Depression is becoming a common problem among Americans today.  Jobs that impose high levels of psychological demands such as truck driving may be at an increased risk.  Things such as sleep deprivation and loneliness are common among truck drivers and create more cases of depression.  Although this life style is a hard one there are certain steps that can be taken to help with depression and improve the life of all drivers.

One way to prevent depression is to maintain a healthy life style. Eating healthy and exercising as much as possible while on the road will improve your over all mood and energy.  Try to add more fruits and vegetables into your diet and drink more water.  Doing this will improve your over all quality of life and will help you feel happier and better about yourself.

Another tip to avoid depression is to reach out and help someone else.  Psychologists sometimes recommend volunteer work to their patients as a healing mechanism.  Although its hard to volunteer while on the road look for small opportunities to help another person out. Open the door for someone walking into the convenient store, slow down to let a car in your lane, or say thank you to anyone that helps you along the way.  Any little bit helps and as you help others you are really helping yourself.

Keeping in communication with family and friends is a great way to fight depression.  This may be the hardest one but it is effective. Call when you are at stop, write a letter when you can’t sleep or send a postcard from a favorite city.  Any communication is appreciated and it gives you something productive to do and think about.

Even if you aren’t fighting with depression these steps are a great way to improve the over all quality of your life.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Truck-Drivers-Can-Beat-Back-the-Depression-Monster&id=2424447

His history is interesting enough.  He served in the 28^th Airborne Tank Battalion in World War II and came home, married Rose and they operated a trucking company they named “Roaming Rosie”.  They traveled the country together as well as staying physically active.  They boated, did skin diving, and even archery.  They had a wonderful life together.  When Rosie passed away, he moved and made new friends.  Now he has taken up biking.

Al loves to bike with his children and grandchildren.  Last year, he, his daughter, and grandson, rode the Columbus Ohio Zoo ride along with 4,500 other people.  He fell, but only scraped his knee.  He got up and finished the race!

When truck driving, Al and Rosie Weidtz’ “Roaming Rosie” trucks were known as the “Knights of the Road” and traveled though out all of the United States.  Back in 1959, they travelled from the Ohio area to the New York City and back, making a whole $100 a trip.  Times have definitely changed.

People have such interesting stories and finding this article this morning has reminded me to live.  I may sit in a cab and see the scenery, but this reminds to get out of my cab once in awhile and enjoy what I see.  Maybe I’ll take up biking someday and since I’m not quite 90 yet, I could try 200 miles a week.  Nah, I’ll stick with 5 to start out.

http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/537089.html?nav=515

Do you know what this means?  It means that fleet owners have a more simplified process of gathering information from their trucks and save money as well.  As the article states;

“Qualcomm’s Service Fleet Manager mobile resource management system uses GPS technology to give fleets visibility into their assets and provide an immediate snapshot of critical vehicle information through a web-based interface.”

Earthtimes.org wrote an article about the MRM/Driving Behavior Solution, and interviewed Norman Ellis.  He is quoted as saying:

“Mobile resource management and driver safety are vital issues to every local service fleet,” said Norman Ellis, vice president of sales, services and marketing at Qualcomm Enterprise Services.  ”GreenRoad’s unique driving behavior service offers a different dimension to our mobile resource management offering, enabling our customers to obtain more value from each of the two services.  We are proud to work with GreenRoad and offer the first combined mobile resource management and driving behavior service.”

If one of a fleet owner’s truck drivers takes risk that could hurt people or their truck, the information is instantly sent back to the office so that someone is aware and can take immediate action.  This is a wonderful program that may save lives.

Save money and have more access to truck information to protect from hazardous driving and mechanical problems.  That’s a win-win for me!

http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=69729&news_category_id=52

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/qualcomm-and-greenroad-to-provide,1205165.shtml

In February, the North Carolina state Highway Patrol started a safety campaign that focuses on aggressive drivers.  They call it “Operation Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks, (TACT) and are looking at both truck drivers and those driving too aggressive near the trucks.

The same thing happened last summer in an Idaho county.  They were looking specifically for drivers driving aggressively near trucks.

Paul McDaniel, an instructor for the SAGE Truck Driving School in the area, stated, “Aggressive driving includes tailgating big trucks, cutting them off, or staying in their blind spots… It’s a huge problem for everybody, especially for trucks.”

The Idaho State Police were very clever and were passengers in a truck on I-15.   The police gave out 34 citations to drivers in Idaho and handed out brochures on why the police are cracking down on reckless driving around trucks and how to drive safer in their vicinity.

Last September, Alabama police ran a similar campaign because of safety issues rising in their state from reckless drivers around trucks.

These ticketing campaigns bring the issue to the front about safety and the road.  It looks like states are starting to look into it pretty seriously.

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/7072105/

http://www.kidk.com/news/local/51521397.html

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/09/alabama_to_continue_targeting.html

YRC representatives are saying that they have been able to negotiate extensions with there creditors. “The company will be open for business as usual on Monday,” said YRC spokeswoman Suzanne Dawson.

This is good news for the employees of the company here is that are going to be able to keep their jobs. Teamsters have argued that any bankruptcy for YRC could leave up to 30,000 people without jobs.

YRC also has said its lenders have extended certain key terms of its credit agreement to Jan. 11. This will keep their plans of a debt exchange on course keeping the company in business.

We will keep up on this issue because of the ripple effect that would take place if YRC were to fail. The original KansasCity.com article by Randolph Heaster can be found: http://www.kansascity.com/194/story/1657676.html?storylink=omni_popular

In fact the article gives many reasons why increasing weight limits to nearly 100,000 pounds is not likely in the short term despite all the advantages. According to the article issues like road maintenance and bridge repairs all must take place before heavier trucks can be allowed on America’s highways. Bridge repairs are certainly a major issue in Minnesota after the tragedy of a few years ago when a bridge collapsed.

The article listed a pretty alarming number when it cam to the amount of money needed to bring roads up to speed. The article listed an infrastructure gap of over 1.5 trillion dollars in America.

The main reasons that many are behind the increase in allowable weight are often related to cost cutting. Issues like reduced fuel costs and reduced per-item shipping costs are at the top of the list along with reductions in pollution from those cuts.

This issue will be debated for quite a while. Here is address for the complete article from the start tribune: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/80027422.html?page=2&c=y

Yesterday FOX23.com reported that drivers lost their jobs abruptly. The Tulsa-based company Arrow Trucking closed its doors with little warning. Close to 1400 drivers are stranded with their fuel cards shut off. Every one in the industry is praying that the stranded drivers make it home for the holidays.

Already more news has surfaced since the work stoppage at Arrow. Many carriers are looking to lend a hand to the stranded drivers. Some are even offering trucking jobs. One witness said they were “fired and hired in the same parking lot.”

CR England has sent a Qualcomm to its fleet of drivers giving them an incentive to reach out to Arrow drivers who are now unemployed. CR England has many driving opportunities available and urges former Arrow trucking drivers to apply with the company.
This is the most terrible time of year to have this kind of thing happen. If you were affected by the Arrow stoppage, we wish you no more bad news this holiday season and have a merry Christmas and blessed holidays.

The original Fox23.com article by Frank Wiley can be found at http://www.fox23.com/mostpopular/story/Arrow-Truckers-Get-Devastating-News/-aHk3dWEh06NMa95JOwGmA.cspx

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — YRC Worldwide Inc. bonds fell after the trucking company trying to avoid bankruptcy said it needed to extend the deadline for a debt exchange in order to convince enough bondholders to tender the securities.YRC, the biggest U.S. trucker by sales, is extending the exchange offer deadline to Dec. 23, after investors holding 75 percent of its debt initially agreed to the exchange, below the 95 percent required by bank lenders. As of 5 p.m. in New York yesterday, participation fell to 57 percent, the Overland Park, Kansas-based company said in a statement. The company said it believes some bondholders have withdrawn because they want to tender their notes only on the expiration date.“This moves the company backwards in its efforts to restructure out of court and again increases the probability of a bankruptcy filing in the near-term,” David Ross, a Baltimore- based analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., wrote in a note today. Ross has a “sell” rating on the stock.YRC’s $150 million of 8.5 percent notes due in April fell 2.5 cents on the dollar to 58.5 cents as of 12 p.m. in New York, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.The company’s shares fell 7 cents, or 6.8 percent, to 94 cents, after earlier rising as much as 15 percent, on the Nasdaq Stock Market.The extension was announced a day after International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was creating derivatives trades that would profit from YRC’s bankruptcy.‘Actively Soliciting’The most profitable Wall Street firm in history “is actively soliciting bond trades for clients and underwriting credit-default swaps to benefit from a failed exchange and resulting bankruptcy,” Hoffa, the union leader, wrote in a letter dated yesterday to Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein.YRC, which has posted more than $1.7 billion in losses in the past five quarters, must complete the exchange offer as part of agreements with its bank lenders, the Teamsters and multi- employer pension funds, according to a Nov. 24 regulatory filing.The company has faced opposition to its plan to exchange $536.8 million of notes for equity from bondholders who also own derivatives that pay out in a default, according to people familiar with the matter. The Teamsters’ pressure comes as Goldman Sachs is being criticized from other labor groups for its role in the subprime mortgage crisis.Revised TermsThe company changed the terms of the exchange so that it now requires 70 percent of holders of its 8.5 percent notes and a combined 85 percent of its 3.375 percent convertible notes and 5 percent convertibles, both due in 2023, to tender. Lenders holding two-thirds of commitments under the company’s credit agreement need to approve the revised offer, YRC said in its statement today. The company said it reached a tentative agreement with a steering committee of lenders to approve the revised offer.YRC joins companies including Yellow Pages publisher Idearc Inc. that met opposition to restructuring outside of bankruptcy court from creditors that hedged their holdings with credit- default swaps. Such creditors will typically get paid whether a borrower defaults or not, and sometimes can make more in a bankruptcy.The Teamsters aren’t the only union taking on Goldman Sachs. Workers United, which represents 150,000 people in the U.S. and Canada, sent letters on Dec. 14 to 10 state attorneys general that urged them to investigate the role played by Goldman Sachs in the subprime mortgage market. The union noted that Massachusetts won a $60 million settlement from the firm in May when it undertook such a probe.Mortgage RoleAndy Stern, president of the 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union, has led a letter-writing campaign to Goldman Sachs board members demanding information on the firm’s part in the mortgage crisis and whether the companies they’ve invested in are cutting jobs.Hoffa wrote that “the relatively small benefit Goldman would derive for itself in fees or for clients from such a position is unconscionable given the fact that the 50,000 livelihoods could be ruined by a bankruptcy filing,” according to the letter obtained by Bloomberg News.Michael DuVally, a spokesman for New York-based Goldman Sachs, confirmed the bank received the letter and said in an interview today that it was “actively exploring ways to help” YRC. He declined to elaborate on any aspect of how the bank may do so.“Goldman does not have a position in the company, nor are we making markets in the company’s bonds or credit-default swaps,” DuVally said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon.E-mail OffersGoldman Sachs sent e-mails to debt investors at around 11 a.m. yesterday in New York, offering pricing levels on YRC bonds and credit-default swaps and saying that $25 million of the bonds and swaps were “trading here,” according to people familiar with the matter.DuVally declined to comment further on YRC or the e-mails.Iain Gold, a director in the Teamsters’ strategic research department, also confirmed the contents of the letter.“If it was going on, maybe they stopped,” Gold said in an interview today. “They told us they weren’t doing it, so we have to take them on face value. But we’re going to continue to monitor and if we get intelligence that they’re doing something differently, we’re going to raise it.”Hoffa, 68, has led the Teamsters since 1998. The Teamsters union represents 1.4 million members, according to its Web site.‘Strongly Take Issue’Credit-default swaps are financial instruments based on bonds and loans that are used to hedge against losses or to speculate on a company’s ability to repay debt. They pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a borrower fail to adhere to its debt agreements.In response to labor statements over Goldman Sachs’s role with mortgages issued to borrowers with the weakest credit, DuVally said in an e-mail that “we strongly take issue with the assertions the union makes. For example, Goldman Sachs was never one of the larger issuers of subprime securities.”During 2006, when the housing bubble started to burst, Goldman Sachs was the 13th-largest issuer and sixth-largest underwriter of securities backed by subprime or second mortgages, according to newsletter Inside MBS & ABS.It was the seventh-largest issuer and sixth-largest underwriter of bonds backed by Alt-A loans, which are a step higher in credit quality. Issuers acquired and packaged the loans into securities, while underwriters sold the bonds that were created, including those created by others, to debt investors.To contact the reporters on this story: Pierre Paulden in New York at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Shannon D. Harrington in New York at sharrington6@bloomberg.netLast Updated: December 17, 2009 16:50 EST

YRC Bonds Fall as Deadline Extended, Hoffa Complains (Update1) – Bloomberg.com

Utah sees a lot of traffic because of the geography in the west. The canyons of the Colorado River and the Sierra Nevada Mountains push the California traffic towards Salt Lake City. This puts a lot of trucks on I-15 and on I-80.

With all the truck traffic on Utah’s highways the state of Utah and the Utah Department of Transportation have set up a specific planning division to see that the highways in Utah are trucking industry friendly. For information about the UDOT planning division click here.

Utah is at the crossroads of the west. When it comes to refrigerated freight coming from the west coast, all roads head through the state. To increase the efficiency at which freight flows across the state and into other parts of the country the planning division makes additional plans for climbing lanes and passing lanes. We all know every once in a while we are truly grateful when we come across that passing lane.

If you’re a truck driver that is not familiar with highways in Utah, someday you maybe as freight through the state of Utah will increase into 2035. For truck drivers considering a trucking job, check out what CR England has to offer on our website http://www.CREngland.com.

The sale includes not only the customer contracts but the deal will also include the trucks and trailers. YRC will be using the proceeds to help to pay down the struggling trucking company’s revolving credit facility.

Greatwide Logistics Services is a Texas-based company that provides national truckload transportation and warehouse distribution services in the U.S.A.

The president of the division being sold, John Carr said Tuesday, “This sale is a strategic move toward a more asset-light business model and aligns resources at YRC Logistics to focus on our core offerings, including transportation, distribution and global services.”

Certainly more changes may be on the horizon for YRC as the company transitions to its more “asset-light” business model. We will keep up to date on the story as it unfolds. YRC is a very large trucking company and spans all aspects of the transportation industry an is viewed by some as a barometer of the industry as a whole.

All trucking companies have felt the pressure of the economic downturn. Jobs have been lost and businesses closed. If your a driver many of the surviving trucking companies are still looking for qualified truck drivers. If you’re looking to make a switch, to a company with a solid foundation, CR England is looking for experienced drivers. Check out our website for more information about driving and training options.

The original Dow Jones Newswires article was written by Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; joan.solsman@ dowjones.com