(** Originally posted on “Real Women in Trucking” )

Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN) , the Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has sunk to a new low by using a female truck driver in his new television ad campaign called “Joyce“, without addressing the national truck parking issue.

The ad features female dump truck driver Joyce Fisk of Knife River Corporation, Fisk testified (SEE TESTIMONY) before the Federal Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on the need for long-term federal highway funding in March 2010, and made valid points about the dire need of prioritizing infrastructure projects.

What is not addressed in her testimony is the need for safe parking, which is not an issue for Joyce Fisk, as she is a local driver. Safe parking is a critical topic for “Over the Road” truck drivers who support “Jason’s Law” HR 2156 and companion bill S971 which was introduced by Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY)

Hope Rivenburg, the young widow who has in addition to giving birth days later to twins after the murder of her husband, has worked tirelessly attending trucking conventions, fairs and personally making phone calls to get our elected officials to address the truck parking crisis. Mrs. Rivenburg has made a series of trips to Washington D.C and while many trucking publications and organizations have used her husband’s murder to sell their memberships and magazines.  Very few have put forth the effort to pick up the phone themselves to call legislators on behalf of this bill to make it a priority in the way ordinary individuals have done over the past year.

Still, despite our efforts Hope Rivenburg has received little more than a blow off from many of our public servants involved in transportation and infrastructure funding. In the past few months numerous calls have been made to Congressman Oberstar’s offices for information regarding why “Jason’s Law” is being ignored while other infrastructure projects are being funded.  Addressing truck parking creates jobs yet we are facing truck parking closures in many states and Congressman Oberstar seems oblivious to this.

Named after slain trucker Jason Rivenburg, “Jason’s Law” was introduced by Paul Tonko (D-NY) after the senseless murder for a measly $7 which was visible on Jason’s dashboard.  Jason was early for his appointment to deliver milk but could not be unloaded until the following morning. He parked in an abandoned gas station where he was shot and killed, leaving his young pregnant wife to deliver twins days later, leaving her with their three fatherless children.

The murder of Jason Rivenburg has grown to be a symbol of the neglect and disrespect truck drivers experience while trying to maintain federal driving regulations in order to keep America’s store shelves stocked. Crimes against truckers continue to grow, rest area closures and increased criminal activity in truck stops have created an atmosphere where truck drivers are sitting ducks because they have few safe places to park and rest.

We have asked Congressman James Oberstar staffers for a clear understanding on numerous occasions why this bill is being ignored and the truck parking issue is not being addressed while other roads projects are moving formard.  NATSO, The National Association of Truck Stop Owners has failed to sufficiently recognize the problems that exist on their properties.  A recent story about serial killers on the front page on USA Today seemed to infer that the rest areas were less safe than the travel plazas, which is not the case.

To add insult to injury, censorship on the Facebook page of Congressman James Oberstar began this week when comments were removed repeatedly that asked why truck parking and specifically, “Jason’s Law”, were not addressed in the “Joyce” television ad campaign. Comments have also been censored from YouTube where the ”Joyce” television ad is being featured. Let me remind the Oberstar campaign that censorship is a social media no-no and there are a good deal of truck drivers who participate rather effectively in social media.

Congressman James Oberstar is the Chairman of the House Committee for Transportation and Infrastructure, yet safe trucker parking is not on his agenda. We do not support James Oberstar as he appears to use tactics which will gain him votes, without addressing our concerns for safe parking or acknowledging the problem of increased crime targeted at truck drivers who move America’s freight.

Carrollton, Mo. – Owner-Operators United Inc. (a nationwide drivers association) today issued an alert to all commercial truck drivers in the United States.

“We are asking all truck drivers to be on the alert in the following weeks for terrorist activity.” – Dan Little / President

This alert is being issued due to the actions of, Terry Jones, pastor of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla.

Mr. Jones has called for the burning of the Quran on September 11 th, 2010. Owner-Operators United officers fear that this action will bring about retaliatory action on innocent Americans from terrorist cells within the United States.

“Each and every one of us, have the right to choose what if any religious Faith we follow, and I don’t see any good coming from Mr. Jones burning of the Quran.” –Dan Little

Contact local police if you see any questionable activity around truck stops and along the highways. Safety First!

Being a trucker requires organizational skills. It requires common sense and it often requires two people to run one truck in an orderly fashion.

Many times a non-driving trucking spouse or partner maintains paperwork, audits settlement sheets, navigates and may be in charge of locating, planning & booking loads if they are owner-operators.
The non-driving spouse who rides along or manages to co-pilot from home contributes a great deal to the success of a professional driver.

A single person is expected to all of these things alone and the consequence of paperwork errors, miscalculations in a logbook or navigation can be costly. They can also affect your career.

When someone is considering entering trucking they should ask themselves and be honest.

Do I have good organizational skills?

Do I often rush to get things done and overlook details?

Can I read a map without a GPS system?

How do I react in severe weather?

Frequently, recruiters say nothing to student truckers about the intense logbook rules & regulations that are required to operate a commercial motor vehicle. The logbook can become a great source of stress unless you take your time to learn how to manage it accurately & legibly. If you cannot write well or do not have some math skills you will have problems in this industry. Even as many carriers are moving to paperless logs, you do yourself a great disservice by not understanding how to manage a logbook to use your time effectively.

Speaking as someone who used to audit hotels with many revenue venues on a daily basis I will tell you that the logbook truckers must complete on a daily basis took at least one year for me to fully grasp. This is because you are generally completing it when you are dead tired and your thoughts are scattered. Mistakes might be simple addition errors but they can be time consuming to correct. Truckers are constantly under time constraints. Falsifying your logs can mean your CDL. I personally suffered the most violations while I was taking advice from my trainer and a former trainer that I teamed with for one month.

Learning to do your logbook is a very important component to becoming a truck driver if you wish longevity. People, who grandstand about how they cut corners, run two books etc. are idiots. In the past this was expected but now it will eventually end your career. Even if your dispatcher is pushing you to “Do a favor” you will be the one to suffer, your dispatcher will never go to bat for you if you have falsified logs to do a favor for him or her, NEVER! , So don’t do it. Turn off your phone at night and make them put all favor requests on the Qualcomm.

The reality you should take into account is that hours to work are controlled because of the logbook and federal regulations. You are permitted to drive 11 hours per day not to exceed 70 hours in a week. A seventy hour work week? Do the math before you commit to a loan and understand this so you better estimate of how much you can make as a truck driver. That is 70 hours you log and there are indeed tricks to not burn up your hours while you are waiting but you are still probably not resting. These are long days.

You will be paid CPM “cents per mile”, therefore at the maximum per week running legal you should be able to estimate if you can survive on this low pay during your student phase. You will not be paid to sit in traffic, yet it is burning up your drive time. You are not paid to sit at shippers and receivers which can be many hours. You are not paid to fuel, wait on repairs, climb in trailers, sweep out debris or complete your logbook. Can you feel the tension building?

In some student fleets the pay is as low as 13 cents per mile. Most student fleet trucks are governed engines that only go on average 66 -67 mph, another control to your miles. All things being perfect this is barely enough to buy food and afford a cell phone. You should clearly understand this.

Right now there are many 4 year drivers who are making 18.5 cents driving team freight, this is because many companies who require experience are not hiring but a recent CNN Money reports the return of the mythical driver shortage reaching 400,000 by 2011. Here is my analysis of the Truck Driver Shortage

There are many drivers who are trapped with not enough money to buy their own trucks, no suitable options to move up the food chain & 100’s of new students arriving each week thinking there are tons of jobs awaiting them. If you are a new trucking student expect to feel unwelcome, but don’t take it personally.

What about your temper? I find most people who seek this job are independent by nature, loners and very strong willed. While working alone may seem like a great idea, truckers are often in stressful situations. You should aspire to become a professional driver. Not a unprofessional driver.

Are you a good traveler or do you get annoyed easily with delays?

Are you a good driver?

Do you suffer from road rage and act out on the highway?

Do you have trouble with your temper in stressful situations?

Do you permit others to upset you?

Most everyone will have to say yes to at least one of these points but a professional driver has disciplined control of their emotions to not tailgate, cut cars off because they cut them off, not weave in and out of traffic and to monitor weather knowing when it’s okay to roll and when to shut it down.

Venting on the CB is one thing but acting out on the highway is not impressive to anyone, it is dangerous and stupid. If you have these tendencies you should truly reflect and determine.

Can I change these things to be successful in the long run?

Committing to becoming a professional driver means your conduct on the highway AND with others when you are working should be PROFESSIONAL.

As a trucking student you will see a good deal of juvenile behavior in these huge carriers that train students. The turnover is so great that no one expects you to be around next week. You are little more than a one cow being herded into the pen. You may feel warm and fuzzy during orientation day but once you leave the terminal you are a number on a screen.

The training environments in these mega carriers have little guidance and they bring people from all walks of life looking for new carreer. There are people who would like to provoke you endlessly, get you involved in their personal dramas, and give you false information just for the heck of it. Some will pry into your life to create a drama and this includes some trainers, dispatchers & supervisory staff.

The reason my Student Trucker Horror Story is long is because every person I knew going through training was having one endless drama after another during their training and most of it was occurring because there was a complete failure by our company to provide any guidance or support.

It was as if a few inmates had taken over the prison yet in the hallways the management wandered about with a blank stare. It reminded me of the movie “The Stepford Wives” waving at each other as if nothing was wrong. The distress of the students from a lack of accurate information, communication & follow up was and is inexcusable. It was surreal to me that so much suffering could be occurring in one place that operated on denial auto pilot.

As a student you will be subjected to some people who engage in petty gossip, stay away from them. If you choose to “Hang Out” you will find that simple conversations often turn to sex, sometimes women see it as harmless flirting but as a student trucker you can get yourself into seriously bad situations.

You should realize accepting help as a student female often means there are “strings attached” even when the person says there are not.

Protect your privacy:
Don’t talk about your former job, education, marital status, income level , DO NOT talk about how many miles you are getting & DO NOT believe they are getting as many as they say they are. There is a lot of jealousy and because everyone is paid very little there is an element of desperation. Other drivers are always trying to see if the grass is greener on your side of the fence. Do not get into these conversations.

Its okay to listen and learn but do not engage because the conversations generally deteriorate into contempt and that is when the gossip starts. Listen & Learn of what to do & WHAT NOT TO DO with regards to accidents and incidents Realize that everyone will tell you, “Oh my way is the best & only way” That is 100% Baloney!

There’s more than one way to skin a cat and you will meet a lot of loudmouths who have plenty of advice but are failures in the execution of the job.

If you are adaptable, have the ability to listen, learn and you can hold a vehicle steady that’s the first step.

DO NOT try to form any Romantic Relationships in the first year or so, most end in heartbreak or disaapointment but the real loss is your chance to be taken seriously and get your much needed experience. You may meet several people in your first few months trucking that you like on a personal level and impulsively you decide to team up, after all the most effective teams are married couples. More often than not the following occurs:

• They turn out to be already married
• They have several people they “see” while they are on the road
• They are unsafe drivers and you cannot sleep while they are on duty.
• They expect you to drive, be their secretary, mommy and cook.

Once you decide to get on a truck and develop a relationship as a student you are generally taken less seriously from this point on. You are viewed as a “Truck Hopper” because there are women who go to truck driving school simply to meet men. As a single woman entering this industry, you will have to work harder to prove you are not a “truck hopper” because unfortunately there are those who cannot believe a woman can actually find peace working alone and not be a man-hater.

Mixing the two learning to drive a big rig and developing a new relationship is generally not a confidence booster. Often the man begins to feel threatened as you are becoming more confident and a power struggle ensues. If you truly want to drive you can derail your career very early by not understanding this concept. Get your experience FIRST! Then you can have more freedom than if you get dependent during your learning period and forgo some of the teaching you should have had.

If a veteran owner-operator, or other veteran driver encourages you to quit your training company to team with them you should realize that an O/O cannot get insurance to let you drive so this is actually a trick to get a sex partner trapped on the truck. Quitting to run team with someone you do not know or have never lived with is a really dumb idea also. If it does not work out, chances are you cannot go back to the training company you left. Also, starting out as a couple and never learning how to operate the truck on your own can mean you have shot yourself in the foot. This will place you at a disadvantage should you decide to go on your own later.

Sexual harassment is going to happen in trucking and in other jobs. We need to get educated. If you have a thin skin, find another line of work. But you have a right to be trained in a safe manner.

Men in trucking often have not worked around women before so you should expect to hear things you have not heard in your former work environments. Everyone in the trucking industry should have increased training BUT it is often women in support positions who are the greatest harm to entering female students. These are often the culprits who cover up abuse by a few guys who harm many. This is frequently because these women get a good deal of flattery, flirting and sometimes more and feel compelled to protect the offender at the expense of the targets of abuse. This is one way a hostile workplace is created and can be manipulated by a predator in bully organizations. It is a huge problem in trucking and especially for female students.

Mind your mouth, and your manner of dress as a student. You are being watched by predators who know most will not make it. They are looking for someone vulnerable, someone eager to learn who needs a mentor. They are looking for signs in the way you talk and dress to see how to win your confidence. Whether you engage in consensual sex or succumb to badgering after getting yourself in a dangerous situation you should realize you were a mark the moment this person set eyes on you. Stay away from “Mr. I know everyone and I can hook you up” unless you want to be used like trash.

Understand that the Human Resource department is a last resort. Do not make threats to sue and mouth off, you are only setting yourself up to be retaliated against and this may happen anyways. Instead, document with email correspondence in a professional manner and create a dated paper trail.

If you have an incident that requires the police call them, get a report and do not let your company off the hook if they say they are “investigating it”, chances are they ARE NOT and delaying, follow up is crucial. They drag things out on purpose and delays to file formal charges only make you look bad.

If they tell you there is no statute of limitations to file a harassment claim they are lying and be aware all information you provide them of the incident they will twist and try to make it seem you are guilty or mistaken. Phrases like “we are investigating but we don’t have to tell you the outcome” may sometimes mean they have simply let the predator go on to circulate elsewhere hoping you won’t find out or run into each other again. This is frequent in trucking. Beware of the friendly “Let’s all work together” & “we are stronger when we are united” cheerleaders. Place a time limit and follow up. In this industry these are specific blow off phrases I have heard time and again by people who participate in covering up abuse.

Sexual Harassment is really not taken seriously and cases are rarely won. The truth is that truck driver training fleets that have non-existent harassment & conduct training, trauma preparation, or follow up are willfully negligent. What the trucking industry is doing with the provocative way they treat victim’s amounts to Psychological Warfare and many drivers show signs of “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’ (PTSD) after they have reported an incident to their HR Department. Victims are generally treated as the guilty party rather than the offender.

Certainly give them the benefit of the doubt to resolve the issue internally unless it is serious violence or a rape. Make sure you call the police to make a report. The trucking companies are always looking for a way to make you look guilty for dropping the ball. DO NOT let them tell you that you “brought it on yourself”. If this happens GET A LAWYER! NO ONE deserves to be raped or beaten for any reason whatsoever!

If you begin to experience nightmares, or other symptoms from the incident itself that are unresolved or retaliation after you reported it go to your HR Department for a form of first injury to file a claim for PTSD under workman’s’ comp. If they try to tell you that you cannot file or it will not be allowed demand the paper firmly but politely. Get their name and every single person’s name involved that you speak to regarding your issue.

Carriers seem to react with a better attention span to workman’s comp claims rather than lawsuits. It is truly the bully organizational structure that has permitted this conduct to permeate the trucking industry. Some experts who study bully organizations feel trucking carriers who begin to experience an increase of PTSD claims due to their poor handling of harassment for both men and women they might begin to correct their training atmosphere, eliminate the predators and create a safer environment. Locate an employment lawyer just in case; the internet is beginning to have plenty of trucking harassment cases which show this is a pervasive problem that is willfully ignored.

Women are trained from childhood to not only judge each other but remain silent when they witness something they know to be wrong. In the trucking industry this will be the toughest obstacle to recognize and overcome.

If you do get a female trainer expect her to be tough and appreciate it. But you should not have to be her monkey, her audience for her lovelorn confessions or have to be subjected to unsafe driving such as tailgating, exceeding the speed limit or breaking the law in any way shape or form.
Is it true that some Women feel they are a service to others when they remain silent when they are in the position to protect?

A female trainer should not only teach you how to operate the truck but hopefully give you personal safety tips like how to secure your doors at night with the seat belts and so on. You both should take personal responsibility upon yourselves to know, YOU STINK!

Having to live in a truck with another person and not being able to shower each day makes for very smelly living. You might be able to tolerate your stench but it is new to others and it might be so offensive they may refuse to continue to drive with you and give no reason. Make sure you use personal wipes on EVERYTHING daily to stay “Fresh” and dispose of them. Sadly, there are many people who need this spelled out. Wipe all your cracks liberally! Large people have to understand that they sweat more from places others do not. Even skinny people can smell like ass after a day or so of hard work and no shower. Don’t be arrogant! Use a pillow for the driver’s seat if your butt sweats and remove it out of sight & in an airtight bag when not in use. Keep your bedding clean and clarify the potty stops.

Couples might feel comfortable using a porta-potti on a truck but with a trainer you just met, especially of the opposite sex, I doubt it. Sometimes asking to stop for the bathroom is not tolerated at all. You should clarify this before you leave the terminal with a trainer or co-driver. This is also a characteristic to watch out for as some may become abusive when you ask to stop to use the bathroom. Try to plan to go around fuel stops whether you feel like it or not. If you are using a bottle, dispose of it properly. I prefer to see urine poured in the grass and bottles put into trash receptacles. Crapping your pants is unfortunately something that does occur in trucking. Obviously do not make a habit out of crapping in a bag, although some slobs do and the stories are … ICK!, but emergencies do occur and many times there is nowhere to stop. You should think about this.

Becoming a trucker does not mean you have to act like an ape or look like one either. On the other hand, many things that people take for granted like fresh water and clean toilets are a treat for the professional driver.

While there are some trainers or co-drivers who are slobs, other drivers are meticulously tidy, respect this and clean up after yourself. Use a bit of baby powder in your hair if it stinks from not washing. Use deodorant and if it is not strong enough find one that is. It is incredibly hard to sleep or drive with someone who stinks and it is very hard to tell someone that you want to vomit whenever they come around.

Your Trainer should not delay to teach you how to back the truck up and dock it, teach tail swing, how to complete your logbooks and what the consequences are for not doing them. They should teach you about chain laws and how to adjust your tandems and how to complete all of these things as if you are alone. You have abour 35 to 40 days with your trainer there is not a moment to spare. Learn everything you can during this time and ask for help if you don’t understand. Some people need things explained more clearly, there is nothing wrong with this.

Your trainer should not by prying into your personal life and YOU should NOT behave as if you are at a singles bar every time the truck stops. Before you leave the terminal with your trainer you should know how to send a distress message from your Qualcomm and understand how to delete it so that the other person does not see it. This can help prevent an altercation on the truck in dangerous heated situations.

Know your fleet manager’s name, phone number and email. Also know his boss’s name, and the boss’s above him. If your company has an “Incident Response Center” or Emergency 24 hour call center, make sure you have the number programmed in your phone. In my situation, I did not know such a department existed in the beginning but once I did they handled getting me safely to a motel and through the weekend but the ball was dropped after that. This is what I commonly hear from male and female drivers who have experienced “Incidents” where they had to get off the truck during training.

They are not being told these departments exist and when they do find them to be assisted, their dispatcher and/or fleet department drops the ball. There is no follow up or lack of sensitivity because whatever trauma that occurred is not handled properly.

If you are scared, GOOD! The students who are scared make better drivers who pay attention and take this job seriously; the ones who aren’t have accidents and often hurt others. They won’t be truck drivers very long but hopefully you can steer clear of them so they don’t take you down with them.

Written by Desiree Wood “Trucker Desiree”

Additional Reading:

Bring it On – Ethics in Sexual Harassment Training

Truck Driver Employee Rights under OSHA and FMCSA

The Hostile Workplace

Workplace Fairness – Trucking Whistleblowers

Employment Law Terms

Greed over safety seems to be a recurrent theme over the past few months. The tragedy of the coal miners in West Virginia and the devastating BP Oil Spill that may very well impact generations to come.

Right under our complacent noses the federal government has been running an indentured servitude operation and it is called “The Truck Driver Shortage “.

Following the first Dan Rather Investigative Report into Truck Driver Training called “Queen of the Road” feeble remarks meant to imply a lack of credibility of the interview subjects were quickly published in an article by The Trucker inferring the persons interviewed were not credible and/or disgruntled. Perhaps before the advent of social media this would have done the trick to extinguish any glimmer of hope that the outside world might begin to take an interest to the issues that affect truck drivers.

Highway Safety pertains to everyone therefore revealing just how truck drivers are trained has been a secret the trucking industry had hoped to conceal.  Any responsible adult should be gravely concerned with this topic and be able to easily conclude that personal safety and highway safety are interwoven once you understand that in order to learn to drive a truck you must live cheek to cheek with a stranger.

For our non-trucking readers it is difficult to comprehend that the very trucking industry organizations that claims to exist in part to delve into advocacy for highway safety are perhaps the greatest foe to the American Driver. The American Trucking Association most definitely does not work on behalf of drivers but rather large carriers who push the scope of what humans can accomplish with a constant barrage of regulations, rules, intimidation tactics and retaliation while at the same time cultivating a public media persona.

This double faced organization is the epitome of all that has destroyed our nation. Corporate greed coupled with narcissistic arrogance that devours the American worker whose loyalty is no longer valued. At every echelon of this industry it is difficult to determine whether you are speaking to a saint or dealing with the devil. These organizations have mastered abuse like a parent that beats their child in private and dresses them in fine clothes for Sunday school that perfectly cover every contusion. There seems to be a never-ending stream of recruiting ads and phony social media sites to target truck drivers and prospective students painting a picture to portray drivers as having a safe, secure, and rewarding job, hiding the abusive and threatening tactics that are used against them as a means of manipulation and control.

The ATA is one of the most deceitful organizations I have ever come to learn of and I cannot imagine an organized crime family could have their meat hooks in any deeper to distort the truth about what their “business” is or consists of.  It was truly never my intention when I began writing my original student trucker story to discover these things but had it not been for an eager collaborator to the ATA , I would have never known.

Why would an organization put forth so much effort and continue with such tenacity, arrogance and sense of privilege to cover up and manipulate one person’s story?

The matter became so disturbing that it grew much greater than myself or the issue of women entering trucking but how this giant government funded monster was poised to prey on the most disenfranchised people it could get it tentacles on.  How many have been harmed simply because true stories were being manicured off the internet to suit recruitment machines?

I have always been mindful that I was creating an opportunity for the greedy & unethical.  I say this because when the attempts to cover my story failed, the very organization who tried to cover it up made sure to insert their name as a resource to solve the problem. They have failed to make it a priority and I see that it was merely another method to grab a headline.

It is 2010 and it seems only the trucking industry is still in the dark ages with regards to violence against women yet there is targeted recruitment aimed at the female population who many times are promptly put in a “Acquaintance Rape ” Situation in order to learn to drive the truck.

The NFL Players Association has Joined the Justice Department Effort to Raise Awareness Around Violence Against Women , The Office on Violence Against Women for the United States Department of Justice provides enormous resources but big trucking chooses DENIAL .

The only evidence I have seen to address the issue has been AFTER lawsuits become public as a PR remedy.  This is why I have persisted; I had no choice when faced with the thought that I had the ability to reach someone who needed to find help.

This site was created to provide self-help tools when it became clear that the trucking industry will spend any amount of money to cover up human indignities rather than correct them.

“Trucking has a very incestuous relationship with itself“, this was the phrase a veteran driver used to describe the many organizations, associations and media entities related to trucking.  As a civilian entering this industry I was in search of where I could go to find answers to what I was seeing in my training fleet. What I learned was that my experience was no mistake, it was a system that has been perfected to a science to generate turnover, to keep wages low by utilizing student labor running team freight to maximize profits.

Upon researching who is behind all the recruiting ads, industry magazines and controlled trucking media sources the world of trucking became a very small and the same names kept popping up. It seems everyone has been “in bed” with one another at some point.

It is not unusual in the trucking industry to steal content, plagiarize or take credit for another person’s hard work. It is not unusual to blatantly create a media campaign to cover up injustice. It is not unusual for someone to insert themselves into the center of a project and claim victory after the blood, sweat & tears of the invisible have been shed. What is unusual, is to go the extra mile to do the right thing and bring positive changes to the industry.

Recruitment generates recurring income NOT retention. The effects of positive change would result in: The retention of content and satisfied workers, who remain loyal because they receive their reward through pay raises, respect and benefits.  However, treating drivers in a humane fashion would negatively affect company profits. Turnover and recruitment of new drivers generates increased recurring income and profit. Ironically, the desire is to lure people in through seduction, only to promote failure and create higher profits by maintaining a high turnover rate.

Professional drivers are often vilified by their own industry in a subtle way when in fact it is the industry that pushes, prods and provokes drivers to do things outside the realm of their responsibility.

New regulations like FMCSA CSA 2010 make it seem that highway safety is a main concern yet according to Dan Little President of the Owner Operators United Inc.  “CSA 2010 fails to address the pattern of abuse in truck driver training.” But before we discuss training there is the abuse of predatory lending to attend truck driver training schools.

Predatory lending and poor recruitment go hand in hand dumping themselves into a poor training atmosphere where odds are you can get a few months of cheap labor at the expense of the motoring public. In 5 or 6 months commissions are paid to recruiters, the carriers qualify for the government hand outs while at the same time utilizing a less than minimum wage inexperienced workforce to run freight.

A very curious omission in the statistic loving trucking industry is how many trucking accidents are caused by student truckers by comparison to experienced truck drivers.

There is no doubt that CSA 2010 will change the face of trucking and many jobs will be lost to those who cannot adapt. The seven sections are for the most part good on intent and do hold carriers more accountable.  Still there are a few components that create a witch hunt on experienced drivers.

Without addressing predatory lending, Poor recruitment and truck driver training CSA 2010 have simply provided another tool sanctioned by the federal government to further assist in generating turnover.

For example: Last month I read of a student truck driver who was 20 days into training and trying to care financially for a disabled fiancé. The student was being delayed to make income due to the new sleep apnea testing that is a component to CSA 2010. (Read posting HERE )

My question is simple: Why was this person not informed prior to selling them a loan for truck driving school that sleep apnea is now an issue to become a truck driver?  This really bothers me that a person whose life is already in distress is wading around blindly searching the internet for answers when in fact they are simply just another notch in some recruiters’ belt!

Since the announcement of the CSA2010 Sleep Apnea issue for truck drivers I have heard of 3 people who have been fired based entirely on this one issue not their driving abilities.  If this is what is coming down the pike why are recruiters and carriers allowed to mislead people into the hope of a new career only to yank the rug out from under them a few months or days later?

One trainer shares this story:  He was assigned a student with sleep apnea, the student stated from day one his doctor warned that he could not travel to high elevations.  As student truckers you go where you are told but your recruiter or training company will not disclose this to you. In this case, the trainer and student were dispatched to Colorado. The trainer advised dispatch the student could not travel to Colorado for medical reasons.  The dispatcher refused to un-assign them from the load.

Most people do not realize that refusing a load can be detrimental to your career and working relationship. This is called forced dispatch. The trainer had to take the load and the student died. The family sued, the case was quietly settled and shoved under the carpet with the rest of the skeletons.

In another case former Swift trainer from Smart Union Blog talks about being given a student with narcolepsy , the sleeping disorder!  This is irresponsible recruiting and predatory lending.

A former female trainer told me about a student she was assigned who had a terrible skin disease where the skin was flaking off in the bed that they had to share. Another time having to be with someone who suffered from shingles which can be contagious.

Targeted recruitment at women is extremely misleading and this is excessively dangerous. One blog I read last week stated Women Truck drivers can make $60,000 a year!  They say nothing about what you have to do to make this. They also make no mention that for women there are specific dangers such as being thrown off the truck in the desert if you refuse to have sex with a trainer or co-driver. Listen to Ronald Fletcher in the Video Clip:
                      RAW SOUND BYTES ON HARASSMENT FROM A TRUCKING CONVENTION

These ads are deliberate to mislead people and entice them to go to truck driving school.  They are targeted to people who have no experience in the cloak and dagger trucking industry that uses people in a government subsidized indentured servitude operation.

Here is a sample: Truck Driver Jobs For Women in a Google search this person has several sites all leading to him, all the ads are misleading and predatory. This is the new spam where someone sits and creates website after website to appear as if it is a social media blog site with a testimonial.  Who do they cite as an authority? Read this Jobs & Business Blog to find out. “Great Truck Driving Jobs for Female Drivers”

Nuway Truck Driving school, the subject of the 3rd installment of the Dan Rather Investigative series into trucking “Mind Your Loan Business” was discovered as suspected to be in the loan selling business. Besides the poor training they provided they stood to gain from disenfranchised people who failed on their student loans which were sold to them a high interest rate. This school I was told by Tom Hansen formerly of CRST had such poor students that CRST had stopped accepting them.

Predatory lending and predatory recruitment are for the purpose to take advantage of people for profit.  In truth, it is very difficult to remain employed after completing your student phase from Michigan, South Florida and some western states due to the availability of freight. Selling loans to these people and using them for cheap labor at less than minimum wage is wrong.

The carriers utilize this disposable cheap labor force to run team freight for a short period of time and then toss them out before they have made enough money to pay off their student loans but long enough for the carriers to benefit for the recruitment commissions, tax incentives and subsidies to retrain workers. Many of these people receive government vouchers for these schools, therefore it is the U.S. Government who is funding and perpetuating this abuse and unethical treatment.

CSA 2010 does indeed propose greater enforcement standards for truck drivers and carriers but it does not address the rampant ethical considerations and the hostile training atmosphere that affect highway safety.
 

A worker has right to be trained in a safe manner therefore prospective truck driver students should have full disclosure of what is expected before they sign on for a loan. The job should be clearly defined that it requires 11 hours of driving a day, they should understand they will not be able to shower for days on end, that they will have to clean out trailers and not be paid for it., that they will have to keep strict schedules that require driving all hours of the day and night in all weather. They should understand they will be stretched to the limit at times that stopping to use a toilet is not possible! That is a truth about trucking.

Big Trucking has built a complex system that is so interwoven into many government entities that it can literally control wages and treatment to professional drivers at the expense of highway safety.  The Department of Labor classifys Truck Drivers as Unskilled Labor, the lack of accurate crash statistics of student truck drivers, the gross oversight of pattern of abuse by truck driver trainers to women entering trucking and the method of retaliation for reporting abuse. The false DAC reporting, this list goes on and on. These are all control mechanisms’ built over years to control workers and keep them silent and afraid.

Big Trucking expects to ignore two massive sexual harassment/discrimination cases going on right now and fails to address the training atmosphere while at the same time deluge media to claim 400,000 truck drivers are needed by 2011. This is a typical arrogant example of greed and privilege. There is not now nor has there ever been a truck driver shortage.  It is true there exists a population of truck drivers who should not be on the highways but without addressing training and recruitment the government is simply giving the nod to sponsor more of the same.

As it stands right now, taxpayers will be left with the $4.5 Million dollar legal bill for the failed EEOC case against CRST Van Expedited should they lose the appeal currently in court.  Is that the remedy? Let the EEOC babysit the trucking industry with a never-ending revolving door of cases from women claiming almost verbatim the same abuse?  Has CRST corrected its training system?

They say they have BUT according to 3 recent female grads who have contacted me they were never advised of instructions to assist them for an emergency procedure before leaving the terminal with trainers and co-drivers. All encountered later retaliation attempts and humiliation for reporting incidents. They have since been advised to proceed and file more claims against CRST in 2010, this is AFTER the fact.

 The problems exist because the trucking industry has been permitted to police themselves with their treatment of drivers while at the same time the federal government strangles drivers with rule after rule making it near impossible to complete the job.

We are in a transitional time and while some corrections may have been made in the past few years, these pervasive problems need to be monitored and inspected to make certain they continue to operate effectively.

With regards to women entering trucking, inappropriate trainers and a lack clear defined safety precautions have not been fully addressed. The advice stated in the “Raw Sound Bytes on Harassment from a Trucking Convention” for Women who have encountered abuse during training is to call the EEOC. This is not a solution! That would be like a landlord of an apartment complex refusing to repair a heater telling his tenants to go to the Doctor if they get sick rather than replace the heater. The solution should be to prevent it from happening to begin with!  The federal government with its layers of red tape should not have to babysit the trucking industry! For all its good intentions the EEOC trying to tangle with high powered trucking industry lawyers is an uneven playing field. Ultimately, this is taxpayer money, think about it.

On May 20, 2010 The Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood signed an agreement with the Women’s Transportation Seminar International (WTS) to encourage more women to enter the transportation sector stating: “There’s tremendous opportunity out there for women interested in transportation-related careers,” granted he was speaking of “Skilled Careers” but what better experience in the transporation sector than doing the actual transporting? Secretary LaHood also said “We need to do more to prepare, train and educate young women about the possibilities that await them .”

This is our mission, we must acknowledge the silent struggles of women truckers and students. Our collective failure to address the topic has handed the keys to the offenders.

The American Trucking Association would like for people to believe that there is a truck driver shortage but in fact everything points to a strategic effort to rid American Drivers with experience for H2b workers who are yet another cheap labor force.  Just read how clever this organization website H2B Workforce Coalition words their mission. Who is on the executive committee?  The American Trucking Association!

H2B brings workers from other countries legally to take American Jobs and again it is to maximize profit and abuse disenfranchised people LEGALLY! Read, “Used and Abused: Guest Workers and Immigration Reform”

The movement to close the border to illegals is one very sensitive issue but the ATA is actually positioning itself to legalize workers from other countries to take American driving jobs and package it as “HELPING“!

National Security, think about this:  A person applying for a learners permit to obtain a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) who can pass a 50 question multiple choice question test and pass a background check is eligible for a hazardous materials endorsement yet they have never proven they can operate the truck!
Our background check system has cracks so wouldn’t the above scenario permitting H2b workers give carte blanche on hauling freight with an elevated security clearance?  Isn’t it more common to see many non-English speaking student truckers lately?  How do we know what their criminal history is in the country they came from?  If the Transportation Security Administration background check goes through the Federal Bureau of Investigation, wouldn’t that show as a clean slate in the system?

Don’t just blame the government, read the list of American Companies who benefit from doing this and pay attention. The next time you stay in a motel note that the maids may be all blond hair and blue eyed but do not speak English.

If there is a shortage of anything in the trucking industry it is ethics among trucking industry insiders.  Making remarks like “Our collective experience is over 300 years in trucking” (one which was directed to me recently) has got to be one of the most ignorant statements I have ever heard given that the automobile is just over 100 years old!

Who is responsible to insure our highways are safe?  Why hasn’t poor truck driver training been addressed?  Are student truck driver’s expendable human chattel?  The responsibility of course rests upon the ATA and the carriers it represents to address and enforce preventative training.  Why is the advocacy page of the ATA agenda suspiciously absent of the human factor that requires any truck to move?

Will the federal government continue to give free reign to Big trucking as it has been doing for Big Coal and Big Oil?
These Highway Safety and Personal Safety and National Security Issues need to be addressed in Trucking before we have a disaster.

I have interviewed a number of seasoned truck drivers and come away with a very reasonable list of solutions.

1. Full disclosure to entering truck driver candidates before they obligate to a loan or utilize a “Workforce Investment Act” voucher paid for by our tax dollars, a “Bill of Rights”.

2. Raise the training standard for both operation of equipment AND conduct.

3. Require a graduated licensing system for truck drivers.

Tracy Hamm of the CRST Sexual Harassment Case and former trainer feels strongly that new drivers stay under permit longer. She notes that new teen drivers have to drive with a permit and limited driving privileges in some states while those who get a commercial drivers license to drive an 18-wheeler do not.
Truck driver trainers I have interviewed agree that school should be longer in class and on the road.  The student truck drivers should clearly understand what it means to be going “Over the Road” and what is involved to perform deliveries before they sign on for loans.

The federal government has created a welfare system for the handful of truck driver training carrier companies who appear to be profiteering off the government as evidenced by the ongoing 125% turnover rate. These carriers should be held to a higher standard to teach proper highway safety and conduct skills. The taxpayers have a right to expect their tax dollars are producing an effective workforce that is mindful that they are not only truck drivers but also the eyes and ears for national security. Times have changed and we must adjust our thinking.

Training should include classroom time of conduct skills with testing and signed contract that the student agrees to abide by or be fired. This includes Trainers who have a higher standard of conduct.

The harassment problem is unique in trucking due to the intense living arrangement required to learn to drive the truck.  Some carriers like CRST Van Expedited and Covenant Transport who have the “Team Business Model” as a component of their training must address this topic.

The armed forces are the only other training situation that can be remotely compared to truck driver training and they too are struggling to adapt as the introduction of women increases.

To fathom that being raped, beat up and left for dead in the desert is a common story in trucking while in your training period is absolutely unacceptable!

As a whole, we must address the disparity of recruitment vs. retention of Women Truckers. By raising the standard in other areas we create professionalism and boundaries.

Training in sexual harassment at government subsidized truck driver training companies is virtually non-existent except for scattered surface treatments and we will continue to see suits arise like the massive CRST case until we can come to grips with speaking openly about this highly unusual teaching environment and how to make it work.
I have included a replay of a Blog Talk Radio made in December 2009 on truck driver training solutions. Tom Hansen former safety manager of CRST was scheduled to join the show but had a family emergency that prevented him.

Tom Hansen appeared in the first Dan Rather Episode and spoke about the conflicts of interest he encountered at CRST and these are not unique either. It is a system that exists in truck driver training that is neither safe for the students or the motoring public.

Tom Hansen is not a disgruntled employee as the ATA and CRST tried to portray. Tom Hansen & Tracy Hamm are Heroes who decided to step forward to try and effect a change so that no one else would be hurt. Shortly after the broadcast I read remarks from one of Tom Hansen’s co-workers from CRST and he made it clear that Tom was respected in the company but his conscience simply began to eat at him.

At some point we must come to grips with the truth that our silence has potentially harmed someone who simply wanted a chance for a new life.

I encourage you to watch all 4 installments of the Dan Rather Investigative reports into trucking, especially if you know NOTHING about the trucking industry.

They can be downloaded from iTunes for $1.99 each. The titles are as follows:

“Queen of the Road“, “Truck Talk“, “Mind Your Loan Business” & “Haul or High Water”
You can also learn more about how truck drivers are set up to fail as a matter of practice in Allen Smith’s

 ”Truth About Trucking”

In the next installment I will discuss personal responsibility.

*** Please visit the REAL Women In Trucking site to read comments and other related articles

Additional Reading: (all links in post are links to additional reading also)
 

Wage Slavery – Methods of Control in Wage Systems

Bound for America H-2A Guest Worker Program

H2b Visa to Rescue Driver Shortage

H2b Visa Tractor-Trailer

Violence Against Women in the Military

Sexual Assaults in Military bring Shame Not Action

War with Ourselves: Sexual Violence in the Military

Male on Male Harassment in Trucking – Cagle v. Werner Enterprises

 This series of posts on Solutions for Ethical Truck Driver Training comes as a result of many long ignored suggestions made by actual truck drivers to their companies who train students and receive a good deal of government funding. The turnover rate in trucking is 125% which is outrageous and most of this turnover is due to predatory lending & poor recruitment. Poor Training & Support, Personal Safety & Harassment Issues, Retaliation by carriers & Industry to push truck drivers out of the industry who protest being mistreated and provoked.

Let’s cut to the chase: As predicted when the economy crashed in 2008 the phony truck driver shortage that the ATA and the carriers it represents rely upon to keep the government money coming in, also dissipated. Now it’s back right when the jobs bill is coming up and all the usual suspects are in high gear for recruiting, but have they corrected their ugly ways?

Sexual Predators and Control Freaks are drawn to environments where they can get what they want and operate without notice. Religious Organizations, Religion based dating sites, Pediatricians, Boy Scout Leaders, Girls Schools; even organizations like Trucker Buddy will attract a risk taking predator. Religion plays a part because denial provides a safe haven for such predators to utilize this fertile ground as a place to feed their illness. This is why these organizations should recognize they have greater responsibility in screening the people they give positions of power to dominate over another person.

“Shunning” is how a person is treated after they have complained about mistreatment or abuse. A sanction to isolate a person further is often associated with religious groups but the behavior is common in the trucking industry, which we refer to as retaliation for reporting abuse. There are many more extreme cases of retaliation that occur in the form of threats or intimidation. Most commonly a ruined DAC and/or telling prospective new employers that the driver is no longer hireable. This has effectively ended many truck driving careers. For Women, the misuse of lifting requirments or agility tests in a manner that is not equal to test given to men and in some cases making the weight inappropriate for the job has eliminated some veteran women truckers from the trucking industry. This is why few people hear much about Women Truckers,most want anonymity.

The ATA advocacy page I have linked says nothing about the recent outpouring of social media, investigative reports and lawsuits about abuse to student truckers by predators and control freaks. Still the media hype machine is hard at work to create the basis for the next wave of student truckers. Articles in Fleet Owner & Reuters ; describe a false image, those of us who have had pay cuts know these articles are complete rubbish. Moving on to more ethical companies is not a viable option because most are not hiring. Only the training companies are claiming to be suffering for truck drivers. Curious isn’t it?

In one manner or another, the government is funding the handful of student training fleets who will most benefit from this next wave of recruiting. The ATA has not acted responsibly when they have continued to ignore that many of the carriers it represents think nothing about hiding behind religion or skewed statistical data which makes it appear everything is fine in the world of training student truckers. This makes the ATA and the Organization “Women in Trucking ” nothing more than an accomplice to abuse. The flip-flop advocacy of what is a priority depends where they can get media attention, it is repugnant and obvious.

“Working behind the scenes” is no good. “Serving in Silence” makes a sinister undertone of a cover up to that which is unacceptable to protect something that is well-known. Partnerships with companies, who have lost, settled or are in current litigation for rampant problems of sexual misconduct and discrimination look to be nothing more than a public relations recovery rather than a pro-active approach to correcting a fixable problem.

Many former female trainers from the handful of government funded mega-fleets have written suggestions to help but they have been ignored. There is no reason a $100,000 grant should be awarded in order to create a solutions code or any other amount in my opinion when real truckers have written endless letters and suggestions to make a better training environment for all student truckers and they have been ignored.

Trucking Companies who train government funded students or receive favorable tax incentives to train workers should be held to a higher level of corporate accountability. Hiding behind religion should not be a factor to avert attention but rather make these companies held under a microscope more closely when it is well known this particular environment makes it easy for a pleasant liar to thrive.

Predators thrive in an environment where there is denial; just ask someone who was raped as a child by a Priest, Pastor, Minister or Deacon of the Church.

I recently had lunch with a Woman Trucker who I had met some months back, she dresses in a rather eccentric manner but she is older than I am. She is very animated and sweet but I could see most people would judge her by her appearance automatically. During lunch she said whenever someone brought up the “P” word meaning “Pedophile” she would go crazy. She never knew why, she had no recollections of her childhood. She had been abandoned by her Mother and raised but her very religious Aunt & Uncle. As a young lady, she got herself involved in troubles that lasted until she was in her 30’s and she came close to dying. A social worker suggested she talk to a therapist and she began to realize she had been raped her entire childhood by her uncle who was very respected in the community and a church leader. Most of the people in her small town already knew about the abuse but they said nothing. They only whispered behind her back. She did not know because she had blocked it all out. Even her childhood friend confessed that there were rumors in the town that her children were fathered by her uncle. She told me when she came to grips with these truths she became liberated and began living her life. She said she dresses in a manner she feels good and she does not care what others say because she feels like she is a teenager for the first time at 50 years of age.

She began driving a truck about 5 years ago and was thankful for the government voucher to have a chance for a new life. The trainer she was assigned told her she had to have sex with him in order to learn to drive the truck, when she refused he threw her off the truck. Her second trainer used her only as a second log book and did not teach her anything. This is a very common training experience for single women entering trucking. Veteran Women truckers may not be fully aware of this because many have become Owner-Operators and have never had to work for one of the Government funded fleets. This woman I met loves the freedom trucking gives her to live far away from that small town where she can be herself. She is not a highly educated but she is very astute in her perceptions. She is thankful she has found trucking but frankly, when CSA2010 comes into effect I feel many of us poorly trained students will be replaced.

It is very difficult to have a student insured obviously because they come from CDL Schools with barely enough experience to hold the steering wheel, PTDI certification OR NOT! NOTHING can prepare a Student Trucker for being in charge of a big rig on the open highway until they get out there and do it. I would also like to add a word of advice to single women who have been offered to learn to drive from a “Owner-Operator”. While this might sound wonderful that someone has taken a personal shine to you, the truth is they probably want a relationship or a 2 week sex partner. For insurance reasons like I said above it would not be possible for a veteran to take you on their rig and for you to receive the hours needed to be considered experienced. I have met many student females who bought this line only to be put off a truck after they refused sex. They often say that they never learned to drive but were only badgered for sex the entire time.

Student Truckers are funneled into a handful of Truck Driving Training Fleets where they are to be trained to drive and most will not make it. There is no shortage of truck drivers but there is a shortage of good trainers who are not Control Freaks and Predators. There is also a problem in poor recruiting which makes good trainers quit. This is especially true for Women trainers. Retaliation for reporting predators remains a problem and as one former CR England Trainer alleged in a June 2009 blog talk radio program for “Truth about Trucking “, sometimes groups of trainers will work in conjunction passing a female student around until she has sex with one of them.

Being a trainer for a student means you are risking your life at the hands of someone you do not know anything about. This is a huge risk when the quality of students is very poor and trainers often quit because of it. The quality of students has been poor because of the government money to foot the bill for anyone with a pulse thus creating predatory lending. The good trainer suffers the consequences of this chaos which leaves predators who see student truckers as a ripe opportunity for additional company money and sex.

Contrary to the assertions by Ellen Voie in the Q & A about the CRST Sexual Harassment Case , the Women did not all want to be part of a lawsuit. Tracy Hamm for instance had filed with the EEOC prior and had never been contacted. She saw others being hurt by the same people and wanted change so no one else would be hurt. This is in her deposition and Ellen Voie had no business making such remarks at any juncture when she had never talked to any of these women at length. Another former Woman Trainer who successfully sued U.S. Xpress shared this ridiculous question she was asked when she was deposed for her case. “What color panties were you wearing?” her story will be in a future post about some of the unsafe training situations these companies put female recruits into. It becomes overwhelming when the companies are linked to “Women in Trucking” AFTER the lawsuits & allegations. Personal Safety is equal to Highway safety for this line of work. You cannot concentrate on the highway if you are afraid of your trainer or co-driver, or want to kill them as in a recent case from “Gordon Trucking “.

This particular woman trucker was able to go on to work in the industry because her settlement included not being blackballed which is most commonly done to women truckers who ever dare speak out about the treatment they receive. She later married a trainer and became one herself. They are no longer married but she told me her former Husband has had multiple complaints against him for sexual misconduct but he has not been taken off the training board except for short periods. He was eventually assigned to train only married couples but was caught multiple times masturbating while he was training, even kicking the students out to stand on the street while he finished! Why is he still a trainer at all?

She is no longer a trainer and like other women trainers I have met, they are given the problem students who should not be on the road at all but for some reason the company retains them. The clue to this may be that in order to receive the funding on each student they must be employed for a certain period of time, even if they are a menace to highway safety. That is the student trucker industry! These are the students who after a good deal of time are not learning and/or have many “issues” that prevent them from becoming good, safe truck drivers. It is because of this, Women trainers are scarce.

Tracy Hamm the Woman Trucker from the CRST Case who first made contact on the Trucker Desiree blog had offered solutions from her perspective after having been a student who had troubles and as a former trainer. We have all seen many competent truck driving students fail to succeed because of the system which protects predators. We have also seen many incompetent truck driving students succeed who should not be on the highway or go on to become predatory trainers themselves. This is why we are demanding solutions! If you read the entire Q & A of Ellen Voie you would have seen Tracy Hamm’s name brought up time and again. Ellen Voie contacted Tracy following a phone conference we had when I advised Ellen that her information was incorrect. Tracy also spoke at length with WIT Director Marge Bailey who took away a very different view once she spoke to Tracy. I am not at liberty to share the remarks that Marge wrote to me following her chat with Tracy, but I can say it was lengthy and Marge Bailey expressed a concern that indeed these issues are much more complex and need to be fully addressed. Tracy like many other Women Truckers provided Ellen Voie & myself solutions that have been suggested to carriers for a good deal of time. The problem is that the carriers ignore these suggestions. Recruiting seems to be a priority but not conduct to insure success.

Here are some of the Solutions from Tracy Hamm and other Women Truckers:

1. The trainer & trainee should spend at least 24 hours together prior to training. During that time, they should ask one another questions and talk about their expectations. The carriers should help by preparing a “Common Concerns” Checklist to help facilitate this interview process.

2. A general compatibility questionnaire would help determine the appropriateness of the match. This will also benefit the “Team Business Model” where some carriers require a team driving component to training: For Instance, Music Preference, Cleanliness, Personal Hygiene, Bathroom Stops, Sleep Patterns, Gambling Stops, Storage… answering these questions verbally will reveal personality traits such as inability to work together OR over accommodating behavior which can turn into “I gave you everything…” tantrum later.

3. The Student Company should be required to have a liaison that will be responsible for the trainee’s success. That person will have the trainee’s phone number and will call him/her once each day to inquire how the training is going. The trainee should meet the liaison in person during on site training. The trainee should be told how to make an S.O.S. via Qualcomm prior to leaving with their trainer and be given phone number that WILL be answered should they need assistance for an emergency to get off the truck. This should be discussed prior to fully understand what would be considered Urgent and what is NOT.

4. To avert retaliation or confrontation by trainer/co-driver for requesting to be removed from a “situation” the liaison and student should devise code words or phrases to indicate that there is something wrong that needs the attention. For example, “I need more vitamins in my water” could mean, “get me out of the truck immediately!” (something to that effect.)

5. The trucking carrier should supply the trainer and trainee with a code of ethics that they must agree to by reading, signing and keeping a copy with emergency numbers before departing the terminal. This should also be done for truck driving teams in student fleets. Any violations of sexual misconduct are grounds for termination.

6. A series of conduct films are very much needed in truck driver training because of the highly unusual training conditions. Two complete strangers from very different backgrounds, religions, political affiliations are expected to conduct themselves as professionals who live and work together without guidance?

I’d like to see my CEO teamed in a truck with the very outspoken 50 year old woman with a gold grill on her teeth. I’d like to see them work together to put a set of chains on at donner pass at 3 a.m. How about Clayton Boyce as my trainee when I’m PMS? We all have our daily issues but in this super intense environment in which we expect to teach and learn we should also provide more guidance before we hand out keys to 18 wheelers.

Other former Women Truckers have offered suggestions such as putting cameras in the cab which for training trucks might be fine if they were activated by a panic button rather than rolling constantly. This is rather impractical given the sleeper size, the reality of changing clothes, having to pee in a cup or bottle at times when facilities are not available. Cameras open up the door for too much weird behavior which is already a problem in trucking where abuse of power is an epidemic.

The first step in making solutions is freeing us from denial and understanding that being a trainer for a trucking student who cannot drive can very well end someone’s life, including the trainers.

The trainer should not be put on team miles from day one which has been common practice. The reason why is that students who come from ANY CDL School ARE NOT prepared to drive an 11 hour shift. This is something you build up to and throwing students out on the road to move cheap freight puts every single person on the highway at risk! The trainer is there to train a person who has little more than a few trips around the city where they went to school. They have barely driven enough to understand lane changes , changing weather and how to manage traffic flow. The trainer is placed in a catch 22 if they must be in the sleeper for 10 hours by law. How can they ever supervise the student legally? That is a question I would like to ask Ray LaHood U.S. Secretary of Transportation. I know this man cares about safety because I follow his news closely on Twitter and I highly doubt he is being told the correct information about what goes on in the REAL World of training truckers and what female recruits have to put up with in order to learn.

The trainer should not be expected to break HOS laws to train students.

Putting trainers in unsafe training situations makes good trainers quit and leaves only the ‘Hot Dog” trainers and Predators who have another reason they take the risk. There is a shortage of good trainers because predatory lending brings unsuitable candidates into trucking. There is a shortage of good qualified, screened students. There is a shortage of proper & effective support from the carriers to teach conduct skills to recruits who are expected to live, work & learn in a truck the size of an elevator.

This is the first part in a series of solutions that have been contributed by various REAL Truck Drivers who care about Highway Safety & Personal Safety. These things should not be for sale , they are free and we hope ethical professionals in the trucking industry will recognize that it’s time to do things differently.

Correct the manner in which you train trucking students and your driver shortage will cease.

Not there ever was one…..

**** This Post Originated from the REAL Women In Trucking site where you can find additional reading links and other comments*** written by Desiree Wood

OOU President, Dan Little, said he had asked for an official government investigation of several SafeStat inspection records for Mexican Trucking Companies in order to verify the accuracy and reliability of the data and information which was entered.

Mr. Little was notified last week by a member of the OOU that certain inspection reports on the FMCSA’s SafeStat website appeared to be incorrect, including an unusually high numbers of inspections conducted on Mexican trucks. An example of this was one company in particular, had an astounding 2096 inspections between the period of 11-22-07 and 5-11-2010, while only having a total of 11 trucks, 4 drivers, and only a total of 28,000 mile run in 2009.

The 2096 inspections showed very few violations, leading to the conclusion that, “something is just not adding up,” according to Dan Little. He concludes that “inspections numbers that are that high, many of these inspections conducted just minutes apart from one another, and have received very few ticketed violations, suggests that someone is filing false inspection reports, making the Mexican carriers appear safer than they actually are.”

Dan Little notes that these “non ticketed inspections” showed details of:

Brakes out of adjustment, non English speaking drivers, failure to maintain drivers record of duty status (log book), improper license (no commercial drivers license), no hazmat placard, and hauling hazmat without a proper license.

Washington could be reinstating the NAFTA Cross Border Trucking based on possible falsified safety inspections of Mexican Trucks.

Another concern for Dan Little and the OOU, is the accuracy of the SafeStat data and information which will be the basis for the new government regulations, CSA 2010, which is ready to take effect in November of 2010.

OOU suggest that the government take a detailed look at the SafeStat data in order to detect any possible patterns or inaccuracies.

“Safety is our main concern at Owner-Operators United. Inc.” – Dan Little / President OOU

Hope Rivenburg, the widow of slain trucker Jason Rivenburg, along with Congressman Paul Tonko, AskTheTrucker, and everyone who has worked so diligently  to get HR 2156 passed into law, has designated June 28th 2010, the official day for Jason’s Law – Bill HR 2156.

Jason’s Law, otherwise known as Bill H.R. 2156, was introduced on April 28th, 2009 and has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The Bill, named after truck driver, Jason Rivenburg of Fultonham, NY, who was found shot to death in his truck, would implement a pilot program to establish safe truck parking facilities.

What this day of recognition means is that on, June 28th, 2010, we are calling forEVERYONE to call their Representatives and Senators, telling them that it is imperative for them to support HR 2156 in order that truck drivers can have the promise of safe and adequate parking. We need to flood the phone lines and “Get Er Done”

This is a Bill that has the Support of everyone. With all the many differences that exist among one another within the trucking industry, we are all in unanimous agreement that H.R. 2156 must be passed and  become law.

Organizations in Support of H.R. 2156- “Jason’s Law”

• OOIDA Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
• ATA American Trucking Association
• OOU Owner Operators United
• Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters

It’s time to for us all to be determined and not depend on the next guy.  Here is an article written by Todd Dills of OverDrive Magazine which explains why we must not be passive,  but instead, the  absolute vital importance of why we must all be  proactive in this cause.   We must all create a frame of mind within ourselves that says,

” If I make this call today, Jasons Law Will be passed”

Valuable Links

• Your   US Senator Contact info
• Your  US Representative Contact Info
• The Petition to Sign for Jason’s Law
• The Official Jason Rivenburg Website

Hope Rivenburg has made numerous trips to Washington in support of HR 2156, attempting to gather support and co-sponsors for the bill.
She does this for 2 reasons:

1. So that her husbands death will not be in vain
2. So that no other truck driver or their family will have to endure  similar pain and loss

Hope will be a guest on a Blog Talk Radio Show on June 10th, 2010 at Noon  EST “Jason’s Last Ride- The Truth About Trucking”

“We are very pleased that these two ladies have agreed to work for the betterment of both the association and the trucking industry.” – Dan Little – President OOU

Donna Smith and Desiree Wood have both taken staff writer jobs with the OOU. Members and non-members alike will enjoy reading topics they post.

Here is a bio on each of the Ladies,

Donna is a native New Yorker now living in Dunnellon, Florida. She has a
degree in Medical Technology and has worked many years in Industrial
Research: Biotechnology Division in Tarrytown, NY, where she received a
patent for one of her various projects…
Donna became concerned with the many problems of the trucking industry in
2001 when she and Allen started their moving company in Dunnellon, Fl
She now devotes her research to the problems and issues within the
industry with her husband Allen Smith of “Ask the Trucker“and “Truth About Trucking”

Allen and Donna host the well know Blog Talk Radio Show, Truth About
Trucking “Live” where they discuss the most important and controversial
issues existing within the trucking industry today. They’re known for the
phrase, ” Raising the Standards of the Trucking Industry”

Desiree ,
Most of you know her from “Ask the Trucker” where she wrote what she refers to as her “student trucker horror story” called: “A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker”  The popularity of her story led to the introduction on Twitter as @TruckerDesiree. She later began to blog as a way to consolidate her ideas from other projects on her personal site “Trucker Desiree” and “REAL Women In Trucking” , she also maintains a facebook fan page with current trucking news for both men and women called “REAL Women Truckers “.

Her story has become the basis of 4 Dan Rather Investigative Reports into the trucking industry. The episodes can be downloaded from iTunes for $1.99.

The titles are as follows: “Queen of the Road“, “Truck Talk“, “Mind Your Loan Business” & “Haul or High Water”

She will also appear in upcoming documentaries such as a workplace bullying piece called “There Ought to be a Law” (link takes you to sneak peak of raw sound bytes at a trucking convention)

The following are quotes from Desiree Wood,

“I’m new to trucking but not new to life’s struggles. My Mission is to help others by sharing information. My initial concern was student truckers, primarily women who have had violence acted upon them during their student phase and simply quit because they are made to feel ashamed or responsible.

Over the course of my writing,  many people have contacted me on multiple topics that spurred my interest to become more involved. Trucking Safety, Truckers Rights, Green Trucking, Animal Welfare, Homelessness, Human Trafficking are just some of the serious topics I intend to discuss

I am a lover of history, travel, animals and learning, learning, learning.

Due to my driving schedule I am not always able to write. Much of my original student trucker horror story was written on my PDA, one letter at a time. Generally I do not have my laptop accessible so I have learned to accept the imperfections writing in this manner and I embrace my typos and my new no-frills lifestyle as an “Over the Road” Truck Driver.

Trucker Desiree with Donna Smith at Willie's Place for filming of Dan Rather Series Part II "Truck Talk"

by Donna Smith

On May 18th we wrote a blog post to explain the data and results conducted by the FMCSA regarding a study on Sleep Apnea;
“Sleep Apnea- A Smoke Screen for Many Truck Driver Fatigue Issues”

In that article we discussed how Truck Driver Fatigue was being used almost synonymously with the condition called sleep apnea. We showed how the data of the study was not truly representative of the results that were being spread around the various media sites.
We also discussed in that article and a follow up article what the real major reasons for truck driver fatigue were caused by.

On May 19th we had a Blog Talk Radio Show, “Truck Driver Fatigue and the Sleep Apnea Deception,” discussing these finding and results, and discussed the many reasons and major causes of truck driver fatigue…and it was not sleep apnea as so many would have you believe. We did however on the show demonstrate that sleep apnea is a real and serious condition which should be treated, just not the major cause of driver fatigue which seems to be the latest and greatest “ alarm for a new mandate driver screening.”

During the show that evening, less than halfway through the show, a caller called in, defending the statistics and study conducted by the FMCSA. The call was from Bob Stanton, a speaker from the recent Sleep Apnea and Trucking Conference 2010 which was held just a few days prior to our Blog Talk Radio Show. Mr Stanton said that there were newer studies performed by the FMCSA, including ones still in process, that indeed did correlate with the FMCSA’s figure of 30% of truck drivers have sleep apnea. He also stated that the study and data we used was a different study. Basically, the call was to rattle or intimidate us, not to mention an attempt to discredit our research and information. Fortunately, we had done extensive research and felt confident to discuss the topic, and rightly so.

After the show I wrote Mr Stanton and requested that he email me links to the information regarding the new studies on sleep apnea which would support the 30% of drivers have sleep apnea figure which is being so loosely stated as concrete fact.

I did receive an email back. The first paragraph was an apology for the way he spoke on the radio show, commending our research on the topic. He went on to state that it’s not the % that matters, but rather the correlation between untreated sleep apnea and the increased risk of crashes by CMV drivers. Well, if it’s not the % that matters, why is everyone who is supporting mandatory screening using % to have law passed….give me a break!!

“To me the real issue is not what % of drivers

may have sleep apnea.

The real issue is … Is there a clear coorelation beteween

untreated sleep apnea and an increased risk of crash in

CMV operators in studies done in the US.”

Mr Stanton also sent me a few attachments and an article ,which included a bibliography which may support further findings and possibly add to our research. He also sent the pdf which was utilized to support the “30% of drivers have sleep apnea rage”, FMCSA driver 28% more likely to have OSA.pdf ( Again, notice who’s making a big deal over the %?)

After carefully reviewing everything, I could not find data which correlated CMV crashes and drivers with sleep apnea.
Also, the PDF of the new study FMCSA driver 28% more likely to have OSA.pdf, which was suppose to support that high % driver with sleep apnea figure, was actually based on the original pool of 1391 drivers study within a 50 mile radius, and did not equal the exaggerated 28% figure of both the FMCSA and ATA ( according to my math anyway) but rather indicated the following:
9.8% drivers had mild sleep apnea ( not 17.6%), 3.2% had moderate sleep apnea ( not 5.8%). and 2.7% had severe sleep apnea ( not4.7%)

So rather than 28% having sleep apnea as suggested ,the number is reduced to 15.7%, with the majority of those figures displaying mild sleep apnea.

You may wonder why these %’s are so different?
Simple. It appears that when the calculation were made, the total # of drivers was not included in the calculations when deriving the %’s, but rather just the drivers which had been screened through the questionnaire. This is apparent by reading the part that says,” based on the results of several tests”
Remember, only the drivers that were screened to possibly have sleep apnea were tested in the study ( not the entire 1391 drivers), therefore the % concluded are not a true representation of the entire pool of random drivers. ( You really can make numbers say anything you want!)

These kinds of calculations were explained in detail on our Blog Talk Radio Show and also in the first article
FMCSA Finding from ” A study of Prevalence of Sleep Apnea Among Commercial Truck Drivers”

“A major goal of the study was to determine the prevalence of sleep apnea in
commercial truck drivers, based on the results of several tests conducted on
a random sample of commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders living within
a 50-mile radius of the University of Pennsylvania.
The results of the study revealed that 17.6 percent of CDL holders had
mild sleep apnea, 5.8 percent had moderate sleep apnea,
and 4.7 percent had severe sleep apnea.”

I believe by modifying the questionnaire which was given to the 1391 drivers who responded for the study, a higher number of positively screened applicants through the questionnaire were tested this time ( 406 screened positive the first time and 778 the second. ) This appears to be the major modification in repeating the study , not an entire new random pool of drivers which the caller suggested : ( unless by a huge coincidence, the same exact number of 1391 drivers responded to the study? I doubt that seriously)

I will say this, I do agree that it would be important to see a correlation between sleep apnea and truck crashes. So far I have not seen data to support this. If anyone has a study to prove otherwise, please reply to this post with the link to the study.

Finally, let’s not lose sight of the purpose of these posts. We are NOT saying that sleep apnea isn’t a serious condition that one should not be treated for. We are saying that truck driver fatigue is a serious problem that can not be solely blamed just on sleep apnea. As long as we’re all on the same page with safety and truck driver fatigue, let’s investigate everything involved in driver fatigue that can be attributed and possibly cause danger to all of our safety.

Driver lifestyle, sleep patterns, hours of continuous driving, lack of quality sleep, interruptions of sleep from qualcomm, shippers and receivers not keeping appointment time, drivers forced to drive when tired or out of hours ( gotta get that hot load delivered), and the nature of the profession all play major roles.
If a mandate is to be made to screen drivers for sleep apnea, then each driver should also be required to fill out a truck driver fatigue questionnaire asking :

· Have you ever been forced to drive by your company when you were either out of hours or too tired? If so, how often, which company?

· Have you been forced to stay awake and missed your sleep because your appointment time was late by shipper or receiver? If so, how often, which company?

· Were you ever woken from sleep by the qualcomm to ask a question that could have waited? If so, how often? Which company?

· Are you satisfied with the way the present HOS are set up? If not, why?

Perhaps a study and investigation to the above questions should be conducted in order to correlate fatal crashes by CMV drivers as a result of sleep deprivation caused by trucking companies, shippers, receivers and HOS rules that are not in the best interest for the lifestyle or circumstances that exist for the professional truck driver. These causes of truck driver fatigue are equally as serious as sleep apnea. They all force drivers to drive with inadequate or lack of quality sleep and should all be addressed in equal proportion to one another.

http://www.kmbc.com/video/23675579/index.html