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Fuel tax increase goes into effect in Arkansas tomorrow |  | 
Both gas and diesel fuel taxes are going up October 1
 Drivers fueling up in Arkansas can expect to pay more at the pump thanks to a fuel tax increase that goes into effect this week. Starting on Tuesday, October 1, taxes on both gasoline and diesel fuel will be increasing throughout the state of Arkansas. The diesel fuel tax will increase 6 cents to 28.5 cents per gallon. The gasoline tax will also increase by 3 cents to 24.5 cents per gallon. The fuel tax increases are part of a $95 million highway funding bill signed into law by Governor Asa Hutchinson in March 2019. Money raised by the fuel tax increases will go towards maintaining roads and bridges, and not towards new construction projects, the Arkansas Department of Transportation says. The same bill that increased fuel taxes will also increase the registration fee for electric vehicles by $200. This is the first fuel tax increase in the state of Arkansas in 20 years.
Small-business truckers lead coalition vs harmful proposals | |
 The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is leading a coalition of “dozens” of influential trade associations to oppose what it deems as four burdensome, costly and unsafe trucking mandates. The coalition recently sent a letter to Congress urging members to reject those proposals as they work on the next surface transportation reauthorization. The group strongly opposes mandates that would require heavy vehicles to install underride guards, speed limiters and automatic emergency braking systems. The coalition also said it opposes a bill that would increase minimum insurance requirements for motor carriers by more than $4 million. “Unlike our coalition partners, supporters of these mandates know virtually nothing about trucking,” said Todd Spencer, president and CEO of OOIDA. “The unfortunate reality is these mandates would likely decrease safety, not improve it, while imposing astronomically high costs on a wide variety of industries. “That’s the point we’re conveying to Congress.” The coalition estimates the four mandates would cost its members “tens-of-billions of dollars.” In short, the coalition describes the underride guard mandate as unworkable and impractical; the speed limiter mandate as dangerous; the automatic emergency braking mandate as a hazard for drivers; and the increased insurance mandate as primarily an opportunity for trial lawyers to receive greater payouts at the expense of US businesses. In their effort to prevent these bills from advancing through Congress, OOIDA says it is thankful so many stakeholders are getting involved early in the legislative process. “We’re proud to lead a broad coalition that is concerned about the direction Congress is going when it comes to trucking,” Spencer said. “We think this group will continue to grow in the coming weeks and months, and we look forward to further engaging elected officials on these critical issues.” Michigan truckers to ‘slow roll’ Friday, Oct. 4 | |
Truckers in Michigan will be slow rolling Friday, Oct. 4 in hopes of taking their concerns to state government, the press and the public. The trucker protest is also a show of solidarity with truckers participating in an event in Washington, D.C. this weekend. Marty Passenger, one of the organizers of the Michigan Slow Roll, says the event is a way to support drivers who will gather for 10-4 on D.C. That event is billed as a truck show to be held on the National Mall beginning Thursday, Oct. 3 and ending the morning of Saturday, Oct. 5. Events of the Michigan Slow Roll include:
Passenger said she and others intend to tell the governor’s representative and media about truckers’ concerns for safety, training, hours of service, taxes, autonomous trucks, maintenance costs, and freight rates. “We want to show the public how they need to give us room and stop cutting us off,” said Passenger, a leased independent contractor. “Let them know what the truck driving life is like and how the public is affected by trucks and the changes on the horizon, that drivers are professional.” What people say about proposed hours of service change | |
This has been a busy several months for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as it seeks comments from the trucking industry and others on regulatory issues, including changes to those that set hours of service for drivers. FMCSA officials have held several listening sessions on proposed changes and are seeking comments online from truck drivers and others. The deadline to make comments is Oct. 21. Here are a few of the comments that have been filed online: Michael Underwood: “I believe the hours of service regulations are causing drivers to rush through the day without meals or short naps that might help them stay alert. I been driving for 20+ years and never had to be so rushed and stressed as I am now. I don’t see anything safe about rushing down a highway trying to beat a merciless clock with near 80,000 pounds tied to you. I believe the nonstop 14-hour clock needs to be stopped so a person can have a little time to stop themselves and clear their heads. Maybe there would be (fewer) accidents. Thank you.” Matt Wessley: “I wish to NOT have a required 30-minute break. I have enough opportunities during my shift that I feel that I don’t need to sit for 30 minutes when I could be spending that time at home.” Rachel Le: “The 30-minute required break does not make driving any safer. I know they are thinking about some changes to make it more flexible but our body knows when it is tired and it knows when it is time to sleep. In addition, a 30-minute required break may make driver’s workday longer and cause traffic at truck stops and fuel stations. Therefore, we should allow drivers more control of their day, do not force them to rest if they are not tired.” Jim Selph: “We respectfully request the exemption for livestock haulers to be extended. The current ELD rule is detrimental to livestock and to perishable produce. Bureaucratic rules should not be harmful to the livelihood and economic well being of farming and ranching families. Hurting the backbone of America is also harmful to our country as well.” Sam Shuler: “I strongly believe that the FMCSA should add split sleeper berth flexibility to hours of service regulations. I also believe the FMCSA should do away with the mandated 30-minute break. We should be allowing professional drivers the ability to rest when they need to and drive when they are ready and not when their clock says they have to. This would make our highways much safer!” Ralph Briggs: “Please do away with (the) half-hour break. I look through the windshield all day, but now I have to pull over to look through it. Go from 11 to 12 hours driving. Keep the 14 hour day … add 2 hours to find safe haven because parking is so bad or emergency and bad weather only. If you just add hours companies will abuse it … and last split sleeper birth. 2/8 4/6 5/5 . I drive tired more now than I ever have.” Brian Fuller: “Leave the hours of service the way it is, the only people that (have) a problem with it, are the ones that lied and cheated on paper logs.” Guy Love: “As a new driver who drives the night shift on a team, I have noticed the overwhelming problem of truck parking at rest stops, shoulders, and truck stops. This is the number one stress for most single drivers and is directly tied to everyone being on the same schedule. The (hours of service rule) needs to be more flexible on how drivers can split their time between driving and sleeper berth. Instead of 2/8, it should be up to the driver to do 5/5, 6/4, 7/3 to better manage their ability to avoid rush hours and parking issues. Being able to pause the 14-hour clock while maintaining the same number of drive hours with flexible splits would fix most of the parking issues. Requiring 10 total hours to reset the driving hours would still work in a flexible system.” Randy Boss: “Since when has government and the Do-Gooders” ever known what’s best for us? Get off our backs and mind your own business. Mike Harmon: “As a driver in the agricultural sector for the last 20 years, I can say every driver is different. The overreaching regulations that put everyone into one group are a travesty. All one has to do is look at those operating on exemptions from hours of service. They don’t have a higher accident rate than others or they would not have exemptions. The 30-minute break is well-intended but, only causes me to have to find parking yet again, and extend my day unnecessarily. I have had instances where I would have liked to have stopped somewhere before the six-hour mark but knew I didn’t have the extra time to stop twice. It’s not about safety. It’s about being able to make it quantifiable for law enforcement.” Mitch Broderson: “Does not make any sense to race the clock and drive tired that counts against your day! I see more accidents. I drive Illinois to Ohio and do the route in 18 hours. But with Elogs, I have to stop 2-3 hours from my home, and sit in a truck stop for 10 hours, run the truck to stay comfortable, when I could be eating dinner with my family and sleep in my own bed and get a good night sleep! Those educated idiots have no clue about trucking! And that is why I don’t waste my time voting. (Because) they’re idiots making rules that make no sense! I shouldn’t be driving the same type of hours that over the road truckers do.” You can read all of the almost 7,000 comments filed online and make your own here. Trucker dies in CNG tanker crash on I-88 | |
A 52-year-old driver from Pennsylvania died when his tractor-trailer hauling compressed natural gas rolled over on Interstate 88 in New York early Monday morning, Sept. 23. Residents near the crash site were evacuated from their homes as a precaution, though there was no spill. Authorities identified the trucker as Jeffrey Lind of Hallstead, Pennsylvania. He was driving for Xpress Natural Gas, and pronounced dead at the scene north of Binghamton. The crash occurred at about 1 a.m. Monday in the eastbound lanes of I-88 near Exit 2. Witnesses are said to have told police Lind swerved to avoid striking a deer, but struck a barrier dividing the eastbound and westbound lanes. The truck and trailer overturned and slid across the eastbound lanes before coming to rest against a concrete barrier on the right side of the highway. Residents of about 80 homes near the crash scene were evacuated. The crash remains under investigation. Source of this article and other great articles
Kentucky police announce year-long interstate enforcement for cars and trucks | |
The federally funded enforcement effort starts next week.  Multiple law enforcement agencies in Kentucky will be kicking off a year-long driver-focused enforcement campaign. The campaign is scheduled to start on October 1, 2019, and will target I-75 from the Ohio River in Covington to the I-275 interchange in Erlanger, Kentucky. The campaign will run through September 30, 2020. Police say that the enhanced enforcement is meant to combat an “unacceptable high rate of crashes per year” on the interstate. From the press release: “The region is experiencing substantial growth with the increased volume of global commercial businesses expanding their footprint near the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport. Too many people have been killed and injured in traffic crashes.” Officers participating in the increased patrols will be on the lookout for aggressive or dangerous driving violations committed by both passenger and commercial vehicle drivers. These violations include speeding, unsafe lane changes, distracted driving, and following too closely. “We receive numerous complaints about too many motorists and truckers on I-75 driving recklessly and/or too fast for conditions,” Covington Police Chief Rob Nader said. “We can reduce these complaints – and the accidents they cause – through enforcement. Through this program from the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety, Covington Police will work with its sister agencies to make sure our families get to where they’re going safely.” Officers with the Covington, Erlanger, Fort Mitchell, and Kenton County Police Departments will be teaming up with Kentucky State Police for the year-long effort. The campaign is funded by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Office of Highway Safety (KOHS) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). |
With runaway ramp closed, semi flying down mountain | |
 The Wyoming Highway Patrol said, "The cab flew through the air at least 100 feet away from the trailer and hit a tree. When it hit that tree, it broke the motor off and the motor fell down at the base of the tree."
Last night, a semi truck crashed into a gravel storage shed at the bottom of a steep mountain pass in Wyoming. The incident happened on Monday, September 30, in the Jackson, Wyoming area. A semi truck hauling potatoes and onions was reportedly traveling down Teton Pass at a high rate of speed when it crashed into a gravel shed located at the bottom of the pass. Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Todd Baxter told local news outlet Jackson Hole News & Guide that the truck driver “veered off and went across the oncoming traffic lane, which the other drivers had moved out of, and drove straight into our sand storage shed …The gravel acted like a ramp. When the trailer struck, there was still enough momentum that the cab ripped right off the frame. The cab flew through the air at least 100 feet away from the trailer and hit a tree. When it hit that tree, it broke the motor off and the motor fell down at the base of the tree. There are potatoes and onions everywhere.” The truck driver was taken to the hospital. His condition is unknown and his identity has not yet been released. The runaway ramp on Teton Pass has been shut down since September 10 after it partially failed when it was used by a pickup truck hauling a load of logs. The Wyoming Department of Transportation shut down the ramp to investigate the failure Trooper are still investigating whether the truck’s brakes failed or whether weight was a factor in the crash. Charges could be filed, police say. GM strike prompts layoffs of some drivers | |
The United Auto Workers strike at General Motors, in which 50,000 GM manufacturing employees halted work Sept. 16, has harmed carriers who serve suppliers and GM plants, forcing some to lay off personnel and severely denting their revenue. Phoenix Transit and Logistics, for instance, has had to lay off 56 drivers and other office personnel. The 200-truck carrier’s operations have all but stopped, says Jason Todd, the fleet’s operations coordinator. The strike is costing Phoenix about $100,000 a day in lost revenue, he says, as his trucks sit idle. What’s more, he says, his fleet’s trucks were loaded early last week by suppliers, meaning they haven’t been able to pick up other loads in the interim to try to make up for the lost GM loads. “We’re losing a lot of money, but there’s nothing we can do,” Todd said earlier this week. “We usually do 300 loads a week of auto parts, racks. But every shipment has stopped.” GM has been firm that they won’t reimburse carriers for the lost revenue, nor that they’ll pay extra for the loads that have been backlogged, Todd says. While reports Thursday morning indicated that the UAW and GM have entered into an agreement to end the strike, it’s unclear when the deal will be finalized and when the striking GM workers will return to work. The Detrpit Free Press reports, “The UAW and General Motors are far apart on several key issues that could take a week or more to resolve before a tentative agreement is reached, two people familiar with the talks told the Free Press on Thursday.” Even after GM facilities resume operation, the swell of backlogged loads caused by the strike will take weeks to sort out, says Todd, which will likely continue to hamper his and others’ operations. “It’s going to take a while to get the pipeline up and running,” says Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express and former chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association. Jet Express serves GM suppliers and plants, too. But his fleet is diverse in its customer base, he says, and hasn’t been as severely harmed by the strikes as Phoenix. He notes, however, that the strikes are having a trickle-down effect. They’re not only affecting carriers, but truck stops, fuel providers and restaurants that serve those working GM’s freight and facilities. Likewise, the suppliers that provide parts to GM supply other companies and industries, too, and the jam-up caused by GM is negatively impacting the supply chain at large. “There are a lot of spin-offs to this,” he said. “It affects everybody indirectly.” California truck chase ends in gunfight, driver’s death | |
The driver of a white, COE bobtail truck led police on a violent chase in southern California Sunday, Sept. 29, that ended with sheriff’s deputies shooting and killing the suspect. Numerous reports on the incident say it began after 9:30 p.m. Sunday when a person called 911 to report a suspicious vehicle at a residence in Victor Valley. The caller said they were following the white semi-truck. Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department arrived and attempted to pull over the truck. When the driver refused to stop, a chase, which included a sherrif’s department helicopter, began on Highway 247. Shots were fired by the still unidentified suspect and police. Spike strips were laid twice in an effort to stop the truck but failed. At one point, the suspect drove the truck into asherrif’s patrol car and shot at deputies. The truck eventually left the roadway of U.S. 62 in Yucca Valley. A gunfight ensued and the suspect died at the scene. Reduced price coffee at Love’s helps kids hospitals | |
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores celebrates National Coffee Day by offering customers a large (24 oz.) coffee or hot beverage for the reduced price of $1 Sept. 29 – 30. On both days, hot beverage sales will go to Love’s 20th annual Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals campaign. My Love Rewards members can use a free drink refill credit for the purchase and Love’s will donate $1 to CMN Hospitals on their behalf. Drink options include regular coffees, flavored coffees, and hot chocolate. Love’s annual CMN Hospitals campaign continues through Sept. 30. Since 1999, Love’s has raised more than $30 million for sick and injured children. Customers can further support CMN Hospitals by purchasing a Miracle Balloon for $1, $5 or $20 or by rounding up to the nearest dollar at the register. Man arrested for shooting at trucker on I-240 | |
A man was arrested in Tennessee for shooting at a tractor-trailer on Interstate 240 last week. The trucker called police at about 11:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, to report he was driving northbound on I-240 near South Parkway when someone in a white Chevy Tahoe shot at him. Reports say police located the vehicle and pulled it over. The SUV’s driver claimed she had been cut off while on I-240. Police searched the vehicle and found a .40-cal. semi-automatic handgun. A search on I-240 by police found a shell casing matching the handgun. Four people in the Tahoe said 19-year-old Zamario Jones leaned out the rear window and fired one shot at the truck. Jones admitted to police he fired the shot at the truck. He was charged with aggravated assault, and police say he had additional warrants for aggravated burglary, theft and unlawful possession of a weapon. Memphis Police and Tennessee State Police have stepped up patrols on the city’s interstates in response to numerous shootings recently. FBI believes wanted Russian immigrant could be ‘hiding’ as a truck driver or dispatcher | |
The FBI is offering a cash reward for information leading to his arrest  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has offered a cash reward for an Ohio man who they believe may be working in the trucking industry. A September 19 news release from the FBI is offering a reward of up to $5000 for information leading to the arrest of 34 year old Izmir Ali Koch. The FBI says that Koch was convicted on hate crime charges after beating a man he believed to be Jewish outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, restaurant in February 2017. Authorities say that Koch was ordered to self-surrender to a prison in West Virginia on August 16, 2019, but failed to report. After Koch failed to report to serve his prison sentence, the FBI says that an indictment was filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, Cincinnati, Ohio, for failure to surrender for service of sentence as ordered by the court, and a federal arrest warrant was issued on September 4, 2019. Koch is described as 5’8? and weighing 143 to 160 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. He speaks Russian, a dialect of Turkish, and English. Koch has dual U.S. and Russian citizenship and his previous residences include Huber Heights and Dayton, Ohio, as well as Holmsk, Krasnadar, Russia. The FBI says that Koch is “familiar” with the trucking industry and believe that he may be working as either a dispatcher or a truck driver. The FBI warns that Koch should be considered armed and dangerous. If you have information that could lead to Koch’s arrest, you’re asked to call FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office at (513) 421-4310.h |
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