What better way to start the new year than with a look back on the previous? I did it last year, after all, so let’s make it a tradition, how bout?
But lots happened along the way, of course. Indulge me — and yourselves — in this trip down memory lane…
January
Oil and, hence, diesel prices were headed up quickly again, and of course commodity futures markets continued to be open for business to what some were calling the investment banks’ “long con.” In other quarters, a wireless roadside inspection technology pilot program was wrapping up on the very day that the FMCSA proposed to mandate EOBR technology for virtually all interstate truckers — which would be necessary for the inspection technology to work, it just so turns out. Convenient? Conveniently, we were at the scale house the day it came down.
After the FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program went live in December, its potential effects on driver pay were being debated by a large swath of the industry. A driver-led effort to benefit wounded soldiers at Fort Sam Houston in Texas got off the ground as a Chinese ag hauler was sentenced to life in prison for hopping quite rabbit-like $560,000 U.S. worth in tolls by running two trucks with fake military license plates, load services were poking fun at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (and themselves), and Overdrive 2010 Trucker of the Year Mike “Mustang” Crawford got his own authority.
A spilled load of pigs was heard squealing for miles around a Missouri off-ramp.
February
CSA driver scorecards became available for some individual haulers outside the purview of company staff, and Old Man Winter showed his grizzled white head in more ways than one — each involving early-month blizzards across large swaths of the nation. One owner-operator emerged from adverse conditions to be trumpeted for his heroic rescue of a trapped, freezing couple in a car, and the year of the smartphone trucking app got under way.
I saw a couple infamously familiar faces at a Starbucks on I-24 in Manchester, Tenn., owner-operator Dan Heister was named Overdrive‘s Trucker of the Year, and the famous Willie’s Place truck stop in Carl’s Corner, Texas, shut its doors for good.
March
One trucker wanted to talk to President Obama.
Owner-operator Mike Crawford’s fabulous trucking dog, Fred, passed on to the heavens just as trucking representation on cable networks was reaching new highs, commodities futures position limits were back in the national spotlight, a Wisconsin attorney called for a national large-truck lemon law, and an intermodal hauler was caught with his pants down behind the wheel. Greatwide owner-operator Bob Grantham’s Western novel became my then-favorite book penned by a highway hauler, of all time.
April
The weather in 2011 may well go down as the top story of the year — and not just for drivers’ on-highway nightmares, of course. Carriers and drivers stepped up to the plate in the aftermath of the disasters to deliver relief to the affected areas, which we would see much more of in May.
And no foolin’, not that you need reminding — diesel topped $4 a gallon this month, drivers continued to debate CSA’s ultimate effects, cargo thieves were posing as legitimate carriers to steal tomatoes, and more trucking apps for smartphones were introduced.
May
Owner-operators kept the conversation going on CSA, and FMCSA administrator Anne Ferro told a giant conference call’s worth of them that, in her view, shippers should be held accountable for excess detention time. Nonetheless, that agency moved ever forward in its rewrite of the hours of service, industry watchers seeing potential for regulatory/legal stalemate and the need for Congress to intervene, ultimately, and legislate a solution.
June
The 23rd of the month saw a call to action by drivers on Jason’s Law, with scores of haulers calling their Congresspeople to express support for the law with the goal of momentum-building.
Ed Webb, a treated sleep apnea sufferer put through the medical certification auditing ringer by his home state state of Indiana, shared his story with the driver community in the pages of Truckers News and live on a memorable edition of the Truth About Trucking Live online radio program, the Chrome Shop Mafia’s Bryan Martin his own tale of the Joplin tornado’s aftermath on the All Driver’s Together conference call series.
Owner-operator Mike Crawford paid tribute to his past in the U.S. Marine Corps with his first-ever tattoo.
July
One owner-operator was pledging “No Apologies!” to anyone for his business’ success and calling on others to adopt a similar stance in the face of tightening regulations, parking problems along Minnesota highways were made worse with rest area closures as the state government shut down, L.A.’s I-405 “Carmageddon” became a “Truckermaggedon” and American Trucker entered its second season on the Speed Channel with an episode about tornado relief efforts in Joplin.
Trucking smartphone apps continued to proliferate, and long-haul driver Paul Clewis was uninjured and would drive out the remainder of the 2011 season after an attempted right-side pass resulted in disaster for 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram’s four-door Infiniti — and Clewis’ tractor’s front end.
August
Not only did I get a new all-time favorite book penned by a highway hauler in Marc Mayfield’s In the Driver’s Seat, a memoir of the trucking life, but the Great
A dispatcher paid the American truck owner-operator a compliment, Keys Truckers Jan and James McCarter penned a modest proposal for U.S. lawmakers hellbent on regulating the industry into extinction, fake bull’s testicles were roasting in litigious fire in South Carolina, and Overdrive geared up for its September 50th anniversary with a reader-survey-based top-ten list of the all-time greatest trucking songs.
Trucking smartphone apps continued to proliferate.
And, as if the weather hadn’t been bad enough, the East Coast shook.
September
The second U.S.-Mexican cross-border program began to much fanfare and backlash, while an Illinois-based driver was making it one of his defining issues in a run for his district’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and owner-operator Jim Schlise dealt with the price of fuel with some cheeky graphics applied to his fuel tanks.
The commercial vehicle operator texting ban had drivers humming a silly ditty the nation over, a self-proclaimed “bedbugger” was paid $25,000 for writing a story, and floodwaters revealed their wreckage with recession.
October
Drivers danced with their rigs for a chance at money, and the first-annual driver-organized Truck Driver Social Media Convention kicked off in Tunica, Miss. — an independent won a set of side skirts out of the deal, and many others left mobilized to make a real difference for drivers in the industry. It’s this event that sticks out among all the others I attended and/or covered via the blog this year, not the least for its daylong simplicity and the frankness of the discussions. Look for details to emerge about a follow-up in the coming year.
Trucking smartphone apps proliferated…
November
Finally, a trucking services company introduced something smartphone-related that was not a smartphone app, and former owner-operator Frederick Schaffner went to Washington, spurred on by discussions held at the Truck Driver Social Media Convention, to take drivers’ and owner-operators’ concerns directly to the FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee.
Meanwhile, on the Hill, Jason’s Law trucking parking legislation was being included in a Senate committee’s version of a two-year highway reauthorization. Drivers were encouraging other drivers not to view this as a victory but to continue to urge lawmakers to include the legislation in any final version to emerge (and none has, as of press time, for reasons anyone listening to/reading the national political news will be cognizant of, no doubt).
Yet another TV show involving truck drivers was in planning stages, Mack trucks were still being made in America, and drivers in ever greater numbers assisting law enforcement in combatting child prostitution via the Truckers Against Trafficking organization’s national hotline.
December
I won’t mention all that went down this month except to say that U.S. military combat personnel’s withdrawal from Iraq might have made another neat bookend, as would the hours rule, Fred Schaffner’s presence at the round of MCSAC meetings early in the month (the next round, on sleep apnea, is this week — details in the post at the previous link), MCSAC recommendations on sleep apnea treatment in the medical qualifications, the DOT’s ban on handheld cell phone use and all the conversations it’s sparked, and more.
But as you know, given the evolving nature of news, bookend they shall not ultimately be — as December’s Channel 19 posts hold the keys to the coming year’s contentions and conversations. With any luck, it will be better than last.
Cross your fingers, keep your ears on, and here’s a heartfelt thank you for reading. Expect the best I can offer in the new year.
And, oh yeah, Happy New Year!
Over and out…