Trucking News

If you like mashed potatoes, Iowa would have been the place for you. At least, if you like unorthodox ways of creating your mashed potatoes. Truckers haul all kinds of produce and other items all over the country at all hours of the day and night, and usually they arrive without any serious incident. They offload and they head out to do it all over again. No worries. But that’s not always the way it works, and sometimes accidents happen.

A trucker headed eastbound down Interstate 80 had to swerve to miss another vehicle that had apparently gotten too close or wasn’t paying attention, and when he did he lost control, hitting a bridge support and guardrail.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. His truck, still traveling too fast to simply come to rest, then proceeded to tip over. When it did, it disgorged about 44,000 pounds of spuds. All over the place. They covered part of the interstate, another nearby road, and a ditch. The potatoes had left Idaho – where almost all potatoes seem to originate – and were on their way to Michigan.

The whole load was believed ruined, but the truck driver wasn’t injured. The spuds can be replaced and the truck repaired. No word on what happened to the car the truck driver swerved to avoid or the wayward potatoes.

Truck drivers do a lot more work than most people realize. They have to pay closer attention than people who drive smaller vehicles, and they work long hours, and they don’t always get paid well or get home to see their families on special occasions or get to see their son’s little league games.

Mostly, they do what they do for a paycheck, and because they enjoy it, but also so people can walk into their local stores and get the things that they want and need. And they add up miles.

Will Farver, a trucker for 17 years, has racked up over two million of them. He was recently honored by his employer, D.M. Bowman, with the company’s Million Miler Award for the second time.

He’s also earned the company’s Highway Angel Award for pulling a grandmother and two children out of a car that had been in a wreck and appeared to be about to catch fire. He wasn’t trying to be heroic – he just knew that the family in that car could have just as easily been his own.

He was doing what he thought anyone else would have done, and when he was finished he went back to driving. It’s his job. It’s what he does. The beauty of it all is that the company he works for sees it and appreciates it.

Be careful if you drive a commercial vehicle and English isn’t your first language! Most people don’t think about it, but if you can’t converse well enough with the officer who pulls you over, even for a minor traffic infraction or a routine inspection, you can be ticketed and it can cost you up to $500. That’s a pretty hefty sum to pay just because you aren’t fluent in English…and now the Federal Government wants to make the law even more strict, making it increasingly difficult for people who come here from a foreign country to get commercial driving jobs. It only makes sense that a person should know enough English to talk to the police in case there is an accident or other problem, but whether a person speaks English well enough is largely a judgment call.

Whether you’re a United States resident or even a US citizen doesn’t matter, and if the law is changed English will have to be spoken during the written and road test in order to pass. Right now, parts of these tests can be taken in a person’s native language through the use of an interpreter, but that will change if the proposed adjustments to the law take effect – and Congress doesn’t have to approve the change. It’s certainly worth some thought for those who run trucking companies and have drivers whose English is questionable.

It’s no secret that the economy is struggling right now, and truckers are feeling it, too. One of the largest companies, Werner, reported a second quarter loss, sending their shares lower as well. The good news for the company – and perhaps other trucking companies that may follow its lead – is that there are ways to help reduce expenditures even in these tight financial times.

An increasing popular way that Werner has done this is to reduce how many miles are not billable. Other helpful decisions have come from reducing the amount of idling time and installing auxiliary units for power, as well as raising the percentage of aerodynamics trucks that are being used, because they get better mileage.

That doesn’t mean that Werner is completely out of the woods, as all trucking companies are fighting the rising fuel prices, but it does mean that the company might not see as much of a downturn next quarter. That can help its share price rise and help the company continue to keep its for-hire carrier prices as low as possible.

The longer it can keep its prices low, the longer Werner can continue to operate at a high volume. If the carrier is forced to raise its prices too high, companies that use it now will switch and Werner’s profits will continue to decline, which is something that no one wants to see happen.

Check this jet powered semi out.  It takes a minute to get her fired up, but when she blows, hot damn!  I wonder if all the smoke and flames and build up is just for show.

How much do you think it costs to keep this baby fueled?