There was another report of how truckers had the shortest life spans compared to other occupations. Due to bad habits, bad diet, life style and stress.

Nice Press! And what’s bad, is that they could cut salaries in half and people would still drive. It gets in the blood, it’s addicting and now it’s not just a job, it’s the most dangerous job. I still wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

Originally posted 2008-05-20 20:35:35.

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.

Times haven’t been much better here. Green is now a truck driver, makes about $19,000 a year, spends days riding alone away from his girlfriend and his two toddlers Deanna and Tristan. Sometimes he was gone for as long as two months, he said.

$19,000 a year? When all the “driver shortage” press says that truck drivers can earn $37,000 their first year! This doesn’t sound like he’s doing it part time being on the road for two months at a time. I think the ATA’s estimate is a bit high, it’s more like mid-twenties to low thirties the first year. If this guy can’t even break $20k a year, something is really wrong.

A truck company recruiter told my class a long time ago that 99% of us would not be in trucking past six months. Schools are making a killing training truck drivers, but as people find out, there’s more to trucking than just driving a truck.

The same can probably be said of pilots. Knowing how to fly is only part of being a pilot. I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade and this is a great opportunity for these people. Any career school should evaluate the person to the job instead of only filling seats for the sake of filling seats.

Originally posted 2004-10-19 14:15:00.

Groups say U.S.-Mexican safety discrepancies should delay border

WASHINGTON — There are “significant differences” between Mexican and U.S. highway safety laws that need to be addressed before the border opens, according to a Public Citizen press release issued Aug. 13.

Six areas mentioned in the release include: Commercial Driver’s License requirements; alcohol and drug testing systems; hazmat transport; Mexico’s alleged lack of a motor carrier “information database”; compliance with U.S. safety standards; and insurance verification.

“The Group of the Insane” might be good for something.

According to the release, compliance with U.S. drug and alcohol testing standards can’t be “ensured under the current system because the U.S. government hasn’t determined whether drug and alcohol testing facilities in Mexico meet U.S. standards.”

The release also stated that it is unclear how Mexican drivers will meet new hazmat security rules and whether U.S. enforcement officials will have ready access to data about Mexican drivers’ CDLs, driving history or operating authority.

The release by Public Citizen also was signed by the Center for Auto Safety; the Consumer Federation of America; Parents Against Tired Truckers; and the Trauma Foundation.

“The Group of the Insane” keeps getting larger. Maybe they’ll be so busy with this they’ll leave the HOS issue alone. That’s wishful thinking.

Japanese company Kawasaki Engineering Co. have created the Dream Plus, a fatigue-treatment device which will be marketed to gyms and beauty salons, and like a hyperbaric chamber uses a high-pressure pod to raise oxygen levels in the blood. Don’t try this if you’re claustrophobic. . . or tall. . . or hefty. Somehow the picture of the man’s hand pressed feverishly against the glass doesn’t reassure us, but hey, they say David Beckham uses it so we might as well.

No tall or hefty? That leaves most of us out. Wonder if PATT would buy me one? It probably wouldn’t fit in the sleeper anyway.

University of Illinois at Chicago Grants License for Novel Drug Therapy for Sleep Apnea

CHICAGO, Sept. 27 (AScribe Newswire) — A promising drug therapy for the treatment of sleep apnea, a serious and common sleep-related breathing disorder has been licensed by the University of Illinois at Chicago, where it was first conceptualized, to an intellectual property and technology commercialization company for clinical development.

A drug or a set of drugs to fix sleep apnea? I’m perfectly happy with my CPAP machine and wouldn’t want to chance the side effects. I do know a few people that hate their machines and their masks always slide around. Drugs might be the answer for people that can’t handle a machine and mask. My answer would be to get a better fitting mask.

UIC signed a licensing and research agreement to further develop a novel pharmacological therapy for sleep apnea with BTG, of Conshohocken, Pa.

The basis for the therapy was uncovered by two noted UIC sleep researchers, Drs. David Carley and Miodrag Radulovacki, who demonstrated in preclinical and clinical studies that turning up or down the signaling pathways of certain neurotransmitters can significantly reduce the incidence of sleep apnea.

“This has real clinical significance,” said Carley, who is professor of medicine, pharmacology and bioengineering and director of research at the UIC Center for Sleep and Ventilatory Disorders. “Although sleep apnea is as common as asthma or diabetes, there is currently no cure and no fully effective long-term treatment.”

Sleep apnea is a serious respiratory disorder that involves cessation of breathing for prolonged intervals during sleep. It is estimated that 15 million to 20 million people in the United States suffer from apnea, which has been linked to increased risk for hypertension, heart failure, depression and diabetes.

And a bunch of truck drivers.

Currently, no drugs are approved to treat sleep apnea. The novel therapy being developed by BTG and UIC comprises a combination of two drugs that are currently approved and in use to treat conditions unrelated to sleep apnea.