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One of the many reasons why striking for fuel prices won’t work is that prices go up and down all the time. Prices go down this week and not from a truck strike.

TODAY’S TRUCKING NEWS FROM LAND LINE ONLINE
Diesel prices sustain downward spiral
Diesel prices continued their ongoing slide down from record highs Tuesday, Nov. 8. ProMiles reported a national average of $2.711 per gallon, down 1.2 cents from the previous day.

There are things and companies that can be fixed and striking bad companies and bad policies might work, but striking for fuel prices or freight rates or some other kind of government intervention is not going to work. What I hear from people that think a strike is a good idea is that it will make America stand up and take notice of how important truckers are. Granted trucking is an important part of the economy, but that’s a selfish, egotistical attitude.

 

I know this is a trucking blog, but my politics aren’t a secret if you look on the ‘right’ side of this site. My only political statement is – Thank god it’s over! After the armada of hate against Bush, he comes out with the biggest majority in the popular vote ever. After all the hate in Hollywood, musicians, the media, the creation of Air (we hate Bush) America network, the blatent media bias and hatred. I want to say one thing to Al Franken, “Dude! Shut UP!” The liberal socialist left has this illusion that they are the mainstream and the right is filled with wacko religous nuts. I doubt they will hear it, but hopefully this will send a message that they don’t represent the main stream middle class. Bush may not be middle of the road, but America is not the far left they think we are.

 

ATA Truck Tonnage Index Jumped 2.2% in April

“There’s a significant amount of freight to be hauled from this much stronger economy,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello, “so it’s no surprise that truck tonnage was robust again in April.” Costello said he continued to be “very optimistic” about the outlook for the general economy and the trucking industry. “Solid manufacturing production, inventory rebuilding, and strong retail sales will keep motor carriers busy for some time,” he said.

Tonnage is up, capacity is down, rising rates should follow, right?

 

I’m sure this is a great program and even though this has nothing to do with trucking. Reading this article reminded me of the hundreds of articles about truck driving schools and the truck driver shortage. Including this comment -

Herald.com | 10/11/2004 | Minorities given new hope at flight school
…Jones said the goal is to reach 100 young adults who want to fly — and take advantage of a pilot shortage that experts say could be acute within the next four years as more veteran pilots retire.

Here’s this truck driver wanting to learn how to fly and become a pilot.
Continue reading »

 

This is kind of the opposite of the previous post of Old Timers. But this was different. These men I respected. My grandfather farmed a little and boarded horses for extra income, but never had to depend on farming to feed his family. I have the utmost respect for farmers and older drivers. But I do realize that the world will never be the same as it was yesterday and it won’t be the same tomorrow. Seems like some of these old guys don’t realize that. I think that was my only point in my last post.

But, I’ve wanted to write about this for a long time, it sounds a little corny. But here it goes anyway. Long ago when I first started driving, I walked in this little truck stop café in Lawton, OK. Not even a truck stop. Just a diner with a big dirt parking lot. The parking lot was filled with owner-operator trucks and old pickups. I walked in and sat at the counter. It was a little awkward, I felt a little out of place. Here were all these truck drivers and farmers from the area eating breakfast in this little diner which was packed. It was like the old days in a small town where all the farmers got together in the morning and gossiped and complained about the world in general. It was odd in the way that here were the men that fed the country and the world despite the good intentions of our government. Beside the farmers were the independent drivers that carried their grain and cattle from their farms to the co-op or the feed lots. And despite more good intentions of our government these men drove their trucks and farmed their land like generations before them. Despite all odds against making a living out of providing for the rest of the world. Government regulations were in their lives more than any other industry. And each man was his own business and could go under tomorrow because of the slightest fluctuation in grain, cattle or fuel prices. The people that make the money are the middlemen, so called brokers. Men and large corporations that buy from the farmers at the cheapest price they can get away with, and paying the truckers that move it the cheapest that they can and trying to sell the commodity around the country for the biggest buck. They don’t make or grow anything; they take the commodities from others and sell them for more.

So many regulations and so many people against these men, but they still do it. They still farm, they still truck because it’s what they love to do. It’s something that needs to be done. I’ve heard and talked with a lot of drivers and there are several that have taken a break and tried to do some other “normal” job. Home every night, home cooked meals daily, able to go fishing every weekend. But they come back to the road. It’s something that gets in your blood. It fits every description of an addiction of any other kind. I’m sure farmers get the same addiction. Most of it is the independence. No one looking over your shoulder. No time clock to punch. Most other jobs you can’t really see the importance of the job itself. Farming and trucking, you know you are part of the economy. You see it everyday. People in the big cities think they are better than small town folk. Small towns support big cities in so many ways they don’t realize all the “back woods” folk that allow big cities to have traffic jams; restaurants don’t grow their own food downtown. I could go on and on.

Now after driving for a while and owning my own truck, my situation still doesn’t seem quite the same as these men. Sometimes I feel like an old hand, other times, I’m still part of the newbie driver generation, but I am still learning.

 

Sorry, I just didn’t know what else to call this –

Fatal crashes prompt concern over truckers
by Gary Emerling
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 9, 2006

Two fatal accidents in the past two weeks involving area motorists
slamming into parked tractor-trailers have renewed safety concerns
about the commercial-trucking industry.

The accident Monday morning in which a Temple Hills motorist was killed
on the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway occurred when he struck a
disabled and legally parked tractor-trailer on the shoulder of the
road.

Cars slamming into parked semi’s and it’s the truck’s fault. I’m honestly not surprised, but that’s like saying it’s the telephone pole’s fault that someone crashed into it. The article goes on and on about the shortage of parking places.

And what biased article would be complete without this –

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has estimated that
driver fatigue is the primary factor in 4.5 percent of crashes
involving large trucks and a secondary factor in 10.5 percent of such
crashes.

4.5 percent. It’s such a small figure they had to grasp a few straws to make it sound important.

Maryland State police First Sgt. Russell Newell said highway patrol
officers are charged with moving stopped tractor-trailers along on
their way but face a tough decision when deciding to put a tired
trucker back on the road.
"That’s the essence of the problem," he said. "Does an overly fatigued driver constitute an emergency? I don’t know."

I don’t know??? What? Maryland is nasty about writing tickets at rest areas if you’re not in a parking place. But to answer the question… The article talks about a wreck where the driver was over his HOS and then they ask the question if it’s an emergency? Only if it happens to them!!! Or maybe they should let us park where we want then spend a zillion government dollars on an ad campaign about how not to hit a parked truck!

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