Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

A slight drop from last week, now at $2.886 for the National Average.

Looks like diesel has been hovering around the $2.88 mark for the last three weeks.

Popularity: 8% [?]

We have his link here on our site and I’ve talked to him a few times - My impression is that he’s a good guy, educated, articulate and if there was ever a time for someone that is actually for the people, it’s now. I was going to write something, but this article is much better than anything I could have put together on him -

Mike Psak - American Trucker Runs for US Senate Seat in Illinois
By Renee Taylor (07/29/07) (July 28, 2007 - AMTW/AR) - As the 2008 elections approach, the American public seems hungry for the “every-man”, someone untouched by the trappings of incumbent power. They are hungry for someone in touch with working America, who understands the reality of going to work every day and paying taxes. A candidate with fresh ideas who is not corrupted by special interests. It is the state of Illinois that seems to have found one such “every-man”, an American trucker named Mike Psak, has joined in the Senatorial race against liberal Democrat incumbent, Dick Durbin.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

I’ve been sitting here at home for the past week and a half now taking a well earned unexpected vacation and today, I came across a website that is instantly becoming addictive.

It’s a silly little game called trucks and you can find it atTrukz.com - A Trucking Simulator

It is a turn based game which puts you in control of a virtual truck, hauling freight point to point and encountering all the B.S. and rewards we have on a day to day basis.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

Biofuels can’t make us energy independent by themselves. But is that the goal? Personally, I would love to be completely energy independent, but the demand may be too great that we will have to import something to support our energy program.

Where would the corn come from for ethanol plant?

A proposed ethanol plant here could require 80 million bushels of corn each year - almost double what Virginia produced in 2006.

Since the state can’t meet the enormous demand, plant developer International Bio Energy Virginia LLC plans to bring in most of its corn from the Midwest and even South America.

Farmers in the Midwest, where much of the country’s corn is produced, have enjoyed one of the biggest economic benefits as the number of ethanol plants has increased. They have profited from rising corn prices and are saving money by sending grain to nearby ethanol refineries.

I love the idea of Biofuel but if it’s going to mess with our farming programs (which are already screwed up, thanks to government intervention) I’m not sure it’s the best idea

The ethanol plant could cause Chesapeake farmers to plant fewer acres of soybeans and more corn if they decide it’s worth the risk, Lawrence said.
“The increased need for corn will probably be a catalyst for the farm economy,” he said. “There will be more acres going into corn.”

The price of corn went from $1.50 per 56-pound bushel to $4 a bushel in just six months. Farmers also saved money by trucking the grain to the ethanol plant down the street instead of paying thousands of dollars to ship it to Minnesota.

But the article did go on to say that Virginia didn’t produce the quantities that is grown in the Midwest, maybe it’s a local phenomena or a sign of things to come.

Have you tried Bio in your truck yet? I need to get a couple more fuel filters on hand before I put some in the first time.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Add it to the list of health problems that truckers face on a daily basis. Obstructive Sleep Apnea is sometimes a side effect of being overweight.

New sleep program focuses on truckers
By Steve Stein
Of the Journal Star
HOPEDALE - Ron Wizieck heard laughter at the Mid-West Truckers Association convention last winter in Peoria when he told his audience that a study showed 23 percent of truck drivers had fallen asleep at the wheel during the past year.  

“People said that’s how many truckers actually admitted to falling asleep while driving. The real number is probably three times that amount,” said Wizieck, director of the Hopedale Medical Complex Sleep Disorders Center. Obstructive sleep apnea is a major cause of drowsy driving.

Great News!

Because of its proximity to Morton - home of several trucking companies that employ more than 2,000 drivers - and its desire to help truck drivers with sleep apnea, the Sleep Disorders Center is reaching out to the commercial trucking industry.

Its diagnosis and treatment program for truck drivers was announced Thursday at a news conference at Hopedale’s Wellness Center.

Any sleep center will test anyone for sleep apnea. But it’s nice that they are focusing on Truck Drivers. I wonder if the clinic has truck parking?

One of the problems I think, is that drivers are hesitant to be tested for fear of repercussions from their company or their DOT physicals. There shouldn’t be, this is the best way to fix being tired and it’s the worst thing in the world to try and hide. I would hate to find out I had a problem after a wreck.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Are they nuts?

States push for truck-only lanes
DAYTON, Ohio — With truck traffic rising, at least nine states are considering proposals to separate big rigs from cars on interstate highways, hoping to reduce congestion, improve safety and increase commerce by moving goods faster.

How are goods going to move faster if every truck is only going as fast as the slowest truck out there? There is a quicker better solution for this, later.

Financing is a sticking point.

Trucking pays 43% of the annual $35 billion in user fees for federal highways, according to the trucking associations. Truckers also pay a federal diesel fuel tax of 24.4 cents a gallon, a 12% excise tax on new trucks, an annual vehicle-use tax and a tax on tires.

Plus Federal Heavy Use Tax  and State taxes on fuel and mileage, plus more expensive tolls on toll roads.

Of course someone brings up safety -   Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

The U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a ruling yesterday on a pair of challenges to the current hours-of-service regulations which eliminates the 11 hour driving rule and the 34 hour restart.

In the short term, there will be no affect for the drivers as this ruling affects only the FMCSA.

According to a statement from FMCSA, agency staffers are “analyzing the decision issued today to understand the court’s findings as well as determine the agency’s next steps to prevent driver fatigue, ensure safe and efficient motor carrier operations and save lives. This decision does not go into effect until Sept.14, unless the court orders otherwise.”

Perhaps it’s time for us all to look for another line of work and allow the know it alls at PATT, CRASH, Public Citizen and the rest, who seem to know better than us, what we need, to operate the U.S. trucking industry

Popularity: 10% [?]

I love stories like this:

Biodiesel plants growWilson is one of the few places in the country with a biodiesel plant already in production and another under construction. And both have plans for future expansion.

Evans Environmental Energies on Industrial Park Drive is one of 148 biodiesel plants in the nation and seven in the state.

Because it means one step closer to being energy independent. Bio’s can’t do it alone, but with coal-to-diesel and hybrid technology, I’m hoping we can tell the mid-east,”to go pound sand.”

The only problem I can see is that when no one is buying oil, the price will drop so much that all of these alternatives will again be more expensive as we are only concerned with what’s the cheapest way to get things done. We will begin importing ‘cheap’ oil, restarting a vicious cycle that we so desperately need to break.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Who’s the psychic on this one? 2020 is a long ways away.

Trucking industry anticipating a boom in business
Drew Brooks
July 22, 2007 - 10:47PM
SHELBY — A recent study by the U.S. Department of Transportation predicts massive growth in the trucking industry in the coming years.
According to the study, N.C. trucks will be hauling over 600 million tons of motor freight by 2020. That is almost double the little over 300 million N.C. trucks hauled in 1998.

Everyone knows trucking is cyclical. My first reaction to stories like these is if they are setting up more “driver shortage” hysteria. Oh, wait… here it is now (same article) -

Turner echoed the worry over drivers. He said “the driver problem is one problem everybody has,” and that many of the current drivers would be retired by the time 2020 rolled around.

Charles Dedmond, president of A.V. Dedmond Trucking at 800 Cherryville Road, said more truck driving schools were recruiting heavily, which would hopefully help stave off any massive shortage.

A massive shortage? If that isn’t setting up a massive h2b visa / guest worker program I don’t know what is.

Popularity: 25% [?]

The process of converting coal to oil has been around since WWII, but hasn’t caught on because of the costs involved in the conversion process. Now that a barrel of oil out of the ground is over $70 a barrel, people are beginning to seriously consider this again.

Coal-to-oil fuel hits the road
His father did him one better, having slogans promoting the company’s proposed gasification and Fischer-Tropsch Liquefaction process put on the side of a diesel pickup and setting out with his teenage son to put the idea into action.

Rich Jr.’s company hopes to secure a federal loan guarantee for 70 to 80 percent of the construction costs for the facility in order to attract investors for the project.

The company claims the new plant would be the first to combine the gasification and Fischer-Tropsch Liquefaction processes to convert waste coal into a zero-sulfur, environmentally-friendly diesel fuel.

Why are these environmentalists are never happy?

Though environmentalists have expressed concern about carbon dioxide emissions during the production process, Rich has said those emissions are also present in petroleum refining processes and will be captured in his own proposed process to be sold as a byproduct of the plant.

Rich has also touted the process as a way to wean domestic users off of foreign oil and has said he has secured interest from both the Air Force and the state of Pennsylvania to use his product once the plant is in operation.

This is great! Between people and ideas like this, we need to get the foreign oil monkey off of our back for our own security and survival.

Popularity: 18% [?]