proper funding, this may be something the industry needs to keep a close eye on.

One good sign that startups like Ike may actually be close to bringing safe commercial trucks to the road is the fact that prominent manufacturers of vehicle safety equipment are entering agreements to be suppliers for their trucks. As of October 30, 2019, Ike announced it had selected Ouster, a leading manufacturer of high-resolution lidar sensors used in autonomous vehicles, to be its primary supplier for its fleet of autonomous trucks it plans to roll out. The press release went on to state, “Ouster and Ike share a commitment to commercializing safe, impactful technology by focusing on practically-minded product development.” The hope is that the more autonomous vehicles become a regularity on the road, clearly beginning with non-commercial vehicles, the easier it will be for more companies to continue become the suppliers of these up-and-coming automotive manufacturers. The issue that we clearly see at this time; however, is the reality that these startups are unlike anything we have ever seen. Sure, we often hear about new tech startups in Silicon Valley, but does function potentially place millions of individuals at a physical safety risk like an autonomous vehicle would? This is not to say that autonomous vehicles, especially trucks are not a possibility, but the reality is that there are millions of miles of roads in the United States and each one is going to offer a different scenario for these autonomous trucks to respond to. All in all, safety and ensuring that this next step in technology doesn’t hinder other drivers on the road should be our absolute worry in this stage of the evolution of the trucking industry.