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A Growing Minority: During World War II, thousands of American women worked as truckers when men were called on to fight. Once the soldiers returned home, the number of women drivers fell sharply. Today, however, women are making a comeback. Last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 182,000 (5.2 percent) of the nation’s 3.5 million truck drivers were women. In 1983, women accounted for only 84,000 (3.5 percent) of the 2.4 million drivers. Companies are hiring women to help offset the driver shortage. But the push to hire more women goes beyond the shortage. Women simply make good truckers. The CEO of an Indiana motor carrier finds that women drivers tend to be more careful and take better care of their equipment. Rosa Reynosa, 30, works for Con-way in its LTL business in a Chicago suburb. She hauls loads in the Chicago area and operates a forklift, moving loads from incoming trucks. Her boss describes her as one of his best workers. “If I had 30 more Rosas, I’d be a happy man,” he said. Advances in technology, such as power steering, make the profession more attractive to women. Another selling point for female drivers: they are paid by the mile, just as men, so there is no chance of earning lower wages. The average trucker earned $36,000 last year, while more experienced drivers or team drivers can make up to $60,000 per year. Although the industry is more “female friendly” than ever, there’s still work to be done. Security remains a concern for some women, who say most facilities lack basic accommodations, such as showers for women and secure places to sleep.
Driving Safely In Fog: A huge pileup occurred last month along a two-mile stretch of highway in Fresno, California, involving 108 vehicles, including 18 big rigs. Foggy conditions combined with unsafe speeds were the main culprits. “Everybody was trying to miss everybody, but it was impossible not to get hit,” said one woman whose pickup was rear-ended. Many tractor-trailers reportedly pulled off to the side of the road before being involved in the collision, and a number of truckers helped out before officials arrived. “A lot of them grabbed fire extinguishers—there were two fires that were put out quickly,” said one OOIDA member who was present. Truckers may think fast in emergency situations, but reviewing procedures for driving in fog is a good idea even for veteran drivers. So consider these tips:
- Drive slowly. Fog creates the illusion of slow motion and makes drivers think they are going slowly when they aren’t.
- Keep your distance. The normal reaction is to drive closer to the vehicle ahead, but that, of course, is the opposite of what you should do.
- Use your fog lights or low beams. High beams actually reduce visibility by reflecting the light back at you.
- Know when to stop. Sometimes the best option is just to find a safe place to pull over and wait for the fog to lift.
Heavy-Duty Engines Improving: A new study of heavy-duty truck engines by J.D. Power and Associates finds that truck maintainers are reporting fewer problems with engines this year than in previous years. In 2005 and 2006, the annual survey found a sharp increase in engine problems—that’s when manufacturers introduced new technologies to meet tighter emissions regulations. But this year, those problems are starting to decline. Here’s what else the survey uncovered:
- Caterpillar and Cummins ranked highest in customer satisfaction with engines in two-year-old Class 8 trucks. Cummins performs especially well in engine warranty, performance, and cost of ownership factors, according to J.D. Power. Caterpillar followed close behind, getting high scores in engine quality.
- Fuel injectors and turbochargers experienced large declines in quality in last year’s survey but had significantly fewer problems this year, with problems for each component declining by almost 50 percent.
- For the second straight year, the biggest engine problem was the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valve. The problem accounted for 17 percent of all engine-related problems reported, increasing slightly over last year’s study.
Americans Favor Renewable Energy: Americans may be addicted to fossil fuels, but a new poll makes it clear that the public wants to put an end to its costly dependence. The survey, conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation for Citizens Lead for Energy Action Now, found the following highlights:
- More than four in five Americans (84 percent) agree with a national energy strategy that phases in renewable technologies, such as wind and solar, and phases out carbon-based energy sources.
- Three in four Americans (including 68 percent of Republicans and 83 percent of Democrats) believe that President Bush and Congress should increase the federal fuel-efficiency standard for cars to 40 miles per gallon now, rather than wait to achieve more modest increases over a longer period.
- Only 12 percent of Americans say we have plenty of time to figure out solutions to global warming; 70 percent say global warming requires immediate action. Civil Society Institute founder Pam Solo said, “The American public is way ahead of the politicians today in recognizing the serious threat posed by global warming and the need for immediate and comprehensive national energy policy changes. It is apparent from this survey that there is a huge appetite today among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike for leadership and problem solving that comes from both sides of the aisle.”
Mexican Trucks Already Here: Politicians, environmentalists, and Americans who are concerned about the potential dangers of allowing Mexican tractor-trailers onto U.S. highways often forget one thing: hundreds of Mexican trucks are already delivering cargo all over the nation and have been doing so for years. More than 1,000 companies based in Mexico are permitted to drive beyond the U.S. border zone under an exemption to the U.S. moratorium on Mexican long-haul trucking. And according to the Department of Transportation, Mexican trucks and drivers have better safety records than their U.S. counterparts. Of the 859 exempted companies that were driving into the United States from 2003 to 2006, 21.3 percent of Mexican trucks and 1.2 percent of Mexican drivers were put out of service. Those rates compare to 23.5 percent for U.S. trucks and 7 percent for U.S. drivers. Opponents aren’t buying those statistics, however. Todd Spencer of OOIDA contends that a backlog of citations against Mexican trucks in Texas were never put into the state’s database. At least there is no dispute that Mexican companies are required to meet rigid inspection standards for company operations, truck safety, insurance, driver screening, and language requirements. In addition, Mexican truckers are prohibited from hauling hazardous materials, cannot haul passengers, must have proof they’ve been inspected within the past 90 days, and must meet the same drug-testing standards as U.S. drivers.
On The Road To Non-smoking: Some 50 percent of over-the-road truckers smoke cigarettes, compared to about 21 percent of the general population, according to one report. Smoking causes more deaths than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined, says the American Cancer Society, and because it adds more than $75 billion to annual spending on health care, companies have an incentive to get workers to kick the habit. Many employers have begun paying for programs to help workers quit smoking. In fact, one-third of companies with 200 or more workers offer smoking cessation as part of their benefits package. Employers offering such programs spend about $900 to give a participant free nicotine patches and phone sessions with counselors. The investment more than pays for itself, since the typical smoker generates $16,000 or more in medical bills over a lifetime. Quitting can be especially difficult for truckers. Nicotine is a stimulant, allowing drivers to focus and block out peripheral sights and sounds. But quitting is not impossible. “Because truckers are alone so much of the time and many of them listen to books on tape, it is possible for them to focus on self-help and improvement,” says one doctor. And just because a driver has tried and not succeeded in the past at quitting smoking is no reason to give up. “If someone has ‘succeeded’ in becoming a nonsmoker before, they have shown they can do it and have learned something about how to be successful,” the doctor said.
A Personal Mission Statement: In his book First Things First, Stephen R. Covey urges readers to write their own personal mission statements. Mission statements help people focus on their goals and guide them when they are unsure. “An empowering mission statement,” writes Covey, “is not a ‘to do’ to be checked off. To be empowering, it has to become a living document, part of our very nature so that the criteria we’ve put into it are also into us, into the way we live our lives day by day.” Covey tells the story of a woman who wrote a mission statement and then filed it away. For months, the woman wrote down her goals and checked them off: save this amount of money, buy a new car, build a new house. One night, sitting in her new home, the woman felt unhappy, despite having accomplished many of her goals. As she sat there, she read her mission statement. “I realized,” she said, “that there was nothing materialistic in it. Everything was ‘be’—I want to be a good person…I want to be a good example…I want to be a good parent.” The mission statement reminded the woman what was important to her and helped get her back on track. As the new year approaches, consider writing down your goals. Seeing them in black and white can be a powerful motivator.
Wishing you a safe and joyful holiday season and a propsperous New Year
—From all of us at Roemer Insurance
