On the Spot… Behind the Wheel of a SuperTruck

TFI “cautiously optimistic” about economy

Manac takes share of ABS Remorques

Knowing Isn’t Fixing

Over the years, accident rates are down but insurance premiums are up.

Safety technology on trucks is one reason crash rates, injury rates and fatalities have fallen over the past two decades. Yet insurance rates (and the costs of settlements they represent) have gone up. Why? Because adding safety technology increases your fleet's liability if you don't do anything with the data it generates.

True story: A safety manager at a Top 100 fleet found his best million-mile driver in the company lounge and asked how he was doing. The driver said, “Well, I'm all right. But I had a little issue with my truck, so my manager OK'd a trip to the shop.”

“What's the problem?” asked the safety manager.

“I have this high-pitched beep come out of my dash whenever I follow another vehicle. And now it's not working. I'm hoping they get it fixed today so I can still pick up a load.”

After the conversation, the safety manager scratched his head, wondering what the beeping sound might be. The company had recently upgraded the fleet with collision-mitigation technology. “But that couldn't be what the sound is,” he told himself. “This is a million-mile guy.”

He ran a query in the system, and sure enough, there was a report showing the driver routinely left less than 2 seconds following distance. The collision mitigation system must have been driving him crazy with beeping for more than a month! Did he literally wear out the buzzer?

The worst part? No one but the driver knew. No alerts were sent to the safety manager, the regional safety director, or the vice president of safety. Instead, the company was watching its “worst 50” drivers for incidents. It never occurred to him (or apparently anyone) that million-mile drivers might make mistakes like routinely following too closely.

The safety manager called ...Read the rest of this story

A New Frontier in Driver Health

The year 2032. A truck stop outside of Tucumcari, New Mexico. 2:00 a.m.

It's been one of those days that just go on forever. Still, Jake is unusually tired – has been since Amarillo, in fact. But now he's in Tucumcari and it's time for some much-needed rest. As he shuts his tractor down and signs out on the electronic log, the truck's driver information center pings and a soothing, familiar female voice says, “Jake, your body temperature is elevated to 101 degrees and your blood pressure has dropped a bit in the past hour. Your breathing is elevated as well. I suggest you see a doctor.”

Jake nods grimly to himself and climbs out of the driver's seat. The seat is a wonder in and of itself, a smart-ergonomic design that automatically changes its contours throughout the day to keep him feeling fresh and reduces joint and lower-back pain while constantly isolating and limiting vibration and road shocks. It's also a biometric design, lined with advanced “smart” fibers that track Jake's vital signs throughout the day – much like the Apollo astronauts on the moon missions almost a century earlier (although Jake doesn't have to attach sensors to his body or deal with wires running under his clothes to transmit data the way those brave men did).

Wearily, Jake clambers into the back of the cab and flops down on his bunk. Reaching up, he taps the sleeper wall beside his head and instantly, a video screen flares into view. “Doctor, please,” Jake tells the onboard computer. Within seconds his personal, online physician comes into view. The doctor isn't real, of course. Not at this hour. She's a virtual physician on an interactive website designed to help patients deal with health emergencies.

Jake describes his symptoms to the virtual doctor and taps the ...Read the rest of this story

Love’s Travel Stops Opens 14th Location in Illinois

Photo: Love's

Love's Travel Stops has opened a new facility in Knoxville, Ill., along Interstate 74. It is the company's 14th location in the state.

The Knoxville travel stop brings 94 truck-parking spots to the area and offers Love's Truck Tire Care center as well as other services and amenities for drivers. The company also features seven showers and a Subway and a Chester's Chicken restaurant.

Love's also operates other locations along Interstate 74, including stores in St. Paul, Ind., Pittsboro, Ind., and Le Roy, Ill.

“With the opening of the Knoxville store, Love's Travel Stops now has four locations spanning 300 miles along Interstate 74,” said Greg Love, co-CEO of Love's. “We remain committed to providing more locations for professional drivers to park and access services and opening another site along a well-traveled interstate is a welcome relief for our Customers that we're happy to provide.”

Related: Parking Searches Can Cost Drivers $4,600 Annually

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Goodyear Announces Highway Hero Award Finalists

Last year's Goodyear Highway Hero Award winner, Julian Kaczor. Photo: Deborah Lockridge

Goodyear Tire& Rubber has announced the finalists for its 34th Goodyear Highway Hero Award, honoring truck drivers who put themselves in harm's way to help others.

Finalists for this year's Goodyear Highway Hero Award include a driver who rescued an unconscious motorist from a minivan that had flipped over, a driver who pulled a mother and her three children from a car that was upside-down in a creek bed, and a driver who stopped an out-of-control dump truck and administered first aid to its incapacitated driver.

The overall winner will be announced during the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., on March 23.

Here are this year's Goodyear Highway Hero Award finalists:

Chris Baker, a driver from Chicopee, Mass. Baker was driving down a New Jersey highway when he spotted flickering lights ahead. Pulling closer to investigate, he found a minivan that had flipped over onto its side. Flames erupted from the vehicle's engine. Grabbing his fire extinguisher, he ran to the van and put out the fire.

By then, the van's passenger had escaped and crawled to safety, but its unconscious driver remained inside, hanging from a seat belt. Working with a bystander, Baker unfastened the driver's seat belt, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him away from the van. Baker stayed by his side until rescue crews arrived. The man survived and did not suffer any significant injuries.

Tim Freiburger, a driver from Huntington, Ind. Freiburger was driving through Indiana when he saw a car lose control and drive into a creek, where it flipped and came to a stop, upside down in standing water. Freiburger raced to the car, which contained a mother and her three children. He broke a window and pulled the children out of the car.

After carrying ...Read the rest of this story