Just as smart as fertilizing tomatoes with a bag of salt

The speed limiter issue continues to boil over in Canada, as Ontario continues to flirt with requiring the devices.

The basic premise supporters of the idea are using is that the limiters promote safety – an idea any trucker knows isn’t the case.

Want some real world examples? Try this on for size.

A trucker called in to our office the other day to tell us what happened recently when he tried to pass another truck in Ohio.

Both trucks were moving at very close to the same speed. And although he didn’t say so, I suspect his truck and the other truck were limited.

As he was trying to pass the other truck, a four-wheeler became impatient, veered onto the shoulder, jammed the accelerator and sped around the two trucks.

This is an excellent case study in why using speed limiters for safety is just as smart as fertilizing tomatoes with a bag of salt.

Every study of speed limiters has told us this is the kind of behavior that’s likely if we require them. It’s what every scientist who’s actually studied the issue has said can happen, what all the evidence points to.

Here are the basics again, for those in the Canadian government who have been sleeping or not paying attention:

Speed limiters create speed differentials on the highways.

Speed differentials lead to increased interaction in traffic – more passing, more speeding up, more sudden braking.

And those things lead to only one end: more accidents, and – God forbid – more deaths.

It’s time supporters of speed limiters come out from behind the safety argument. It simply doesn’t wash.

The real reason this is being pushed has been made clear over and over again. The bean counters at larger carriers tell their corporate overlords that limiting speed will save money. But it’s harder to recruit drivers when you use limiters. So these same carriers want everyone to be limited so they can more easily recruit.

It is not the job of lawmakers to help companies with flawed corporate policies to recruit workers. It is the job of lawmakers to look out for the safety and welfare of the general public.

If lawmakers in Ontario, Quebec or anywhere else are really interested in safety, they should reject this back-door form of corporate welfare.

Putting lipstick on a pig

Some time back, we reported on a problem caused by the fact that some of the fuel pumps now in use were never designed to show a fuel price as high as the ones we’re facing.

Some states are dealing with it by allowing stations to show the price for a half gallon.

Needless to say, that brought in some calls from truckers, one of whom thought it was so silly that he laughed at the idea. Isn’t it funny, he said, that our lawmakers would step up to help out the very people who are charging us over $4 a gallon for fuel.

I thought the whole mess was a hoot, too.

I suppose we could be angry – everyone has a right to be – but it’s not like we all need something else to raise our blood pressure.

I will say this: At least the states allowing this are putting in some protections, such as requiring those stations to clearly mark on the pumps that the price is for only a half gallon.

On the other hand, that’s a little like putting lipstick on a pig.

But that trucker had a good point. Wouldn’t it be nice if those same state lawmakers who are so interested in helping small fuel businesses cope were just as willing to help small trucking businesses?

You might want to make a quick call to your state lawmakers and point that out. It never hurts to remind them that we’re out there.

Lessons not learned

Our focus this week is on Pennsylvania, their turnpike, their lease proposal and their highway financing.

But whenever you look at a future possible lease, it’s useful to see how it worked out when it was tried before.

Our best example is the Indiana Toll Road. We kept hearing from the state how the private operator wouldn’t let the road run down, wouldn’t let prices get too high, that private business efficiencies would help them run the road better and make a profit.

OOIDA and others said that was balderdash.

Well, guess who had it right? Just ask the truckers. We did, and this is what one of our listeners told us he encountered:

• Long waits just to pay the toll, to get on or get off the road;
• Higher-than-ever prices for goods sold at the service areas;
• Increased toll rates;
• And even some toll tickets that don’t tell you what you’ll pay while on the road.

What a crock.

There’s no reason for that kind of wait, no reason for that level of prices, no reason for the lack of service, and certainly no reason to expect you to run that toll road without knowing what it will cost you.

I wish we could get that road back in the state’s hands. Before this lease was signed, how long had it been since tolls went up? How bad were the lines?

The fact is, while every other cost in our lives went up during the years the state ran that road, the cost of the tolls was stable. The state ran the road well, maintained it well, lines were not so long, things were OK.

We know that some toll roads have problems. And many folks have pointed to inefficiencies in the Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority.

So, here’s how you deal with that: Fix it.

Folks in Pennsylvania's government don’t have the courage to do that. Instead, they figure they can sell the road, get a big wad of cash they can spend to ensure their own political futures, dump the job of fixing turnpike management on a private company with no accountability, and leave the cost to our children and grandchildren.

Privatization won’t fix the problem here. It’s just another way for politicians to avoid their own responsibility for how the government is run.

BMI – a bloody mess, indeed

We reported recently about a proposal that could force hundreds of thousands of truckers to undergo required, annual, expensive medical tests.

Here’s the basic concept: the FMCSA’s medical review board wants to track truckers’ BMI – body mass index – a method of questionable accuracy at best.

Those above a certain body mass index would be required to undergo testing every year for sleep apnea. And those tests can run into the thousands.

If this idea did become the law of the land, then thousands of perfectly safe truckers could be forced off the road.

One of the biggest reasons that this is a bad idea: Muscle weighs more than fat.

I know I’ve said this before, but I can’t say it enough: According to the BMI test, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was Mr. Universe, he was morbidly obese.

And even if these folks are overweight or obese, that doesn’t automatically mean they have apnea or that they’re unsafe.

OOIDA has made truckers’ views on this known. And I think you can count on us to fight this very foolish idea.

Speed limiters and economics: Looking for feedback

I would love to get some comments from Canadian folks (or people who regularly run into Ontario) about the closing of a transmission plant in Windsor, Ontario, by GM, and on the efforts of the Premiere and the Transportation Minister to implement speed limiters despite the recent job loss.

Speed limiters will have a direct correlation on the price of goods in Ontario. Who can afford this? Speed limiters will economically disadvantage Ontario trucks and put small-business truckers out of work. Why is this legislation being pursued particularly at this time? I would love to hear some thoughts and feedback from drivers.

You can read an article by The Globe and Mail about the closing here.

You can send me an e-mail with your thoughts here, or post a comment on this blog.

You’re on your own

I passed a fatal truck accident on my way home from work yesterday.

And, like more than 60 percent of the accidents in which truckers die, it was a one-vehicle wreck.

It happened just east of Kansas City on the exit ramp that westbound I-70 traffic takes to get onto southbound I-435.

The exit is the old-fashioned tight circle type – as close to a hairpin curve as any I’ve ever seen on an interstate.

Once you’re on it, you see a yellow caution sign that depicts a tractor-trailer tipping over.

Trouble is, by the time you see the warning sign – positioned right where the exit curves sharply – it’s too late. You’re already into the hairpin.

As I drove past, emergency personnel in day-glo, lime green vests were crawling over the overturned Marten truck.

The cab was crushed and split open so that personal items were strewn about.

I learned later that the 27-year-old driver was from Brooklyn Park, MN, and that police think a load shift may have caused the wreck.

In my opinion, the poorly designed exit ramp and the lack of adequate signage may have caused the wreck.

Witnesses say the trucker was not speeding.

Being young and from Minnesota, the trucker may not have been familiar with the dangerous exit.

Besides being sad, it also seems unfair.

Unfair that a hazard well known to Kansas Citians, but unfamiliar to many out-of-towners can claim a life.

But it’s a reminder that whether it’s a dangerous exit in Missouri, a snow storm in Washington, a steep grade in the Rockies or smoke and fog on a Florida highway, truckers are expected to deal with it.

In the end – after all the safety regulations and law enforcement – truckers are on their own.

Bringing truckers into focus

The image of the trucking industry is getting better. But the fact is, we’re still fighting the battle to improve our image with the public, and we will be for some time to come.

Some groups have made a huge difference, and are laying the groundwork for the day when the general public once again realizes what great people truckers are.

And that’s why I love calls like the one I received on the “Listener Comment Line” from an OOIDA member named Matt.

Matt’s a regular caller, and he’s also a Trucker Buddy. He called to thank the truckers who took part in one of that group’s events. It sounded like a success, an event that a load of kids really enjoyed.

This kind of thing is always good news to me.

First, I think we should all thank those truckers who took part, and all the truckers who take part in Trucker Buddy. You’ve not only done a service for those kids – you’ve helped all the folks in this business with you.

The Trucker Buddy program, the World’s Largest Truck Convoy for Special Olympics, the Truckers for Troops Telethon, and on and on. If you ever doubt how good truckers are, take a look at the folks who take part in these events.

But don’t just look and admire. Share what you’ve seen with everyone around you. The best advertising is word of mouth. And when we spread the word to our friends, our neighbors, our families, to everyone we know … that’s when we’ll begin to truly change the public’s perception of this industry.