Posts Tagged ‘Smart Way Transport’

Some trucking professionals like to tout their collective careers by adding up how many years all together they have in the industry with colleagues and count this as experience.

Few of them have ever operated a commercial motor vehicle, nor have they been enclosed in a small space with a total stranger and harmed.

This weekend I took notes on a Woman’s story that had elements eerily familiar to many other women I have interviewed over the past two years. I published her account on the Facebook fan page called “Real Women Truckers’ in a note titled “Abandoned CR England Driver“.

The real hero was a male driver who met this woman as she was trying to reach out for help from her training employer, CR England.  He witnessed how she was being treated and circulated it on facebook, he also sent an email to CR England.

There was immediate shock when the entire chain of events was shared, especially from others who work in areas of trucking not related to truck driver training.

I was advised by these true professionals to share the story in Linkedin and in any way possible to get action.

What is odd is that right after the Dan Rather Report series, it was CR England who posted the following remarks on twitter with this post.
“Dan Rather was wrong! Trucking is a great profession. Go to truck school and see the Country. “

The link with that tweet led to an article called “10 Reasons to Choose Our Trucking School” and they mentioned the Dan Rather Report in the post. I say odd but in reality this is typical hyena trucking capitalism. I have seen it time and again, whether it be stealing content from another trucking blog or an organization trying to use an issue they had absolutely nothing to do with advancing take credit and utilize it as a membership drive opportunity.

One of the top reasons listed by CR England on their blog mentions the Smart Way EPA partnership which ironically is a post I recently made about this sham program and how it affects employee drivers and lease Owner-Operators. ( Read: Smart Way or Dumb Way – Examining the EPA Partnership with the American Trucking Association ) The particular incident with the CR England student though had to do with violence against women in the trucking industry.

There has been an outpouring of concern by male and female drivers and it has been been phenomenal but what about the carriers? Where is the accountability?

Under no circumstances should they be able to put a person off a truck and leave them! Even if it becomes violent, carriers are responsible to provide a safe training atmosphere… end of story!

YOU HIRED THEM, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO GET THEM HOME SAFELY!

This woman simply wanted to work like so many others who have been cheated out of a dream and a chance by the trucking industry’s mismanagement!

Who was disturbed by this story? Professionals with a quarter of a century in the industry, a parent with Daughters, A representative of a Fortune 500 company listed in the top 100 companies to work for, Social justice attorneys, countless people on twitter and a good community of drivers on Facebook who shared the story over the past few days, many who shared CR England horror stories of their own.  So what does that add up to ?  Um , let’s see … ( 25 cents + plus kids + 500 +100 + all those other people = more collective experience with a conscience than the collective experience of those without it! )

I am asking the trucking community for assistance in this matter to examine their collective conscience on the astounding denial that exists in this industry.  It should come as no surprise that the transition to CSA 2010 will require an environment of greater professionalism yet here are some of the accoutability items that continue to be rejected: Violence against women entering the industry,  Crimes against truckers from lack of parking and Criminal activities in exisiting parking areas such as human trafficking, drug activities, and frequent disturbances that affect restful sleep.

The National Association of Truck Stops (NATSO) and the major trucking carriers have evaded responding adequately to “Jason’s Law” which is more than a safe trucker parking proposal; it is a statement about the conditions these powerful lobby groups and trucking carriers have permitted to occur by inaction. If you treat people like animals, they begin to act like them.

There is a climate of ignoring crime and disrepair yet blocking any sort of competition, it is a battle to maintain an oligopoly at the expense of drivers.

While national news from the state department has made human trafficking a priority, groups like “Truckers against Trafficking” have not been embraced by NATSO despite their locations being centers of trafficking activities.

It is not organizations leading the charge to raise awareness of these issues, it is individuals taking action. Truckers have had a part in saving trafficking victims from truck stops.  Trucking publications have noticeably snubbed Jason’s Law, human trafficking issues and violence against women in the trucking industry yet most of the activity takes place at truck stops!

While there is applause for such campaigns as “Highway Heroes” , no campaign currently exists to encourage better conduct among the driving population. We have trucking heroes but the industry wants to choose which topics to publicize. Is it any wonder that the the Homeland Security program called Highway Watch failed? A program which asked drivers to be the eyes and ears to protect America from terrorist activities?  This very same industry that does NOT embrace human trafficking awareness information, does not make a priority to fight for safe and adequate parking for it’s own, it does not encourage personal safety training or offer guidance to expendable student drivers.  Thankfully, individuals are taking action.

Watch this Video from “Truckers Against Trafficking” about kidnapped teenagers being sold at truck stops , Human Trafficking Video , the heroes are not NATSO , they are individual drivers who care about humanity and grassroots volunteers who put forth time and effort to make a difference.

I do not believe every person in this industry does not care, I believe that they are insulated from the truth of what is happening at the indoctrination level into this industry. The story of the Abandoned CR England Driver  is a snapshot of a system that does not care about the human factor in the supply chain.

Understanding what we drivers experience on the road, what is taking place in the training fleets, learning about the crimes against truckers due to the parking situation, coming to grips that human trafficking is occuring in this environment, my hope some will take the initiative which is the first step in getting out of the cycle of denial in which the trucking industry dwells.

Good citizen truck drivers are taking the initiative to clean up this industry so how can the industry continue to justify the way they bury their head in the sand about what is going on at the entry level fleets?  These things are all connected and I’d like to see some concerned professionals step up and speak up about what is right and wrong.  The court of public opinion outside the trucking industry understands that what is going on in trucking is wrong.  What we lack is a few courageous people to step up and IMPLEMENT a plan NOT a PR Campaign or we will go nowhere.

The problems persist in training fleets due to poor in-house support on crisis situations where the knee jerk reaction is to blame the victim,  poor communication, antiquated logistics software applications, no follow-up and predatory recruiting. The tracking of the freight is state of the art but the human beings who move it are expendable.

Good trainers quit because the bad targeted recruitment, there is a shortage of female trainers because of this. In the CR England post this woman was assigned to training situations with drivers who were not trainers and had only a few weeks or months driving experience! She also had the opportunity to become a trainer herself yet she admits she was not taught to back the truck or even adjust her tandems. This lack of seriousness in the training programs should alarm EVERYONE!

There are carriers who have attempted to curb the way they handle the personality disputes and personal safety issues but they have yet to dig into the core issues with a vengeance. We can easily determine who is doing it and eliminate them but instead we have a climate where untrained in house staff do and say things to encourage the abuser to continue.

By this remark I mean that often abusers lay ground work to “cover their ass” in advance and if personnel is not trained to recognize this they are part of the process of aggravating the situation and possibly making the carrier more liable.  As with Nancy’s story, by the time she made it to the HR department she was the villain and the meeting was handled like a criminal in a debriefing session. This is very common in training fleets due to the volume of turnover but it is not unique to trucking.

Industries still operating in the dark ages still place you in the center of the bulls-eye if you dare visit the HR department where often you will be targeted, retaliated against and eliminated.

For drivers,  generally the DAC is ruined and the women who experience what Nancy did are given a bad reference so they cannot re-enter this industry. Among women drivers this is very well known and it is only now that some concerned men are becoming aware of the problem.  Many erroneous DAC reports have been filed on women truckers who reported harassment or refused to comply with some form of misconduct from the employer.

Question: Who do you think are the biggest foes women drivers?

Answer: Women who work in-house in the trucking industry.

WHY? Because predators make a point to befriended the outer circle of a target. Part of the challenge to these people is to gain respect and trust. This makes it very difficult when they are accused to have the friend remain unbiased.

A disenfranchised person, especially a woman who is desperate for a new life is a perfect target to isolate. Ask any criminal profiler, women like this are preferred targets for crime and violence because no one is looking out for them and it is easy to destroy their credibility if they report being abused.

“Acquaintance-Rape” scenarios occur when a person lets their guard down and the victimizer knows it. If the victimizer has made effort to buddy up with in-house staff this aggravates the situation because they have laid the foundation to discredit the target in advance. This goes on frequently for women in truck driver training; the stories I collect are almost verbatim.

In my own story I became aware notes were being taken about me and entered into the company computer. This meant when I called in distress, I was being prejudged and treated according to the perception made about me on a computer screen. I was not a person; I was an employee number, a gender and an ethnic race with comments about me.

While many carriers say they have a toll free number and emergency system to remove a trainee from a bad situation, the truth is that these systems often do not work. Especially on night and weekend shifts which is when most issues occur. Poor communication during shift changes aggravates these incidents and often the ball is dropped when the regular weekday staff comes in. There is no oversight, no cross check or follow up.

Poorly prepared females who have been misled into this industry often think they are welcome with open arms and that trucking is one big rootin tootin party. That image that is part of the problem not only for the women entering trucking but for the inexperienced men entering trucking who think all women truckers are “good time sally”.

There is no path to lead any student successfully from CDL training, into reliable training and into a long-term carriers that require stable experience to meet their qualifications standards. For students,  it is a crapshoot but in-house staff can help alleviate much of the trials by being better trained for a crisis. UNLESS this is occurring on purpose?

“We always kept the experienced drivers housed away from the students so they won’t tell them what’s going on “- Quote from a former Driver Liason

Normal corporate structure employees generally have some sort of training to work in environments with the opposite sex yet it is non-existent in truck driver training where total strangers are supposed to live together in a room the size of a closet.

These are people who are expected to follow the letter of the federal law yet many have never worked with opposite gender co-workers. What is acceptable if no one advises them? Combining a former construction worker and a former longtime housewife with zero guidance?  She was recruited at her local workforce office and received paid training compliments of the American taxpayers, if she gets harmed during her training are we to toss her off on the side of the road because she has no “Street Smarts”, she deserved it?

What about the Wife of a truck driver who is not made aware that a female has been put on her husband’s truck and an affair occurs? I understand that CR England may have a waiver that the Wife is supposed to sign to give permission but this policy is not always followed.  Alienation of Affection = Interference with Marriage lawsuits and they can be costly.  States such as Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota and Utah and North Carolina still permit cases where allegations of emotional harm are caused by a third party to the marital relationship. Wait? UTAH? CR England?

How about suing the carriers whose negligence permitted the situations to occur?

No training in conduct says  ”we don’t care who gets hurt, not on the highway, not in the truck, not in your home“!  Having a supervisory staff that is 20 or 30 years old who have no life experience to answer phones for crisis situations is a huge part of the problem.  If your staff has no idea how to deal with a crisis they should not be in supply chain logistics!

The human factor that is required to move freight is grossly absent from trucking. Someone who cannot handle a human crisis should not be permitted to speak or treat a victim of a trauma. If they cannot recognize a predatory behavior or complete their job in an unbiased manner they should not be placed in a position to deal with people in any capacity. 

Predators can be engaging, charming and they aim to make friends with those who can help them when they are accused. That way no one will doubt one word they say. Predators are not always men, women can also be predators, control freaks and understand we have a growing Pink Collar Crime population.

Hundreds of students each week are being recruited and churned into truck driver training fleets right now and there is a shortage of good trainers because poor recruitment by the trucking industry, trainers who have lost their jobs FINALLY from their misconduct and because some trainers have been accused of doing something that was false or misconstrued.

These are ALL management failures from poor management guidance and lax policies. These are human nature issues that exist in an industry that puts two or more people in super heated training atmosphere and offers little support. There is a whole lot of drama occurring in this training atmosphere which is unsafe for the motoring public as well as the occupants of the truck.

As a trucking professional how do you feel knowing that people who have harmed others have been insulated by your industry and are permitted to drive anonymously state to state?  We need some real men and some real women to step up to the plate to make a broad statement that we are not going to live in denial and we are going to fix this.

We need a real plan to take action, not a PR Campaign and phony facade. I believe the problem is so great now that many of these carriers don’t know where to start.  If you do not take action, you are collectively condoning, violence against disenfranchised women and benefiting from it which is no better than a human trafficker in my opinion!

This is a national problem because the carriers involved are very large truck training carriers that travel all 48 states, right in your backyard.

Following my post about the Abandoned CR England Student, I was contacted by someone who wanted to make law enforcement nationwide be aware of this neglected trucking issue. I personally would like to have truck stops create a safe haven program which would benefit the human trafficking campaign, domestic violence victims and situation like the one Nancy encountered.

Let’s face it; there is more criminal activities at truck stops represented by NATSO than at rest areas or tollway parking areas.

Last night I watched a show about Father Murphy a Wisconsin Priest who sexually abused as many as 200 deaf boys in his care. The little boys are now old men and still trying to get justice. These little boys went to the police and were sent back to this priest to live with him! People get hurt from collective inaction.

The problem with CR England is a problem with all of those who “KNOW” but do nothing, even though the little deaf boy is jumping up and down in front of you begging you to hear him!

Additional Reading:
CDL Trainers should be held accountable for their actions

CR England Training Reviews

Abandoned CR England Driver

U.S State Department – Human Trafficking

Truckers Against Trafficking

Technorati Tags: CDL Training, CR England, Dan Rather, EPA, Human Trafficking, Jason's Law, Smart Way Transport, Truckers, Trucking, Violence, Women

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The Environmental Protection Agency partnership with the American Trucking Association for a “Greener” Tomorrow may look, … well “Green” to outsiders and paper pushers but how does it affects human beings?

Most people could care less about truckers whose job requires them to live without luxuries like daily showers and toilet facilities in order to provide comfort to everyone else. Think about that for a second.

What if you could not take a shower, use a toilet or wash your hands when you wanted to and you had to perform your job everyday in these conditions.

Not only that but you had to sleep in your car and you were not permitted to use the air-conditioner in the summer to sleep OR use your heater in the winter.

Remember Old Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol” interrogating poor Bob Cratchit for needing to stay warm as he toiled away at his desk?
Morals and Ethics sacrificed for profits and awards is what you find when you scrape past that façade of the ATA partnership with the Smart Way EPA Program, not solutions for the environment.

Would you feel you were a safe driver in these conditions? How would you feel after sleeping in your car when it is 90 degree outside? Imagine you will be expected to cover 500 or more miles the next day to deliver a load of childrens blow up swimming pools and they had better be on time!

Rhianna Weir , writer for the Madison, Wisconsin trucking examiner wrote an article this week aimed at the non-trucking community that Saturday July 24, 2010 people take an hour out of their day to sit in their car, which is about the same area of space found inside the sleeper section of a semi truck. Challenging them to idle their car, SUV or pickup truck for no longer than five minutes and then try to relax for just one hour.

The first thing the non-trucking community needs to understand is that the American Trucking Association does not represent drivers; it represents carriers who are interested in profit not people. They are interested in media coverage to appear compliant and interested in formulating an image that seems genuinely concerned but these are strategies, anything that could affect profits by way of capital expenditures is not going to be embraced.

When public pressure gets turned up on safety issues a “partnership” will soon follow which helps control media creating a favorable image, a compliant and obedient image and this takes the spotlight off of the real issue.

In trucking when this happens it is the drivers who suffer because no one properly represents them and the nature of their job makes them unable to fight back.

Bill Hutson, a driver for 30 years and founder of a non-profit called Table Talk Ministries aptly puts it, “No matter how you squeeze a turnip a trucker pops out” and this seems to be the strategy of the ATA when they applaud themselves and the carriers they represent in their partnership with Smart Way Transport.

In this video from “Big Truck TV” it is clear that the ATA created this partnership for a very deliberate purpose but if you are an actual truck driver this video might make you vomit.

The truth is that some recipients of the Smart Way EPA award who are truck carriers represented by the ATA are able to reduce the idle emissions by inhumane and unsafe practices such as harassing drivers, charging drivers to idle but not providing solutions such as “Auxiliary Power Units” commonly referred to as APU’s .

These carriers are permitted to get way with saying “we are testing them” but they are not required to provide them despite rebates and other incentives like those which are funded through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The federal Department of Transportation regulations require 10 hours of rest for every 11 hours of driving. During these times, truck drivers often idle their engines to rest comfortably as would any other normal human being when they sleep.

Trucking idling laws fail to consider this and that many truckers are employees and do not have the option to buy expensive APU equipment and install them. Lease Owner-Operator truck drivers also generally have in their contract that they are not permitted to “alter” the trucks they are making payments on and this includes installing an APU. Smart Way EPA lets carriers receive awards who DO NOT provide solutions for employee drivers, this is unsafe & inhumane.

Performance scores are listed on the Smart Way Transport web site , a higher score or more favorable score would make a company more attractive to prospective shipper partners who care about environmental impacts and their own reputations but what if the carriers were reaching the score levels by inhumane means?

Smart Way encourages carriers to improve their score by adopting various fuel-efficiency and emission control technologies, policies, and strategies to their fleets but do they understand how these methods are practiced before they throw their annual shindig in Las Vegas, Nevada to hand out awards?

With so many states adopting new idle restrictions it seems that getting a photo opportunity accepting a Smart Way EPA award for a press release would be a trucking fleet President’s wet dream.

According to the SmartWay Transport web site, “A score of 1.25 represents outstanding environmental performance. These Carrier partners are already utilizing most of the commercially available fuel saving strategies and are actively evaluating the latest emerging technologies. Partners with scores of 1.25 are awarded the honor of displaying the SmartWay Transport Partner logo, EPA’s symbol for superior fuel efficiency and environmental performance.”

In practice, from a driver stand point, “fuel saving strategies” comes out of the drivers pocket. Being charged to idle or harassed for idling is one strategy used by some of the carriers who appear as award recipients on the Smart Way EPA website. Trucks drivers suffer with a fan if possible or pay for expensive motel rooms if they can find one that has truck parking, most do not and if you have a pet you are in really big trouble.

Now the first assumption is that if you have a pet in the truck you are exempt, that is not true in all states and if your company has idle restrictions they might still charge or penalize you for idling your truck. It is actually illegal in most states to have an animal in a hot vehicle but not illegal for an employer to do this to their employee. Also, driver’s do not have the option to put say $20.00 in the tank and use the receipt on their taxes for the fuel they burn in their company truck. Seems weird if fuel cost was all that mattered but even if the drivers were paying from their own pockets, the idle calculations still occur and maybe this affects qualifying to awards, just sayin..

Trucks drivers who are employees, which many fleets are on the Smart Way list are generally issued trucks to drive. It would make sense that if there was a limited amount with APU’s or bunk heaters, they would go to solo drivers who must park at night. Unfortunately it does not work that way. You can beg, plead, threaten, turn in hospital receipts from getting sick from trying to not idle and it will do you no good. More often than not you will be harassed verbally and over the Qualcomm about idling your truck with a complete disregard that the temperatures outside are so extreme that it would be unsafe to NOT idle your truck.

I suspect that measurement of idle time internally at trucking carriers may be linked to the SmartWay program so that they might qualify to be award recipients so let’s examine how this is being manipulated. I have copy and pasted and explanation from the website “The Rip Off Report” of how idling is calculated on each truck from “Baldy” of Pensacola, Florida.

He writes: “The onboard computer or “Qualcomm” measures engine running-time, speed-time (overspeed), and idle-time (among other things) and breaks this down into percentages. When it says that you are 30% over-idle, it means that 30% of the engine-running time was idle-time. Turning off the engine does not decrease the idle-time. It only keeps it from getting larger. The only way to lower the idle-time is to run more miles (run-time) than you sit idling (idle-time).

Example: If you cranked up your truck just after the weekly reset (mine was on Monday morning) and idled for 30 minutes without moving the truck, and then turned the truck off for the rest of the week, your idle-time for that week would be 100%. If you did that, and then ran down the road for 30 minutes before turning it off for the week, your idle-time for the week would be 50%.”

In a nutshell every second the engine is on it is calculating idle time against the tires rolling on the ground so even at a stop light the meter is running. If you are a solo driver running 5 or 6 days a week and you can drive 11 hours a day, you still have to remain parked and still a good deal of time.

Trucks have very little insulation, a fixable design flaw and like technology advancements like I brought up in “My Green Idle Idea“, the trucking industry does not embrace anything that costs money when they can find a way to make drivers pay for it.

The general public does not like truck drivers, they are afraid of them and they do not understand them so it’s perfect to pull this kind of crap because no one will bat an eye.

Fuel Saving Strategies noted by SmartWay should be understood to mean that a truck driver who is an employee or Owner-Operator who either is not provided a solution for idling or is forbidden to purchase an APU unit for their truck is actually paying for the carrier’s trip to Las Vegas to accept the SmartWay EPA Award. How do you like them Apples? The average paycheck per week being about $700 for driver in some companies I have heard as much as $300 has been charged to a driver from a single check. That’s a lesson most drivers do not want to experience twice.

A driver sitting with no load or during a rest period must idle in summer or winter or they can become sick, and most certainly will be operating the truck in an unsafe manner when they can roll again. Carriers who set idle policies do not take weather into account such as the case of the driver who posted about being charged to idle during a snowstorm and being told to buy more blankets even after becoming sick. Read Story Here

Some drivers report having their DAC reports ruined after complaining about being charged to idle or protesting idle policies. Citations given to drivers for idling in states who have adopted new laws are rarely paid for by carriers and with new CSA 2010 regulations drivers remain unclear how this will affect their records.

Until the general “Green” loving public can wrap their heads around how they are being bamboozled with “better air quality” campaigns that cover up safety shortfalls and inhumane practices against truck drivers this issue cannot be resolved.

Let the good times ROLL in Vegas for the SHAM called “The Smart Way Transport Partnership”
The slogan is accurate, “The Smart Way to save money, fuel and the environment” but here is the translation, “Save Money by Killling a Trucker, the Smart Way”.

Additional Reading:

Rhianna Weir Challenge
Preventing Truck Drivers from being Comfortable Underway Again
Smart Way Transport Partner List
Smart Way Award PDF
Fleet Owner – Smart Way names Excellence Award Winners
Rip Off Report Charging Employees to Idle
Smart Way Carrier Score Explanations

Technorati Tags: American Trucking Association, ATA, Environment, EPA, Idling, Smart Way Transport, Truckers, Trucking

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