New Blog.....

The New blog is now active...

You may reach it at: Truck Drivers News

Hope to see you there!

This blog will close in the next couple of weeks...

I am moving the blog to its own site, this blog will be closed after the move. I will probably not delete it, but nothing will be posted in here anymore.

The new site should be up and running by the weekend...Then I will transfer the post to the new blog..

When the new site is completed I will post the link for you all to update your book marks.

Support Our Truckers

Posted this with the permission of the Author - Frederick (SilverSurfer) Schaffner

All of us sit in our homes every day asking ourselves why. Many of us come onto forums, such as this, and express our opinions and how much we're pissed off with our government. I also know I'm not the only one talking to my TV (politicians BS) in disgust at how our government is not acting in the best interest of American citizens...destroying our Constitutional freedoms.

Truckers tried to fight the ignorant fools on the hill and get them to act according to the will of the American people...as well as redress of issues within the trucking industry. Time and again truckers attempted to get something done, but to no avail. There just wasn't enough of us to get this ignorant government of ours to act.

Matt (UnitedCDL) and myself (TheAmericanDriver) have committed to the pursuit of true unity. We have been evaluating and discussing a direction to succeed at achieving this goal. The 111th Congress will be convening this week and they will be continuing their detrimental actions effecting our country, and each of us. We must prepare ourselves for whatever may come this year. And for us to achieve any type of success will require the support of American citizens. The time has come for each and every one of us to commit our full support for our last line of peaceful defense...our truckers.

Countless Americans have been calling for the truckers to do something...bring this ignorant government of ours to their knees. We have tried. And we have seen the support from the citizens. But it's time to stop standing on the sidelines waving your fist in the air...it's time to make it known. It's time to show just how committed you are in supporting our efforts. Our founding fathers defeated the Crown against insurmountable odds because of the support from the citizens. Citizens committed to helping in any way they could in the battle for their freedom. This must occur now for us to ever truly succeed at taking our country back.

Follow this link and make the decision you've had enough of the oppressive nature of our government. Commit your support and make it known.

Support Our Truckers

This will be the topic on our next United Groups Conference Call this Sunday evening. Please join us.

Listen or join the chat: TalkShoe Community Call
Phone in:
(Phone#) 724-444-7444
(Call ID) 30513

Safe Trails and God Bless,
Frederick (SilverSurfer) Schaffner

Posted this from The Truckers Forum

CVSA Roadcheck 2009

June 2-4, 2009 is the date that has been announced for Roadcheck 2009. For those who don't know about this event, this is a annual event across most if not all of the USA.

72 hours of various DOT check points are set up towards the inspection of trucks and buses.

Make your vacation plans in advance this year...No I am joking, it really is not that bad, just make sure you are legal these days.

Calendar of Events

Trucking is a Thankless job

I have been thanked several times in my years of driving a truck. Let's see if I can remember a few of them.

I was involved in a huge accident on I-77 southbound back in 2004 just south of Wytheville,VA. I came upon the "New River Bridge" and the traffic was stopped because of a accident on the bridge. I got my truck stopped about 20 feet from the accident without hitting anyone or anything. The person driving the little car just in front of me "Thanked me" for not running over them.

When out of nowhere a tractor trailer came barreling down the hill behind me, he did not get stopped. He hit me in the back of my tank, did I forget to mention I was pulling a tank? Oh sorry yea, it was full of ACETONE 7000 gallons to be precise. The other driver totaled his truck and my tanker, but thankfully there was no leak or spark.

A company I was supposed to deliver to one time, had to shut down because I refused to run over my hours on my log book in order to make a delivery. Some of the workers "Thanked Me" because they got to go home early.

I made several early deliveries on some major high dollar hauls, and have been thanked for doing this also.

No, I really know what you are saying, about it being a "Thankless Job". Every time there is a accident involving a tractor trailer (we) get blamed for it. Does not matter that the four wheeler that got crushed, it's driver was on the cell phone or reading a newspaper, or putting on her makeup, or doing work on the computer, all while driving down the road at about 15 over the speed limit.

We as Truck Drivers are looked down upon by society, as a lower life form. It has been like this and will be most likely forever. Even though in times of disaster we are lifesavers. Disaster strikes, besides the Red Cross and Fema and the Emergency people, who else gets called into action?

Truck Drivers, we drive all hours of the day and night to deliver water, and supply's to disaster areas. But are they thanked for it? Yea, maybe right at that moment. But a few weeks later that same driver might be delivering in the same town and he/she gets treated the normal way, with no respect because you drive that truck.

Is your job secure in the trucking industry...or in any industry in America

Is your job secure in the trucking industry today? I have been reading a lot here lately (it must be slow if I am taking time to read) about company's closing their doors, or putting a freeze on hiring drivers, and or just laying drivers off.

I just read this Schneider National not hiring inexperienced drivers this is big news. They are pretty big in the industry, I wonder how long before the other big boys start this if they have not already.

I am sort of glad in a way to see this come though, as freight is short as it always is this time of year. Just seems this year is worse, than previous years I don't know why unless it is because of the way the economy is. I am just feeling it worse I guess as is everybody.

I am hoping, along with a lot of other truck drivers that this is not another ploy to get Mexican drivers in! Is Schneider in cahoots with the government? The US Government seems to want to give our jobs away to the immigrants. I kinda hated to show that link, but peoples eyes need to be opened to junk like this!

Now, I for one am not racist at all. BUT, I feel if you are going to want to move to the USA then at least do it legally. Pay your taxes, and learn the language!

You, know a few years ago I applied for a state job here in Kentucky working for the road department. I know I am lazy, so I figured that was a great way to have to not work really hard and have good benefits. I was denied any job. But go down the road during the summer and look and see who is wearing the hard hats now! I felt really offended by this! I have 14+ years working as a Truck Driver and also a heavy equipment operator. But they hire a immigrant just because they have too!

A year ago I drove for a small dump truck company out of Tiffin, OH. We were laying some black top for Shelly Materials Inc up in Toledo, OH and they made us leave the job because we did not have any immigrants working for us. They brought in another company to finish the job! We were not allowed to dump our loads as we were turned around and told to take it back to the plant and dump it on the ground! The state of Ohio wasted so much money on this it's no wonder they had to put a freeze on all the construction last year!

I now work for a fairly large bulk tanker company we have around 600 trucks. The work is pretty much seasonal, so I know this is why we are so slow. My shop/terminal in Kentucky has nothing to do, so we go to Michigan and work every week now.

Anyway, I hope all had a great Christmas, and I can only hope for a Better New Years!

Keep the shiny side up, and Truckim safe!

Trucker vs. Lawyer

A lawyer and a Truck driver are sitting next to each other on a long flight.

The lawyer is thinking that Truck driver are so dumb that he could put one over on them easily...so the lawyer asks the Truck driver if he would like to play a fun game.

The Truck driver is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists, and says that the game is a lot of fun. "I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me only $5.; you ask me one, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500." he says.

This catches the Truck driver's attention and to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game.

The lawyer asks the first question. "What's the distance from the Earth to the moon?"

The Truck driver doesn't say a word, reaches in his pocket pulls out a five-dollar bill, and hands it to the lawyer.

Now, it's the Truck driver's turn. He asks the lawyer, "What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?"

The lawyer uses his laptop and searches all references he could find on the net. He sends e-mails to all the smart friends he knows, all to no avail.
After one hour of searching he finally gives up. He wakes up the Truck driver and hands him $500. The Truck driver pockets the $500. and goes right back to sleep.

The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer. He wakes the Truck driver up and asks, "Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?"

The Truck driver reaches in his pocket, hands the lawyer $5. and goes back to sleep.

Don't mess with us Truck divers!!

Re: post from Truckersforum

Trukz simulation game is almost as real as it gets

If you have ever wondered what it was like to be a truck driver, hauling loads up and down the highway. If you have ever wanted to do this and didn't want to quit your job and do it for real, then Trukz - A trucking simulation game is for you. I would bet it to be the best game about truck driving I have ever seen.
There are games out for truck driving, but not simulated truck driving. Where you have to actually pretend to purchase, your truck, CB radio, GPS unit, tools, tires, wheels, fuel filters, etc. the list goes on and on.
I am a truck driver in real life and it is almost just like having two different jobs!

I am a driver at this company Eagle Logistics , it by far is the best company I have seen on Trukz. I have been here for a couple of days, and already have money saved up. All the senoir drivers are very helpful, and there is no BS that goes along with games and such. Or at least I have not seen any yet.

I started playing this game a couple of weeks ago. I found a link to it on truckersforum.net, it is a addicting game. It is the most realistic game about truck drivers, and what we do that I have ever seen.
The best part of it all is that it is free to play! When you join you name your truck driver, and then they deposit $5500.00 into your account. This so you can buy your first truck and accessories to help you haul loads to different cities in the USA, Russia, Australia there may be more continents but this all I have seen so far.

When you first join TRUKZ, it also has a private message system for the game. You will receive a few pm's from company recruiters asking you to join their company. Just like in real life! You do not have to join a company if you do not want to, you can be a independent operator if you like. But joining a company will make you more money, as they can offer discounts for purchasing trucks, fuel, repairs, accessories, even tickets! They also get contract loads which really make you the BIG bucks!
The game has been online for a year or so, but I still believe it to be the best one for truck drivers and want to be's ever!

Remember to check out Eagle Logistics when you go to Trukz and register.

Final rule makes no changes to hours-of-service regs

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has answered the Court and its critics, crafting an hours-of-service regulation that leaves all of the current requirements intact.

The final rule, expected to be published in the November 19, 2008, Federal Register, continues to allow property-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers to drive up to 11 hours within a 14 hour, non-extendable window, following at least 10 consecutive hours off duty. The rule also allows motor carriers and drivers to continue to restart calculations of the weekly on-duty limits after the driver has at least 34 consecutive hours off duty.

The rulemaking is in response to a July 2007 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that vacated the 11-hour driving limit and 34-hour restart provision. The Court’s decision was the result of two court challenges filed in early 2006 by groups headed by Public Citizen and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA).

FMCSA issued an interim final rule in December 2007, keeping the regulations in place while the agency gathered public comment and additional data. In the final rule, expected to be published tomorrow, FMCSA cites numerous studies and surveys as well as data gathered for the 2007 interim final rule and 2005 final rule as justification of the current limits. FMCSA has set a January 19, 2009, effective date for this final rule.

JJKELLER

California’s reefer rule won’t be enforced beginning next month after all

The California Air Resources Board announced Tuesday that it was delaying enforcement of its “Transportation Refrigeration Unit” rule until at least June.

The rule affects all owner operators and motor carriers pulling reefers in the Golden State – no matter if they are based in California or not.

California is the only state allowed to create emissions standards stricter than federal ones, although it must obtain a waiver from the EPA. After such a waiver is granted, other states can adopt California regulations.

The state has waited on the EPA for two years. Some media reports have speculated that the new presidential administration will lead to several California waiver requests being approved next year.

On Tuesday, CARB said the rule will be enforced by June, or six months after the waiver is granted after Dec. 31.

To comply with the rule, reefers operating in California must meet CARB’s “in-use performance standards,” which phase in requirements every year for reefers 7 years and older. For instance, on Dec. 30, 2008, transport refrigeration units and TRU gensets built in 2001 and earlier must meet the new standards. In 2009, 2002 and older models must meet the new standards.

Also, owners of reefer units must register with CARB and report information back to CARB’s headquarters. The reefer registration will be required by late January.

More information about the TRU rule is available at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/diesel/tru.