It's interesting to note that the bulk of the Hours of Service changes don't take effect for 18 months. Is this possibly a reaction to the reality that there may be another court challenge? Since the regulations have been released neither the trucking industry nor the safety advocacy groups have been happy. Is this the sign of an attempt at a compromise?... Read More

Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for

But I do know that one and one is two
And if this one could be with you
What a wonderful world this would be.
-Sam Cooke... Read More

I almost cut my hair, it was happened just the other day.
It was gettin' kinda long, I could've said it was in my way.
But I didn't and I wonder why, I feel like letting my freak flag fly,
And I feel like I owe it to someone.

Well, must be because I had the flu for Christmas and I'm not feeling up to par.
You know, it increases my paranoia, like looking in my mirror and seeing a police car.
But I'm not givin' in an inch to fear. I promised myself this year.
I feel like I owe it to someone.
Crosby, Stills and Nash... Read More

24:00 Dec. 23. Joseph pulled into the truck stop. It was dark and he could hear the engines and generators humming as most of the truckers had bedded down for the night. He had just delivered his load and had one more to pickup before he could go home to his family. He would spend his required 10-hour break here, and pick up the load and stop home for Christmas en route. His wife, Sharon and the children were 500 miles away. He figured he could make it by 20:00 if the weather cooperated and the snowplows got their job done.... Read More

A recent front page headline in Transport Topics stated that Truck Fatalities Rose 8.7%. The data comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and refers to the number of large truck accident fatalities in 2010. This is the first increase in four years. Overall for all vehicles the 2010 statistics recorded 2.9% fewer fatalities. So what's to be made of this?... Read More

The phone rang at 2 am. Jim answered the phone and heard his Safety Director's voice. "We've had a bad accident," Jack said. "What happened?" asked Jim, as he suddenly was very awake. "It appears we had a rear-ender," Jack replied, "So far it looks like we have a fatality and a serious injury. We are downloading the ECM. "That's terrible," Jim said, "Is the driver hurt?" "The driver is ok," Jack responded, "But, he is very shook up. He couldn't stop crying and telling the officer how sorry he was. I don't think he'll ever be able to drive again.... Read More

Every safety director in the country wants to find a "window" into a person's future so that they can determine if they're a potential risk. After all, safety is about risk management. We talked about some ways to accomplish that last month in the discussion about Predictive Risk Modeling. Unfortunately we can't actually view the future but we can look at a person's past and current habits.... Read More