Driver Monitoring Systems?

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is taking a close look at whether on board driver monitoring systems are an effective way to improve safety.

The agency is mid-way through a multi-year research project designed to measure how well drivers respond to feedback from systems that track lane departures, impending collisions and fatigue, among other indicators. The research also will produce the largest continuous collection of naturalistic driving data ever undertaken, said Olu Ajayi, a research statistician at the agency, in an article describing the effort.

It is not clear at this point what the agency might do with the information it gets from this study. Nothing in the record indicates it intends to write a rule concerning such technologies, and in any case it will be at least two years before the research produces any insights.

The Technology:

In the study, 270 trucks from three volunteer carriers will be equipped with an onboard monitoring system, DriveVision Pro by Transecurity. The system integrates safety technologies such as forward collision and lane departure warning with driver observation systems designed to detect fatigue or inattention, and provides immediate feedback if the truck is at risk. Data from the device also is fed into a management information system to help with driver coaching.
Transecurity is a commercial spin-off from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which conducts safety research for a number of clients, including FMCSA. It was created in 2006 by a team led by VTTI director Thomas Dingus.

Ajayi said in an interview that researchers will use the system to establish a baseline of the drivers' performance without any intervention, and then compare that to their performance while the system is responding. In a subsequent stage the researchers will see if any improvement can be sustained without the system responding.

Specifically, the study is intended to determine if driver performance improves with feedback from the system, and the comparative effectiveness of immediate versus management feedback. Researchers also want to know if they can use the system to determine a driver's risk potential.
Other goals are to see if any driver improvements can be sustained over time, and to gauge driver reaction to the system.

Potential Negatives:

An inkling of what some drivers will say came from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which said in comments to the agency that there are significant negatives attached to this kind of system.

Onboard monitoring systems can penalize drivers for defensive maneuvers, and they can be distracting, the association said.

On the other hand, the carriers that already use these kinds of systems have found significant benefits. C.R. England, for example, uses lane departure, forward collision and headway warning, as well as a stability control system that president Chad England described as "the biggest winner in safety technology as far as I am concerned."

At this point, the agency is preparing to gather information from the drivers who will participate in the 18-month field test. The agency last week asked for comments on this phase of the project (June 24 Federal Register). The study is scheduled to be completed by August 2013.

This was originally posted by Truckinginfo.com so what do you guys think? Is this going to be a good thing or a bad thing for trucking. We can certainly see how this may make an impact when shopping for insurance. Depending on how testing goes insurance companies may look at this as a way to save money both for them and for you.

An accident can happen anywhere and at any time. To make sure you are properly covered contact us at Berrier Insurance and we will review your commercial trucking insurance with you. We can offer you the best rates on commercial auto insurance and provide detailed answers to any of your questions about insurance. Call us today 888-472-4915.

Good choice, Bad choice: gas station options

When you’re on the road, the grocery store is closed and there’s no civilization in sight, a convenience store may be your only choice for dinner. If you’re looking for protein, look beyond the hot dogs for something a little healthier.

Good choice: Pemmican Beef Jerky

Badchoice : Ball Park Hot Dog

Calories and Fat: One Ball Park hot dog has 180 calories and 15g of fat, compared to a serving of Pemmican Beef Jerky at 80 calories and 0.5g of fat.

Difference: Hot dogs are a popular gas station food because they’re cheap. That’s because they’re filled with cheap, mechanically processed meat. Not only are hot dogs made of cheap animal parts, they’re filled with preservatives like sodium nitrate. Per serving, each dog has 100 more calories and 14.5 more grams of fat than beef jerky. Hot dogs also pack 40mg of cholesterol and 5g of saturated fat compared to beef jerky’s 25mg and 0g. And when you need a protein punch, beef jerky gives 13g of protein while a hot dog only has 5g.

We know its tough to be out on the road our trucker friends, but we're here to make things a little easier for you. We dont just offer insurance we offer peace of mind and security for those "oops" moments. In the time it takes you too gobble down that bad choice hot dog we could get you started on the right path for insurance. Call us at Berrier Insurance 888-472-4915 for your FREE commercial truck insurance quote! You can also go online to our recently revamped site at Berrierinsurance.com

Summer is the Most Dangerous Time for Teen Drivers

Summer's here and the time is right for putting away the phone while driving.

On the day she graduated from college in May 2008, Jacy Good's car was struck by a tractor-trailer that had swerved to avoid a young driver who had run a red light while talking on his cell phone. Her parents were killed. She barely survived and lives with serious injuries.

"This probably won't happen to you but it happens every day," Good told a group of teenagers gathered at Walt Whitman High School in suburban Washington, D.C., yesterday. "Watch out for each other."

The students were there to sign a "no texting" pledge and learn about a truck's "No Zone" at the event hosted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. A truck for the "No Zone" demonstration was provided by FedEx Ground.

"This is the time of year when fatal crash rates among teens almost doubles," FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro told the students.

The statistics are compelling: each day in May, June, July and August, an average of 16 teenagers die in a traffic accident, compared to 9 per day in other months, said Sandy Spavone, executive director of the National Organization for Youth Safety.

And teenagers are much more likely to be in a crash than adults are, said CVSA Executive Director Steve Keppler. More than a quarter of the people killed in crashes involving large trucks and buses are between 16 and 25 years old, he said.

"We want to get these kids into the right (driving) habits right out of the gate," Keppler said.

CVSA has put together a truck education program for teenage drivers. The Teens & Trucks curriculum covers such basics as the differences in handling characteristics between trucks and cars, and how to drive in the vicinity of a truck.

Few high-school driver education programs have a truck component, so CVSA and its partners in this effort, the Arizona Trucking Association, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and American Trucking Associations, have disseminated the curriculum to about 500,000 students in 47 states and 8 Canadian provinces, Keppler said.

The program, whose goal is 1 million students, is funded in part by an $85,000 grant from FMCSA.

After the students were given a "No-Zone" demonstration by Maryland State Police First Sgt. Robert Mondor, they lined up to sign the pledge that they would not text while driving.

"Life is all about decisions, choices and consequences," Ferro told them. "And every trip you take in a vehicle matters and requires sound judgment and your full attention. In a split second your life could be negatively impacted forever."

The message was made immediate by Jacy Good, and by Laurie Kelly of Takoma Park, Maryland.

Kelly, whose 23-year-old son was killed in a distracted driving crash in May 2010, told the students that everything they know can change in an instant. "Being over-confident means that you are unsafe," she said.

Originally posted by www.truckinginfo.com

An accident can happen anywhere and at any time. To make sure you are properly covered contact us at Berrier Insurance and we will review your commercial trucking insurance with you. We can offer you the best rates on commercial auto insurance and provide detailed answers to any of your questions about insurance. Call us today 888-472-4915.

Roadchecks

Truck and bus safety inspectors will be on the road night and day during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s 72-hour International Roadcheck on June 7-9, checking vehicles and their drivers at inspection sites along major highways across North America.

In addition, roving patrols will inspect vehicles and drivers traveling other roadways.

Since its inception in 1988, the roadside inspections conducted during the annual Roadcheck have numbered more than one million. It also has provided for the distribution of educational literature and safety events to educate industry and the general public about the importance of safe commercial vehicle operations and the roadside inspection program.

With the recent increased attention on driver hours of service and electronic on board recorders, this year’s Roadcheck will emphasize checking driver logbooks and underscore to drivers the importance of maintaining their logbooks, taking breaks, preventing fatigue, and driving without distractions. Also, Roadcheck 2011 will include added emphasis on finding carriers of household goods who may be operating under the radar by using improperly marked rental vehicles and/or operating as a property carrier rather than a HHG carrier.

First posted on TruckersNews.com

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Trucker blows up like a 'balloon' after falling on air hose

Today, another reminder that real life is not like a cartoon: A New Zealand truck driver says his body blew up "like a balloon" after he fell onto a compressed air hose, which pierced his buttock and forced air into his body, in a situation that was surely much more horrifying than when this sort of thing happens to Wile E. Coyote.

Steven McCormack was standing on his truck's foot plate Saturday when he slipped and fell, breaking a compressed air hose off an air reservoir that powered the truck's brakes.

He fell hard onto the brass fitting, which pierced his left buttock and started pumping air into his body.

"I felt the air rush into my body and I felt like it was going to explode from my foot," he told local media from his hospital bed in the town of Whakatane, on North Island's east coast.

Today, McCormack is OK after being treated at a hospital, where doctors determined that the air forcing its way into his body at 100 pounds a square inch did not enter his blood stream, but it did divide his muscle from fat.

What a random accident! We really hope he had good insurance lol
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Truckloads of migrants

X-ray machines at checkpoints in southern Mexico are capturing the ghostly outlines of a clandestine business worth billions a year, people packed tighter than cattle and transported like consumer goods in tractor-trailers to the United States.

The machines in place for less than two years at two state police checkpoints have led to the two largest hauls of migrants, who pay anywhere from $7,000 to $30,000 for passage, depending where they start.

The United Nations estimates that smuggling migrants across Mexico's border with the U.S. alone is a $6.6 billion business annually, compared to an estimated the $10 billion to $29 billion in illegal drug running. The migrant smuggling estimate doesn't include another $1 billion paid by thousands of non-Mexicans to cross from Guatemala and travel north, according to a 2010 U.N. report on transnational crime.

The 513 people apprehended Tuesday in two trailers in the state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala, represented at least $3.5 million in cargo. Another trailer filled with 219 people was discovered in January.
Some suffered from dehydration after traveling for hours clinging to cargo ropes strung inside the containers to keep them upright, allowing more migrants to be crammed in.

Air holes had been punched in the tops of the containers, but migrants interviewed at the state prosecutor's office said they lacked air and water. The trucks were bound for the central city of Puebla, where the migrants said they had been told they would be loaded aboard a second set of vehicles for the trip to the U.S. border.

Smuggling in decades past was the business of small independent operators who helped migrants cross once they reached the U.S. border. But evading U.S. authorities has become much more difficult with increased border enforcement in recent years. At the same time, Mexico's migrant routes have become much more dangerous, controlled by drug gangs that see new moneymaking opportunities in kidnapping and extorting those who cross their territory.

In the case of Mexico's southern border, no one can say exactly who the organized smuggling groups are. Some say that large transport rings operate separately from Mexico's brutal drug gangs, such as the Zetas or the Gulf Cartel, who stick to kidnapping and extortion.

To Read more visit TheTrucker.com

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Lawmakers introduce a second Jason's Law bill for more truck parking

Two years after Schoharie County, N.Y., truck driver Jason Rivenburg was murdered at an abandoned South Carolina gas station, Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., Wednesday morning were joined by Jason’s widow Hope and members of the transportation industry at the House Triangle outside the Capitol Building Wednesday morning to announce the reintroduction of another Jason’s Law, a bill aimed at increasing truck parking facilities across the country. Hope will personally lobbying members of Congress to cosponsor the bill.

Rivenburg was murdered in March 2009 during a robbery attempt for a meager $7. A long haul trucker, he had stopped to rest. The case called attention to the nationwide shortage of safe, accessible rest stops for truckers and led Tonko to introduce a similar bill in the 111th Congress.

Jason’s Law would create a grant program that would help alleviate the parking shortages and help pay for expansion and safety improvements at existing rest areas.

The American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association immeidately reaffirmed there support for Jason’s Law. The ATA called it critical safety legislation that would take steps to address the shortage of truck parking on nation’s highways.

“America’s professional truck drivers need access to safe and legal parking in order to get the rest they need to safely transport the nation’s essential goods and comply with federal hours-of-service rules,” Mary Phillips, ATA senior vice president of legislative affairs said at a press conference here. “We applaud Rep. Tonko for again introducing this critical legislation, and hope Congress will act quickly to deliver for those who deliver America’s goods. Our drivers shouldn’t be forced into the ‘no-win’ situation of choosing between continuing to drive to find safe parking or parking on the shoulder or ramp or other location that puts themselves or other motorists at risk.”

Jason’s Law would provide $20 million annually for a number of initiatives to improve access to truck parking across the country, ranging from construction of new parking capacity and improvements to existing commercial parking areas, to technology to track open parking spaces and improvements to existing noncommercial parking facilities to accommodate large trucks.

“The fact that states have been considering closing existing parking facilities in order to address their budget shortfalls underscores the need for this legislation,” Phillips said. “If left unaddressed, the lack of truck parking will reach a crisis stage; over the next 9 years, we will add nearly 2 million more trucks to our roads to meet our nation’s freight demand.”

The creation of more long-term truck parking has been a longstanding issue for the trucking industry and is a key part of ATA’s progressive safety agenda.

“We would like to thank Mr. Tonko and Mr. Paulsen for their leadership and Hope for her tenacious dedication and courage,” said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA. “The trucking industry faces a litany of issues, and the least we can do is to make sure drivers have a safe place to rest while delivering the nation’s goods.”

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