All Articles Under the News Category
Cracking Walnuts with a Hammer: Cellphone Ban Overkill and Misses the Point
Our President and CEO, Dr. Jim Voorhees, was quoted in the Jan. 9 Transport Topics (subscription req’d) in a story about the proposed total cellphone ban. It’s a good story, and as usual, Jim has one of the more colorful quotes.
Dr. Jim Voorhees, our CEO, quoted in Transport Topics. Click the image to be taken to TTnews.com (login required).
The point Jim makes is that there are a ridiculous amount of distractions in a truck driver’s cab, as well as in everyone’s automobile. Crying babies in backseats, the stereo, CB radios, getting into an argument with your significant other, eating french fries, ladies putting on makeup. Heck, there was a bus driver across the river in Portland, Ore. who was caught reading a Kindle while driving!
But banning cellphones only in trucks makes politicians look good (well, unless the study is flawed, which it was).
Driving is a skill that can be mastered quickly (especially with good training). It requires vigilance, but within a few years of driving, your brain has excess capacity. How many times have you driven home while thinking about work, only to realize you have no real memory of your commute?
The proposed total cellphone ban is both overkill and misses the solution to the distracted driving problem. Hands-free devices allow a person to carry on a conversation just as well as if the person were sitting in the passenger seat. One could argue a hands-free device is safer than an in-cab conversation, because the driver isn’t tempted to try to read the passenger’s face or body language.
The fact is that good driver training about recognizing and dealing with distractions is the best answer. When drivers know what to look for, when they pick up the cues of their own distraction, they tell us that they “shake myself out of it.”
Don’t Just Manage Risk, Reduce It
Moving from Risk Management to Risk Reduction
New Partnership between RAIR and Instructional Technologies, Inc.
Today we’re very excited to announce a partnership with RAIR. Through this partnership, trucking companies now have a single tool to monitor driver behavior and when necessary, change it through training. Truck fleets now have a single tool to move from risk management to risk reduction.
With the CSA scores a fact of life for the trucking industry, standard safety measures for drivers and fleets is today a reality. With CSA scores, companies can see their problem drivers and fleet-wide problem areas. Today, truck fleets can turn to a number of companies who provide that information through “driver scorecards” and other monitoring tools.
RAIR has taken the lead in this space for a number of reasons, especially the breadth and depth of information it collects:
- Paper logs
- GPS data
- Driver vehicle inspections (DVI)
- FMCSA data
Unlike its competitors, RAIR does more than monitor safety performance. RAIR can help carriers identify the driver behaviors that lead to poor safety performance. This is possible because RAIR is in the unique position of having the behavioral data (such as driver logs and DVIRs) to compare to public safety data.
Knowing Isn’t Fixing
But it’s not enough to simply know there’s a problem. A fleet needs to take action to help an unsafe driver change their habits. Or they need to change an institutional pattern that’s leading to roadside infractions. The RAIR and Pro-TREAD partnership closes the loop for fleets.
RAIR is more than a reseller. RAIR lets carriers access Pro-TREAD training from within its system. That allows carriers to identify problematic behaviors and immediately assign training to change it.
Don’t Just Manage Risk, Reduce It
RAIR’s CEO, Greg Lofy, put it this way: “For example, a user of RAIR’s DVIR auditing program can currently identify a driver who routinely fails to perform proper pre-trip inspections on his tanker. With our new partnership, the user will be able to navigate directly from RAIR’s DVIR reports to Pro-TREAD to assign the Tanker Pre-trip Inspection lesson to that driver.”
The Benefit of Targeted Training
- Improved CSA scores: By getting out a consistent message, the fleet will see fewer infractions.
- Less driver turnover: With fewer infractions comes fewer reasons to fire drivers, leading to decreased turnover.
- Higher profits: Fewer accidents mean fewer lawsuits and improved lifespan for equipment.
- Lower insurance rates: A safer record for the fleet can eventually result in lower insurance rates.
- Reduced liability: Since assigning training is only a few mouse clicks away, there’s less time (and fewer miles) between an infraction and when your fleet did something to fix it.
And here’s the press release about the partnership, if you enjoy those sorts of things.
More about RAIR
Founded in 2001, RAIR provides web-based safety and compliance services to over 300 truck and bus companies, representing more than 300,000 drivers. RAIR services include paper and electronic (EOBR) driver log auditing, CSA data analysis and management, driver qualification (DQ) file auditing and online DQ files, paper/electronic driver vehicle inspection report (DVIR) auditing and online vehicle files, drug testing and more. Because of its expertise in regulatory compliance issues for DOT-regulated fleets, RAIR has fostered long-term relationships with many of the largest and most prestigious fleets in trucking, distribution and transit, including 50% of the “Top 100” carriers in the U.S. and Canada. RAIR is a division of DriveCam, Inc.
OO Nightmare: Hazmat Endorsement Expiration Causes CDL Suspension
Sounds like a nightmare situation for an owner-operator team based out of Nevada, according to LandLine Magazine. A driver’s hazmat background check expired, which Nevada then took as a trigger to suspend his CDL. According to the article:
As it turns out, Rod’s hazmat endorsement background check expired in late September. Because he hadn’t hauled hazmat for some time, Rod decided not to renew his endorsement. He would renew his CDL the first week of October…
Under 383.51, a driver can be disqualified for “driving a commercial motor vehicle without the proper class of CDL and/or endorsements for the specific vehicle group being operated or for the passengers or type of cargo being transported.” Baillie, however, was not hauling hazmat.
This is yet another example of why fleets and owner-operators need to stay on top of hazmat training. This is not too different from the recent rule changes about who is a hazmat hauler and who is subject to their lower hazmat CSA thresholds.
Truckstop Fitness Centers? Trucker Triathletes? Yes!
Stumbled across this story about the fitness chain Snap Fitness opening 100 gyms at Pilot Travel Centers over the next year, and kinda loved the idea. The company is teaming with Rolling Strong, a company that helps find ways for truck drivers to stay fit while they’re on the road. This is EXCELLENT news for drivers.
Here at Instructional Technologies, we have a triathlete and a cyclist in the office. Plus everyone here gets access to a gym membership. Fitness leads to overall wellness, and whether you’re parked behind the wheel or stuck at a desk, even a few minutes of exercise each a day is better than doing nothing. It leaves you in a better mood, gives you an outlet for frustration and stress, and helps you sleep better. Plus chicken wings taste better after a hard workout.
Scott Grenerth, who brings his bike with him so he can ride during layovers.
“I like to find the unique local places,” Grenerth says. “Historical sites, great blues music, or some good, local microbrew if I’ve got enough time off and definitely, definitely food. It’s definitely different than just sitting around at the truck stop and complaining. Which, unfortunately, you do find a lot of drivers that do that, and they just don’t think about getting out of the cab of the truck and leaving the truck stop behind.”
And finally, we found this cool video about a couple of truck drivers that worked with a fitness coach to become triathletes. (and hey, that’s just down I-5 and out on 26 in Oregon at Hagg Lake. Nice!)
Chains Required on I-70 in Colorado
Yep. It's already snowing in Colorado.
It’s only part-way through October now, but winter is officially here in the western states. It’s snowing in the Rockies, and it’s snowing in the Cascades today (that picture on the left is from our friend who lives in Golden, CO.) But it’s never too late to get your team of drivers to start thinking about winter driving conditions.
Check out the video below from our Winter Driving lesson (which, by the way, is an EXCELLENT lesson. Go take a look at the Winter Driving course description.)
Chains must be carried on trucks between Sept. 1 and May 31 along I-70 between Dotsero and Morrison, CO. One look at the elevation profile tells you why.
FMCSA: Lower CSA Through Training
Bill Bronrott, Deputy Administrator of the FMCSA
That’s what we heard listening to a talk on Friday by Bill Bronrott, Deputy Administrator of FMCSA. And it reminded us a good article we read on SmallBizTechnology.com by Ramon Ray, who decries the current methods of training, including “old and boring videos from the stone age.” Chances are that your team uses Facebook, Google +, Twitter, and other social media platforms, as well as Hulu, YouTube, iPhones, and streaming Pandora. He says companies should consider upgrading their training and implementing “short, interactive, and fun education for your employees.”
Tammy Turner, Director of Training, at Fresquez Concessions, says “the future of e-learning is just-in-time training; small sessions only 10-15 minutes long that include video and are mobile. This is how the current generation learns, with video and short blasts of information.”
Cell Phones Banned: Driver Distraction Course Updated
The NTSB has recommended a ban for cell phones for all commercial truck drivers to prevent dangerous distractions.
As a safety company, the NTSB proposed ban on cell phones for CDL driverscuts straight to our values.
(Update: The ban on handheld cell phones was approved by both the DOT and the FMCSA. Our Driver Distractions course was updated to reflect the new law within 72 hours. Drivers face fines of $2,750 and risk their CDL, while companies face fines of $11,000. Can you *prove* you trained your drivers? With Pro-TREAD, you can.)
The ban was spurred by a horribly, horribly tragic accident in Kentucky in which 11 people died. According to investigators, the driver made four phone calls in the minutes before the crash, and there’s conflicting reports about if he was making a call during the start of the accident. Investigators said he’d put in too many hours, as well, which could make him more susceptible to distraction. And the fleet’s ugly safety record? Washed away in FMCSA’s bureaucracy. (We also recommend reading the excellent investigative series from TheTrucker.com: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)
But it’s not our job to play detective in this case. The undisputed fact is that driver distractions abound. Drivers use CBs, they eat, they drink, they talk to their co-drivers, they look at navigation systems. Technology can minimize distractions — hands-free devices keep your eyes on the road, but they don’t focus your mind. Training is needed. Distractions happen, and training keeps the mind sharp.
The video above is just a short clip from our 30-minute course on Driver Distractions. Please share it. It covers eating and drinking, cell phone use, reaching, mental distractions, visual distractions, and lots of real-world advice. If you’d like a demo of this full lesson, or one of our 70+ other driver safety courses, let us know.
Brake Safety Week is All About Training
It's Brake Safety Week, which means it's a great time to focus your training.
The video is just a short clip from the full 30-minutes Air Brakes course. Available online or in-cab, it teaches all the parts of the air brake systems, including how to maintain them. It also discusses real-world and emergency use.
Please go share it with your drivers. It’s free. It takes 3 minutes to watch, and about 3 minutes to do a pre-trip brake inspection.
“You Hear Something Funny?”
Yikes. Go check out the photo that goes with the story at OregonLive.com
We’ve all done something dumb before, but this one made our local newspaper (in Portland, across the river from our hometown of Vancouver, WA), so we reckon it’s fair game to tease the guy a little bit. After all, he dragged a BOULDER under his trailer for about 2 miles.
Less funny is that the driver was placed out of service for not having a log book and under suspicion of being sleep deprived.
Hurricane Safety for Truck Fleets
Hurricane Irene will be kicking off the hurricane season this weekend, so now’s your last chance to start thinking about contingency planning, communications, and training. We posted a quick snippet about dealing with crosswinds from our Hazard Awareness driver training below.
In addition, we’ve been talking to fleet managers from our customer base, and here’s a few tips they’ve been sharing:
- No load is worth your life or the life of other people on the road. If it gets crazy, get off the road. Period.
- Civilians will have their cars stuffed to the roof with all their earthly possessions, and will probably be a little crazy as they flee the hurricane. Be careful. Be patient.
- Crosswinds with a light load make you more likely to tip over or to jackknife.
- Crosswinds can blow you into other lanes — stay alert.
- Hydroplaning can be terrifying: get your foot off the accelerator and ease onto the brakes.
- Once you’re stopped, if you need to communicate with your family or dispatch, use texting as much as possible vs. phone calls. Text messages use less bandwidth, and are more likely to get through an overloaded cellular system.
- Hazard Awareness
- Skid Control
- Speed Management
- Rollover Prevention
- Tanker Rollover Prevention
- Communication
- Emergency Maneuvers
- Emergency Response Plans
Earthquake Aftermath: Tips for Truckers and Fleets
When an earthquake hits, you'll want to route around any bridges or tunnels if practical.
A good post over on the OverDrive Facebook page from a west coast trucker who talks about a few tips if this east coast quake turns out to be the foreshadowing of a bigger quake down the road:
1. “I would just avoid any bridges or tunnels today if practical, or maybe even get some downtime… again, if practical.”
2. “Verizon has notified people out here, in the event of emergency, i.e., large quakes, mountains blowing up, meteor strikes and alien attack, avoid using voice calls to contact people, instead, use text. It uses less bandwidth, can contact more people, and only uses a brief moment to send the message.”
Of course, drivers can’t send a text while driving, so making a quick stop could help them check in and do some trip planning and emergency communications. Speaking of which, now might be a good time to suggest your drivers review those lessons through Pro-TREAD In-Cab when they pull over.
CSA Training: “Get It” in Just 45 Minutes
Never let it be said that the trucking industry ever let facts get in the way of strong opinions.
Case in point: the CSA regulations. We hear all the time about how CSA hurts the drivers, hurts the fleets, makes the roads more dangerous, and will bring about armageddon by 2013. Yet a survey by ATRI showed nearly 90% of drivers get some very important and basic facts about CSA wrong. And based on our conversations, drivers aren’t the only ones working with the wrong information: maintenance, dispatch, executives, you name it. You can argue all you want about the impact of CSA, but there’s two facts you can’t argue:
- CSA is here and in-force.
- Lots of people are flat-out wrong about what’s expected under CSA.
CSA Overview (45 minutes)
| What is CSA? Safety Measurement System Individual Driver Records and Data Access Knowing the BASICS |
Inspections Violations Intervention The Consequence of Intervention |
Scoring Violation Severity Weight Violation Severity Weight Red Flag Violations Pre-Employement Screening Preparing Yourself |
Like all Pro-TREAD online lesson, it is “mastery training,” meaning that the student must correctly answer quiz questions to advance (and finish!) the training.
Interested in a demo of the newest CSA training? Sign up for a demo, and we’ll call you back with a demo login.
Survey: Drivers’ Misconceptions about CSA
So what if drivers don’t understand CSA? If drivers think that the CSA rules are more draconian than before, isn’t that a good thing? No. Misconceptions and false information lead to drivers doing crazy things we could NEVER predict. More importantly, CSA puts drivers and carriers on the same team: infractions follow both the driver and the carrier. And since CSA infractions stay with a carrier after a driver has moved on, it’s more incentive than ever to keep that driver and FIX the problem with good training about CSA (which, by the way, we have).
According to ATRI, here’s some of the most common misconceptions from drivers about CSA.