Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

After months of hype smear campaigns by the plaintiffs, the lawsuit against FMCSA over the cross border program was heard by a three Judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday, February 12.

Some of the issues raised, included the parties “standing” in the action, the legality of continuing the program in view of the flawed amendment inserted into the Omnibus spending bill signed by President Bush in December and the statistical validity of the results with so few participants.

Out of the gate, the attorney representing Teamsters, Public Citizen and Sierra Club was asked by one of the Jurists, why and for what reason was Sierra Club a party to this action for which he become slightly combative with the Judge and had no good explanation for their presence. It was suggested they were merely a party to share in attorney fees should the plaintiff’s prevail.

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Popularity: 45% [?]

I was blown away last month when we got a sneak peak at this truck and it was all I could do to keep from spilling the beans about it then. But now, that the day has arrived for its debut, I am even more impressed.

Normally, I haven’t been too keen on the trend towards retro styling on automobiles. It’s hard to duplicate perfection from the past using todays required technology. But with the Lonestar, it seems International has found the happy medium.

That massive grill reminds me of the Diamond T’s and other solid road trucks of the past. The chrome louvers on the side add style to functionality. The factory installed “good buddy” lights are tasteful and accentuate the stylish design of the truck.

Ya’ll check out the interior. Hell, I could live in this thing. Optional Bluetooth radio setup and optional Monsoon 11 speaker stereo with sub and amp. You can bang out some tunes on that thing. My Jetta has a similar Monsoon system installed and it is awesome.

Swivel seats, a dash that is designed for driver comfort seem to make this the perfect truck for the owner operator. I don’t see many fleets putting this to work but time will be the judge of that.

This truck could definitely be the answer to driver retention and satisfaction. I know it could satisfy me in a big way. I want one!

Popularity: 39% [?]

President Bush signed the $555 Omnibus Spending bill despite misgivings about the record 9000 special earmarks included. Included in the bill was a small paragraph that opponents of the program celebrated as the end to the cross border program.

Moments later, FMCSA issued a press release making known their intent to carry forward with program.

FMCSA made it clear they were following the wording of the amendment which stated:

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Popularity: 43% [?]

We haven’t touched on this subject for awhile and since it seems the opponent and others are beginning to throw around their distorted version of events, perhaps it’s time we revisit the subject.
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Popularity: 48% [?]

Here’s hoping all of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving Day with your families.

Today is “Black Friday” the traditional start to the holiday shopping season. Merchants view this day as a predictor for the coming holiday season and traditionally is the day that puts merchants in “the black”!

I’ve been running around Atlanta Georgia all day making deliveries and have been noticing the lack of traffic to the malls, to Wal-Mart and Target. Several WM’s that I passed had maybe 30 - 40 cars in an otherwise empty parking lot the entire day.

I was down in East Point around one of the large shopping plaza’s off of I-285. The Police were out in force, parked on the medians to the entrances to control traffic, but there was no traffic to control.

Traffic on I-285 at mid day and again at 5 pm was as if it was 3 in the morning. I’ve never seen it this light.

If this is an idication of what this season is going to bring, we’re all in trouble. No shoppers, no freight. It’s already beginning to slow on the border.

At the moment, I am sitting in the Flying J in Carnesville Georgia. There is exactly a dozen trucks in here. At least some got home for the holidays.

Scales are closed, it’s a good time to be out here running.

Take care out there. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

And oh yeah!

HOW ABOUT THEM HOGS

ARKANSAS 50

LSU 48

Popularity: 63% [?]

On November 14, the house approved the Transportation spending bill with Amendment 624 intact.

For those not familiar, Amendment 624 is the attempt to stop funding for the Mexican truck program.

For now, the bill is not expected to go to the Senate for vote until they return from the Thanksgiving recess. If passed, it would go to the President for his promised veto, which I support fully. Action on this bill probably would not occur until after Congress resumes in 2008. At this point, the Mexican truck program, consisting of 7 Mexican carriers with a total of 44 trucks, and 4 US companies operating a total of 41 trucks in Mexico will have been in existence for almost 6 months, operating safely and without complaint.
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Popularity: 54% [?]

How stupid do people think we are?

Coming off a peaceful and productive weekend, I was surprised (well, not really) to see where one of my spiders had come up with this piece of gutter journalism. Feds outsource Mexican truck safety - Trilateral trade association becomes chief inspector.

I was less surprised to see some of the smear sites quickly pick up on it and run it front page.

Has it gotten down to this? The opponents of the Mexican Demonstration Program have exhausted all manners of rhetoric and need to resort to destroying a well established safety group? Apparently so.

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Popularity: 54% [?]

It appears there is more action on the Mexican Truck issue Tomorrow, Mary Peters, Secretary of Transportation and Mexico’s Secretary of Communication and Transportation, Luis Tellez, will hold a news conference on Capital hill where they will demonstrate to Congressional leaders, a hands on level 1 inspection of an American truck and the 2007 Freightliner that was the first to receive authority to participate in the Pilot Program. In the end, they will ask Congress to cease and desist. This should be interesting.

Oshkosh, best known for heavy duty construction and military applications appears to have developed a fully functional remote control Class 8 truck, The Terramax Check it out. It makes one wonder if the professional trucker will soon be obsolete and replaced with a systems manager in the future. Oh well, I’ll be retired!

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Popularity: 51% [?]

The opponents and most vocal critics of the Mexican Pilot Program continue to insist their opposition is only about safety and concern over the economic impact a few Mexican trucks will have on their ability to earn a decent living. Facts and figures would suggest otherwise.

Thursday, October 4, a small group of Mexican truckers gathered at the Matamoros-Brownsville International bridge to protest Mexico’s participation in the Demonstration Program

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Popularity: 37% [?]

I’ve been sitting on pins and needles waiting for the debut of this great new piece of software written for truckers by truckers.

Over the years, I’ve used just about all the software which advertises itself to be the best of the best and promises to make our life easier. From Hammerlane to Truckers Helper, they all done too little, were too complicated or simply wasn’t suited for the application.

Introducing Nautilus In Cab!

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Popularity: 28% [?]