Daniel S Bridger's Trucking Blog

Road Test - Dodge Dart will save you a speeding ticket

2013-06-19T16:00:00.000-06:00

wired.com

Story thanks to Brian Champagne and ksl.com in Salt Lake City. Link provided below:

SALT LAKE CITY — Dodge loaned us a Dart Limited for a week of testing. It had an impressive list of options for a car of its size and price, but it lacked one big one feature.

As equipped, the tester retails for $25,190. That’s the higher-end of the price category, but consider:

It has a power seat for the driver, and shotgun gets ratcheting height adjustment. If you've ever used it (it's popular on Volkswagens), you know how good it is at getting the seat in a position you actually want. The seat bottom flips up to give a small storage area. The seats are both quite comfortable and supportive.

The cruise control downshifts. This can prevent you from speeding when you come to downhills, and avoid getting a speeding ticket in a place like Mantua, which comes at the bottom of a long decline.

The automatic high /low beam works pretty good. Yes, Cadillac had this feature in the 1950s, but you don’t see it often today, and especially not on economy cars.

Blind-spot detectors are on many higher-end cars these days, and the Dart had it. A small triangle lights up in the corner of the side mirrors when a vehicle enters your blind spot.

cars.about.com

The biggest like is the tech, and how you interact with it. The heated seats, steering wheel, climate, and radio work with the knobs or touch screen.

You can rewind songs on satellite radio (why not local broadcast bands?), get gas prices in the area, and get movie listings. Other vehicles provide these higher-end features, but the Dart interaction is one of the easiest to navigate.

The gas gauge and RPM needles are real; the rest of the instrument panel is virtual and configurable. Best of all, it’s all very easy to use; there are no joysticks or mice.

The Dart name is being put on an Italian-designed, adapted platform shared with Fiat. Those older than 40 will remember the value name from the 60s and 70s. the original Dart moved from a mid-line to an economy name along its lifespan, with a few sporty and muscle-car variants along the way.

The modern Dart has a proper e-brake so you can drive rally-style. To many, having a brake you can yank with your right hand is no big deal, but it’s becoming an endangered feature.

Matthew Huff agreed to help test-drive the Dart. He says he loves long road trips in the car, alone, or more likely nowadays, with family. His current car is a 2007 Lexus IS250 with all-wheel drive. He says “It corners really well, but you can never really get off the line quick enough to get a buzz.”

Huff says the Dart is faster than his Lexus, but “The problem is I’m not very impressed with the getup and go of my Lexus, and I’m not very pleased with the get up and go of this Dart.”

Our loaner had a good looking, two-liter Tiger Shark engine. The plastic cover doubles as the air intake. Dodge claims 160 horsepower going through a six-speed automatic. There’s a smaller turbo claiming the same power, and a 2.4 boasting 184 horsepower. But 160 horsepower just didn’t feel that quick off the line, maybe because it only makes 147 lb-ft of torque. Gas mileage is 25 city, 36 highway, 29 combined.

As for the handling, tested in Logan canyon, Huff says “My Lexus handles a little better. It digs into the corners, grabs the road a little better.”

The Dart has 10 airbags and lots of handling and aerodynamics technology. Base models start at $16,000. A Mopar Dart is scheduled to come out this summer, with the 1.4-liter turbo with few enhancements to enhance power.

The Dart, at least with the automatic transmission, cannot get you a ticket for coming away from a green light too fast. It did, however, just get an honor from Road and Travel magazine for being earth-friendly with its fuel economy.

If speed is not at the top of your shopping list, the Dart will impress with its command of technology, and the ease of using it.

Brian Champagne has reported on cars for more than nine years. He holds a Masters Degree in Communications from the University of the Pacific, and teaches at Utah State University.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25615802&nid=148&fm=most_popular&s_cid=popular-1

Should you buy a $25 computer?

2013-06-18T16:00:00.000-06:00

thetechblock.com

Story thanks to Kim Komando at komando.com. Link provided below:

The hottest computer on the market isn't a $1,000+ decked-out gaming machine. It's actually a bare bones circuit board the size of a credit card. And it costs just $25!

Meet the Raspberry Pi. What's it good for?

For starters, you hook the Pi to an HDTV or digital monitor using HDMI. It can display high-definition videos, browse the Internet, play games or work on spreadsheets.

Sound great! Is it for you, though? Well, it depends.

First, let's look at a bit of history.

The low-cost Raspberry Pi is the brainchild of Eben Upton. In 2006, he was teaching computer science at the University of Cambridge. He found that computers were too expensive and too hard for ordinary users to program.

So, he set out to make a low-cost programming computer. His charitable foundation is working to get Raspberry Pis to kids all over the world. He hopes this will create a new generation of programmers.

Watch what a middle school girls engineering class in Charlotte, NC, does with the Pi. One student programmed a Pi to control brake and turn-indicator lights on her rolling backpack!

Upton expected to sell 10,000 units, tops. So far, it has sold more than a million units and counting. It isn't just schools who want it. Computer programmers and hobbyists around the world are going crazy for it.

So, how can it improve your life?

At a basic level, you can use a Raspberry Pi as a media computer. It's also a capable second PC or a computer for kids. It runs the Linux operating system, which is free and very secure.

There are two models. The Model A ($25) has 256MB of RAM and one USB port. Model B ($35) has 512MB of RAM and adds a second USB connection and an Ethernet port.

Both flavors have an HDMI connection, an audio jack and an RCA video jack. You can add a USB hub to connect a keyboard, mouse and USB Wi-Fi.

The Pi is powered by a 32-bit 700 MHz ARM processor that's roughly equivalent to the performance of a Pentium 2 chip. Upton says the multimedia performance is between a Playstation 2 and Playstation 3. That's enough for most basic computer uses.

To make the Pi operational, you need to supply a 5 volt micro USB power supply. An Android smartphone charger should do the trick. Just be sure to read the label. It needs to provide 700mA or better at 5V. Otherwise the Pi will behave erratically (or won't work at all).

The Pi has no internal storage; it boots from a standard SD card. You can buy a card pre-loaded with a compatible operating system. Or make one yourself by downloading a drive image from the Raspberry Pi website. Of course, you can also hook up an external hard drive.

You should buy a case for the computer. It could get fried if it comes in contact with liquids or conductive metals. Or you can make your own, if you're so inclined. Some people have used LEGO!

Cases, power supplies and other accessories are available from a variety of third-party vendors. The two official U.S. Raspberry Pi sellers - Allied Electronics and Newark - also sell accessories and bundles.

You can use the Raspberry Pi for basic computer functions. Or you can take it to the next level with your own programs.

Python is the programming language of the Raspberry Pi. It's easy to learn but very powerful. Click here to find out where you can take free self-guided Python lessons online. You'll be coding in no time!

If you're considering buying, definitely check out the Raspberry Pi website for more information. Read through the instructions and see if it's something you can handle. Be sure to check out the forums for great ideas on ways that you can use it.

http://www.komando.com/columns/index.aspx?id=14646&utm_medium=nl&utm_source=column&utm_content=2013-06-09-column-end&page=4

Beige Book relays concerns over HOS rules

2013-06-17T16:00:00.000-06:00

adslogistics.com

JUNE 5, 2013

The Federal Reserve’s latest commentary on current economic conditions throughout its 12 districts — popularly known as the Beige Book — noted concerns over the availability of truck drivers, especially in light of the upcoming changes to the hours-of-service regulations. Unless blocked by a federal appeals court by then, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on July 1 will implement new rules that will restrict use of the 34-hour restart of drivers’ cumulative duty-time and require drivers to take a break during their driving time.

According to the Fed’s Fourth District in Cleveland, freight executives in the region were optimistic about growth prospects for the rest of the year but were worried about the potential impact on operations of the HOS changes. Another concern noted in the Fourth District was a shortage of skilled mechanics.

The Fifth District in Richmond also reported that a national trucking firm executive indicated that implementation of new federal restrictions on driver hours of service will exacerbate the shortage of drivers for long-haul trucking. The driver shortage wasn’t just a concern for trucking companies themselves, the district said. It noted that despite the prospects of higher port traffic due to the soon-to-be-completed expansion of the Panama Canal, one port operator in the region is concerned that the truck driver shortage could slow container shipping.

A shortage of truck drivers was also reported in the Kansas City and Dallas Fed districts. Two other Fed districts — Atlanta and Chicago — reported higher demand for heavy-duty trucks.

For a copy of the entire Beige Book report, click here.

http://www.truckgauge.com/2013/06/05/beige-book-relays-concerns-over-hos-rules/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=06-06-2013&utm_campaign=CCJ&ust_id=137f89555c&

‘Best thing that ever happened’ to former owner-operator team

2013-06-16T16:00:00.000-06:00

pactrucking

Article thanks to Max Heine or overdriveonline.com. Link provided below:

Pete Carpenter, of Nashville, Tenn., spent 25 years as a one-truck owner-operator, many of them team driving with his wife, Christine. After working for North American Van Lines and FedEx Express, in 2003 the Carpenters finally settled on FedEx Ground.

In 2008, “We decided we’d had enough of being on the road and started purchasing other contractors’ trucks,” Pete Carpenter recalls. That year they bought three small fleets. Then they added three used Volvos, growing the new Pac Trucking to 19 tractors by 2009.

Their career track is a good example of what the U.S. Small Business Administration celebrates this month with its National Small Business Week, June 17-21. Many owner-operators make good money and enjoy their work without growing to a small fleet. But it’s worthwhile noting what the Carpenters learned about operating under their own authority and expanding beyond one truck.

STAY ON TOP OF PAPERWORK. “That will make you or break you,” Carpenter says. File papers on time. Use financial services providers.

PLAN TIME OFF AROUND FREIGHT. “Take your vacation when there’s ice and snow and no one’s got freight,” he says.

USE A PAYROLL SERVICE. The Carpenters use ADP, which provides weekly paychecks and handles financial reports and taxes. “Why would you want to do that if someone else will do it for $92 a week?”

USE A GOOD ACCOUNTANT. “They’re paid to keep up with that stuff,” says Carpenter, who tried to do his own taxes at first.

USE A GOOD SHOP. He ran his own at first, then sold it to his head mechanic. “He’s got seven full-time employees. He still fixes my trucks.”

ADD AT LEAST TWO TRUCKS. Having three or more trucks is best suited to the business model of a small fleet.

FOCUS ON PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE. Each of their trucks gets a thorough inspection every 15,000 miles to help avoid expensive downtime on the road.

TREAT DRIVERS WELL. Pac Trucking sets pay rates above average, and doesn’t shirk on equipment needs – Sirius XM, good seats, mattresses changed every few years. “We know what it takes to be comfortable out there. Team life is rough,” says Carpenter, who has 10 full-time teams.

FOCUS ON SAFETY. Pac Trucking gives a 2 cents per mile bonus for any month when there are no violations or customer complaints. That and other safety initiatives have paid off: The company went more than 8 million miles without an at-fault accident until a minor trailer scrape this year.

The Carpenters’ last five years have seen no shortage of challenges. But Carpenter doesn’t shortchange their earlier years, when they embarked upon “our adventure of adventures.”

“Everyone thought we’d lost our gourds,” he recalls. “We sold everything and bought a truck. It was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

http://www.overdriveonline.com/best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-former-owner-operator-team/

Evel Knievel’s driver and the 1973 Overdrive interview

2013-06-15T16:00:00.000-06:00

overdriveonline.com

Story thanks to Todd Dills of overdriveonline.com |March 12, 2012
Link provided:

Wichita, Kan.-based medical equipment salesman Mike Draper, 59, has been doing his current work, traveling all over the state of Kansas in a four-wheeler, for around 16 years, he says, after many years working as an officer with the Wichita Sheriff’s office. Before that, as a green 19-year-old working with Hugo Shea, owner of a series of Harley-Davidson dealerships around Oklahoma and Kansas, he lucked his way into the driving gig of a lifetime.

Daredevil Evel Knievel (pictured here around the time of his Snake River Canyon jump in 1974) had been driving his touring haul rig himself – with his wife and kids in tow – when Draper first met him at a promotional event at one of Shea’s dealerships. “Shea had a Chevy Titan 90 semi that I drove,” as well as another truck, says Draper, to move equipment and inventory around between dealerships and other locations.

Knievel asked Shea if he had someone who might be willing to drive the truck for him. Draper wasn’t the only big-rig-capable hauler in the outfit, and ultimately Knievel got two drivers out of the deal, Draper and a man Draper taught to drive diesels himself, Lee Ratliff.

overdriveonline.com

Draper and Ratliff are both mentioned in a story American Trucker TV show hostRobb Mariani got wind of and which we dug up from the archive in Overdrive‘sTuscaloosa, Ala., office. Download a pdf of the 1973 Overdrive interview with Knievel via this link, or click through the opening page image below.

The story reveals the man known for beating death in spite of the odds. Describing the then-in-planning “SkyCycle” steam rocket-on-wheels jump to Overdrive in 1973, Knievel had this to say: “I open the valve, let the water from the heater into the rocket, and when it drops from 500 [psi degrees] to 420, the engineer, Bob Truax, points at me. I’m looking right up the ramp over the canyon. I go at 350 miles an hour in eight seconds and hope like hell I get there. If I do, I drop down to both knees, grab a handful of dirt and thank God Almighty that I’m still alive. If I splat against the [canyon wall], I just get somewhere quicker where you’re going someday and I’ll wait for you. Dying is part of living.”

The daredevil had kind words for Draper and Ratliff in that story, too. In 1973, Knievel’s Post Coach living quarters was mounted on and his new trailer toted by a custom-designed Kenworth cabover, which would be swapped for the Mack currently undergoing restorationlate that year or early in 1974.

overdriveonline.com

“Mike and Lee,” Knievel toldOverdrive in 1973 when asked about the drivers who kept up with the Kenworth’s maintenance. “They’re great guys. I never look at [the rig] because I know that it’s going to be taken care of like I take care of it myself. They drive it all over the United States and they’ve never put a single scratch on it.”

Draper told me about witnessing an incident in Minneapolis where one of Knievel’s planes was landed on a drag strip during one of his shows — “We had a trailer parked at the starting point of the drag strip with the back end of the trailer parked at the finish line, all the motorcycles lined up. Lee and I were at the back.”

When the airplane landed “in the middle of the drag strip,” Draper says, it was going too fast and blew its tires, “and he’s coming right for us.”

Fortunately, everyone emerged unscathed after impact — not so the trailer. “The plane didn’t move the trailer one iota,” says Draper. “There was no fire, no smoke, no nothing, but the plane was just a total wreck.” And the trailer emerged with a gaping hole in it.

Knievel mentions the incident as the “one accident” he’d had with his Kenworth in the Overdrive interview. He later “told everyone I was then going to fly a plane head-on into the tractor. I was told it would be very expensive.”

When on tour in those days, Draper says, in the trailer “we used to haul three motorcycles, all the aluminum ramps,” and one or more of Knievel’s Cadillac station wagons and pickups, as well as the SkyCycle (pictured being loaded here).

“He’d pay us twice a week,” Draper adds, “and for whatever we spent we’d turn in our receipts and he was good with reimbursements.” The drivers were paid $500 a week salary, otherwise.

What was it like driving a truck for arguably the most famous man on the planet at the time?

“We never had to drive near as hard as most of the truck drivers, unless scheduling difficulties required it,” says Draper. Nonetheless, the rig drew plenty of interaction with working long-haulers. “The truckstops we’d pull into – nobody saw many automatic transmissions on over-the-road trucks in those days. And at that time nobody was putting that big a coach on the back of a semi truck,” Draper adds. “A lot of guys got to get in there and give it a look, too.

“It was quite an experience for a 19-year-old to start out with.”

Draper drove for Knievel off an on through his mid-20s into the late 1970s.

http://www.overdriveonline.com/evel-knievels-driver-and-the-1973-overdrive-interview/

Costs, regulations forcing out trucking’s ‘first generation’

2013-06-14T16:00:00.000-06:00

truckinginfo.com

Article thanks to Jame Jaillet at ccjdigital.om Link provide below:

American Trucking Associations Chairman and Combined Transport President Mike Card delivered a simple — though slightly dire — message to attendees of the Great West Fleet Executive Conference Thursday, May 30: Smaller carriers can’t handle the increased costs of industry regulations and can’t hold their heads above water any longer.

Many of these smaller carriers are owned and operated by what Card calls “the first generation,” as they got their starts after deregulation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a time when doors opened for owner-operators and small fleets to emerge.

This generation, however, “will see no baby boom,” Card said, as reregulation has given them basically only three options for leaving the industry, “merger, sale or death,” Card said.

“Trucking has been consolidated,” he said. “The primary reason for consolidation in the trucking industry is the costs associated with increased regulation. We’re the most over reregulated industry out there, in my opinion,” Card said, referencing multiple hours-of-service changes, CSA, drug testing implementation, upcoming electronic onboard recorder requirements and a litany of equipment mandates like emissions standards, anti-lock brakes, fuel standards and more.

Since deregulation, the industry’s also seen the institution of heavy vehicle use taxes, excise taxes and the creation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Card said.

“They’re all great regulations, but almost all of them have raised the cost of owning a trucking company,” Card said.

In today’s climate, he added, fleet age or owner experience carries hardly any weight compared to fleet size. “It doesn’t matter how old you are,” he said. “It matters how big you are. If you’re not big enough and profitable enough to handle the additional cost of regulation, you’re going to struggle to survive.”

Card said a major issue with dealing with the over regulation is that carriers and ATA can’t deal directly with Congress. They instead are dealing with federal bureaucrats from an agency. “Congress has given up their responsibility to legislate this country to regulators,” Card said.

Now, trucking is “at the whim” of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which, unlike agencies that oversee other modes of freight transportation, does not advocate for the industry.

“Why do we have FMCSA? Why not FMCA?” Card asked. “Railroads have the Federal Railroad Administration. Ocean carriers have the Federal Maritime Commission. Why is it that the largest freight mode hauling over 70 percent of freight doesn’t have a federal bureaucratic administration to propagate our industry? Why don’t we have an administration to help us?”

Card blames Congress, and he also blames them for the country’s lack of “adequate infrastructure,” as ATA and the trucking industry have asked for Congress to increase fuel taxes to pay for better highways, Card said.

“We said ‘Do it, and give us the roads we need,’” Card said. “But they won’t because they’re afraid they won’t get reelected” if they raise taxes, he said.

Because of the issues with Congress, FMCSA and increasing regulations, Card says the industry will continue to consolidate and one day might be like the airline industry, in which customers have only four or five companies to choose from, and they simply go online and book one.

“Unless we get Congress to act, our industry is only going to be made up of the biggest trucking companies,” Card says “And those companies will be under attack constantly from [federal regulations].”

Card offered as an example of Congress yielding power to regulators ATA’s current fight with FMCSA over hours-of-service implementation — a rule Card says will have “very little safety benefit” but will cost the industry lots of money. “At ATA we worked hard and got Congressmen to write a letter to FMCSA asking for a delay. FMCSA said no.”

In years past, Congress “wouldn’t have stood for that,” Card says, and would have passed a law to get done what they wanted, which in this case is a delay in implementation of the rule.

Toward the end of his address, Card posed the question: “What can we do to keep common sense in the trucking industry?”

His suggestion, he says, starts with recreating trucking’s image in the minds of the public and moves to taking action by influencing Congress and state legislatures.

As far as image is concerned, “We cannot be Smokey and the Bandit,” Card says. “We need to get back to being knights of the road. Our drivers should be wearing uniforms and be driving clean and safe trucks. We need to get the public to trust in us again.”

The industry needs to make use of social media, YouTube, earned media and purchased media to remake its image, Card says, and to educate the public about trucking.

That education needs to extend to Congress, too, to influence a better regulatory environment. ATA has reached out to other trucking-related associations like the Truckload Carriers Association, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the Teamsters, FMCSA and others “trying to make this a collaborative effort,” Card said.

“Working together we can make a difference and influence government in such a way that we bring common sense back to trucking,” Card said. “We’re either going to lose our first generation, small carriers and owner-operators or make Congress step up and listen.”

“That’s how we’re going to make the trucking industry strong,” he said, “and that’s how we’re going to make the country strong.”

http://www.ccjdigital.com/atas-card-costs-regulations-forcing-out-truckings-first-generation/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=06-03-2013&utm_campaign=CCJ&ust_id=137f89555c&

Inverter Installation: Troubleshooting 101

2013-06-13T16:00:00.000-06:00

truckinginfo.com

Quick tips to maximize your inverter's performance

June 2013, Thanks to TruckingInfo.com - WebXclusive By Don Wilson, Schneider Electric, Link provided below:

So you want to install an inverter, but with all the features and complexity of today’s more sophisticated units, you’re hesitant to take the plunge? Or, perhaps you’ve had some problems with your inverter, and you’re not sure if it’s a faulty unit … or a simple installation problem?

This article offers up some basic troubleshooting tips to help ensure your inverter is installed correctly in order to deliver maximum, trouble-free delivery. Success in this area will save aggravation and potentially money associated with having to engage a support technician for unwarranted and unnecessary repairs.

First, an overview. When working with electrical circuits, you must always ensure the circuit is powered down and cannot be re-energized while you are working on it. If you’re not entirely comfortable with this task (or any other cited in this article) then by all means, leave it to the experts.

If for any reason, things don’t seem to be working as they should with your inverter, understand that these types of products simply don’t “kind-of” fail. When an inverter goes bad, typically nothing will work … or, one of the features simply won’t work consistently.

Strategies for Inverter Installation Success

1. Revert all settings to factory defaults.

This may seem obvious, but the factory default settings are usually default for a reason. They are the values that allow the inverter to work in the vast majority of environments. While you don’t want to leave these settings to factory default in the long term, for a quick test, it’s ideal. After completing the test, then you can easily readjust the settings to meet your specific needs.

Check the settings, one by one, until the problem is identified, or the settings are adjusted to work.

Note: If the inverter came installed with your vehicle, the manufacturer would likely have changed the factory default settings to custom settings to suit the design and application. In such circumstances, once you reset the inverter to the default OEM/manufacturer setting, you may not need any further changes.

2. Disconnect all loads.

This action will remove the installation as a possible cause of the problem. This is also a good time to disconnect the battery, wait a few minutes, and then reconnect, in order to reboot the inverter’s processor.

3. Power up the inverter.

If this works, bring the loads on-line, one by one.

4. Watch the DC voltage at the inverter and make sure the voltage stays within the DC voltage range of the inverter.

This eliminates the possibility that an ineffective circuit from the battery is causing the issue. If the voltage is erratic, solve that problem by tracing the cause of the erratic voltage and fixing it, and then get back to the inverter. Recommendation: if you don’t have a spare DC fuse, get one!

Also, read up on and review the features of your inverter. Some perceived problems actually arise from features in the inverter like idle mode, or power save. Such features, when enabled, allow the inverter to turn off when the load is low, but can create the very real perception of a problem.

Remember: inverters don’t produce energy; they simply convert what they’re given. If you have a combination inverter/charger, and the inverter doesn’t work, but the charger is humming along fine, then check the DC voltage at the inverter when inverting to gauge whether it is within the inverter’s DC range. If the inverter works, but the charger is problematic, then check the AC input voltage at the inverter and ensure it is within the inverter’s AC range. With a sound read of what the unit is receiving, you can eliminate most causes of perceived failure.

More Troubleshooting Tips

For the most part, inverters either work, or they don’t.
From my own experience and in working with dozens of tech service centers, I have concluded that more than 80% of inverters that are returned without hands-on troubleshooting have absolutely no issues on the bench. The problem in at least 20% of the returns correlate directly to faulty installations.
Erratic behavior, or inconsistent problems, are almost always a loose connection…somewhere. While it’s not easy to find them, it’s worth the time and the effort.
A quality volt-meter is worth the investment. While there is a cost associated with ownership, it may pay off in eliminating shipping and diagnostic bench time at the service center that is unnecessary.
Safety first! Power down as much as reasonable when working with circuits. Always use one hand when working with wiring. If you’re not qualified, or are not 100% confident in the process you’re attempting, hire a qualified electrician.

Remember, inverters are nothing more than an appliance that does what it’s told to do. If it doesn’t receive the right instructions, or can’t interpret its input, it likely will not perform to your expectations, through no fault of its own. Take the time to ensure the proper installation in order to maximize the performance of your hard-working inverter. Then, you will realize its ultimate return on investment.

http://www.truckinginfo.com/article/story/2013/06/inverter-installation-troubleshooting-101.aspx?utm_campaign=headline-news-20130604&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enewsletter&prestitial=1

ROAD TEST: LED headlights ready for prime time

2013-06-12T16:00:00.000-06:00

truckinginfo.com

Thanks to: Harry Rudolfs of trucknews.com 2013-05-21. Link provided below:

Truck-Lite's LED headlights in a Penske rental Cascadia light up the back roads around Mississauga, Halton

My trucking job mostly involves night driving between Toronto and Montreal, in all weather conditions. So I’m keenly aware of the importance of a good headlight system. And commercial drivers obsess about lights all the time – just leave your fog lights on after the mist has cleared and you’ll hear about it on the CB. Don’t get me wrong. The halogen bulbs in my dedicated Volvo do a pretty good job illuminating the road. But recently I’ve noticed that the clearest and brightest low beams belong to Freightliners, specifically Penske-owned Cascadias, as they slide past me on the Big Road.

I recalled seeing a news blurb somewhere about Penske outfitting its tractor fleet with LED headlights, and was genuinely thrilled when editor James Menzies asked me to test drive one of the retrofits. So one April night my godson Zak and I booked a newish 10-speed Freightliner Cascadia with a 425-horse Cummins ISX engine, and went looking for “the darkness on the edge of town.”

Truck lighting has come a long way since 1896 when Karl Benz mounted candles on his prototype truck. From lanterns to acetylene lamps to sealed beams, to halogen, HID-Xenon and finally LED headlights, it’s always been about seeing and being seen. Over the years, lighting solutions have paralleled – and sometimes lagged behind – other aspects of the automotive trade. But occasionally something new comes along that significantly moves the bar several notches.

The round two- and four-headlight sealed beam systems that we’re all familiar with were standard for 50 years or more, and rectangular headlights, mostly found on trucks, became more common after the 1970s. A major step forward came in the early 1980s when bulbs could be changed separately from the lens and reflector, followed in 1983 by the halogen bulb. By replacing the vacuum lamps with halogen (a combination of several gases) the tungsten filaments burned brighter.

Halogen remains the mainstay among trucking fleets but that could be changing. It tends to yellow with age and grow dimmer, and the bulb life is only about 1,000 hours. You often notice the difference when replacing a burned-out headlight. The new one burns much brighter. Depending on the manufacturer, halogen headlights can lose 20% of their luminosity in only 160 hours. Compare this to the “new generation” LED low beams which might eventually lose 7% of their output, but would take 20,000 hours to do so.

At 16 years of age, Zak is a physicist-in-training, and patiently explained to me the difference between candle power and lumens, photons, neutrons and electrons, as we spent several hours trundling the back roads between Toronto and Georgetown looking for dark stretches of highway. This is the time of year when a lot of animals are moving around and getting struck, so we were actually hoping to see some wildlife darting in front of the truck.

This didn’t happen, but the directional fluting of the beams onto the shoulders of the road was excellent. “Sixty degrees,” Zak announced when we stopped, measuring the sideways flaring of the headlights with his protractor.

This is an intentional design feature, according to Brad Van Riper, chief technology officer at Truck-Lite, which produces the LED headlights.

“We interviewed drivers during the development and they wanted more light on the shoulder of the road, more visibility of fog posts, pedestrians and animals.”

To accomplish the enhanced “road-shoulder” lighting, the design team went to computer simulation technology to formulate the complex reflector-style beams of the Cascadia.

“We used a computer-based optical design system to collect and direct the light to the area that we wanted,” says Van Riper.

Stellar is a word I would use for the overall performance, in more ways than one. Besides reaching further into the night than anything else I’d driven, the frequency and spectrum of the white light is meant to mimic that of sunlight or starlight. The only thing comparable right now might be the HID-Xenon system available on Kenworth and Peterbilt packages.

HID-Xenon lights are plenty bright, but tend to have a purple tint, swinging towards the blue, or cooler, end of the spectrum. I talked to one driver of a new Kenworth who thinks they are too bright. This is probably not the case, since all headlamp systems have to meet NHTSA standards. But this particular driver confided via CB radio, “I get flashed all the time.”

By comparison, no one flashed their high beams at me while test driving the Penske Cascadia, but I personally think the intensity of both systems is about the same, though they have slightly different penumbras, and they are both brighter than that to which Joe Highway is accustomed. I was nervous about the amount of light the LEDs were emitting. But to the credit of the Truck-Lite engineers, the horizontal cut-off of the LED’s beam lined up just below a car’s trunk lid at a stop light. LEDs are monochromatic and narrowly focused. To fill out the rest of the light spectrum Truck-Lite used a blue chip that is coated with a phosphor.

“There are many ways of doing this,” says Van Riper, “but the most effective way is by coating the top surface of the LED with a phosphor and when the blue wave length light sees the phosphor, it releases photons that fill the rest of the spectrum, giving you white light.”

Like sunlight, Truck-Lite LED light is designed to be neutral, sitting midway between the cooler signature of the HIDs and the warmer halogen lights that we see on most of today’s trucks. Van Riper cites a study by the University of Michigan which suggests certain wavelengths of LED light suppress the release of melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone that factors into one’s sleep cycles.

“We’ve had feedback from a lot of drivers that they feel like they’re more alert,” he says.

Truck-Lite has never been that interested in halogen technology and they see LED systems as the way forward. In 2007 they were asked to design an LED system for the US Army which was field-tested on army trucks in Iraq and Afghanistan. They eventually sold 300,000 LED headlights to the US military. These days, the technology is available to anyone as seven-inch round beams and five-inch rectangular units.

But it is Truck-Lite’s application of LEDs to custom aerodynamic headlights like the Cascadia, which marks a new direction for the lighting manufacturer. According to Van Riper, LED headlights for several other truck makes and models should be available later this year.

After fumbling about on concession roads and secondary highways, Zak and I turned the Cascadia towards the industrial wilderness of Milton, Ont. Yes, lots more illumination in the dimly-lit truck yards. Then I remembered a grocery store in Brampton where I used to make night deliveries. This site featured a set of receiving docks that was separated from the nearby suburban townhouses by a wall. The area was always cluttered with debris, abandoned shopping carts and an overflow of garbage from the bulging refuse compressors. It was the loneliest feeling pounding on the steel doors at night and ringing the bell for an eternity with some kind of small creatures shuffling around my feet, anxious for the night receiver to open the door.

Not to my surprise, the delivery docks were the same, with the same amount of refuse and cabbage leaves scattered on the ground – only now I could see better. And once again I came to realize why I don’t miss delivering to supermarket receiving docks, especially at night.

The last stop was the Husky Truck Stop off Dixie Road. There are always a number of tractors lined up in the parking lot and I was hoping to get a picture of the LED lights beside a conventional system. Nothing doing. Guys are in their bunks and sleeping. Oh, there are always a few drivers fuelling, and a couple in the coffee shop, but despite a full yard, like most truck stops on a Friday night it’s a quiet place. But I finally did sidle up beside a fuel hauler, old style halogen, and there’s no contest in terms of brightness between the two.

The remarkable thing, I suppose, is how a technology that’s so clear and precise could be so much more efficient. According to Van Riper, a rig and trailer completely outfitted in LEDs, as compared to a contemporary truck running on all incandescent lights, actually uses 33 less amps. This is significant, especially to an owner with a big bunk and lots of electrical gadgets, who might have to otherwise consider going to a bigger alternator. The power savings may result in a reduction in fuel consumption which is currently under study.

No question about the benefits and longevity of LED headlights, but the cost involved ($750) is considerably more than halogen or HID-Xenon. But Van Riper estimates the price will come down as manufacturing and consumer demand heats up, and with Volvo and International coming online, that could happen sooner than later. Meanwhile, Truck-Lite’s offering interested Canadian fleets free one-week trials to see the difference for themselves.

http://www.trucknews.com/news/road-test-led-headlights-ready-for-prime-time/1002334482/

C.R. England driver on the lookout for his next job!

2013-06-11T16:00:00.001-06:00

courtesy, alan crawford

Airport parking garage blocked after semi gets stuck

Story thanks to Fox 13 News, Salt Lake City, link provided, Courtesy Alan Crawford

SALT LAKE CITY — Airport parking was even more taxing than usual Sunday morning after a semi truck tried to enter the parking garage and got stuck.

Airport officials said the cab of the truck was too tall for the structure. The truck was stuck for nearly two hours. (Pretty hard to believe! I've been in that garage and would think twice about taking a jacked up pickup truck in there. How could anyone be so stupid? Dan)

courtesy, alan crawford

Authorities were able to move the truck after deflating the tires.

Posted on: 4:00 pm, June 9, 2013, by Mark Green

http://fox13now.com/2013/06/09/airport-parking-garage-blocked-after-semi-gets-stuck/

Oregon's Entry Policy-Plan Ahead

2013-06-10T16:00:00.000-06:00

Info thanks to Jennine Moulds, Safety & Compliance Department Manager

Oregon's Entry Policy-Plan Ahead

Oregon recently made a change to the Entry Policy. When traveling in Oregon or entering Oregon, carriers must obtain tax and registration credentials prior to operating. The only exception is if entering Oregon on I-5 @ OR/WA Border and going directly to Portland Bridge Office @ Jantzen Beach and purchasing credentials. The Portland Office @ Jantzen Beach is open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Drivers will be subject to citation and up to a $435 fine when:
1. Entering Oregon on I-5 on the OR/WA Border and the Portland Bridge Registration Office is closed or you enter anywhere else and you do not have your credentials prior to entering the state.
2. You operate in Oregon without credentials, your Motor Carrier Account is suspended, or your vehicle registration is suspended.
Carriers are required to carry the Oregon Tax Credential in their vehicles and fuel purchases are tax-exempt when the Tax Credential is shown at fuel station. Carriers pay a weight-mile tax rather than fuels tax. For Over-Dimension Loads you must obtain a Variance Permit prior to operating.
For a copy of the Tax and Registration Entry Policy:
www.oregon.gov/ODOT/MCT/docs/EntryPolicy_TaxRegistrationCredentials.pdf for a copy of the Over-Dimension
Entry Policy: www.oregon.gov/ODOT/MCT/docs/EntryPolicy_Over-DimensionLoads.pdf

Truck driver suing for allegedly being jailed without charges for 17 days

2013-06-09T16:00:00.001-06:00

ksl.com

Story thanks to Emiley Morgan at ksl.com in Salt Lake City. Link provided below:

6/8/13 - SALT LAKE CITY — An Arizona man has filed a federal lawsuit against Box Elder County, saying he was held behind bars for 17 days without access to an attorney and without any charges filed against him.

He claims he was jailed all because another driver told a trooper that he had swerved on the freeway.

Robert Kuchcinski filed the complaint in U.S. District Court Friday against Box Elder County, the Box Elder County Jail and the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office alleging violations of his constitutional rights and state laws, and false imprisonment.

According to the complaint, Kuchcinski was stopped on June 16, 2012, while driving an "18-wheel tractor-trailer combination" on I-15 near Tremonton when he reached across the vehicle's cab to retrieve an item.

The action caused the man's vehicle to drift once, but he quickly corrected himself and returned to his lane, the lawsuit states. Five to 10 minutes later, Kuchcinski said he was stopped by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper responding to a call from another motorist who had seen the vehicle drift and worried that its driver was impaired.

The trooper cited Kuchcinski for failure to stay in one lane based on the testimony of the witness, who was there for the traffic stop. The trooper also asked that the man take a breathalyzer test.

"(Kuchcinski) complied; (the trooper) read the results and muttered something to the effect of, 'Well, that can't be right,'" the lawsuit states.

The trooper asked Kuchcinski to perform field sobriety tests and those related to balance indicated possible intoxication, which Kuchcinski tried to explain were attributable to an infection of his inner ear. According to the complaint, the trooper ignored this explanation and arrested Kuchcinski for suspicion of driving while impaired. Once at the jail, Kuchcinski provided a blood sample for analysis.

"From that time until 17 days later, (Kuchcinski) remained incarcerated in the Box Elder County Jail," the complaint states. "At no time was he brought before a judge for arraignment and at no time was he formally charged with any crime other than the traffic citation, a mere infraction. Likewise, he was not afforded an opportunity to confer with counsel."

When Kuchcinski asked a deputy when he would be allowed to see a judge more than two weeks later on July 2, he said he hadn't been given a chance to contact an attorney and was then allowed to do so. He was released from jail the next day, the complaint states.

"Aside from the class C misdemeanor for failure to stay in one lane, for which jail time is not an authorized punishment under Utah law, he was not charged with any crime," the lawsuit states. Days later, Kuchcinski's attorney said he received a copy of the results of the breathalyzer and blood analysis tests that showed a 0.0 blood-alcohol level and negative reads for any kind of impairment.

The man's incarceration led to him losing his job and "the overwhelming distress" of his time in jail left Kuchcinski with psychological trauma, flashbacks and anxiety attacks at the thought of driving more than a few miles, according to the complaint. These "debilitating" attacks have prevented him from finding employment as a driver, which is the occupation Kuchcinski had held for most of his life.

Kuchcinski alleges the incident amounted to violations of his constitutional right to counsel, a speedy trial, notice of the nature and cause of accusations, due process as well as violations of state laws that allow for a bail hearing and arraignment, and false imprisonment. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and the cost of attorneys, fees and any needed witnesses.

Box Elder County Attorney Stephen Hadfield said Friday he had not yet been served with the complaint and he declined to comment.

Emiley Morgan, Crime Reporter

Emiley Morgan is a reporter for the Deseret News covering police and the state courts in the integrated News Division. She worked as an intern in the Features department before joining the City desk in 2009.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25504458&nid=148&title=truck-driver-suing-for-allegedly-being-jailed-without-charges-for-17-days&fm=home_page&s_cid=queue-16

FMCSA agency publicly says “we're listening” to trucking? It's got to be the joke of the day!

2013-06-08T16:00:00.000-06:00

Truckers beware!

Thanks to Evan Lockridge and todaystrucking.com Link provided below:

Guest Editorial: Did you hear the one about the FMCSA?

Senior Contributing Editor Evan Lockridge questions the makeup of a key committee advising the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

This financial advisor walks into a meeting of people who advise the federal government when it comes to safety policy involving trucks and says he's in favor of speed limiters...

This may sound like the beginning of a joke, however, it's anything but funny!

Steve Owings, co-founder of the group Road Safe America, has been appointed chairman of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee. His and Road Safe America's mission is simple: to mandate speed limiters on trucks.

Road Safe America was started by Steve and his wife, Susan, in 2003, after their son Cullum was killed when his stopped car was struck from behind by a truck going 7 mph over the speed limit with the cruise control on. Tragic? No doubt. Does this make Steve Owings an expert when it comes to leading a group that advises FMCSA about safety? Hardly.

He's been a financial advisor since 1997. Before that, he was a senior director with a telecommunications provider. Had Owings’ son not been killed, he likely would never have been involved in trying to shape trucking policy.

I'm not saying someone from trucking would automatically be more qualified to head up MCSAC. One can easily argue that would be akin to the fox guarding the henhouse. But at least the previous chairman, David Parker, senior legal council of Great West Casualty, understands the concept of risk (and the fact that you can never eliminate all risk), since he works for a trucking insurance provider and knows the legal arena.

Parker has been reappointed, along with several other former committee members. Only one of the five new members appointed by FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro is directly from trucking, Don Osterberg, senior vice president of safety and security with Schneider National. The four others, plus one alternate member, are from the enforcement, unionized transit workers, driver training or public advocacy groups. In fact, public safety advocacy groups account for six of 20 seats on the committee, including the one alternate member. With another five seats representing enforcement, FMCSA has assembled a coalition of similar-minded interests, leaving trucking in the minority.

FMCSA no doubt thinks it's doing things right. When asked why trucking has only four seats

on the committee (counting just carriers and trucking associations, though the agency claims it has five from trucking), spokesman Duane DeBruyne in an email said the agency believes the trucking industry is “adequately represented” and complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

What's ironic is when Ferro was appointed to head up FMCSA, some public advocacy groups cried foul, because she was working for the Maryland Motor Truck Association. Now, they no doubt think she is the best thing since sliced bread, with Owings as chairman and advocacy groups and enforcement dominating the committee.

This also begs question: Where are the drivers on this committee, the ones with real-life, over-the-road experience?

One with more than 20 years experience, over half that time as an independent with an exemplary record, applied and was turned down by FMCSA. Contrast this against the appointment of Steve Owings, who has zero experience in trucking, and it's so ridiculous it would be funny if it weren't true.

The appointment of Owings and more enforcement and public advocacy groups gives the impression the FMCSA is more interested in stacking the committee with a majority who will tell them what they want to hear rather than how trucking will be affected by new rules and regulations.

It's no wonder many people in trucking think it's a joke when the agency publicly says “we're listening” to trucking for feedback on topics from hours of service to mandatory driver training.

http://www.truckinginfo.com/blog/all-thats-trucking/story/2013/05/guest-editorial-did-you-hear-the-one-about-the-fmcsa.aspx?utm_campaign=Headline-News-20130524&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Enewsletter

Gigantic stop signs for oblivious truckers

2013-06-07T16:00:00.000-06:00

Apparently road signs are nothing to be paid attention to in Sydney, Australia. So much so that for semi-trucks down under, the city had to create giant stop signs that appear in a water feature in the middle of the road. Story thanks to overdriveonline.com

No, really.

Jalopnik posted a story last week on the water-curtain stop signs, along with a video clip (see it below) of the news coverage of the reasoning behind the stop signs, which came about after too many truck drivers crashed into tunnels that weren’t tall enough for the trucks to fit into.

The systems basically work by dropping a curtain of water which is then used as a backdrop for a gigantic stop sign projection when a vehicle too tall to enter is detected by a sensor. The news report shows one truck in particular ignoring warning low-overhead sign warnings far enough out to change course. They’re ignored, however, and the last-resort water-curtain sign is triggered, which then gets his attention.

Watch the video of the news report here to see a little more on the innovative stop sign system:

http://www.overdriveonline.com/gigantic-stop-signs-for-oblivious-truckers/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=05-23-2013&utm_campaign=CCJ&ust_id=137f89555c

Is the new Wi-Fi standard worth the money?

2013-06-06T16:00:00.000-06:00

engadjet.com

Article thanks to Kim Komando at komando.com. Link provided below:

Home networks used to be the realm of hardcore techies. Now most homes have smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, streaming video boxes and video game consoles. That makes a home network practically mandatory.

Fortunately, today's networks are much easier to set up, thanks to wireless networks. No one likes running cables all over the house.

Despite the convenience, wireless networks do have drawbacks. For example, speed and range can vary wildly. Thankfully, these both improve with every generation of Wi-Fi.

The latest 802.11ac standard is no exception. Manufacturers boast speeds more than 3 times faster than previous Wi-Fi generations. That's quite a jump!

To get that speed, you'll need to buy a new router, of course. So the big question is whether it's worth the cost.

For those not up on the jumble of letters and numbers that relate to wireless standards, let me explain. The designation 802.11 is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers standard for Wi-Fi. The letter following 802.11 indicates the version of the standard.

Up until this point, consumer routers have mainly used 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n. These are usually listed as 'b,' 'g' and 'n' on product packaging. You'll also see 802.11a support on some routers, but don't confuse that with 802.11ac.

For each new Wi-Fi standard, speed and range increase. Plus, there are new encryption methods for security, new frequencies and other complex behind-the-scenes technology.

Now that there are more than 26 Wi-Fi revisions, we're into the double letters. That makes the newest consumer version 802.11ac, or Wireless AC, or 'ac' or however else companies will choose to brand it.

So, back to whether or not you should buy. Let's take a look at the pros and cons.

On the pro side, 802.11ac is blazing fast. At an advertised 1.75 gigabits per second, it's faster than a high-end wired home network. Right now, wired home networks top out at 1 gigabit.

In fact, 802.11ac can stream high-definition video to several gadgets at once. In a media-heavy home, that is a definite plus.

As far as range goes, solid figures are hard to come by. It really depends on your home, router placement and other factors. Still, you should see a more solid connection than older Wi-Fi standards.

Click here for 5 ways to boost your Wi-Fi range with any router.

Unfortunately, that's about it for the pro side. The cons are going to take a bit longer.

The major drawback is compatibility. To take advantage of 802.11ac features, you need gadgets that support 802.11ac. While it's been out for a year, very few gadgets support it.

I've seen some laptops with it, and a few smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy S4. But it will take a while before every new gadget has it.

Just supporting 802.11ac isn't enough either. To get the full benefit, a gadget has to support the correct sub frequencies or have multiple antennas. Lower-cost models probably won't for a while.

So, you might get anywhere from 450 megabits per second to 1.75 gigabits per second performance depend on your gadget. True, 450Mbps is still very fast, but it's not the connection you paid for.

Don't forget the expense of buying gadgets with 802.11ac support. Of course, nobody said you have to upgrade everything right away.

Routers with 802.11ac also support all the old Wi-Fi standards. Your existing gadgets will still work. They just won't be any faster than they already are.

Click here for instructions on speeding up your Wi-Fi router.

Speaking of cost, though, routers with 802.11ac aren't cheap. They start at $160 online and go up from there. So it's not a small investment.

On the plus side, these are high-end routers, so you get all the latest goodies. Think high-end encryption, parental control extras, multiple networks, multimedia packet shaping and so on. Plus they have a gigabit wired connection. Once you buy, you shouldn't have to upgrade for quite a few years.

In the end, it comes down to how you use the Internet. If you have one or two gadgets you use for social media and email, 802.11ac isn't for you. You're much better off sticking with your current router, or buying a low-cost 802.11n model.

If, however, you need a new router, and your home is filled with gadgets pulling down gigabytes of Internet traffic a day, definitely give 802.11ac a look. It might not do you good right away, but it will definitely help in the future.

For everyone else, I'd wait until 802.11ac routers drop in price and you already own a few 802.11ac gadgets.

Whatever you buy, don't forget to enable the encryption. This will keep neighbors and criminals off your network. Click here to learn how to secure your network.

http://www.komando.com/columns/index.aspx?id=14593&utm_medium=nl&utm_source=column&utm_content=2013-06-02-column-end&page=1

Truck drivers sue over overtime, meal breaks

2013-06-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

arb.ca.gov

May 15, 2013|By Ricardo Lopez, Los Angeles Times

The lawsuit alleges Harbor Express misclassified hundreds of truck drivers as independent contractors to avoid providing rest breaks and overtime pay.

Two truck drivers have sued one of Southern California's largest trucking companies, alleging they were denied breaks, lunch hours and overtime because they were treated as independent contractors rather than employees of Harbor Express Inc.

The lawsuit filed this week is one of several complaints lodged against trucking companies in recent years and is seeking class-action status.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said it could affect as many as 400 truck drivers who worked for the Wilmington-based company since May 2009.

The complaint alleges that Harbor Express, which serves the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, misclassified hundreds of truck drivers as independent contractors so the firm wouldn't have to provide worker benefits such as rest breaks and overtime pay.

The civil suit, filed Monday by brothers Jose I. Estrada, 58, and Jose A. Estrada, 48, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges truck drivers act as direct employees, driving company-owned trucks exclusively for Harbor Express.

"It looks like a traditional employment, but they slap the title of independent contractors on them," said Brian Kabateck, one of the lawyers who filed the case.

"If they were truly independent contractors, they would own the truck or lease it," Kabateck said. They would also "have freedom to come and go and can take on other jobs and assignments. This is just a clever way to do a runaround of labor law."

Messages left for Andy Kim, president of Harbor Express, weren't returned Tuesday.

Harbor Express was founded in 1984 and lists 40 employees, according to public records. The firm reported annual sales of $3.6 million, according to business data provider Dun & Bradstreet Inc.

Trucking companies that serve the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have long relied on independent contractors to move goods. The twin seaport has about 10,000 registered trucks that move goods in and out of the ports, officials said. Industry experts estimate only about 10% of truck drivers are direct employees.

For the Estradas, being an independent contractor means small paychecks for long workdays — as little as $85 per load. Work is particularly grueling before the holiday shopping season when retailers are stocking shelves with new merchandise.

Truck drivers are paid per trip, no matter how long they take. Delays leaving the port aren't accounted for when they are paid, the younger Estrada said.

"They don't pay us a penny for the time we wait at the port," he said in Spanish. "I live paycheck to paycheck. I don't have a savings account."

He said it's hard to provide for his family as a contractor but said finding a company to directly hire him as a truck driver is nearly impossible. "All the trucking companies have the same system," he said.

Because they are classified as contractors, they aren't eligible for workers' compensation when they are injured. The older Estrada brother was left disabled after an accident and he's unsure whether he will ever be able to work again.

Critics say that the truck driver contractor model has given way to various wrongful labor practices.

California in 2008 began cracking down on trucking companies that misclassified employees as independent contractors. As attorney general, Jerry Brown filed at least five lawsuits against Southern California trucking companies that allegedly circumvented state labor laws.

In 2008, the twin seaports sought to reduce air pollution by trucks. They ordered that older trucks be phased out and others be retrofitted. At the Port of Los Angeles, one of the provisions of the clean truck program would have required trucking companies to directly hire drivers.

Trucking companies objected, filing a legal challenge. In 2011, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed some of the program's components but struck down the direct-employee provision of the mandate.

The case is now before the Supreme Court, which is expected to issue a decision this summer.

ricardo.lopez@latimes.com

Times researcher Scott J. Wilson contributed to this report.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/15/business/la-fi-port-lawsuit-20130515?utm_source=The+TruckersReport+Weekly+Newsletter+Recipients&utm_campaign=ad4180e4df-Weekly_Newsletter_Test_Campaign1_25_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_de09ecb18a-ad4180e4df-38416925

Driving the Juke Joint Trail

2013-06-04T14:25:00.000-06:00

austinchronicle.com

By ALEX CREVAR Published: May 17, 2013 New York Times

I expected my juke joint pilgrimage to feel like a peripatetic wake. Decades ago, blues luminaries like Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Sonny Boy Williamson traveled across the South, guitar or harmonica in hand, from joint to joint for just enough money and food to get to the next one. In doing so they laid the foundation for nearly every form of popular American music that would follow.

But today, juke joints, once too numerous to count, have slipped away as their owners pass on. When I asked Roger Stolle, a founder of the Juke Joint Festival, held annually in Clarksdale, Miss., how many such places still exist, he replied: “With actual real, live blues music at least sporadically? Maybe five.”

Taking a route through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, I set out to find some of these spots and discovered that where juke joints still exist jubilance remains. Traditionally seen as dens of the devil’s music — jook is believed to originate from an African-derived Gullah word meaning disorderly — the surviving joints have become redefined as sanctuaries. Within their ramshackle walls, a sense of community and a love of soul-searching rhythms reign supreme.

On a crisp April day, I drove from Birmingham to Bessemer, about 20 minutes to the southwest. As I parked at Gip’s Place, a sprawl of do-it-yourself structures literally on the other side of the tracks, a car pulled beside me and a clearly relieved man in a fedora stepped out. “GPS doesn’t do much for you here, does it?” he said. “This place almost has to find you.” (And it could, until recently. The Bessemer city government has just shut down the club, citing permit and zoning violations; at press time, the two sides hadn’t resolved the issue.)

While some other jukes have turned to D.J.’s, Gip’s, opened in 1952, offers only live music. Performers like T-Model Ford and Bobby Rush have played on the plywood stage, housed in a festive space about the size of a living room. When the dance floor heaves, the spot’s namesake, Henry Gipson — he gives his age as “between 80 and 100” and owns a cemetery, where he digs graves by day — takes his position at the stage’s edge, clapping his huge, weathered hands and shouting encouragement.

“The soul and spirit of Mr. Gip and his knowledge and memory of where the blues come from is what you feel here,” said Debbie Bond, a 30-year veteran of the Alabama blues scene and leader of that night’s band, Debbie Bond and the TruDats.

Fueled by the drained invigoration that follows a night “out jukin’,” the next day I drove southwest to Teddy’s Juke Joint in Zachary, La., just north of Baton Rouge. After seeking out Lloyd Johnson Jr., a k a Teddy, I asked him where he was born; the 67-year-old pointed toward the stage, where he said a bed once sat. As a guitar player began fingerpicking, patrons filed in amid mismatched booths and tables, a disco ball, Mardi Gras beads and a sign that read “Welcome: All Sizes, All Colors ...All People.”

“You’ve got to have the want, the love, the upkeep, the will, and the desire to keep it going,” said Mr. Johnson, perched at the bar. “After these are gone, children aren’t going to have any idea what a juke joint was. It’s important because it is the culture of America.”

The next morning, I traveled north through the alluvial plain wedged between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers — to some the true home of the blues, having produced stalwarts like Muddy Waters, Elmore James and B. B. King. Today, their legacy forms the skeleton of the region’s tourism draw, and its backbone is Highway 61, known as the Blues Highway.

Juke aficionados from around the world seek out Po’ Monkey’s in Merigold, Miss., just off 61, open Thursdays only. The owner, Willie Seaberry, 73 — he responds to either Po’ or Monkey — has run the joint since he was 16. During the day, he still farms the fields that surround the building, an Escher-like layering of tin, bricks and rough-hewed planks.

“There used to be juke joints all around here,” Mr. Seaberry said as we stood outside, watching the sun set. “Well, a lot of young folks didn’t know how to act, and they just had to close them down.” He looked out across an infinite Delta horizon. “But all my people like the blues.”

At dusk, we followed his people into the joint for $3 canned beers under black-plastic ceilings adorned with a sea of stuffed monkeys and Christmas lights. As the D.J. found his groove with a soul number by the band Chairmen of the Board, a group of regulars arrived, tilting the crowd from majority white to black. Strangers sat at community tables and danced with one another’s dates; the clubhouse mood never changed.

“Po’ Monkey’s is like what the Delta is at its best,” Will Jacks, a photographer from nearby Cleveland, Miss., told me. “It’s more than just a place to have some beer and relax for a night. There’s this magic that happens between people.”

If the Delta is the body of the blues, Clarksdale, 30 minutes north of Merigold along the Sunflower River, is the heart. Markers pay homage to hometown heroes like John Lee Hooker, Ike Turner and Sam Cooke. And this town of 18,000 is the site of the famous“crossroads,” where Highways 61 and 49 meet and where Robert Johnson legendarily sold his soul.

It was the eve of the 10th Juke Joint Festival, and Clarksdale was already humming with the string-bending melodies of impromptu curbside performances. Hundreds of blues fans milled about with their programs to locate the fest’s various music locations. About 7,000 fans would eventually descend on the compact grid of streets to witness longtime bluesmen — some in their 70s and 80s — as well as a new generation of standard-bearers.

The next day, evidence of Clarksdale’s singular focus was everywhere. At one end of town, on the grassy front quad of the Delta Blues Museum, teenagers, college students and families lounged in the sun and listened to live bands. In the town’s center, the esteemed guitarist and singer Robert (Wolfman) Belfour, 72, in a three-piece suit and Panama hat, was finishing a set. Across the street, Marcus Cartwright Jr., 19, who goes by Mookie, also wearing a Panama hat, sat on an amp on the sidewalk and drew bigger crowds with every old-school song he played.

“One of the concepts of the Juke Joint Festival is to highlight the fact that we have these incredible venues that really only exist in one part of the world,” Mr. Stolle said. He is apparently bullish on the state of the festival: next year’s is already scheduled for April 10 to 13. “It gives you that whole sense of the fact that it’s not just a genre of music — it’s a living, breathing culture that happens to have a voice.”

The most obvious bricks-and-mortar example of that commitment to redirect the juke-joint-culture trajectory is the Ground Zero Blues Club. The relative newcomer of the group, it was opened in 2001 by the actor Morgan Freeman and Bill Luckett, a local lawyer, in a converted cotton warehouse, with all the gritty trappings of a great juke: graffitied walls, strings of lights and a down-home front porch with couches. Live acts perform Wednesday to Saturday.

But if you ask musicians and locals to name the best joint in town to experience music, nearly all will send you to Red’s Lounge, which stages blues-only acts Friday to Sunday, run by the beloved and cantankerous Red Paden, 60, a juke owner for 40 years. Inside, space is tight, the ceiling low, and the music as well connected to the original bluesmen as the room’s red-neon glow is seductive.

I’d saved Red’s for last. Apparently so had everyone else — the place was packed. Seated in a folding chair on the floor-level stage, Mr. Belfour moaned, tapped his foot and played his twangy country-blues style — proving why the blues and juke joints are not yet ready for a museum’s glass case.

Hours later — around 2 a.m., as the night’s last band was winding down — Mr. Paden came out from behind the bar, waving his arms through the haze of cigarette smoke and alcohol-fueled revelry. “That’s it, everybody,” he said. “I’m tired.”

IF YOU GO

Gip’s Place, 3101 Avenue C, Bessemer, Ala. Band donation, $10. (Call before visiting.)

Teddy’s Juke Joint, 17001 Old Scenic Highway, Zachary, La; teddysjukejoint.com. Cover on weekends, $10 to $20.

Po’ Monkey’s, Poor Monkey Road, Merigold, Miss. Cover, $5.

Juke Joint Festival, Clarksdale, Miss. jukejointfestival.com. Admission, $15.

Delta Blues Museum, 1 Blues Alley, Clarksdale; deltabluesmuseum.org. Admission, $7.

Ground Zero Blues Club, 352 Delta Avenue, Clarksdale;groundzerobluesclubmusic.com. Cover, $3 to $10.

Red’s Lounge, 395 Sunflower Avenue, Clarksdale. Cover, $7.

A version of this article appeared in print on May 19, 2013, on page TR10 of the New York edition with the headline: This Car Stops for the Blues.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/travel/driving-the-juke-joint-trail.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

10 of the Most Dangerous Jobs in the U.S.

2013-06-03T16:00:00.000-06:00

Yahoo! Finance/Getty Images -

By Travers Korch | Bankrate.com – Sun, May 19, 2013 9:33 AM EDT

From the relatively exotic to the seemingly mundane, certain occupations carry an underlying danger that can reach up to 127 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recent figures, there were 4,693 fatal occupational injuries in 2011, 146 more than reported in 2010. The majority of these injuries occur in a handful of sectors representing the most dangerous ways to earn a living in the country. Median annual salaries also come courtesy of the BLS.

And with these risky jobs, many might think life insurance is out of the question, but it isn’t, it just might cost a bit more.

1. Job: Fishing

Risk factors: The producers of “Deadliest Catch” don't need to create much artificial drama, as fishers and fishing workers have -- on average -- the most dangerous jobs in the country. Malfunctioning gear, inclement weather and transportation incidents all factor into the highestfatality rate, a distinction it has held since 1992.

Fatality rate: 127.3 per 100,000 workers, 42 total

Median annual salary: $25,590

2. Job: Logging workers

Risk factors: Total logging fatalities in the U.S. increased from 59 to 65 from 2010 to 2011. Dangers are apparent when spending most of your days outside with heavy machinery, frequently bad weather and occasional high altitudes.

Fatality rate: 104 per 100,000 workers, 65 total

Median annual salary: $32,870

3. Job: Aircraft pilots and flight engineers

Risk factors: Though pilots are often financially compensated for the inherent dangers and responsibilities of their jobs, no amount of money can change the fact that it's a long way down.

Fatality rate: 56.1 per 100,000 workers, 71 total

Median annual salary: $118,070 airline, $92,060 commercial

4. Job: Refuse and recyclable material collectors

Risk factors: Trash and recyclable collectors don't get enough credit for maintaining order in society. Trash collector strikes are never a pretty thing and neither is the high fatality rate.

Fatality rate: 36.4 per 100,000 workers, 30 total

Median annual salary: $35,230

5. Job: Roofers

Risk factors: It doesn't take a history in roofing to know that the biggest danger is not sunburns or hammered fingers. Falls are the leading culprit in fatal injuries, while other nonfatal injuries like fractures make general construction work among the most injury-prone jobs.

Fatality rate: 34.1 per 100,000 workers, 60 total

Median annual salary: $34,220

6. Job: Structural iron and steel workers

Risk factors: Structural iron and steel workers install iron or steel beams and use cranes to lift said beams. Ironworkers have one of the highest rates of injuries of all occupations, according to the BLS.

Fatality rate: 30.3 per 100,000 workers, 18 total

Median annual salary: $44,540

7. Job: Helpers, construction trades

Risk factors: Construction laborers and helpers do physically demanding work, and have one of the highest rates of injuries. They clean and prepare construction sites, dig trenches, build scaffolding and operate construction equipment. Not for the faint of heart.

Fatality rate: 26.8 per 100,000 workers, 15 total

Median annual salary: From $23,320 for roofer helpers, up to $27,780 for brick masons.

8. Job: Farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers

Risk factors: Working the land may be one of the oldest professions, but new efficient technology has done little to make the job any safer. Long hours and close, consistent contact with heavy machinery and equipment represent the bulk of injuries and fatalities on the job, which is largely represented by transportation incidents.

Fatality rate: 26.1 per 100,000 workers; 268 total

Median annual salary: $60,750

9. Job: Truck drivers

Risk factors: Incredibly long hours and quick turnarounds complicate an already dangerous situation with a truck of up to 40 tons in highway settings. Highway crashes are the leading cause of death.

Fatality rate: 25.9 per 100,000 workers, 485 total

Median annual salary: $38,200 for heavy truck drivers

10. Job: Natural resources and mining

Risk factors: This job requires long hours working outdoors, sometimes in remote locations for long periods of time.

Fatality rate: 22.1 per 100,000 workers, 721 total

Median annual salary: $54,020

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recent figures, there were 4,693 fatal occupational injuries in 2011, 146 more than reported in 2010. The majority of these injuries occur in a handful of sectors representing the most dangerous ways to earn a living in the country.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-of-the-most-dangerous-jobs-in-the-u-s--191643548.html?fb_action_ids=662407673774561&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=facebook_cb&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582&goback=%2Egde_134135_member_242377708

Affordable Care Act bringing sweeping healthcare changes for carriers

2013-06-02T16:00:00.000-06:00

amac.us

Story thanks to ccjdigital.com Link provided below:

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – often referred to as “Obamacare” – was signed into law on March 23, 2010. Many businesses held out hopes that the controversial package would be repealed or scaled back, but the 2,500-page law remains on the books and parts of the program have already been implemented.

January 1, 2014 marks another important date in the rollout of the new healthcare reform. “2014 is what everybody has been scared about as that is the full implementation date,” said Tom Goedde, benefits group manager for AHM Financial Group, during his presentation to trucking fleet executives at the 2013 CCJ Spring Symposium in Birmingham, Ala. “The big term is going to be ‘shared responsibility’, shared responsibility for individuals and for companies and corporations.”

In a nutshell, individuals must have coverage or pay a penalty, while large companies (defined as 50 or more employees) must offer healthcare coverage to its employees. Small employers are not required to offer coverage, but if they choose to, the costs will certainly be higher than current healthcare plans as they face market reform and higher taxes. “There’s no rest for anyone under the law,” said Goedde.

Citing employer-related research on new healthcare policy, nearly 90 percent are retaining their plan coverage to retain current employees. Of those employers opting to discontinue plan coverage, the biggest reason (86.4 percent) given was the cost of providing that coverage is too high.

“Unfortunately, I think we’re going to find that the Affordable Care Act, as it is called, is not that,” says Goedde. “It is going to add a lot more to business costs.”

Rasmussen Reports issued the results of a telephone survey in May that showed 55 percent of U.S. voters have an unfavorable view of healthcare reform, while a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 23 percent of respondents weren’t even aware of the changes to healthcare law, and 12 percent mistakenly thought Congress had repealed it altogether.

Generally speaking, provisions take effect on your healthcare insurance anniversary date, according to Goedde. For example, if a company’s current healthcare plan is renewed on July 1, 2013, the changes in healthcare reform would take place on July 1, 2014.

Goedde, using numbers published by UnitedHealthcare, a division of the largest single health carrier in the country, said individuals, small companies and large companies all will face substantial premium increases. Large companies should expect a 20- to 25-percent increase, small companies a 25- to 50-percent increase, and individuals a whopping 116-percent increase over pre-reform numbers.

The impact of healthcare reform on large companies

Large employers must offer coverage with essential health benefits to all employees, or pay a fine of $2,000 per person after the first 30 employees. “If you have a 100 employees and choose not to offer healthcare, you pay a fine of 70 x $2,000, or $140,000,” said Goedde. “The problem is, if you do pay that fine, you’ll probably have to give out raises or gross up some incomes” so employees can purchase their own coverage.

For large companies that choose to offer healthcare coverage and avoid fines, that coverage has to be deemed “affordable” – no more than 9.5 percent of an individual’s W2 earnings or monthly rate of pay. “The penalty if you offer coverage not deemed affordable is $3,000 per person,” said Goedde.

For more information, go to www.uschamber.com/health-reform/calculator to determine if your company if your company is required to offer employer-mandated coverage as well as if you will have to pay any penalties.

http://www.ccjdigital.com/affordable-care-act-bringing-sweeping-healthcare-changes-for-carriers/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=05-22-2013&utm_campaign=CCJ&ust_id=137f89555c&

Redflex losing contract bids amid Chicago scandal

2013-06-01T16:00:00.000-06:00

Amid scandal within its red-light camera program, Redflex
is expanding into automated school bus cameras that record
cars as they illegally pass.
(John Woike, Tribune Newspapers photo)

Article thanks to April 11, 2013|By David Kidwell, Chicago Tribune reporter, April 11, 2013. Link to their site follows:

Seeking to reverse their fortunes amid a debilitating Chicago corruption scandal, top executives of Redflex Traffic Systems flew to Florida for a personal pitch to local officials having second thoughts about giving the company a major contract for a red-light camera system.

It wasn't enough.

The board of commissioners in Orange County, Fla., voted unanimously this week to abandon negotiations with Redflex, the highest-scoring bidder on the county's plan to install as many as 80 traffic cameras in suburban Orlando. Citing an ongoing federal criminal investigation into allegations of a $2 million bribery scheme in Chicago and the company's potentially shaky future, commissioners opted instead to go with their second choice.

"I just don't think it's appropriate for us to congratulate a company that has this type of core value failure," Orange County Commissioner Fred Brummer said before Tuesday's 7-0 vote against Redflex. "The appearance, to me, is just dreadful, and appearances matter."

Redflex officials had hoped the Florida contract would become their biggest in North America, replacing the Chicago program lost to a burgeoning investigation triggered by Tribune disclosures in October about the company's cozy relationship with a former city manager.

Instead it was the latest vote of no confidence for Australia-based Redflex Holdings Ltd. and its U.S. subsidiary in Phoenix, which are facing scrutiny from local governments across the country in response to the Chicago revelations. In recent weeks, several governments from California to Louisiana have raised concerns about their relationships with Redflex.

In Prescott Valley, Ariz., Town Council members have ordered staff not to consider Redflex when its contract is up for renewal in October. "I've lost faith in Redflex as a corporation," Councilman Rick Anderson said at a March study session attended by more than 50 people who came to oppose a continuation of the red-light camera contract.

In San Rafael, Calif., City Council members are expected to consider the bribery allegations in May when they take up the issue of whether to expand or kill a Redflex red-light camera pilot project now underway. "Just because of the nature of the allegations, I can't help but think it would be a consideration," Mayor Gary Phillips said.

And in Jefferson Parish, La., council members cited the company's Chicago troubles during a March vote to refund $19.7 million in red-light tickets collected by Redflex before parish officials shut down the red-light program there in 2010 amid a corruption scandal involving a lobbyist who worked for Redflex and numerous other clients. The money has been locked in an escrow account awaiting the outcome of a Redflex breach-of-contract lawsuit against the parish.

Redflex CEO Robert DeVincenzi personally lobbied for the Orange County contract, including face-to-face pitches the day before the vote. Afterward he released a statement saying Redflex "was honored to be considered for the opportunity to serve the citizens of Orange County" and repeating his contention that the company has moved past the scandal by replacing its leadership and installing new standards.

"We want our corrective action steps and our transparency to lead the industry in setting high ethical standards for how public-private partnerships are conducted," he said.

But in the short term, the scandal has cost Redflex tens of millions of dollars, and more losses are expected.

In a filing Thursday with the Australian Securities Exchange, Redflex said the company has spent $3.5 million on its internal investigation so far and expects "additional modest costs going forward" as it cooperates with authorities.

The loss of the Chicago contract will cost the company $17 million "on a full year basis," the company said, and there is "potential for revenue loss from other municipal contract terminations that may arise as a result of the disclosures associated with the investigative findings."

The backlash against Redflex follows Tribune reports about the relationship between Redflex and John Bills, the former city transportation official who oversaw its contract. A company-sponsored investigation found that the company had plied Bills with 17 vacation trips including airfare, hotel, car rentals, meals and golf outings. The company also acknowledged paying a longtime Bills friend, Marty O'Malley, $2 million as a Chicago consultant. Some of that money was likely intended for Bills, according to the company's findings, which said the arrangement will "likely be considered bribery by the authorities."

Bills and O'Malley have denied any wrongdoing.

After the company acknowledged it misled the city about the extent of the problem, its Australian stock plummeted, six top Redflex executives, including the board chairman, left the company, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that Redflex will not be allowed to compete when its red light contract is up in June. Emanuel also barred the company from competing for his new speed-camera initiative.

Redflex's new board chairman, Michael McConnell, told stockholders in a global conference call last month that his top priority is to "take the necessary actions that give this company the best possibility to move forward."

McConnell also told stockholders that the company is investigating further wrongdoing "in two other geographies" besides Chicago. One source familiar with the investigations has confirmed that one of those places is Jefferson Parish, where local officials signed a 2007 deal with Redflex to install and operate red-light cameras.

In 2010 federal corruption agents in Louisiana subpoenaed Redflex and other clients of lobbyist Bryan Wagner, a former New Orleans city councilman who took a 3.2 percent commission deal from Redflex for his help in swinging parish votes the company's way. Wagner was introduced to Redflex by O'Malley, the consultant now at the center of the Chicago bribery allegations.

The relationship between Wagner and parish officials has led to several convictions, including one against the former parish president. None of the convictions or charges in the incident were related to the Redflex contract.

But amid disclosures about Wagner's lucrative commission deal, parish officials opted to suspend the red-light program and put all remaining proceeds from tickets into escrow. Redflex sued the parish for breaking the contract without cause, a case that has not yet been resolved.

As Redflex struggles to redefine its corporate culture and revitalize its U.S. business, the company is expanding into automated school bus cameras, which record motorists who illegally pass buses that are stopped to load and unload children.

Last May, just months before the scandal in its Chicago red-light program first broke, Redflex agreed to pay up to $7.4 million for a Rhode Island-based company that founded a program called SmartBus Live. The idea was to install cameras on the side of school buses to monitor cars that pass a bus while the stop arm is deployed. This new offshoot of Redflex is called Redflex Student Guardian.

According to Redflex, the company has been awarded 25 school bus contracts and 18 pilot programs in eight states: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Maine, Alabama and Washington.

Spearheading the company's grass-roots efforts to expand the bus camera prospects is the same Chicago public relations firm that figures prominently in Redflex's City Hall connections.

Resolute Consulting, headed by Emanuel's political ally and onetime campaign manager Greg Goldner, is the force behind the Redflex-funded not-for-profit Traffic Safety Coalition. The coalition is described in Redflex's annual reports as "a national grass-roots organization focused on promoting the merits of various traffic safety technologies."

Goldner's name first surfaced in connection to Redflex last year after Emanuel's successful push for his plan to install speed cameras that will tag speeders near school zones and parks throughout Chicago.

As part of his efforts to promote Redflex's expansion prospects, Goldner said, he hired Bills to work for the Traffic Safety Coalition soon after his retirement from City Hall in June 2011. Bills left the coalition in mid-2012.

dkidwell@tribune.com

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-04-11/news/ct-met-redflex-scandal-fallout-20130412_1_corruption-scandal-redflex-officials-red-light-camera-contract

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The 'misadventures' of Miss Super Samaritan

2013-05-31T16:00:00.000-06:00

eggplantissues.blogspot.com

Good story thanks to Jack Roberts of overdriveonline.com Link to their site follows:

Driving is one of those rare activities in our society where collective participation, communal cooperation and individual judgment and ability all come together in ways that usually work well – but often leave us scratching our heads wondering just what in the hell is going on with the people we’re forced to share the roads with.

It’s a bit like team sports – only you’ve got a bunch of strangers on your “team” and you have no way of knowing what they’ll do at any given moment.

Professional drivers see more than their fair share of stupidity on the road (there’s no other word for it). And I’m sure most of you could write volumes about the stuff you’ve seen. But let me share an episode I saw this morning.

The main road in front of my subdivision used to be a quiet two-lane country road. Today, thanks to urban sprawl, twice a day during rush hour it’s a clogged, congested, crowded city road with way more traffic than it was ever built to handle.

I’m lucky: When I come up to the intersection with this road in the morning, I make a right turn to get to the office. I don’t have to fool with traffic coming from the right at all.

This morning, as I pulled up to the stop sign, there were three cars in front of me, all with their left-hand turn signals on.

Great, I thought. I’m stuck here while they wait for a break in both lanes.

At about this point, Miss Super Samaritan came cruising up from the left in her red Chevy Malibu. She takes stock of the situation at this intersection and decides that she’s going to help out.

So she comes to a full and complete stop in the middle of the road and begins waving at the cars in front of me, basically saying, Hi! I’m Miss Super Samaritan and I’ m here to help! Pull on out in the road and get on your way this fine morning!

Well, for starters, there was – at that moment – no traffic behind her. None whatsoever. And – as I’ve already noted – if you’re crossing a lane to turn onto a road, the traffic coming from the left is the least of your worries. Catching a break from traffic coming from the right is the bigger issue.

So really, Miss Super Samaritan could have just continued on her merry way down the road – like she’s supposed to – and it would not have hurt, or helped, the cars in front of me in the slightest one way or the other. In fact, as future events are about to show, it would have been far more helpful if she’d merely just gone on her way and let them deal with the traffic situation.

As it happened, the cars in front of me realized how ridiculous this situation was as well. So now they all start waving back at Miss Super Samaritan, saying, basically, Hey! Thanks! But we’ve got this! And you’re unnecessarily complicating what is already a stressful and intense situation! So – while we appreciate it – please continue on down the road and have a nice day!

But no. Miss Super Samaritan wasn’t’ having any of that. She started waving back even harder, signaling: Don’t be silly! I’m here to help! It’s no bother at all! Just pull on out in the road and get on with your day – and we can all bask in the glow of what a wonderful, thoughtful and helpful person I am!

The stupidity of all this was highlighted by that fact that there were still no cars behind her, while a seemingly endless line of traffic continued to whoosh by coming from the right. The cars in front of me were stuck, no matter how much waving Miss Super Samaritan did.

But all that was about to change: Because now, from behind Miss Super Samaritan, came a line of fast-moving traffic, rushing up the hill and around the curve she was blocking only to confront a car stopped dead in the middle of the road and a bunch of people all sitting there waving at each other like idiots.

From my vantage point farther back, I watched with my jaw in my lap as the drivers in this on-coming line stood on their brakes, nosed the front ends of their cars over and tried desperately to keep from running into one another, going out in the oncoming lane or smashing into the back end of Miss Super Samaritan – who was still sitting there blithely, waving at the cars in front of me saying, Don’t be shy! Come on out! I’m here to help! Really!

It was a close, close call. But nobody hit anybody else – although I’ll bet there was a lot of spilled coffee and jangled nerves amongst the new drivers who’d just joined the party.

Amazingly, Miss Super Samaritan was not deterred by the line of about six cars filled with totally pissed-off drivers that had just appeared out of nowhere behind her. She insisted on sitting there until two of the cars in front of me finally managed to pull out onto the road. The third car couldn’t make it. But then, even Miss Super Samaritan realized she couldn’t hold back the dam any longer. She gave the third guy a wave that said, I’m sorry! I did the best I could! But I’ve got to go now!

And finally – mercifully – she went on her way down the road while the rest of us mopped our brows and breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, I’m all for helping people out. We all need to do to so whenever we can – and we probably all ought to do it more often than we do now. But as Mr. Spock once said on Star Trek, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

I’m sure Miss Super Samaritan went on about her day with an imaginary halo glowing around her head, patting herself on the back and reveling in how great and wonderful a person she is.

And there’s no doubt she had good intentions.

But she created a far bigger mess than any good she did. In fact, you could argue she did no good at all: In any event, she “helped” two drivers out.

But in doing so, she came perilously close to causing a multi-car pileup that would have involved at least six vehicles. Injuries would’ve been a given. Deaths? Maybe. Damaged cars? A major road shut down for a couple of hours while the authorities tried to sort out and clean up the mess? The mind boggles at the sheer scale of the misery, chaos, disruption and frustration she almost caused this morning.

The morale of the story: By all means, help people out if you can. But make sure you’re not putting others at risk or creating a bigger problem by doing so.

Jack Roberts is executive editor for CCJ as well as trucks equipment editor for Randall-Reilly Publishing’s Trucking and Construction Media Groups and contributes stories to Overdrive, Truckers News, Truck Parts & Services, Successful Dealer, Equipment World, Total Landscape Care, Better Roads and Aggregate Manager. Roberts joined Randall-Reilly in 1995 as associate editor of Equipment World magazine and began covering both heavy-duty and light trucks in 1996. In 2006 he was the founding editor of Total Landscape Care before joining the staff of CCJ magazine in 2008. Roberts has won numerous editorial excellence awards, including two Jesse H. Neal awards and has been a Neal Award finalist once. He has also won three Robert F. Boger Awards given by the Construction Writers Association and several American Society of Business Publication Editors Awards. A native and resident of Northport, AL, Roberts holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama.

You can follow me on twitter at@JackRobertsCCJ

http://www.overdriveonline.com/the-adventures-of-miss-super-samaritan/

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Truck Safety Coalition tackles underride issue on Capitol Hill

2013-05-30T08:38:00.000-06:00

michiganautoaccident.blogspot.com

Group pushing Congress to make trucks safer

Story thanks to Kara Kenney of RTV6 out of Indianapolis. Link provided below:

INDIANAPOLIS - Truck safety advocates are pushing for a national change following a Call 6 Investigation into a deadly danger on Indiana highways.

Underride guards, the metal bumpers required on the backs of most large trucks, are supposed to stop cars from sliding underneath the back of tractor-trailers and minimize injuries, but the Truck Safety Coalition argues the federal standards are not strong enough.

The coalition, along with crash victims and their families, is on Capitol Hill this week pushing federal transportation officials and members of Congress to make the guards safer for drivers.

"I don't want to see other people killed the way my dad was killed," said Jennifer Tierney, who lost her father 30 years ago when he crashed into the side of a truck that was backing into a driveway.

"My dad came around the curve and went through the side of the trailer and he went all the way under it and came out 41 feet on the other side," said Tierney. "He died 20 minutes later of massive head injuries. It's an incredibly violent way to die."

Side impact guards are still not required in the United States, 30 years after Tierney's father's death.

"It's just so upsetting to think this is an issue our federal government has known about long before my dad was killed, and 30 years later, they still haven't solved the issue," said Tierney. "Other countries are finding solutions to this issue."

The Truck Safety Coalition argues hundreds of people are killed in the United States every year due to a lack of side guards and inadequate rear underride guards on trucks.

Roy Crawford lost his 16-year-old son in 1994.

"The truck he ran into had absolutely no underride guard at all, and he was almost decapitated," said Crawford.

Although rear underride guards are now required on the back of most large trucks, the Truck Safety Coalition argues federal rules don't make them strong enough to prevent deaths and serious injuries, even at low speeds.

"I'd like to see the underride guard standards improved," said Crawford. "They need to be energy absorbing; they need to be wider, lower and stronger."

Joan Claybrook, Chair of CRASH -- Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways -- hopes to catch the attention of the new U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary.

"When you hear the real life, on-the-road stories, you understand these things make a difference and these rules count," said Claybrook "(These rules) save lives and injuries."

The Truck Safety Coalition and crash victims' families are meeting with members of Congress in the hopes that a member will draft legislation aimed at underride guards.

A spokesperson with the American Trucking Associations told RTV6 in nearly three-quarters of crashes where a car hits the rear of a tractor-trailer, the car initiated the collision.

"We believe the best way to reduce these crashes is through continuing education about how to safely share the road with large trucks and by more vigilant enforcement of traffic laws on our highways," wrote Sean McNally, Press Secretary for ATA, in an email to RTV6. "We're encouraged by the results of the most recent IIHS study that showed tremendous improvement in the performance of the current generation of trailer underride guards. This equipment is an important safety feature, but ultimately, we believe the best underride guard is the one that's never put to the test on the highways."
"NHTSA has research underway that would raise the bar on safety for large trucks -- such as the potential use of crash avoidance technologies, new measures to improve the crash safety of truck cabs, among other efforts."
"NHTSA has research underway that would raise the bar on safety for large trucks -- such as the potential use of crash avoidance technologies, new measures to improve the crash safety of truck cabs, among other efforts."

Experts RTV6 spoke with said underride crashes aren't necessarily the result of distracted driving such as texting, eating or talking on the phone.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety told RTV6 that people hit the back of a truck for many reasons, including if a truck stops suddenly or if a driver is going over a hill and can't see that traffic is stopped.

"Almost all crashes involve a driver making a mistake, but their mistake shouldn't be a death sentence. We know there is a simple fix for preventing underride crashes, and that's basically to have stronger guards," the statement read.

NHTSA told the Call 6 Investigators earlier this month that more stringent regulations could be on the way.

NHTSA released a study that evaluated both side and rear underride crashes and plans to use that information when making changes to federal guidelines.

"Moving forward, results from the field analysis, IIHS's tests, international standards and other data will be leveraged by NHTSA and may inform potential changes to existing federal safety standards -- including more stringent rear-impact guard requirements -- based on what all the data show," David Strickland, NHTSA administrator, wrote in an email to the Call 6 Investigators.

"NHTSA has research underway that would raise the bar on safety for large trucks -- such as the potential use of crash avoidance technologies, new measures to improve the crash safety of truck cabs, among other efforts."

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/call-6-investigators/truck-safety-coalition-tackles-underride-issue-on-capitol-hill

The Happiest Jobs In America

2013-05-29T16:00:00.000-06:00

noodle.org

Story thanks to Jacquelyn Smith, Forbes.com Staff Link provided below:

CareerBliss compiled a list of the 20 happiest jobs based on analysis from more than 100,400 employee-generated reviews between February 2011 and January 2012. Employees were asked to rate 10 factors that affect workplace happiness, including one’s relationship with the boss and co-workers, work environment, job resources, compensation, growth opportunities, company culture, company reputation, daily tasks, and control over the work one does on a daily basis.

The employees valued each factor on a five-point scale, and also indicated how important it was to their overall happiness at work. The numbers were combined to find an average rating of overall employee happiness for each respondent, and then sorted by job title to find which occupations had the happiest workers. A minimum of 50 employee reviews was required to be considered for CareerBliss’ 20 Happiest Jobs in America, and executive level jobs, like chief executive, were excluded from the study.

In Pictures: The 20 Happiest Jobs

“Since we tend to spend more waking hours working than doing anything else, our work happiness is a huge factor in our overall happiness,” says CareerBliss’ chief executive, Heidi Golledge. “Nearly every person has a desire to feel valued and content, and a workplace or a career that provides that for its employees is key to not only happiness for the employees but the long-term success of the business.”

The happiest job of all isn’t kindergarten teacher or dentist. It’s software quality assurance engineer. Professionals with this job title are typically involved in the entire software development process to ensure the quality of the final product. This can include processes such as requirements gathering and documentation, source code control, code review, change management, configuration management, release management, and the actual testing of the software, explains Matt Miller, chief technology officer at CareerBliss.

With an index score of 4.24, software quality assurance engineers said they are more than satisfied with the people they work with and the company they work for. They’re also fairly content with their daily tasks and bosses.

These professionals “typically make between $85,000 and $100,000 a year in salary and are the gatekeepers for releasing high quality software products,” Miller says. Organizations generally will not allow software to be released until it has been fully tested and approved by their software quality assurance group, he adds.

Golledge says, “In past studies, we have noted that the long hours and intense demands on software engineers’ time caused them to rank as less than happy. However, we are happy to report that software quality assurance engineers feel rewarded at work, as they are typically the last stop before software goes live and correctly feel that they are an integral part of the job being done at the company.”

Tied for the second most blissful job is executive chef and property manager; both earned an index score of 4.15. Executive chefs, also known as chefs de cuisine or head cooks, do everything from menu creation and staff training to ordering and purchasing inventory. They cite the work that they do and the people they work with as the main drivers of their happiness.

Property managers plan, direct, or coordinate the selling, buying, leasing, or governance activities of real estate properties, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers in this profession are most satisfied with the people they work with and the work that they do.

“Many of the happiest jobs have some component with working with people,” Golledge says. “Folks who work with others tend to rate their happiness higher on our site.”

Bank teller and warehouse manager round out the top five happiest jobs in America, with index scores of 4.14 and 4.13, respectively.

“The roles that we did not expect to see were teller, accountant and financial analyst,” she says. “Even though all three of these positions ranked low on compensation, they all ranked very high on ‘the company you work for’ and ‘the people you work with.’ Clearly, working with likeminded folks who share a love for calculators and numbers drive their happiness.”

A few support roles, like customer service reps and administrative assistants, also made the list. Why? “Through our research we have seen that many people who take on these roles are typically happy supporting or servicing other people, and are therefore fulfilled in their jobs.”

Golledge adds, “We have also noticed that happiness definitely does not align with pay, and once someone’s basic needs are met, the additional money on the job is a nice perk but is not what drives employee happiness.”

CareerBliss also found that many people appreciate their jobs more in a down economy. “As the job market is improving every day, we see that employees are looking to evaluate if they are happy in their current position and if their company is providing the type of culture they identify with,” Golledge says. “This year will be a very important year for employers as employees look at a possible career or job change to improve their satisfaction at work.”Click here for the complete list of the 20 happiest jobs in America.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/03/23/the-happiest-jobs-in-america/

Secretary's office punts speed limiters back to NHTSA

2013-05-28T16:00:00.000-06:00

fmcsa.gov

By David Tanner, Land Line associate editor. Link provided below:

The DOT’s Office of the Secretary has punted a notice of proposed rulemaking for speed limiters on heavy trucks back to the agency that submitted it.

Without a publicly stated reason, the OST returned the proposal to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on April 18, just over a month after the agency submitted it on behalf of two petitioning groups, the American Trucking Associations and Roadsafe America.

NHTSA plans to resubmit the proposal on or about July 26.

The ATA and Roadsafe America filed petitions in November 2005, urging NHTSA to require speed limiters set at 68 mph on trucks weighing over 26,000 pounds.

Five years later, the agency granted the petition and developed a notice of proposed rulemaking in March 2011. A notice of proposed rulemaking, known as an NPRM, is a proposal and not a final rule.

Then, following 19 months of inactivity, NHTSA submitted its proposal to the Office of the Secretary on March 4. See related story here.

NHTSA believes the installation of speed limiters on heavy trucks would reduce fatalities in crashes involving CMVs on roads with posted speed limits of 55 mph or above.

OOIDA, whose members and leadership make highway safety a priority, opposes an industry-wide mandate for speed limiters.

The Association supports uniform speeds on the highways and not the forced speed differential among vehicle classes that a speed-limiter mandate would create. Research presented by OOIDA in official comments shows that uniform speeds are the safest and that speed differentials increase vehicle interactions and lead to unsafe maneuvering.

OOIDA Life Member Gene Michaud, with backing from the Association, is challenging the constitutionality of mandatory speed limiters in the Canadian province of Ontario.

Michaud, who claims speed limiters harm his ability to conduct his trucking business safely, won his case in lower court, but the province is scheduled to present its appeal in September.
http://www.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=25171&utm_source=The+TruckersReport+Weekly+Newsletter+Recipients&utm_campaign=284c2e99b9-Weekly_Newsletter_Test_Campaign1_25_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_de09ecb18a-284c2e99b9-38416925

Infographic: What is the biggest highway safety threat?

2013-05-27T16:00:00.000-06:00

Thanks to ccjdigital.com

http://www.ccjdigital.com/what-is-the-biggest-highway-safety-threat/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=05-15-2013&utm_campaign=CCJ&ust_id=137f89555c&#

Rise of the 6x2

2013-05-26T16:00:00.000-06:00

Meritor's SmarTandem "truckinginfo.com"

It promises to cut weight and fuel use, and interest in it is growing.

Article thanks to truckinginfo.com. Link provided below:

It's still an oddball spec in road tractors, but some believe the 6x2 — a single drive axle with two powered wheels among six total wheel positions — will someday become more common as truck operators look for ways to save fuel and cut tare weight.

Today, a number of progressive fleets are testing or embracing it, but it's been a long time coming.

When AB Volvo came to America from Sweden in 1981 and ‘82 to help resurrect the products of the bankrupt White Motor Corp., they were astonished to see tractors running up and down our highways with “live” tandems. This was a complicated and heavy way to do the job, the newcomers thought.

When told Americans preferred the 6x4 to get better traction, they insisted it wasn't necessary. The 6x2 tandem with a liftable dead axle worked as well, weighed less and cost less money. That type of 6x2 was common on the highways of Europe and still is.

A couple of years later, Volvo flew a group of truck writers to Sweden to show off their European products and explain how some of those designs were starting to transfer to their American-made trucks. At one point a couple of engineers demonstrated how a 6x2 truck could plow deep snow, letting the journalists drive it on a frozen lake to see and feel how it performed.

The truck, a municipally owned Volvo N10 dumper outfitted with a large V-plow in front and a wing plow on its right side, moved the snow easily, because its dead tag axle was raised and its chained drive tires carried about 22,000 pounds, giving it considerable traction.

Around the same time, a supplier sought fuel economy numbers with a simulated 6x2. Engineers disconnected the tandem's rear axle and locked the interaxle differential so power still went to the forward axle.

On several runs in east Texas, they saw a benefit of barely 1% — statistically meaningless, and something a fleet probably couldn't measure in day-to-day operations. However, recent testing by suppliers and fleets of true 6x2 tandems without the extra gears indicate 2% to 3% better economy, with some results as high as 5%.

In the 1990s, ‘80s and before, many tractors operated by less-than-truckload fleets were 6x2s. Some had lift axles and some did not. With a lift axle, traction was good.

Back then, a driver for Holland Motor Freight out of Michigan said how much he liked the arrangement on his Ford Louisville tractor: “When I run into snow and ice, I just raise that axle and it'll go through stuff that will stop a 6x4 dead.”

However, 6x2s whose non-powered axles always stayed on the pavement were cursed by their drivers in foul weather, because drive wheels spun from insufficient traction and they sometimes got stuck.

Another builder with European ownership didn't give up on the 6x2 idea. In the late ‘90s, Freightliner Trucks came out with its own 6x2.

It was dubbed the Airliner Plus, as it used the builder’s proprietary air-ride suspension. A tractor's ABS controls sensed wheel slip and immediately bled air from the dead axle's bags. This shifted some weight to the single drive axle, which bore down harder on its wheels and tires. Otherwise, weight was equalized between the live and dead axles.

However, Freightliner sold very few of the systems and eventually dropped it.

Fleet experiences

Sodrel Truck Lines, an Indiana-based mail hauler, was running 6x2s in the 1980s and still does today. Back then, its Mack R-model tractors had liftable pusher axles, and Mike Sodrel, the family-owned company's president at the time, said they helped saved fuel.

The fleet still runs the same configuration on more modern Mack day-cab models, of which it now has 230.

“If I can get all the wheels off the ground in a safe and legal manner — that may sound funny — but there's less drag, obviously,” says Vick Morgan, a former driver who's now vice president of safety and operations. “If I can raise the wheels, there's less wear on the tires, and tires are expensive, right?”

Sodrel's system is driver-controlled, based on weight, he explains. An air gauge on the dash tells drivers when they have to lower the pusher because of weight. “When they drop the axle, the thing levels out at a certain number. If the gauge is then above that number, we have to tell the customer that we would have to scale the load before we can take it. We can't be illegal.”

Nussbaum Transportation out of Normal, Ill., is one fleet that is converting to 6x2s today, according to Justin Donley, a former driver and now fleet maintenance manager.

It has retrofitted a Meritor system to 120 tractors. “The fuel mileage is doing real well,” he says. “The only issues are in the winter, when drivers get too heavy on the throttle and the wheels spin. We're training them to ease off on that.”

Driver-controlled dump valves have been added to some of those 120 tractors. Nussbaum has 140 Freightliner Cascadia tractors on order that will have the Meritor 6x2 with electronically controlled dump valves.

Weight reduction

In this era of diesel fuel at $4 a gallon and more, fleet executives are trying almost everything to cut fuel use, suppliers say. Tractors have also gotten heavier, primarily from exhaust aftertreatment gear that adds about 400 pounds per vehicle, so managers are trying to trim weight out of other components. Some are looking at the 6x2 to meet both goals.

Eliminating a 6x4 s interaxle differential, second axle diff, and the driveshaft and U-joints between them by going to the simpler 6x2 reduces weight by varying amounts. It can be 350 pounds to 450 pounds, says Steve Slesinski, director of global commercial product planning at Dana Holding Corp.

But heftier differential gears and axle shafts in that single drive axle are needed to take today's high horsepower and torque. That can quickly wear out tread on the drive axle's tires, so they might need blockier tread patterns, or tires need to be rotated often between live and dead axles to even out wear.

Overwhelming popularity of the 6x4 configuration has given it higher residual values. Over the past 10 years, 6x4s have averaged a 6% greater value than 6x2s, according to the Truck Blue Book. For late-model vehicles the difference is 11%, but for ‘06, a 6x4 is actually worth 4% less than a 6x2.

In any case, axle suppliers have come up with modern iterations of the 6x2.

6x2s today

On these modern 6x2s, the dead axle is a tag, placed behind the single drive axle. The tag does not fully raise off the pavement, but pressure in its air springs can be reduced so some of its weight is transferred to the drive axle. Its differential can be lockable, either manually, when a switch is thrown by the driver, or automatically, through electronic controls.

Last year Meritor brought out its FueLite 6x2 tandem and offered it with an electronically controlled air suspension, or ECAS, from Meritor Wabco.

ECAS piggybacks on the electronic controls of a tractor's antilock braking system and traction control to sense when wheel spin begins. The controls quickly dump some air from the dead axle's springs to transfer weight, and traction, to the single drive axle. If a locking differential is used, the system automatically engages it, then disengages above a certain road speed.

Meritor also developed a more advanced 6x2 system called SmarTandem. It comes standard with electronic controls that manage weight transfer to the drive axle and engagement of its locking differential. The diff uses a clutch, so it can be employed at higher speeds than the spline-action diff on the FueLite.

Bendix offers its eTrac automated air pressure transfer system for Bendix ABS-6 braking systems with automatic traction control for 6x2 Class 8 tractors. The system helps drivers of 6x2 vehicles overcome low-traction events by fully automating the air pressure transfer process.

When added to Bendix Smart ATC (automatic traction control), eTrac automatically engages and disengages the vehicle's air bag pressure transfer system during low-traction events. The system transfers pressure from the undriven axle to the driven axle without requiring manual input or driver action.

When the Bendix eTrac system engages, it automatically evacuates air bag pressure, dropping the nose of the trailer. The resulting extra forward weight on a 6x2 tractor helps compensate for the lack of a second drive axle to deliver traction control that is comparable to a 6x4 tractor.

Dana Spicer has a 6x2 tandem called EconoTrek that also uses a tag axle. It's available with a locking differential that's compatible with automatic weight-transfer systems, or the diff-locking and weight-transfer functions can be driver controlled.

Dana also has a “convertible” system that allows truck owners to change an existing 6x4 tandem into a 6x2, or convert a 6x2 into a 6x4 for greater resale value. There's some cost to a conversion, but it answers the 6x2's major financial drawback, that its oddball status hurts residual value.

Residual values are a reality that has helped keep the 6x4 popular. In the last 10 years, a 6x4's average value has been about $5,500 more than that of a 6x2, according to Jessica Carr, an associate analyst at Truck Blue Book. That more than exceeds any purchasing savings a 6x2 might have, and mostly offsets the fuel savings over four or five years of service.

Then again, a 6x2 believer can say that fuel savings pay for any loss in residual value. And there's still the weight advantage.

In sales, the 6x2 is still a minor thing. “It is now in only about 3% of Class 8 trucks,” says Matt Stevenson, general manager for Meritor's North American field operations and marketing. “In five years, that should grow to 18%,” which would be significant.

http://www.truckinginfo.com/article/story/2013/05/rise-of-the-6x2.aspx?utm_campaign=Headline-News-20130514&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Enewsletter