Archive for the ‘Trucking News’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Truck Drivers Who Inspire Me

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

I found this article online this morning that inspired me to keep living even when I’m 90 years old.  Al Weidtz, a retired trucker, is riding his bike in the “Wheeling Heritage Trail Bicycle Tour” for the fourth straight year.  He rides his bike about a 100-miles a week, can you believe it?

His history is interesting enough.  He served in the 28th 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

Tags: , ,
Posted in CDL Jobs, Truck Driver, Truck Jobs, Trucking News, Wellness | No Comments »

MRM/Driving Behavior As One

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Check this out!  Qualcomm and GreenRoad are working together and they have created a device that actually monitors “safety and driving behavior.”  Called the MRM/Driving Behavior Solution, it is the first in existence of one mechanism that sends feedback information about mobile resource management and driving behavior management from one source of data.  Very cool indeed!

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

Tags: ,
Posted in Truck Driver, Truck Driving Jobs, Truck Jobs, Trucking News | No Comments »

Police Citating Cars That Cut Off Trucks

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Who says the highway patrol is against the trucking companies ? Here is an article that ran not to long ago that says quite the opposite.’

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

Tags: , ,
Posted in Trucking News | No Comments »

Some Good News For the Teamsters and YRC

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Kansascity.com ran an article that has put YRC worldwide into the news. This time for a change the story may be something positive.

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

Tags:
Posted in Trucking News | 1 Comment »

Heavier Trucks Can Wait

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Big yellow truckA few months ago we ran a news article that discussed the possibility of heavier trucks on highways. We came across an article this week in Minnesota’s Star tribune that discussed how heavier trucks on the road may not be coming any time soon despite political influences around the country.

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

Tags: ,
Posted in Trucking News | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »