By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsDOT Reminds Commercial Drivers that Physicals Must Now Be Performed by Certified Medical Examiners National Registry Will Improve Safety for Travelers, Health of Commercial Drivers WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is reminding interstate truck and bus drivers that beginning today, all new USDOT physicals must be performed… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsRight after I blogged on the Wall Street Journal article here, I received a copy of the industry trade magazine Transportation Topics (Transportation Topics, 2012 Top 100 For Hire Carriers, p A3) that reported industry economist Noel Perry, at FTR Associates, stated that the trucking industry was going to be short 500,000 drivers in 2013! Today’s shortage of… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsThe Wall Street Journal noted today (July 16, 2012, page C1) that the trucking industry is currently short 20,000 drivers. The ATA has estimated that by 2014 the industry will be 111,000 drivers short – a fact I blogged about HERE back in 2007. The only reason the current shortage isn’t worse is the economy… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsIn my prior post I discussed that WHO has proven a link between lung and bladder cancer and diesel fumes. What does this mean for drivers? It means you are entitled to workers compensation benefits if you have these conditions and can prove long term exposure to diesel fumes. Drivers can count on the trucking company they… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsI have previously posted on how manufacturers of cabs don’t seem to care if a truck driver lives or dies. Trucking companies and truck manufacturers treat drivers like disposable objects, worrying far more about the bottom line than the driver’s safety and training. The fact is trucks don’t include many of the safety features that car drivers… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsNTSB recently stated that commercial motor vehicle companies should obtain a CDL drivers’ 10 year driver history. Currently trucking companies are only required to obtain a 3 year history, many drivers re-enter the industry with a clean record, after horrific wrecks, with only a short period of time out of the business so that prior problems "drop… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsThe cell phone I ban I previously blogged about HERE has gone into effect, making American roads a little safer for 2012. This is not a complete ban, hands free devices are still allowed. The American Trucking Association (ATA) has posted its interpretation of the rule HERE.… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsA new rule has eliminated one of the great dangers on the roadway, the use of cell phones by truck drivers. Now I am not stating that car drivers should be allowed to use cell phones, nor am I saying that hands free phones are significantly safer. I am saying that this is a step in the right direction. Further, since trucks… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsWhile trucking companies acknowledge that hair tests show a much higher number of drivers with drug problems than conventional drug testing, most still don’t use this modern and efficient test. C.R. England, a large national trucking company, found when it switched to hair tests for drugs that the positive rate for drivers shot up to from 2.8%… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsEvery so often drivers ask me how to report a company that forces them to work over hours, or drive unsafe equipment. The government has set up a toll free hotline to take these complaints and start an investigation. The DOT website to report violations can be found here and states: The Motor Carrier Safety… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsIn case you missed it the PSP (Pre-employment screening program) is now live. PSP is designed to assist the motor carrier industry in assessing individual operators’ crash and serious safety violation history as a pre-employment condition. Carriers should be using this program to check on all new drivers. The PSP website is located here. The cost… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsTruck driver Roumen Todorov Velkov, of Globe Carrier Co., killed five (5) people when he hit a line of stopped cars on Interstate 26 Sunday night, October 24, 2010. It does not appear the truck driver ever braked. There is an excellent article about the problems in the trucking industry that may have lead to… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsOver 10% of all commercial motor vehicles (Tractor trailers, buses, etc…) have brakes that are so bad that government inspectors place them out of service and wont allow them to continue to drive on our roads. The CVSA (the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, an industry group) recently released statistics, on October 15, 2010, that stated that of all… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsThe Final Rule banning texting by Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) drivers was published today in the Federal Register (see: 75 FR 59118). While the full text of the rule can be downloaded from the above link, some key points to remember are: The Final Rule is effective today, September 27, 2010 Texting increases the risk of… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsCongratulations to Robert Morali who recently completed 5.2 Million Miles of tractor trailer driving for UPS without an accident! Was he lucky? Not according to Mr. Morali. He credits his training (which is similar to the Smith System training) by UPS on the "Five Seeing Habits" which are: Aim High In Steering – This means look down… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsRecently I was contacted about a Volvo tractor trailer whose brakes allegedly spontaneously applied to the parking brakes. This is supposedly true even with positive air pressure showing on the gages. Volvo is apparently fully aware of this problem and no immediate recall has been issued. Has any driver had this sort of problem? Can anyone else substantiate this problem?… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsToday a tragic accident occurred in Munfordville, Hart County, KY involving a tractor trailer that crossed the median on I-65 and killed at least eleven people. The collision occurred at 5:30 AM and impacted the Esh family of Marrowbone, near Burkesville, Ky. Given the time of day that this collision occurred, one of the primary… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsIt is well know in the trucking industry that paying drivers by the mile gives them an economic incentive to speed and violate hours of service regulations (resulting in fatigued drivers) in order to pack on the miles and earn more money. In fact many drivers have told me "if the wheels aren’t turning I ain’t… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsI have many post on the Hours of Service (HOS) issues for professional commercial drivers. I am pleased that the DOT has decided to reconsider the current, ill conceived, hours of service regulation. Truck drivers are generally treated like slave labor by trucking companies. In fact tractor trailers have frequently been referred to as rolling sweat… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsRecently, on May 15, 2009, the US District Court for the District of Columbia upheld a law that requires truckers to have observed drug tests if they have failed or refused to take a test as a condition of employment. I can’t believe that the law was contested. Every member of the armed forces has observed drug… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsThe toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs. Nowhere is this more evident than in the trucking industry where unscrupulous companies often take advantage of drivers, forcing them to work beyond what is safe for both the… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsThe study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (March 2009, Volume 51, Issue 3) found that the link between obesity and sleep apnea so strong that the federal government should mandate testing for sleep apnea for commercial motor vehicle drivers. Sleep apnea was found to increase the risks of a wreck 2 to… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsThe FMCSA has posted video’s of common driver errors on its web site. See: www.fmcsa.dot.gov/about/outreach/education/driverTips/index.htm More will be said later about each area, but for now know that the video’s show the following: Failure to Buckle Up Too Fast for Conditions Unfamiliar Roadway Inadequate Surveillance Driver Fatigue Driver Distraction Following Too Closely Inadequate Evasive Action… Continue Reading
