• Truck Writers... Your One Stop Shop
• Tips for Avoiding Trouble when Giving Job References
• Lane Change Sideswipe Accidents
• Take a Break from Driving
• Truck 
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Truck Writers... Your One Stop Shop 

Many of you have shared your interest in having Minnesota Truck Writers as your one stop shop for insurance. Truck Writers is pleased to announce that, effective immediately, the following coverage and services are available: Life, Accident, Health, 401K, Financial Services.

Through an affiliation we have created with The Principle Financial Group of Des Moines, Iowa, we now offer life, disability, accident and health products as well as various financial services to our clients, their employees, and their families. With the assistance of the professionals at The Principle, we can evaluate your needs in these areas and offer products and services that are comprehensive and competitively priced.

Homeowners and Personal Car Insurance.

We said we would never branch out into the area of homeowner's and personal auto insurance unless we could continue to offer the top-of-the-line service, financially sound markets, and competitive pricing that has made us successful. We feel our search is over. Truck Writers can now offer you individual homeowner's insurance through some of the top insurance carriers, including CNA and Allied Mutual. Our business partners, John W. Traeger Insurance Agency will administer this program for us and offer our clients the coverage and services they desire for their personal needs. Call your agent at Truck Writers today to see for yourself what a great program this is.

Truck Writers strives to meet the needs of our clients and will continue to offer you the quality service you are used to, and the expanded line of products you desire to make us your one stop shop.

- Shawn Sullivan, President, Truck Writers, Inc.
 
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Tip for Avoiding Trouble when Giving Job References
While lawsuits and a recent California Supreme Court decision have prompted many lawyers and human resources managers to advise against giving job references, some say it can still be done if employers take steps to protect themselves.

Put it in writing. Minnesota law allows employees who are fired to ask, in writing, why they were let go. Employers, who must respond to the request, are then protected from any possible defamation, slander or libel lawsuits for giving those reasons to others. If you only give the employee a verbal reason and that information gets passed along, you could be sued.

Keep all documentation. If you have to fire an employee, document the reasons in your own file and keep it, even if the employee never asks for it. R.Scott Davies, who represents management in labor and employment litigation for Briggs and Morgan, said, "If you have done your human resources work properly and documented the issues that led to the separation, then all this shouldn't matter".

Get permission. An employer who wants to freely provide a reference should get a signed release, says Lisa Gray, a lawyer with Larkin, Hoffman, Daly and Lindgren, Ltd. in Bloomington and chairwoman of the labor and employment law section of the Hennepin County Bar Association. The employee could authorize you to talk to a particular potential employer with the promise of no litigation.

Work out the specifics. Before an employee requests a reference - or an employer agrees to give one - they should agree beforehand on what it will cover. An employee could spell out specifically what you will and won't say. Coupled with a release, that could eliminate any potential liability and leave you willing to give more information than the standard "Yep, he worked here".

- James Walsh, Star Tribune Staff Writer.
 
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Lane Change Sideswipe Accidents
Loss Frequency. The frequency for incurred lane change / sideswipe accidents is increased by unnecessary lane changes and poor mirror use habits.

Loss Severity. Your potential for a serious lane change / sideswipe accident is increased when you lose track of traffic and is compounded by falsely believing that turn signals give you the right to change lanes.

A Professional Driver's Approach

Seeing Skills. While driving, keep your head and eyes moving - use each mirror an average of every 5 to 8 seconds! In heavy traffic, you will need to switch to a continuous triangular searching motion of looking ahead, looking left, looking ahead, looking right, and looking ahead again.

Thinking Skills. Route planning and keeping track of traffic are tough enough without throwing in dangerous lane changes. Turn signals do not give you the right to change lanes.

Action Skills. Driving invisible is to drive in such a manner as not to create - or be trapped into - any traffic conflicts with other vehicles.

- Mike Dalton, Great West Casualty Company 
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Take a Break from Driving
Being fully alert is critical to safe driving. You should plan to get out of your truck and take a short break every two hours. If you become too tired you should pull off the road and take a nap. How long should you nap to get the most benefit from your rest? The American Sleep Disorders Center offers these findings:

40 - 45 minutes will likely leave you groggy. During this time you enter the deepest stage of sleep, from which it is difficult to awaken.

90 minutes won't leave you as groggy because you passed through that deep sleep cycle above into a lighter one, from which it is easier to awaken.

20 - 25 minutes is ideal. It is quite recuperative for the little amount of time spent asleep and grogginess upon awakening isn't as likely.

- Great West Casualty Company
 
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Truck
One dark night, a man knocked at the door. He said his truck had broken down. I looked out the window and was curious about the truck. I crept outside with a flashlight in my hand and switched it on as I came toward the truck. I stood on the running board and looked in. The seats were cracked with bits of cotton sticking out. I got in and sat behind the steering wheel. I pretended I was driving across the country. Then I got out and walked around the side. I could tell the truck was tan and rusted. Broken headlights seemed to say, "Help, I'm dying." That night I went to bed wishing that truck was mine. The next morning a tow truck took it away. Every night I watch the road and wait for the truck to come back to me.

- Teal McKay, Age 10