A few years back I scored one of those really sweet gigs that most people can only dream about: General Motors started bringing me new cars and trucks to evaluate and write about.
Every week I got a brand new GM vehicle to tool around town in. It was incredibly valuable as an automotive/trucking journalist. But it was also a hell of a lot fun.
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With the compliance date quickly approaching on the FMCSA mandate for Electronic Logging Devices, ISE Fleet Services in combination with Innovative Software Engineering are offering a live webinar titled: Fewer Devices, More Capability: Integrating Best-Of-Breed Telematics Solutions to Increase Efficiency, Safety, and Profits. The webinar will take place from 12-1 p.m. Central, on July 19, and registration is free.
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Rendering of the expanded ATS corporate headquarters. Image via ATS
">Rendering of the expanded ATS corporate headquarters. Image via ATS
">Anderson Trucking Service is expanding its corporate office in St. Cloud, Minn., adding 20,000 square feet to accommodate current and future anticipated growth.
Planning for the new addition to accommodate the growing corporate support team began last fall. After looking at lease options in community, the company decided to go forward with an expansion to keep its corporate team together. The expansion is expected to be completed next spring.
"Being a part of a cohesive team to support our larger mission is an important part of our culture here,” said Scott Follett, director of facilities. “The Anderson family recognized that this aspect would be missing if we were to utilize a leased space and made a solid decision to keep everyone under one roof."
The expansion is adding 10,000 square feet of space per floor, giving ATS's corporate offices the capacity for an additional 200 seats. The expansion will also allow for six more conference rooms.
ATS is a Minn.-based carrier with flatbed, specialized, alternative energy, van and international transportation and logistics offerings.
Related: Anderson Trucking Service Adds Dual Lane Trailer
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The senator experiences a pre-trip inspection. Photo courtesy Women in Trucking.
">When it comes to changing perceptions about trucking, nothing beats a hands-on show-and-tell experience.
The Women in Trucking Association is well aware of this and has made a mission of arranging ride-alongs with its truck driver members for elected officials, regulatory agents, even anti-truck safety advocates.
The senator experiences a pre-trip inspection. Photo courtesy Women in Trucking.
">In the most recent such ride-along, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson experienced a glimpse of life on the road from the perspective of a female driver. WIT's Image Team Member Julie Matulle gave the Wisconsin senator a short ride, where attendees at an event sponsored by the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association welcomed them upon arrival.
Matulle, a professional driver for H.O. Wolding, Amherst, Wis., had the opportunity to share her thoughts and concerns with the legislator during the ride from Menasha to DePere, Wis.. Johnson observed a pre-trip inspection and learned the proper way to enter and exit a tractor-trailer.
Matulle has been a professional driver for almost four years, working for H.O. Wolding since she entered the industry. In 2014, she was honored as the Mike O'Connell Memorial Trucking's Top Rookie award. She drives more than 2,600 miles each week hauling paper products between Wisconsin and southern states.
In Johnson's case, he already had an appreciation for trucking in general.
“We need to drive economic growth to create good Wisconsin jobs, and to do that we need to make sure we're doing all we can to fuel our trucking industry,” Johnson said. “As an Oshkosh manufacturer, I know how much of an impact trucking has on Wisconsin. 90% of manufactured goods and 70% of all goods and services in Wisconsin are moved by truck. Together, we can ensure that Wisconsin trucking continues to have a positive impact on the state.”
A tougher case was tackled by the organization last fall. Eleven years after Ron Wood lost five family members in a fiery crash, the advocate for CRASH, often seen as an anti-truck safety advocacy group, took a ride in a tractor-trailer.
“Enemy” was how Wood viewed tractor-trailers after his mother, sister and three nephews were killed near Sherman, Texas in 2004. The accident was caused by a fatigued truck driver who crossed the median and struck his family's SUV head on, killing all five of his loved ones.
Ron became active in the Truck Safety Coalition and C.R.A.S.H. Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, a safety advocacy group formed in 1990 and led by Joan Claybrook, a former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Coalition. “To this day, when I see a semi-trailer truck, I am instantly reminded of the deaths and devastation they have caused (both to my family and to so many others) and of which they are constantly capable.” Wood stated in a Facebook post.
He served on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's entry level driver training advisory committee, where he met Ellen Voie, president and CEO of WIT.
“Ellen suggested that it might be therapeutic for me to take a ride in an actual eighteen-wheeler.” Wood said. “I thought about it. My first internal reaction was, 'No way. Trucks [are] bad.' But, then after I thought more…well, I figured it might be a helpful part of my healing process."
Carol Nixon, a 25-year professional driver for Walmart's Private Fleet and a member of the WIT Image Team, was the driver. Wood's two-hour journey started and ended at the Walmart store in Woodbridge, Virginia.
He called the ride-along "highly informative, and "an unexpected, important step in my healing process. The safety features, practices and professionalism in the Walmart trucking fleet are amazing, and way beyond what I expected," said Ron. “I only wish these safety measures were standard across all the trucking companies in the U.S."
Rides like these are a part of the answer to the question of "What can I do?" to make a difference in how the public perceives the industry.
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It's interesting that of all the issues stacked on the plates of U.S. city mayors these days – including rising crimes rates and the recent spate of cop killings, which will no doubt further inflame racial tensions – economics wins out.
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