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The Roemer Report On-Line, April 2005

TRUCK MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS IN DEMAND: It’s not just a need for drivers that is plaguing the trucking industry, but a need for heavy-truck maintenance technicians too. At the American Trucking Association’s annual Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) meeting, trucking executives predicted a growing shortage of qualified technicians. “It’s a problem and we’re working on several fronts to address it,” said one executive. “That includes finding ways to recruit more people into the technician field, improving the technician’s image, and offering them more training as trucks continue to get more complex.” TMC’s Professional Technician Development Committee is working to attract high school students to the career through a variety of outreach programs. Likewise, Mack Trucks has a new recruitment program in place that helps dealers find, train, and retain skilled technicians. People have an image of a “dirty mechanic,” explained a Mack spokesman. “We need to make young people understand that with the advent of advanced electronics, computerized diagnostics, and other technologies, the nature of the job has changed dramatically. Working on trucks today provides a great way to make a good living doing something you enjoy.” With more technicians retiring and not being replaced, the need is greater than ever. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that annual demand for truck technicians should grow by 12.4 percent over the next decade.

STUDY BLAMES DIESEL EXHAUST FOR DEATHS: Emissions from old diesel engines will continue to kill thousands of Americans each year, according to a report by an environmental group. The Clean Air Task Force estimated that more than 20,000 Americans die each year as a direct result of diesel exhaust, and they will continue to die prematurely because newly introduced rules to limit diesel pollution will take years before they are fully in effect. New regulations, implemented last year, require that new trucks and buses be built with diesel engines that cut the amount of nitrogen oxides in half. Older vehicles, however, are exempt from the legislation. “Those are great rules, they will hold the engines to higher standards,” said the report’s co-author. “In the meantime, we’re stuck with a legacy of dirty diesel engines.” More action is needed, says the group, since many older diesel engines can run for 30 years. Specifically, the Clean Air Task Force called for (1) increased government funding to retrofit municipal vehicles and (2) regulations that require private companies to retrofit. Retrofitting can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000. An industry group criticized the findings as outdated and misleading. “I think they have overstated the risk here using data that’s six years old,” said the director of the Diesel Technology Forum. Allan Shaeffer said it takes eight new tractor-trailer engines to emit the same amount of pollution that one comparable 12-year-old engines does. Diesel pollution, blamed for contributing to asthma, respiratory disease, and heart attacks, increases health complications by three times for city residents, compared to rural residents, according to the study.

STALLED AT THE BORDER: Negotiations on allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways have come to a grinding halt. The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement promised to allow Mexican trucks on American roads, but the latest snag involves Mexico’s reluctance to allow U.S. safety inspectors into the country. A recently released audit by the federal government says that Mexican trucks should not be granted long-haul operating authority in the United States until both countries agree to allow on-site safety reviews in Mexico. Under the U.S. proposal, U.S. inspectors would conduct “safety audits” on Mexican trucks, mechanics, and buildings. One Mexican trucking association maintains that such audits would be “excessive and discriminatory” since they don’t apply to U.S. or Canadian companies. In addition to safety concerns, the audit also lists concerns about inspectors obtaining data on Mexican drivers, verifying licenses and insurance, and testing for drugs and alcohol. The report also notes that Mexican hazmat drivers should be subjected to the same background checks that American hazmat haulers must undergo. A spokesman for the Teamsters says the report proves that Mexico has not “lived up to its end of the deal.” Bret Caldwell said, “So you have untrained drivers transporting materials on uninspected trucks. It’s just not safe.” Groups that support Mexican truckers entering the country see things differently. “There is absolutely no reason not to let these trucks on the U.S. highways and do good business with the United States as long as we have the same standards as we do for the U.S. trucks as far as emissions and safety are concerned.”

A NATION ON WHEELS: On average, 220 million Americans drive an hour and a half a day in their cars, with the vast majority (75 percent) saying driving gives them a sense of independence and half of them saying it’s relaxing. A recent poll looked at public attitudes on driving and came up with these additional findings: (1) Aggressive driving. About one-third of drivers can be categorized as aggressive. Six in 10 admit to sometimes speeding, while nearly one-fourth of drivers surveyed say that they speed very often or somewhat often. More than four in 10 say they get angry behind the wheel; and two in 10 admit that they sometimes experience road rage, making impolite gestures or running lights or stop signs. These aggressive drivers are most likely to be young people, city drivers, or drivers stuck in traffic jams. (2) Coping strategies. Two-thirds of Americans say they sometimes take less direct routes to avoid traffic, and one-fourth say they’ve changed their work schedules to avoid rush hour. Twenty percent say they’ve moved to new homes to improve commutes; 14 percent say they’ve changed or quit jobs because of their commute. (3) Finding solutions.Sixty-six percent say immediately removing disabled vehicles is very effective in improving traffic. The next best solution, according to respondents, is electronic alerts that warn drivers about traffic jams and suggest alternate routes. Only 27 percent think high-occupancy vehicle lanes are effective, and a mere 7 percent say adjustable tolls (charging higher tolls when volume is heavier) is effective. About 51 percent think building new roads is “very effective,” while about the same percentage believes carpooling is a good idea.

TRUCKERS ON THE LOOKOUT: When commercial trucker Phil Gould is behind the wheel, he is always on the lookout for a “DLR.” That’s law enforcement lingo, he says, for things that “don’t look right.” Gould is one of thousands of transportation workers who volunteer for Highway Watch, a program that started out as a way to improve road safety but expanded after 9/11 to bolster homeland security. Truckers like Gould are trained to recognize potential safety and security threats along the highway. They take a class, are assigned a confidential Highway Watch ID, and report any suspicious activities to a toll-free hotline. Highway Watch generates between 200 and 300 calls per month, according to the American Trucking Associations, which administers the program. Most calls concern stranded motorists, accidents, and roadway debris, but about 1 in 100 calls are related to terrorism—and those calls are passed along to the Department of Homeland Security. Highway Watch currently has 32,000 volunteers, but the program’s goal is to have 200,000 volunteers by next July. The program received $21 million from the federal government this year to recruit more volunteers. Drivers interested in volunteering can go to highwaywatch.com for more information.

LAW INTENDED TO CURB FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS: President Bush recently signed a bill into law that is designed to rewrite the rules of the nation’s class-action tort system. The Class Action Fairness Act, designed to limit frivolous lawsuits, funnels most class-action lawsuits from state courts to the federal system. The procedural change is expected to have major implications since federal courts tend to be less sympathetic to class-action cases in which plaintiffs claim they were victimized by fraud or negligence by corporations. House Speaker Dennis Hastert called the vote a “historic first step towards breaking one of the main shackles holding back our economy and America’s workforce—lawsuit abuse.” Opponents of the legislation warned that it was a “payback for big business at the expense of consumers,” and that it would result in many cases never being heard. Nevertheless, the bill was
approved by a lopsided margin in the House, where most Republicans and many Democrats gave it a 279 to 149 victory. Perhaps the biggest winner is the consumer, said Frank Keating, president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers. Keating says the consumer is the one who has been paying the high price for class-action abuses, that unnecessarily drove up the cost of products and services.

IT’S ALL IN THE DELIVERY: Long ago, a king dreamed that all his teeth had fallen out. The dreamed worried him so much that he sent for a soothsayer to interpret the dream. The soothsayer listened to the dream, stroked his beard for several minutes, then answered. “Your Royal Highness, the dream means that your relatives will die and you will be left all alone.” Furio us at the interpretation, the king demanded that the soothsayer be removed from the premises at once. The next day the king summoned a second soothsayer for his interpretation of the dream. This soothsayer listened to the dream, thought for a moment, and then delivered his pronouncement: “Rejoice, your highness. The dream means you will have a long life. In fact, you will outlive all your relatives. Long live the king!” The king was so pleased with this interpretation that he gave the soothsayer a bag of gold coins and had him escorted home in the royal carriage. In reality, the two soothsayers made essentially the same prediction. The difference, however, was in how they delivered their message—one saw the negative, while the other focused on the positive. Consequently, there was a big difference in how the message was received. The moral is clear: It’s not necessarily what you say, but how you say it that matters.

Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch.—Ivern Ball