Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

Are truck-drivers literally a dieing breed? Are we working ourselves into an early grave? In a poll by Knoxville-based Professional Drivers Medical Depots finds that 65 percent of truckers surveyed rated their health fair or poor. The poll also sights that 70 percent of those responding to the survey knew a truck driver who died between age 40 and 60. It seems that the already stressful driving lifestyle has gotten worse instead of better. With high stress levels, poor food, and just living in an idling tin-can for weeks at a time, are creating a crisis in the industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Blow things up and get paid for it
The science of Fireworks

If you want a little historical perspective, Rick Moran at Right Wing Nuthouse, is Live-blogging the Continental Congress of 1776.

For those like me who are working today, be safe and give yourself a little extra time. They say there are over 41 million Americans hitting the roads for the holiday and most of them will have their minds on something besides driving.

Happy Birthday America;
Don Rogers

Actually, there’s nothing trivial about the Declaration of Independence which is, arguably, one of the most important and influential documents ever produced; but, since tomorrow’s the day we celebrate Independence day, I thought I’d let you in on a few tidbits of interesting information: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s in all the headlines. What do you do with all these trucks? This sign wasn’t in my neighborhood where I got a ticket, but it’s a sign we are all familiar with.

There’s a very wide street in the back of where I live. The back of my complex faces it, the back of another apartment complex faces it and the backyards of some houses face this street. It could be called an alley except it’s so wide. There’s no parking on one side but there are no signs on the other side and no cars park there. Read the rest of this entry »

Robert South once stated that “Speech was given to the ordinary sort of men, whereby to communicate their mind; but to wise men, whereby to conceal it.” I seem to prove daily my lack of wisdom and provide further proof with the following installment of Tuesday Trivia: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s become abundantly clear to many that there’s some kind of glitch in my brain. Useless facts seem to be stored with priority tags while important information is quarantined like spam. Because of that I have the ability to spout trivia at the drop of a hat - which is all well and good but trivia is…well…trivial. People seem to enjoy it, though, so I thought I’d share a bit of trivia with you on a weekly basis. Some might be remotely related to trucking but most of it’ill just be a bunch of obscure, random, and utterly useless stuff. Here goes!

• The word “decimation”, which makes most folks think of total destruction, is actually derived from the Latin word decimare; meaning “the removal or destruction of one-tenth.” A decimated army, for example, was one that had suffered the conquering Roman punishment of decimationem; the killing, chosen by lottery, of one-in-ten.
• Even though Pittsburgh, PA is commonly called “Iron City”; Alabama is the only state housing within its borders all the natural resources needed to make iron and steel.
• 80 percent of the old asphalt pavement removed each year is re-used; making asphalt the most recycled product in America - more than newspaper, aluminum cans or glass.
• The word “loophole” was originally used to describe the slits in castle walls through which defending archers could shoot their arrows at attacking armies.
• After winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with A. J. Foyt in 1967 Dan Gurney was handed a Magnum of MOËT ET CHANDON and “began spraying at the photographers, drivers, Henry Ford II, Carroll Shelby and their wives.” This act of exuberance “started a tradition that continues in winner’s circles all over the world to this day.”
• The feathers at the back of an arrow, allowing it to fly straight and true, are known as “fletching”. Back in Medieval times an arrow maker was known as a “fletcher”. If you know someone with the last name Fletcher its a good bet that their great-great-great-great-(you get the idea)-great-grandfather was an arrow maker.
• In 1784 then second-lieutenant Henry Shrapnel got the idea to fill a hollowed out cannonball with musket balls and a charge of gunpowder. The “Shrapnel Shell”, as it came to be known, was adopted by the British Army in 1803 and fragmentation from artillery shells has been called “shrapnel” ever since. Then there’s the story of General Joseph Hooker who’s credited with…well…we’ll leave that for another day.
• The lowest point on the Interstate Highway system is on Interstate 8 at the New River near Seeley, California (elev. -52 feet).
• Jerry Van Dyke turned down the title role in “Gilligan’s Island” because he, like Tina Louise, thought the show was stupid. That makes his decision to star in the series “My Mother the Car” entirely inexplicable.
• On December 23rd, 1750, Benjamin Franklin knocked himself unconscious while attempting to electrocute a turkey. I knew you wouldn’t believe me so I provide proof.

Okay, that’s enough for this week. I’ll see if I can think of ten more things for next week.

“..He creeps back toward the truck. We’re at two car lengths…. Wayne takes a call from some friends in another car…. One car length….”

The ATA has released a warning about a dangerous new trend to save on gas, Hypermiling is a method to drastically increase gas mileage in cars, this method uses techniques such as shutting off engine and coasting, no power steering or brakes, taking off ramps at high speeds and drafting on 18 wheelers. Some of the ideas proposed by these people are good ideas, doing the speed limit or less, easy starts from stops and gradual long stops to red signals, but some of the more extreme techniques are very dangerous.

If you notice a four-wheeler drafting close in to you do not slam on your brakes to shake them. Remember that some of these people using hypermiling have cut off their engine and are coasting without any brakes! Slow down and open up some following distance from the vehicle ahead of you. Give yourself some extra room in case you need to slow down or stop. One technique I use to shake a tailgater is to slightly vary my speed by 1 to 2 mph, it forces the tailgater to work to match your varying speed and they will usually go find someone else to draft on.

Some of the ideas that Hypermilers use are useful though and are things we can do to save fuel:

• Tire inflation - Keep your tires properly inflated, a low tire eats fuel, 18 low tires eats a lot of fuel.
• Slow Down - Speed burns fuel, those few minutes you gain waste fuel.
• Maintenance - Get those PMs done on schedule. Change dirty fuel and air filters.
• Slow Starts and Stops - Don’t rush up to a red light, take your foot off that throttle and let the engine slow you down. Take your time when signal goes green, accelerate slow and steady. Use progressive shifting.
• Slow Down - again!

With the high price of fuel we will probably see more and more of these guys out there thinking they can save fuel by drafting off of big trucks and is something we should watch out for.

Traffic is really picking up for the summer travel season so be sure to give yourself a little extra time and a little extra room. Lets all try to make it a safe and profitable summer.

Be Safe;

Don Rogers

Today marks the kickoff of the 72 hour Roadcheck 2007. This years Roadcheck will emphasize seat-belt enforcement and level 1 DOT inspections. You might want to take a little extra time this week to double check your lights and tires as well as logs. Don’t let yourself be put out of service and get a ticket for something obvious; And don’t forget that seat-belt! Roadcheck 2007 goes through Thursday the 7th; Please take a little extra time this week and help make the industry look good. Lets not have a bunch of out-of-service violations, they just give CRASH and others more ammo to use against the truck-drivers.

Be Safe;

Don Rogers