Trucking Safety Tip of the Month: Cargo Theft
In 2016, there were 1,614 incidents of cargo theft, heavy commercial vehicle theft, and supply chain fraud in the United States. This month’s Trucking Safety Tip of the Month post aims to educate the trucking community on the pervasiveness of cargo theft and how to prevent it. 5 Steps Toward Preventing Cargo Theft According to CargoNet, […]
National Truck Driver Appreciation Week: 2016 Trucking Industry Contributions
Today marks the middle of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW) 2017. While it’s quite hard to fathom everything truck drivers do for our country, this post is going to try to illustrate the trucking industry’s impact on our economy. 2016 Trucking Statistics The American Trucking Association released its ATA American Trucking Trends 2017 in mid-August. The […]
2017 International Roadcheck: The Results
The results are in for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) 2017 International Roadcheck. The 30th annual roadcheck took place June 6-8, 2017. 2017 International Roadcheck Results During the 72-hour period, approximately 62,000 driver and vehicle safety inspections on large trucks and buses were conducted. Of those inspected, 19.4 percent of vehicles were placed out […]
Trucking Safety Tip of the Month: Unfamiliar Roadways
According to the Large Truck Crash Causation Study, 22 percent of large-truck crashes occurred when CMV drivers were on unfamiliar roadways. Truck Writers recognizes that roughly 80 percent of crashes involving a truck are caused by passenger vehicles. However, as our country works toward zero deaths, we need to work on also eliminating the other 20 percent. One […]
5 Tips to Keep Your Truck Cool in the Summer
It’s a 90 degree day in the middle of summer. You approach the rig you left parked in direct sunlight, and now you’re paying the consequences. Hot air, hot steering wheel, hot everything. While we can’t change the weather, we can offer a few recommendations to make your driving experience a bit more comfortable. Here […]
Trucking Safety Tip of the Month: Driver Fatigue
Driver fatigue is experienced on the roadway every day. Based on data contained in the NHTSA’s 2013 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), there were 59 fatal crashes involving a large truck where the truck driver was coded as being “asleep or fatigued.” While these crashes only accounted for 1.7 percent of all large truck fatal crashes, these […]
Minnesota Truck Parking Assessment System
The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota published its final report on truck parking availability systems in January 2017. Truck Parking Background Truck parking can become a major safety concern when the driver lacks timely information on where there is available parking. Without this information, the driver is forced to decide between either continuing to […]
How to Protect Your Truck from a Winter Freeze
High winds, icy roads and below zero temperatures—driving a truck during a Midwestern winter isn’t easy. There is enough to worry about on the road, so why start your day scraping frost from your windshield? While we can’t stop Mother Nature, we can offer some tips for preparing your rig for an overnight freeze. Prevention: Cover your windshield wipers […]
Best Truck Stop Food in the Midwest
There’s nothing worse than a long day on the road, and then ending up at a dingy truck stop with crappy food. We’ve taken to Yelp.com to research what the public believes to be the best truck stops/restaurants in the Midwest. Best Truck Stop Food in the Midwest Iowa Apple Barrel (Percival, IA; Exit 10 off I-29) Grandma Max’s (Altoona, […]
USDOT Numbers: What You Need to Know
Along with the implementation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Unified Registration System (URS) has come a change to the way the FMCSA monitors trucking companies. In the past, trucking companies needed a variation of USDOT, MC, MX and FF numbers. With the new URS, trucking companies will only be required to have a USDOT […]