Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

My husband was grousing at me the other day because, when he brought home some unfamiliar canned dog food for my precious Jack Russells, I promptly looked the brands up on a recall list-he said I was a “Conspiracy Theorist”. Nope-just very aware of the kind of things we’re allowing to be imported without any checks and balances these days.

Dog food is only one of my worries: I figure I’m lucky to be alive after as many Chinese Take-Out meals as I’ve eaten in the last twenty years. My local lunch diner didn’t know me as “The Three Egg-roll Lady” for nothing. I never even got sick-maybe that says more for my Mid-Western constitution than from any food safety standards that have ever been in place. And, apparently, the FDA DOES attempt to keep track of some of it. On today’s recall list, I found two items of great interest: “Goldensmell (no, that’s what its called) brand Dried Fungus” and “Grove Grow Notes Dried Bamboo Fungus Veiled Lady”. I don’t know what either of these things are but you can be sure I’m not going to be picking any of these up at my local grocery to add to the stir-fry in the near future.. Of course, the same FDA recall list had a recall for some kind of hemorrhoid suppositories for excess mold and fungus-was it Goldensmell Fungus? Who knows? Is there an ‘acceptable level’ of fungus in hemorrhoid suppositories?

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There are literally hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer drivers in the U.S. with valid commercial driver’s licenses. What makes this disturbing is the fact that a large number of them also qualify for federal disability benefits and have been prescribed medications to treat unconscious spells, seizures or heart conditions. Despite warnings from the government and the unsettling combination of injuries and deaths caused by commercial drivers with serious health issues, far too many of them continue to hop behind the wheel and endanger the lives of unsuspecting travelers.

According to a recent review by the Associated Press, truckers have been caught violating U.S. federal medical laws in every state. Violations compiled by the Transportation Department reveal that Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania make up the states where these laws were broken the most frequently.

Sadly enough, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration admits to not completing any of the eight recommendations proposed by U.S. safety regulators in 2001. At this point, it remains unclear whether any of these eight recommendations will be put into effect before the upcoming Presidential Election.

We hear and see all types of advertisements for being healthy on the road. The most prominent being about high blood pressure. But what about the drivers that are out there that have diabetes? How do they control them while driving?

Though some people may think “Well, if you have diabetes you cannot drive.” This is not true. Subpart E — Physical Qualifications and Examinations

My husband has Type 2 diabetes, his mother has it, my step-mother has it,and my own father is currently undergoing testing for it as well. My youngest son has low blood sugar. So trying to balance diets in our home for one person who has high blood sugar and one that has low blood sugar can be quite a task.

Being on the road deciding to eat is even a bigger task at hand. The best thing to handle eating is by going to the store and stocking up on sugar-free items before my husband goes anywhere. We have found sugar-free items such as: cookies, wafers, pudding, jelly, and Jell-O. There are also natural fruits and drinks that are packaged with or in Splenda. Splenda has become a well known product for use in our house, as it even comes in convenient sizes for take along or for baking with (they even have brown sugar!).

When it comes to eating out, carbohydrates are the big enemy, then comes corn, potato chips, and of course anything with “real” sugar in it. The best bet is to order something grilled and put it on a low carb bread that is bought and kept in the truck. There are also very informative books out there that have a list of “good” foods to eat at fast food places for diabetics as well as some really good cookbooks.

So - pack your lunch! It seems to be healthier!! (And less costly!!)

Here’s all you need for a trucker’s gym. There is plenty of room if your trailer happens to be empty. It’s starting to get cold in most of the country, but that shouldn’t stop you from lifting a few dumbbells inside your sleeper. If you’re not sure what to do with them, Google “Dumbbell Routines” to get started. I saw one driver with his bench next to his truck. A small bench would be possible to carry in the truck. But for most dumbbell routines you can sit on your sleeper or a small bench or even small folding step ladder outside or in your trailer. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that Dart Transit is making an attempt at bringing reality into the Hours of Service Debate. Not complete reality, mind you, but more realism than has been considered to date. eTrucker has reported, in an article published yesterday, that

“Dart Transit Co. wants a two-year exemption from two provisions of the hours-of-service regulations so that 200 of its owner-operators can operate under a fatigue risk management system that encourages quality nighttime sleep and uses electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs) to monitor drivers’ rest schedules.”

The two provisions in question are the 14 hour clock and split-rest limitations; all other HOS provisions will apply. The goal here is to place the specified 200 drivers into a scientifically valid test in real world conditions. The on-board recorders will be used to ensure that the truck isn’t moving for at least six straight hours between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. (meaning, presumably, that the driver is sleeping and not playing some silly video game). The idea is to provide night-time sleep while, at the same time, affording drivers a little more flexibility in choosing when and how they manage to get in their full ten hours of rest during any 24 hour period.

They’ll also, according to the article, use

“…software from Circadian Technologies to analyze driver fatigue risk on a daily basis. Exempt drivers and their fleet managers would get these scores, along with instructions on how to improve them, such as temporary reductions in workload.”

Dart applied for the exemption in June and the FMCSA published a notice of the exemption request, seeking comments, on Monday; the comment period closes on December 26. If the exemption is granted, Dart will begin taking applications and providing health screening from and for O/Os seeking the opportunity to participate in the study. The health screening is being done to eliminate anyone from the study who might have an undiagnosed sleep disorder.

On the face of it, this study would seem to go a long way toward bringing scientifically backed, and reality based, evidence into the HOS debate - rather than the unending litany of bias-ridden statistics. But do I think this’ll be groundbreaking or earth-shattering? Nope, but the proposed study, as well as its method and practice, is rife with interesting implications….

I thought I would wait till everyone woke up from their turkey coma before we started a few posts about truckers health. This is such a big subject (sorry! couldn’t help it), that we’ve gone from Trick My Truck to Trick My Trucker on CMT. If you’re not familiar with the show, each 30 minute episode, they take a trucker and give him a personal trainer and a stylist. Showing them how to exercise and eat right, even at truck stops. I’m not sure what the stylist is for, but I could guess. Read the rest of this entry »

Easy for truckers to cheat drug tests

NBC news is running a story on drug usage by American truckers. The report is based on a GAO report that says that government agents were able to fool the system at some drug testing sites with fake I.D.s and synthetic urine.

From NBC:

Undercover investigators with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, used bogus truck driver’s licenses to gain access to 24 drug-testing sites. They found that 75 percent “failed to restrict access to items that could be used to adulterate or dilute the [urine] specimen, meaning that running water, soap, or air freshener was available in the bathroom during the test.”

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As a driver, I am certainly aggravated with some truck stops because of the cleanliness of they showers. I went into a large truck stop last week, which will remain nameless but the name sounds like “Pie Lot” to take a shower. The people were very nice in the beginning and smiled from ear to ear when I was greeted at the fuel desk. The young man there said that I would have to wait for a shower due to there being a long line of people needing one.

I waited more than 20 minutes before getting a shower key and when I went into the shower room, I was disgusted by what I saw. When I first go into a truck stop shower, I look at the sink and shower stall before I do anything else. Inside this shower stall I noticed white soap residue all over the floor and on the walls. Also, I looked closer and saw black and green mold growing between the tiles and in the corners. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

A little positive press for truck-drivers. CNBC is going to tell the story of a Florida womens struggle to drive and deal with her diabetes. CNBC will air the story during its dLife TV segment at 7:00 pm Eastern Sunday. Be sure to watch Sunday night if you can, and even if you can’t be sure to check out the dLife website, it is full of info on dealing with diabetes. This is an important issue in trucking, very few things can end your career as fast and suddenly as being diagnosed with diabetes. Read the rest of this entry »