RSI’s Transportation Insights

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The big rigs get all the attention.  Diagnostic testing, valve cleansing, tire dressings, and regular check ups.  What about the health of the person who steers the wheel?  Truck drivers already have one strike against their health - sitting for long periods of time, mostly likely alone.  Fortunately, there are several resources available to drivers with information on how to stay fit, eat right, and maintain optimal health even during the longest of hauls.

Fast food = sometimes the only option. 

We’re not here to denounce the drive thru, but rather recommend better choices.  Chicken is lower in fat, calories, and cholesterol, especially when charbroiled than say a beef burger or taco.  Salads?  Think twice - packaged dressing can easily add enough calories to surpass the total amount found in a value meal.  Taste is important, but so is nutrition.  Considering your options, and taking a glance at the joint’s nutritional information (it’s there) will help you chose the healthier menu item.

Get in Shape. 

Sitting for hours and hours makes it difficult to reach one’s cardiovascular potential.  Freeman Health Systems suggests the following exercises that truck drivers can take with while on the road:

· Choose activities you enjoy. If you can’t find a place outdoors to walk, stash a few weights in your truck and work out in the cab.
· Carry a jump rope with you. It takes up little space and can be done almost everywhere.
· Make your workout a habit you do daily, or every other day.
· Play music to keep you entertained as you work out.

Stress Free Driving

Road rage gets the best of us.  For professional drivers though,  deal with dufus drivers is day to day.  Letting one’s blood boil though is not good for the heart, and therefore must be controlled.  While meditating at the wheel is not feasible, open road can be good for the pysche. Chances are there’s a rolling valley, nostalgic fruit stand, horse farm, or majestic mountain range that can hit like a ton of bricks - in a good way.  Make a mental note of the markers that have a positive mental impact and inspire good thoughts.  Simple breathing habits - taking long deep breaths through the nose and exhaling through the mouth - have immediate calming effects and are always accessible at a moment’s notice.

Life on the road isn’t easy, but maintaining good health can make driving short and long hauls more enjoyable as well as the world beyond the big rig.
 

Christmas trees are synonymous with, well, Christmas.  And  some time between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, people made a mad dash to Christmas three farms all over the country.  While the scents of fresh pine and noble are sure to trigger merry memories, there’s something else to consider when looking at each prestigous perennial:  how did they get there? 
 

“They” is in reference to the 25 million-plus Christmas trees that are transported all across the continent each year around this time.  Consider the following courtesy of the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, National Christmas Tree Association: 
·  There are approximately 25-30 million Real Christmas Trees sold in the U.S. every year.
·  There are close to half a billion Real Christmas Trees currently growing on Christmas   Tree farms in the U.S. alone, all planted by farmers
· There are about 21,000 Christmas Tree growers in the U.S., and over 100,000 people employed full or part-time in the industry

While trees are now most likely to be transported by tractor-trailers, that wasn’t always the case.  During the early 1900s, trees were transported by ships, not trucks, that would cross such areas as Lake Michigan, “hauling Christmas trees from Michigan ports to coastal cities in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois,” (http://bayviewcompass.com/bay-views-christmas-tree-ships/.)  Customers would go directly to the docks to buy trees. 

Now, it’s more common that nurseries will produce Christmas trees, selling both the seedlings or the full grown crop.  One such nursery is Smith Evergreen Nursery in Magnolia, Ohio.   Smith Evergreen will transport trees in bulk twice a year, once in the Spring, and then again the Fall.  And Christmas trees don’t come cheap.  A full grown 10 foot tall Douglas Fir costs roughly $41.00.  To ship it freight will run as high as $1.40 a tree depending on the zone.  Smith Evergreen can transport about 750 trees per semi truck, or 230 individually tied trees on their straight trucks. .

 In other situations, Christmas trees arrive as special deliveries via FedEx Special Delivery trailers.  One such scenario occurred in Oregon, where 19 growers donated 2,500 trees that FedEx shipped in conjunction with the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, which sends Christmas trees to U.S. military troops around the world. 

Whether they arrive still covered in snow, or tightly packaged like a present, the safe delivery of each Christmas tree is dependent on successful transportation. 

As drivers, we tend to notice the potholes more than recently slurried streets.   While that’s not  a metaphor for the human condition, it’s a safe assumption for California drivers who deal with traffic and with beat up highways day in and out.  Truck drivers  in particular must deal the usual grind, plus out of control and impatient drivers.  Breaking through this pessimistic outlook however is Caltrans, who have had  series of wins this past year.  All were detailed in a Caltrans’ 2007-2008 Fiscal Year Highlights report.
Safer Roads for All

California’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) is a Caltrans-created strategy designed to reduce injuries and fatalities on state roads.  Caltrans aims to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries by 10% and will do so in conjunction with 300 stakeholders in 80 agencies.  The plan is to together, create and implement necessary strategies that will lead to safer roads by 2010 - good news for trucking insurance agencies as well. 

Less to Fret about Fog

In California, Highway 99 is notorious for being one of the foggiest, and therefore most visually difficult roads to navigate.  In 2007, Caltrans came out with The new
Fog Detection and Warning System.  This system “will relay weather
and vehicle speed information to the Traffic Management Center, which will post warnings to drivers on changeable message signs (CMS) in rural Tulare and
Fresno counties,” (http://www.dot.ca.gov/docs/2008FiscalYearHighlights.pdf). 

Safety for Our Schools

No matter what age the student, there’s always concern for their safety getting to and from school.  Busy streets, crowded buses, indirect routes all are cause for concern.  A huge Caltrans win this past year was obtaining $52 million dollars that will go towards 139 individual projects that are made possible by California’s Safe Routes School Program.  The program,” designed to give students in grades K-12 easier and healthier ways to travel safely to and from school,”  (http://www.dot.ca.gov/docs/2008FiscalYearHighlights.pdf).

So you see - the roads that connect California are not just another ding in our daily commute, but examples of improvement for all who use them - improvements made possible by efforts of organizations such as Caltrans.  Kudos Caltrans!

Although fuel prices have dropped in the last few months, the trucking industry is preparing for the future.  In fact, the America Trucking Association’s (ATA) plan to reduce fuel consumption and emissions is aimed at the next decade.  The plan? 

Slow down.  ATA members including FedEx Corp., UPS Inc., and RSI Insurance Brokers, Inc. to name a few, are advised to slow down – the objective of several new proposals designed to reduce fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons in addition to carbon dioxide emissions.

  
 
According to the Associated Press, a sampling of the recommendations include:
· Limit the speed new trucks can travel to no more than 68 mph and reduce the national speed limit to 65 mph for all vehicles.
· Reduce engine idling.
· Increase fuel efficiency through participation in an Environmental Protection Agency partnership program.
· Ease congestion by improving the nation’s highways, through a fuels tax increase if necessary.

Federal research supports the proposals with The Department of Energy acknowledging that travelling at reduced speeds (60 miles per hour and lower), does use less fuel than say driving at 80 miles per hour.  Drivers pay approximately thirty cents more a gallong when driving in excess of 60 miles per hour.

One can assume the next ten years will only bring more congestion, tighter regulations, and greater strains on the transportation industry.  Green initiatives will come to fruition in addition to technological advances that are intended to reduce fuel consumption and our dependence on oil.  Same as the ATA’S plans - time will tell. 

It’s loud, attention getting, sometimes jarring but entirely effective.  The air horn has become synonymous with semi trucks and essential for road safety.  There’s no tuning out the blare of an air horn, even if you’re miles from the source.  Air horn options are abundant and while they’re main purpose is all the same – to alert other drivers/people, the aesthetic features are abound. We’ll take a closer look at the loud and illustrious air horn. 

The Department of Transportation and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association mandate the following:

§393.81 Horn.
Every bus, truck, truck tractor, and every driven motor vehicle in driveaway towaway operations shall be equipped with a horn and actuating elements which shall be in such condition as to give an adequate and reliable warning signal.

This is the only existing federal regulation surrounding a truck’s horn.  In essence, the law is that a truck must be fitted with one, and that’s it (any vehicle for that matter). 

So now that the rules are taken care of, what about the cosmetics?  Well, there’s everything from the Bad Boy to the Cannonball Express.  You’ll find air horns range in price anywhere from $50 to a cool $300.  According to StylinTrucks.com, the Bad Boy boasts a blast twice as loud as factory horns while being a diminutive 2 ½”  x 4 ½” in size. 
The Cannonball is, “constructed of all metal with three triple chrome plated trumpets. The horn’s base is plated steel. Comes with all required mounting hardware and 10 foot length of 1/4″ nylon high pressure hose.” (www.stylintrucks.com) 

Air horns can be purchased online, through auctions including eBay, specialty retail stores and more.  You won’t have a problem finding a wide selection of products, but you may have a difficult time deciding whether you want to grab the attention of the road or small city. 

If you’ve been watching diesel prices, either on the road, or perhaps on the RSI Transportation blog, you’ve probably noticed that the price per gallon of diesel fuel has dropped. In some cases by as much as forty cents in just a few months. As any procurer of diesel fuel (especially those filling up big rig sized tanks), even a few cents less could result in hundreds of dollars in savings over a relatively short period of time. Do we dare ask what’s up with the sudden descending diesel pricing trends? Why not?

By the end of July, diesel fuel prices were averaging $4.603 a gallon. This is good news – for this year anyways. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an 11.5 cent drop in diesel fuel in just the last week of July. Not bad – but not necessarily a good thing considering last year at the same time diesel was $1.71 less per gallon than it is now (www.truckstopusa.com).

In comparison, regular unleaded gas prices fell only 0.06 cent per gallon. Truck drivers though, don’t always have the option of taking alternative transportation or finding a new route.

What has lead to the drop in diesel prices? Is it the federal government that’s giving way to a land of consumers with overexerted checking accounts? Have driving habits really changed enough to cause an immediate drop in fuel prices across the board? Is it all a conspiracy we have no control over? Perhaps all these questions have answers with relevant outcomes, however, economic trends take quarters to figure out. In the meantime, enjoy the ride – but more figuratively than literally just in case driving less really does affect pump prices.

Biodiesel fuels have had a huge impact on the trucking industry.  Big rig diesel engines have been equipped with engines installed or retrofitted to run on vegetable oils such as corn oil, and animal fats.  The results - cleaner burning engines that have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by as much as four million metric tons.  So what’s the problem exactly?
 
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the state of California has been ticketing biodiesel users.  Since when is it a crime to improve the environment?  Since it was realized that the gallons and gallons of biodiesel fuel were missing one green detail.  Not Earth Day ‘green’, but Uncle Sam ‘green’. 
 
The federal government requires that diesel fuel is taxed at a rate of 24.4 cents per gallon.  Each state governs its version of a “diesel fuel suppliers license.”  In California fleet owners are just one of several groups required to provide quarterly reports of the amounts of oil burned in addition to furnishing liability insurance somewhere in the area of a million dollars (hot oil is…hot!)  These rules have come as a surprise to many, especially fleet owners who have wholeheartedly supported the biodiesel movement. 
 
Passenger cars aren’t exempt - or California’s governor.  According to the article, Arnold Schwarzenegger’ was required to pay 18 cents per gallon of biodiesel fuel burned in his Hummer to the state. 
 
Unlike regular diesel fuel, which is well in the four dollar range, biodiesel fuel can cost as little as one dollar a gallon. 
 
Currently, most biodiesel fuel suppliers supply covertly.  It’s a state by state movement that is likely to slippery. 

Rules, rules, rules.  You never liked them in grade school, challenge them at work.  Yet, as drivers, we abide without a peep (usually), and with good intention: to avoid total chaos on the road.  And fortunately, as drivers, not much has changed from the time our parents took their drivers tests.  Three-point turns are still status quo.  Imagine being the operator of a big rig though, and having to deal with constant changes that restrict the number of hours you drive, how much you can haul, where you can sleep, among the lot.

Think your manager is strict?  Check out the most recent rule change courtesy of the Federal Carrier Safety Administration:

10/1 Technical Amendments to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations
8/24/2007 Fees for Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement
7/5/2007 Amendments To Implement Certain Provisions of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU);
6/11/2007 Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operation; Lamps and Reflective Devices
3/6/2007 Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operation: Surge Brake Requirements
 
Furthermore, the Department of Transportation keeps a watchful eye on operators traveling in hazardous conditions, weariness, equipment use, and safe loading practices among others.

 The hours of service a truck driver can operate a vehicle was last revised in 2005.  The latest rule maintains drivers cannot operate a commercial vehicle for more than 11 cumulative hours following 10 consecutive hours off duty.  The rules also addresses the number of consecutive days drivers can operate.  And there’s more!

Sitting on the table are more rule revisions that regulate driver’s license testing, minimum training requirements, and the transport of household goods. 
The Department of Transportation noted that fatal accident rates for trucks were down 37 percent over the last 10 years, despite a major increase in mileage driven.  In addition, the American Trucking Association makes the point that drivers are not always sleeping during the ‘non-driving’ hours.  
In any event, as the saying goes (you’ll remember this from your parents), rules are rules.

Horsepower may win the girl, the speedway race, and car lot sales quota, but insurance companies are pulling back on the reigns of beefy passenger cars.  According to Joseph B. White’s article in the Wall Street Journal, “the average horsepower for new cars has risen steadily since 1985, both in absolute terms and in terms of horsepower per 100 pounds of vehicle weight.” (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120250712495854799.html?mod=Eyes+on+the+Road). 

Burly vehicles have appealed to car enthusiasts for decades.  James Dean, John Travolta, and even Herbie the Love Bug benefited from that extra momentum we know as horsepower.  As drivers, we respect and revere vehicles like we do athletes, big and strong.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety doesn’t share the same love however. 

The IIHS recently published “Status Report” revealed the insurance losses associated with high horsepowered vehicles greatly exceed those of vehicles with moderate horsepower.  The institute found that an increase in power often lead to an increase in unsafe speed, leading to more accidents. 

What are the horsepower enthusiasts to do?  Take Dodge’s new - or newly released after a 35 year hiatus - 425 horsepower Challenger SRT8 for example.  A drool enducing vehicle to some, while others may hedge due to the hit their wallets will take.  A spotless driving history can go by the wayside.  Several insurance companies feel the sheer fact this coupe sports such a beguiling amount of horsepower is cause for higher premiums. 
Dodge execs, or consumers for that matter, shouldn’t be surprised at the hike in rates.  In 1974, Dodge was forced to make number of safety adjustments on the Challenger in order to appears skyrocketing insurance rates at the time. 

Just how much is one willing to pay for that extra oomph?  Onomatopoeias aside, nostalgia or no nostalgia, there will always be a market for the speed seeking muscle car crowd. 
 

This just in from the Energy Information Administration:  The average cost of diesel fuel per gallon in the US just reached $3.28 as of February 4th. 

Consider: A big rig can hold as much as 150 gallons of fuel.  Translation: It will cost nearly $500 dollars to fill er’ up.  

Only a few years ago in 2004, when pump prices began their steady incline, the trucking industry was able to shoulder the pricey blow.   Retail sales were high, large ticket products were in demand, and fleet owners were able to offset fuel costs with surcharges. 

Nowadays, gas prices are still on the rise while the overall economy is experiencing a slowdown.  In 2004 some of the nation’s largest fleet owners were footing a $50 million gas bill.  Today, those same owner-operators are finding new ways - even eco-friendly ways - to reduce fuel costs. 

The American Trucking Association advocates the use of a biodiesel fuel blend that improves fuel efficiency and lowers emmissions.  In addition to backing the use of biodiesel fuel, the ATA is also working to integrate an ultra-low sulfur diesel as standard equipment on trucks.  This type of diesel reduces 97 percent of on-road diesel.

It didn’t take long before the topic of eco-friendly trucks became political.  Last October, a bill was proposed in Maine that would limit a big rig’s cargo weight and require each truck to earn a low-emission certificate rating.  The proposal is currently pending legislature approval. 

Smart Cars have finally hit mainstream - perhaps hybrid big rigs are not that far behind.