If ever there were a reason to make sure you have qualified Human Resources professionals working on your personnel problems, managing the complicated overlap between worker’s compensation, the FMLA, DOT regulations and the ADA is certainly one of them. The “Leave it to Beaver” days of the 1950s-60s are over. It is no longer a safe practice to require that sick or hurt employees stay out of work until they are “100%” or able to return to “full duties.” Nor is it safe to assume that once an employee has been out for 12 full weeks, he may be automatically discharged.... Read More

There are currently 17 major police and sheriff's departments under investigation for alleged civil rights abuses across the country. Those alleged abuses include the fatal shooting of a homeless Native American man on a street corner in Seattle, the killing of James Chasse, a 42 year-old schizophrenic from Portland, and the beating of an inmate in a South Carolina jail. ... Read More

Last blog I touched briefly on a new and different way to look at truck driver recruitment and training. This blog proposes how to structure a graduated training level and skill development.

The first level of skill development is the 12 to 20 days of training at an accredited truck driving school using a recognized syllabus with the student achieving all of the necessary rudimentary skills to acquire the Commercial Drivers License (CDL) although in reality, this 12 to 20 days must be increased to at a very minimum one full 90 day semester. ... Read More

I originally wrote this concept about seven or eight years ago but through upgrading computers and equipment, somehow it's been lost in the shuffle and I've been asked for it on several occasions so I am redoing the whole thing from scratch. While it maybe somewhat differently worded than the original even expanded upon the concept and basic tenets are still here. Notwithstanding the shake-up of the trucking industry in 2001, there is still and always will be a shortage of drivers to move the continent's freight.... Read More

Recently I purchased a bottle of baby lotion, because I like the smell of the pink stuff they put on babies. For some reason I looked at the back of the bottle and the warning label surprised me, “keep out of reach of children.” REALLY? Where would you set the bottle if you were applying the lotion to your baby?... Read More

Recently I was asked to participate in a panel discussion at the Transportation Research Board Conference in Washington, D.C. The overall topic for the panel was “Safety and Security Design for Female Transportation Workers.” My segment focused on “Challenges in Equipment Design,” and since I represent women in the trucking industry, my information related to women in trucking!... Read More

It is 2012 and tens of thousands of drivers sit in driver orientations every week. Most all of these drivers have one thing in common. They are either not getting enough miles to make any money or they can never get back home to rest and see their families.

Trucking looks to be a very greedy business from the inside where drivers are just pawns in a game played by business planners. The majority of OTR drivers today are dingy, depressed, don't trust anybody and just plain tired of being tired and disadvantaged.... Read More

Cliff got out of his truck at the shipper’s dock. He had been there for two days turning down load offerings and was frustrated that he was not getting any miles. He was paid by the mile. Why wouldn’t the company give him a load to Dallas? During that time, he had idled his truck to keep warm, but this was costing him about one gallon per hour. His dispatcher was refusing to give him any more advances and he was about out of money. Even though his income had stopped, his truck payment and insurance bills didn’t. His settlements showed he was running in the hole the past three weeks.... Read More

A driver is a father. A driver is a mother, a son, a daughter, a lover, a friend. A driver is someone special. A driver is responsible for almost every comfort we have, because somewhere along the line it came on a truck.

A driver is a white knight on the highway. A driver is someone you can trust, depend on and turn to if you need help. Drivers are on the front line of every emergency in this country be it a famine, a flood, a tornado or whatever. Drivers are out in front leading the way, bringing aid, bringing comfort, helping and leading.... Read More