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Trucking Implements Social Distancing and Sanitation as New Normal

August 31, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

As coronavirus continues affecting the nation, truckers have had to implement new sanitation and social distancing techniques into their daily lives. Now, it is the new normal for the industry.

According to the CDC, truckers must: always keep a distance of 6 feet away from anyone else whenever possible; limit outside-of-cab time while fueling, loading, unloading, and when at truck stops; use paperless invoicing; make appointments with facilities ahead of unloading activities; communicate with dock managers via phone; pack food and water to limit the number of stops on the road; avoid shaking hands; and keep trucks well-ventilated.

The CDC also wants truck drivers to continue wearing cloth face coverings whenever they may be in a public area, as well as to regularly clean and disinfect surfaces such as: the truck cab, including door handles, the steering wheel, seat belts, arm and head rests, the turn signal, wiper controls, the dashboard, and temperature controls; the sleeper berth, including light switches, the mattress tray, and other flat surfaces. They must also always request anyone else using the truck thoroughly disinfects it before returning it back and that all disinfection routines include diluted household bleach solutions or alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol.

Although these guidelines are appreciated and understood, adhering to them hasn’t been so simple, as many of these necessary materials have been scarce, even for the trucking industry. To keep risk to a minimum as truckers serve areas of the country with the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases, the industry has had to find new and creative ways to keep its employees safe.

For example, Grand Island Express has had a particularly difficult time finding cleaning supplies and personal protective gear. The company had to use extra T-shirts found in storage to make masks and also had to source cleaning products from a restaurant supplier connection.

“It is forcing us to think outside of the box,” said Grand Island director of operations, Deen Albert.

One driver for the company, Josh Rodriguez, said even these unorthodox provisions have helped him feel safer when heading into areas with heavy virus numbers. Rodriguez wears a mask, gloves, and keeps hand sanitizer ready at all times.

“I feel as safe as I can in this situation with the interactions we have,” he said. “I don’t want to drive myself crazy, but I want to balance it with the proper precautions.”

Still, other fleets are struggling to find necessary protective supplies as well. C.R. England’s director of management series, David Allred, said his fleet has had to find loopholes in obtaining effective hand sanitizer.

“We had to get creative,” he said, “such as using a four-ounce restaurant squeeze bottle for hand sanitizer.” C.R. England is also still working to find enough masks and gloves for all employees.

“However, since bulk orders have been back-ordered for some time, we still encourage all our employees to take the initiative to secure these items for themselves first, and the company will provide supplemental support,” he explained.

Because of that, C.R. England driver and trainer John Goode has relied on family for sanitation supply help. His aunt is a dentist, so she was able to give him much-needed gloves and masks once her practice shutdown during the pandemic.

“Every time we leave the truck, we put our surgical gloves on and put our mask on, and we don’t bring the gloves back in the truck with us,” said Goode. “After we do that, we sanitize our hands with the hand sanitizer, and we take the Clorox wipes and wipe down everything.”

Social distancing has had to become routine, as well, although it is not always easy in this industry.

“On the road, many shippers are not allowing drivers to access their docks,” said Averitt Express president Wayne Spain. “When they do have access to the dock and need to interact with a customer, they are keeping adequate space in between one another.”

Over-the-road Averitt driver Chris Yohn said customer locations are working to take initiative on social distancing.

“Shippers and receivers are doing their best to keep everyone separated,” he said.

These measures are even implemented when paperwork and signatures are needed.

“When it comes to paperwork, I’ll place the forms on a table for [the customer] to initial so that we can keep an appropriate distance from each other,” another Averitt driver, Manny Rodriguez, explained.

Grand Island’s Rodriguez also said customers have been marking 6 feet distances to create easier separation between themselves and drivers.

“They’ve been enforcing that,” he said. “Before, you’d be standing in line with eight to 10 drivers. Now, there are no more than three inside, and the rest wait outside.”

Driver Stress Reaches Peak in Midst of Pandemic

August 30, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

As truck drivers continue working on the country’s front lines during the response to this pandemic, many are regularly–and stressfully–heading straight into areas heavily impacted by the virus.

In order to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 while delivering food, household items, and essential supplies, drivers have had to up their sanitation game and find ways to social distance while on the job. Truckers have had to wear personal protective equipment and clean the inside of their cabs regularly, even though hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves have often been hard to come by.

Because of this, fleets have had to find creative (but still effective) ways to stay healthy and germ-free. However, many drivers have expressed their feelings of vulnerability when they haven’t been able to easily find the items they need during this time.

“I feel like I’m running through a fire with gasoline britches on,” said owner-operator Ingrid Brown, who has been delivering food throughout New York and has had trouble getting necessary personal protective gear. “When I get back in my truck, I can’t wipe the steering wheel down. I have no masks, no gloves, no Clorox wipes, nothing.”

Director of operations at Grand Island Express, Deen Albert, said the lack of cleaning supplies his company has had on hand have brought unprecedented challenges. For example, Green Island has had its office staff work together to repurpose extra T-shirts from the company’s storage room in order to make masks, and has sourced cleaning products from a restaurant supplier.

“It is forcing us to think outside of the box,” Albert said.

While fleets are finding loophole methods to keeping drivers as safe as possible, trucker stress levels have reached exceptionally high levels–not just due to obstacles in obtaining PPE and sanitization products, but in regards to mental health, as well.

“At one hospital, I have to park at the dock and then walk into the front of the building to have my temperature checked before they will accept the delivery,” said Averitt Express city driver, Robert Carrillo. “I then have to walk back around the building to the dock to unload the trailer.”

The Chicago driver said making these deliveries to hospitals is nerve-wracking, although he always keeps his cab sanitized and wears a mask.

Truckers have also been extraordinarily isolated, as social distancing regulations have limited in-person contact among shippers, truck stop workers, customers and drivers.

“I don’t get to talk to my customers anymore,” Carrillo explained. “It’s hard. To cope with it, I talk to other drivers. We are our support system.” St. Louis Averitt Express over-the-road driver Sean Linton agreed, saying although isolation was prevalent in the industry pre-pandemic, it has gotten much worse.

“We think twice now before striking up a conversation with a person, which keeps us less social,” Linton said. “I try to stay in contact with my close friends and family more now just to hear a friendly voice on the phone.”

Typically, truck drivers will socialize with other industry workers at restaurants or driver lounges, but “that has been taken away,” said Cargo Transporters driver Rebekah Koon.

Charlotte, North Carolina Averitt over-the-road driver Chris Yohn echoed her sentiments.

“I miss being able to give handshakes to my fellow coworkers. I miss being able to have a meal at a truck stop surrounded by other drivers,” Yohn lamented. “There is no real way to combat the isolation. It’s just something we have to live with for now.”

Albert said Grand Island has brought regular face-to-face interaction to virtual town hall conferences that truckers can call into as a way to increase communication throughout the company.

“I do those once a week at several different times to try to accommodate everybody’s schedule,” said Albert. He also explained that he wants to address any concerns at hand and keep drivers informed on new developments.

This is extremely important, Albert said, because “driver stress is at an all-time high. They have a lot to worry about on the road.”

Additionally, many companies recognize that drivers need to feel comfortable with their routes and the manner of deliveries they have to make.

“If a driver feels unsafe to drive right now, we don’t compel them to work,” said senior vice president at Quality Transport Co., Amanda Schuier.

There are even truckers who often decide to work for longer periods at a time in order to keep loved ones safe and boost their ability to social-distance.

Cargo Transporters’ Koon said that she has immunocompromised family members, so she has decided to stay on the road until the pandemic clears substantially. Luckily, she has a bigger-than-usual cab, which makes life on the road a bit easier.

“When you’re in isolation as a trucker, that 10 feet or 7.5 feet is everything,” she said.

Transportation Experts Say More Funds Needed to Navigate COVID-19

August 29, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

As various transportation groups work around the obstacles brought on by COVID-19, industry experts are saying more federal funding is extremely necessary.

“The folks closest to the work usually have the best thoughts and suggestions to bring forward, anyway,” said former Bay Area Rapid Transit general manager, Grace Crunican, of the importance in keeping transit employees on the job.

As of the beginning of June, federal funding programs offering COVID-19 related aid to local and state transit grants had expenditures of about $3 billion out of a total of $25 billion in appropriations, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. $159 billion of total funds had been disbursed by that time, including funds for Medicaid, airport grants, and the Education Stabilization Fund. According to Crunican, transportation industry agencies need more. She believes the industry would benefit greatly from further funding following the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Crunican said that this is an ideal time for cities to undergo repair projects, as well.

“Now is an incredible time for rail systems to do state-of-good repair work,” she said. “It’s a good time to invest in a rail system and get the system back in order. Any funding that could be provided to systems that have plans in place would be an added boost.”

She explained further that all transportation systems would have their own unique difficulties in getting needed repairs off the ground. Still, Crunican wants city authorities to listen to public transit riders regarding what would make them feel safest in returning to transportation systems once regular schedules resume.

“There’s alot of uncertainty that’s out there, Crunican continued. “I think transit reflects the rest of the country. Every system is different. People are still trying to feel their way back to what they know.”

She also said many transit groups have begun implementing new ways of keeping employees and riders safe during COVID-19, like utilizing social distance markers and creating barriers around bus drivers.

At last month’s Eno Center for Transportation’s webinar for industry professionals, Eno Center president Robert Puentes echoed Crunican’s statements.

Puentes said that reduced tax revenue and overall ridership have been results of nationwide stay-at-home orders, and that the pandemic is expected to reduce state transit revenue by $50 billion over the next year and a half, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

“These ongoing health concerns mean that the timing of return-to-normal operations are still uncertain,” Puentes said.

American Public Transportation Association director of policy development and research, Darnell Grisby, said the decreased numbers of overall traffic as a result of the pandemic have brought ample time to recreate street networks in order to finally meet the needs of pedestrians and public transportation systems.

“This is a great opportunity to take this crisis and do something with it,” said Grisby.

In order to help the public feel secure that public transit will be safe to use, Uber Technologies Inc. head of global policy for public transportation, Christopher Pangilinan, believes hard evidence will be the most effective tool. He noted New York’s subway system of the 1980s, which many locals refused to use due to concerns of safety.

“We don’t want that to happen again because of COVID,” he explained.

During this time, the Department of Transportation is also working with GAO to increase “communication efforts with stakeholders on coordination opportunities, including its plans to reorganize technical assistance center web pages to centralize information and best practices,” according to GAO’s website. GAO also said it believes a “comprehensive communication plan” is necessary for stakeholders to stay informed of “opportunities to enhance rural transit services.”

GAO also mentioned that because CARES Act funds will be distributed to public transportation, including that of rural areas “that have not previously received FTA funds,” this boosted communication between agencies will be particularly necessary.

This comprehensive communication, GAO said, is recommended in order to ensure that “FTA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) identify and develop controls to address the risk of duplicate funding,” including methods to better identify all transit expenses in applications sent to FEMA by cities and counties.

Automated Truck Corridor Funded Thanks to Indiana and Ohio DOT Efforts

August 24, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A federal grant of $4.4 million has been given to a team including the departments of transportation from Indiana and Ohio for their efforts in building an automated truck corridor along Interstate 70, which runs between Indianapolis and Columbus.

This award is one of 10 given by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration through its Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment program, and will be part of $45 million in state-matching funds.

This particular project is meant to bring easier routes to truck automation vendors and freight companies to deploy their automated vehicle technology in regular revenue service across the interstate.

“Ohio’s I-70 Truck Automation Corridor project represents a model for other states in promoting technologies that will make freight transport and America’s economy more efficient,” said Nicole Nason, FHWA Administrator.

The ATCMTD grant program will fund beginning technology developments that aim to bring overall improvement to large transportation systems.

“As self-driving technology matures, it is important that everyone has a seat at the table,” said DriveOhio interim executive director, Patrick Smith. DriveOhio is a state government group helping to coordinate this project. “With the coalition of public, private, and research institutions that we have built, we’re confident this project will provide valuable insights to [the U.S. Department of Transportation] and [to the] industry as we develop smart logistics policies, procedures, and technology standards that will be shared across the nation.”

DriveOhio has also been urging Plus.ai, a self-driving truck company, to expand its in-state testing after previously conducting AV testing in Ohio.

“Connected and autonomous driving technology is revolutionizing how we move people and products across our country,” said Joe McGuinness, INDOT Commissioner. “Indiana and Ohio are proud to partner with U.S. DOT to lead in the deployment of technology in a multi-state highway corridor that will guide the future of automated driving and freight movement.”

DriveOhio’s managing director of communications, Luke Stedke, said the corridor project will have three different deployments: truck platooning, SAE Level 2, and SAE Level 4. This tiered approach will take place over a four-year span, with driving automation categorized on a scale between levels 0 and 5. Level 5 will mean the vehicle has reached complete driving automation capability.

“We want to make sure that it’s safe, but we also want to make sure that we’re trying to move the ball forward and mature the technology,” said Stedke.

In addition to DriveOhio, the project team also includes the Transportation Research Center, an independent facility out of Easy Liberty, Ohio that conducts research and progresses vehicle development and testing. TRC will provide professional driver training for host fleets as well as an automation audit of the corridor, according to DriveOhio.

“During public road testing, a professional driver will be at the wheel always should human intervention be needed,” DriveOhio explained. “The project data gathered will be shared with USDOT to inform the development of policies and procedures to be scaled across the United States.”

According to Stedke, the purpose of the automation audit will be to assess striping and pavement conditions in order to find what areas of I-70 need immediate improvements.

INDOT also says both Indiana and Ohio are vital for freight operations. Both states are within a day’s drive of 60% of American and Canadian populations.

Stedke also said this project will help everyone involved to get the word out about automated technology on a mass scale.

“It’s a chance for us as DriveOhio and the Ohio Department of Transportation to start the conversation about what the public should expect when it comes to freight,” said Stedke. “Both for the states of Ohio and Indiana, freight is a big driver of our economic activity. We want to make sure that we’re being clear when we articulate with citizens of Ohio and Indiana what to expect.”

From the grant’s funding, Florida was the largest recipient, receiving $10 million for its Regional Advanced Mobility Elements project on Interstate 4. The project, nicknamed I-4 FRAME, will utilize “next-generation” traffic management and vehicle-to-infrastructure tech, so that drivers can receive real-time traffic, intersection signal timing, and weather-related messages.

“The program selections this year aim to benefit communities across the country by improving safety and efficiency on our roads through the deployment of advanced technologies,” said FHWA’s Nason.

Technology Proves to be More Important Than Ever for Trucking During Pandemic

August 23, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Throughout the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, technology has played a major role in how trucking companies have been able to work through the changes and challenges of the industry during an economic shift.

“When you think about it from a technology standpoint, it’s all about communication and it’s about information,” said senior vice president of sales at NFI Industries, William Mahoney. “So, [this includes] being diligent and trying to do more with less.”

Employee health and safety has become a main focus of most trucking companies at this time, as well. In these efforts, technology has also helped companies reduce the number of in-person interactions typically required of daily duties.

“Our core value of safety in regard to drivers, dockworkers, office personnel, customers, and all essential members of the supply chain has been the primary focus of our technology and process improvements,” said Saia vice president of line-haul and industrial engineering, Patrick Sugar. “This pandemic has led us to challenge the way we think as an organization.”

One example of Saia’s implementation of helpful technology in the midst of COVID-19 has been the use of a time clock application within its employee portal, which is currently allowing for mobile and remote access for workers.

“From employees arriving to the terminal to clocking out at the end of the day, every process has been evaluated and modified in order to reduce face-to-face interaction,” Sugar explained. “We have leveraged technology where capable in the short time, and have built mid- and long-term technology road maps to create process resiliency.”

Many technological tools used in offices and vehicles to adapt with the current changes and to continue to allow loads to be efficiently booked and hauled are web-based solutions, said Trimble Transportation director of product management mobility, Jenna Dobrovolny. She also said the ability to work remotely has been a key component of these updates, as well.

As telematics systems automate dispatching, driver monitoring, hours-of-service compliance, and GPS location efforts, they play an important part in allowing workers to work remotely. When these systems are paired with safety devices like in-cab cameras, cargo monitors, collision avoidance systems, and lane departure control, fleets can have double the benefits.

“Telematics solutions are vital in the current situation,” said Mix Telematics head of global market, Jonathan Bates. “A fleet can only take care of safety if it knows what is happening every second of every day with its drivers and vehicles.”

Fleets’ safety systems can also be accessed remotely, said Stefan Heck, CEO of Nauto. Nauto’s in-cab camera technology has allowed safety personnel to work from home. This way, they give their feedback through the system application’s web portal.

The amount of data collected by telematics systems is currently more vital than ever, said Omnitracts CEO, Ray Greer.

“This unprecedented disruption means that drivers and fleets need to be much more reliant on real-time data from all tiers of the distribution model,” Greer explained. “Real-time routing and rerouting will be crucial in ensuring timely delivery of anything from basic goods to protective gear.”

For Estes Express Lines, touchless delivery has become a regular aspect of day-to-day activity. The company has stopped delivery appointment and signature requirements and keeps customers up-to-date on shipments via texts and phone calls. Vice president of process improvement at Estes, Webb Estes, says customers have taken the changes well.

“It’s important to understand that consumers don’t view the shipment and delivery process any differently from their online shopping experience,” Estes said. “To them, it is one continuous process.”

For NFI, technology has helped to analyze the market changes that have taken place since the beginning of the pandemic, as the company has dealt with higher-than-usual demand for essential services.

“How do we maximize the miles and hours that our drivers have to drive? ” Mahoney asked. “Because, right now, business has slowed down in so many verticals, like automotive.”

Will Connell, Gulf Intermodal Services President, praises the ability of technology to make the current necessary recovery a different process from that of previous economic crises.

“What’s different today than what happened in the Great Recession is the technology is much greater,” said Connell. “So, we’re able to leverage the technology that we have in the truck with our internal transportation management system.”

SmartDrive Video Safety Program to be Installed in All Knight-Swift Fleets

August 22, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

SmartDrive will be installing its video-based safety technology throughout Swift Transportation’s entire fleet across the United States and Mexico. Although Swift merged with Knight Transportation in September of 2017, Swift is just now using the safety program already utilized by Knight.

Swift Transportation’s focus is to boost its overall safety capabilities, as it joins not only Knight but hundreds of other fleets that are currently using SmartDrive’s system.

“Smart Drive allows our drivers and fleets to clearly see and measure safety performance, which allows the company to foster meaningful ownership of safety performance,” said company CEO, Dave Jackson. “SmartDrive excels in aligning drivers, operations, and management around insightful and actionable metrics, allowing us to reinforce our safety culture of accountability throughout our entire organization.”

Swift Transportation believes this program will help its drivers to execute their own performance improvement through the safety score metrics they receive as well as the system’s helpful dashboard technology.

“Knight Transportation has experienced meaningful reductions in collisions rates since installing SmartDrive in its fleet,” said Knight-Swift Transportation senior vice president of safety and risk management, Brett Sant. “That experience was instructive in the decision, ultimately, to roll out the SmartDrive program within our Swift fleets.”

Once SmartDrive was implemented into the company’s fleets, Sant knew it would create a manner of individual driver responsibility for overall safety. “We wanted to create some useful and clear visibility,” he said, “so people can see how they are doing and improve.”

Currently, Knight-Swift operates a fleet of around 19,300 tractors and 68,000 trailers and containers. The Phoenix-headquartered company also has around 25,000 employees and provides full services in truckloads and logistics throughout the entire continent of North America.

“We are grateful for the work SmartDrive has done and the positive impact the SmartDrive team has had on our fleet’s safety,” Sant said.

Jackson’s goal for the company, from day one, was “to be the safest company in the truckload industry the world has ever seen. I don’t think that is mutually exclusive with being the largest and most profitable. For us, we define success as being the most profitable and safest company on the road.”

Because of this, company executives worked to “de-risk” Swift as much as possible with safety blueprints already in use by Knight. “We tried to learn everything we could [about Swift] and use the data to help guide what was working and what needed to be improved,” said Jackson.

From the beginning, the company’s top priorities were to establish driver training systems, as well as accountability systems, to foster a culture of safety among all employees.

“We started with the foundational part. Did we have the right people?” Sant said. “We had the right principles guiding what we were doing.”

This is when Knight executives focused on safety technology, and reached a decision in March of this year to replace the previous Lytx DriveCam technology used by Swift with SmartDrive.

Because Knight had been using SmartDrive’s video-based system since 2016, the company knew that experience was going to be “very positive” throughout Swift’s vehicles, Sant explained.

Jackson added that with the technology, Knight has had large declines in its DOT-recordable crashes, as well as insurance reductions and decreases in accident claims costs.

These positive changes came from both SmartDrive external recording cameras and driver-facing cameras. These are used in collaboration because “we don’t feel like an inward [camera] adds value or creates those conditions that are really critical to our culture at this time,” said Sant.

“It’s not the first step that you do to improve the safety of a fleet,” Jackson said of external cameras, “because anybody can go buy a camera, but not everybody gets the same results.”

SmartDrive’s user interface was a major factor in Swift deciding to implement the technology into its vehicles. The dashboard “allows us to not only see but effectively quantify how people are performing to create some visibility and ownership around performance,” explained Sant.

SmartDrive’s system monitors driver data, as well as the vehicle’s ECM, to spot unsafe driving behaviors (like speeding or following another vehicle too closely). A driver’s speed can also be measured in relation to driving conditions with an advanced feature of the system.

Then, SmartDrive calculates scores based on safety and gives real-time feedback to drivers. These scores are focused on safe behaviors as opposed to looking at all individual events that take place during a drive, said SmartDrive CEO, Steve Mitgang.

“The goal isn’t to have 10 less harsh braking events,” he said. “What you want is a driver to drive at the top of his game. Our score represents how the driver is doing, not just how much they did good or bad.”