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Lifestyle

How Drivers Spend their time?

Most Drivers spend their time behind the wheel, not behind a laptop so it might seem odd to be talking about online resources for truck drivers. But increasingly more drivers are getting connected, and take that connection with them on the road. 3G mobile internet connections mean a driver’s link to the outside world is never far away.
And that’s good news for drivers and good news for the industry, helping combat the negative aspects of being a driver facing isolation and loneliness, particularly on long haul routes.
1 – Check the weatherWeather affects truck drivers; in fact it affects all commercial drivers. From high winds making tall trailers unstable to blizzards that reduce visibility to practically nothing, drivers are often at the mercy of the elements.It’s helpful to know what’s ahead and the National Weather Service provide a detailed forecast service that is countrywide, which is particularly useful when traveling interstate. You can sign up for RSS feeds that mean weather warnings get delivered direct to your inbox.
2 – Check the governmentThe DOT provides strict guidelines for drivers in a number of areas. One in particular is HOS (Hours of Service). The penalties for not complying or not providing the necessary documentation can result in the suspension of a driver’s licence, which is a heavy blow for anyone who relies on that to earn an income.Learn what’s involved in complying with HOS requirements and investigate making life easier with automated hour tracking software, such as Telogis Mobile.

Trucking Business
How Drivers Spend Time?
3 – Check out a new jobFor drivers who aren’t completely satisfied with their current job or who are currently out of work, it can be helpful to know what vacancies are out there. Even if you’re not actively looking, it’s a good idea to know what opportunities are available, opportunities that could land you better pay, better working conditions, or both.On the website you can filter your job search based on your experience, current status and personal preferences. It also allows you to view background information on the employer to review their working conditions. It’s recommended you make sure they’re a reliable company that offers worker protection and has a good credit history to ensure you don’t get left high and dry when it comes to getting paid.
4 – Check in with other driversDrivers are a social bunch and there are a bunch of forums available that truckers can join and chew the fat. Of the forums we reviewed and participated in, we found the best one was the Truckers Forum. It seemed to be the most responsive, was updated regularly and had a good number of members, many of whom seemed quick to reply to our posts.You’ll find a lot of fellow drivers who know about the challenges you face and are willing to offer their suggestions on solutions to problems. Tap in to the wisdom of the crowds by signing up today.If you’ve never used a forum before you’ll find it helpful to review some common ground rules that can make sure your forum experience is a positive one, both for you and other members.
5 – Check out driving gearDrivers, and in particular truck drivers, have particular needs when it comes to fitting out their traveling office.Whether it’s a new GPS device that can cope with road restrictions and is loud enough to be heard over the noise in the cab to a built-in air-conditioning to keep your sleeper at a comfortable temperature, check out this site for some products you might find helpful.Now that drivers are connected they have ready access to vital, up-to-the-minute information on anything from the weather on the road ahead to the latest industry news. Keeping current is now only a mouse click away.

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Trucker News

Compromise reached in US/Mexico cross-border trucking

U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexico President Felipe Calderon announced yesterday that they have come up with a solution that will “allow for the establishment of a reciprocal, phased-in program built on the highest safety standards that will authorize both Mexican and United States long-haul carriers to engage in cross-border operations under NAFTA.” Mexico will suspend 50% of its retaliatory tariffs when the new agreement is signed (60 day estimate) and the other 50% when the first Mexican carrier is granted operating authority under the program. President Calderon is wise to make sure we hold up our end of the bargain before taking down the tariffs. Negotiators from both sides are working on a draft agreement that the DOT will review with Congress and put out for public comment. It is unlikely that we will be seeing the benefits of this new compromise any time soon. While details are still being worked out, at least some components of the proposal are known. Mexican truckers will be required to operate with Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs) that ensure compliance with U.S. hours of service regulations and to ensure that the trucks only haul freight to and from Mexico, not U.S. domestic freight.

Trucking Business
Compromise Border trucking

Under the agreement, Mexico would eventually lift tariffs it placed on dozens of U.S. products in response to the banning of its trucks from U.S. roads, AP said.Leaders from both countries will negotiate further details of the plan, which will be phased in, and the deal will require approval from the U.S. Congress before it takes effect, Bloomberg reported.American Trucking Associations is “pleased” that the leaders have come to an agreement, President Bill Graves said in a statement.“When properly implemented, NAFTA’s trucking provisions should evolve to allow for a more efficient, safe and secure environment for cross-border operations between the U.S. and Mexico,” Graves said.The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which has consistently opposed the plan, said in a statement it was “outraged” by the proposed agreement.“For all the president’s talk of helping small businesses survive, his administration is sure doing their best to destroy small trucking companies and the drivers they employ,” OOIDA said.

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Lifestyle Trucker News

Diesel Increase! And shortage in Colorado

U.S. gasoline demand is projected to average 9.12 million barrels per day in 2011. Americans are expected to travel 8.27 billion miles per day in 2011. This equates to an average of 33 miles per vehicle per day. The markup on gasoline in 2010 was 16.3 cents/gallon, or 5.6 percent, and the federal excise tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel.

Freight Broker Training
Shortage and Increase
Truck stops in Colorado are rationing diesel fuel because of a shortage plaguing the state this summer.
Colorado motor carriers are telling their drivers to top off with fuel outside the state and to fill up their tanks anytime they see diesel available.To help alleviate the shortage, the Colorado State Patrol has granted a waiver to diesel fuel transporters to provide them with greater flexibility in moving intrastate. It is effective through Aug. 18, Fulton said. The association also has petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a waiver for interstate commerce, much like the ones that were issued for states affected by Hurricane Katrina.In January 2011, motor gasoline taxes averaged 48.1 cents per gallon and diesel fuel taxes averaged 53.1 cents per gallon. Factoring in all gasoline sales in 2009 transactions whether the customer paid by cash, check or by either debit or credit card ,credit and debit card fees averaged 4.7 cents per gallon.I am sure you have all been reading or hearing about the price of crude oil on its way to $100 and above and diesel fuel and gas prices headed to over $4 a gallon.

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Business

Guaranteed Online Load Board

Find freight loads and truck lanes online. findfreightloads.com is designed to provide instant communication between truck driver recruiters and owner operators seeking trucking jobs. In addition, RNL.com provides online freight matching service so freight brokers and Owner Operators will never travel with deadhead miles. Together provide an efficient low cost way to increase sales, and revenue. Making Right Now Loads the only website in its class.

Right Now Loads.com (RNL) has the most features to offer on one website for 1 low monthly fee. “Right Now” means connecting you instantly with thousands of trucking companies, freight loads, truck drivers and Owner Operators nationwide. Freight Brokers, Freight Forwarders, Carriers, Shippers and anyone trying to get into the transportation industry for the first time can benefit from this powerful and easy to use website. Our special features are unmatched on the internet and are the back end that drives RNL to the top of the internet freight matching industry.Right Now Loads.com (RNL) has the most features to offer on one website for 1 low monthly fee. “Right Now” means connecting you instantly with thousands of trucking companies, freight loads, truck drivers and Owner Operators nationwide. Freight Brokers, Freight Forwarders, Carriers, Shippers and anyone trying to get into the transportation industry for the first time can benefit from this powerful and easy to use website. Our special features are unmatched on the internet and are the back end that drives RNL to the top of the internet freight matching industry.

What makes us different from other load Board?
• We are the only online load board provide 24/7 Dispatching service.
• We are the only online load board offer guarantee and assurance to our customers.
• We are the only online load board that honors refund procedure.
• We are the only online load board that contains 45,000 transportation contacts in our database.
• We are the only online load board that load matching system is extremely easy to use
• We are the only online load board with unlimited use-No Hidden Costs and No Contracts.
• We are the online load board with the cheapest fee in town.

We acquire loads from freight brokers, freight forwarders and our affiliates with major trucking companies nationwide. We are an internet source of transportation information and our main goal is to make a user friendly, knowledgeable, and safe network of members sharing trucking information, loads, freight questions and answers and expand your business off one another.
Join us today and experience the power of findfreightloads.com.

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Business Trucker News

How Does a Trucking Business Work?

A trucking business can be one truck with one owner, or thousands of trucks owned by one company but driven by many different drivers. It’s estimated by the United States Labor Department that a truck hauls about 70% of everything you wear, eat, use or enjoy around your home, in your school or at your job. It’s also usually a truck which takes the pieces or rare materials to make those things from suppliers to a manufacturer to a store where you buy it. So just from this brief description, you can see that making a trucking business work smoothly is quite a challenge.

Trucking Business
Trucking Business Industry
A trucking company has to pay special taxes and have special permits from the federal and state governments to operate, as well as the truck drivers having their CDLs (Commercial Driver’s License) and also any permits he or she needs, like a HazMat (Hazardous Materials) certification. Drivers who haul corrosives or other dangerous substances have to go through special classes and have that certification on their CDL before they are permitted to pull out of the trucking company yard. A trucking business may specialize in what it hauls. Some trucking businesses move people’s households, tanks and weapons for the military or heavy equipment like gigantic bulldozers and cranes. Some have armed guards aboard their trucks while taking irreplaceable art and sculptures to museums. But whether the trucking business hauls whales and porpoises or brittle china teacups, the same basic steps are always followed. Every person at a trucking business is necessary to get each load from pick-up to its destination, whether it’s the company mechanic who looks after the trucks’ engines; the dispatcher, the safety director who makes sure Hours of Service rules are followed, salespeople who find new shippers, or the file clerk who keeps track of all the paperwork for every truck and driver working for the business.

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Business Trucker News

Totally Freight – Freight Directory

Welcome to totallyfreight.com, the new directory of international freight forwarders and related companies involved in the transport industry. Unlike other directories, totallyfreight.com aims to provide the most detailed listings so users find a company that meets their requirements.

Covering air, sea, road and rail transport, the directory features a range of companies across the globe. They also have a freight exchange directory for load boards.

Freight forwarders and related companies can use the directory to find new overseas partners, agents and suppliers as well as being able to post news stories about their business.

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Trucker News

Proof – DOT not concerned about Trucking Safety

The Department of Transportation’s mission statement: Serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future.
Professional truck drivers have many “distractions” that we must focus on while driving. Distracted driving according to the “official distracted driving” government website is – taking your eyes off the road – taking your hands off the wheel – taking your mind off what you’re doing. Professional truck drivers while driving need to keep their eyes constantly moving by checking their mirrors, and keeping a visual check on the instrument panel gauges for problems and listening for uncommon noises that might save thousands of dollars in repairs if caught soon enough. This of course – takes our eyes off the road – and our focus off driving. So how might I ask are truckers supposed to not “drive distracted and still do their jobs safely?”

USDOT wants to see electronic onboard recorders on all commercial vehicles. They “claim” this will help to reduce crashes and over hours of service violations and all around just make the trucking industry safer. But add to an already prodigious problem of available safe parking by allowing the closing of numerous rest areas for lack of funding – but give millions of dollars away to upgrade and build roads in and out of state parks and call this part of the “Recovery Act.”

The U.S. health care system contributes to more deaths than truck drivers. According to Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 250,000 deaths per year are caused by medical errors. A surgical resident reported that in two-and-a-half years into a seven-year program at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, she was routinely working 110-130 hours per week, and sometimes worked 60-hour shifts. And truck drivers are the bad people here? Who needs to be regulated?
Top 10 Most Dangerous Drivers by Profession:
Truck drivers didn’t even make the top ten list.
• Attorney/Judge
• Financial professionals
• Government worker
• Bartender or Waiter
• Business Professionals
• Dog Groomer
• Marketing/Advertising professionals
• Barber/Stylist
• Coach
• Nurse
Parking – the lack of places to park has been a problem in trucking for years, and it only will get worse. If the USDOT were concerned about safety, then they would give some of that money towards safer truck parking, and keep these rest areas open and build more of them. But out of 10,000 road construction projects and billions of dollars spent, not any rest areas or places to park a tractor trailer have even been considered.

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Lifestyle Trucker News

Texting while Driving

The American Trucking Associations supports the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed prohibition on the use of handheld mobile phones by commercial drivers, though it urged the agency to allow the use of hands-free devices, citing agency research demonstrating safety benefits of such devices.

At the same time the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is opposed to FMCSA’s proposed ban of handheld cell phones. OOIDA filed comments with the agency Feb. 22.

The FMCSA placed its cell-phone proposal in the Federal Register, after a ban on texting while driving went into effect. Reply comments are due by March 21.

ATA has supported laws and regulations banning handheld phone use for all motorists at the state and federal levels. ATA reiterated this position in comments filed Feb. 22 on FMCSA’s proposed ban for truck drivers. Last year, ATA also supported DOT’s ban on texting by drivers of commercial vehicles while their vehicles are in motion.

However, while ATA agreed with FMCSA that “drivers should be prohibited from dialing a telephone number while driving,” it urged the agency not to limit drivers from pushing “a limited number of buttons in order to initiate a hands-free call.” ATA also objected to the proposed prohibition on reaching for a mobile phone while driving.

Doing so, ATA argued, would prevent drivers from initiating hands-free calls, which, as the agency’s research demonstrates, can have a net safety benefit. Further, ATA claimed, it is inconsistent to permit drivers to reach for other objects but prohibit reaching for a cell phone.

OOIDA President and CEO Jim Johnston said in comments filed Feb. 22, “Indeed, cell phone use is no more distracting than other types of communications and electronic equipment used regularly by truck drivers such as in-cab fleet management devices, global positioning and other navigation systems, and Citizens Band (CB) radios that have not received the same level of scrutiny by FMCSA.”

OOIDA said the potential penalty of $2,750 for a driver and up to $11,000 for the driver’s employer are the same as for the texting final rule. “These penalties are clearly excessive when compared to the significantly lower fines for egregious traffic violations such as DUI/DWI or excessive speeding,” Johnston said.

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Freight Brokers Freight Loads

Freight Broker Training Course – How to Become A Freight Broker

The freight broker training program by FreightBrokersCourse.com is a meticulously designed and planned training program by the industry experts. If you are aspiring to become a successful freight broker then, you can lay the foundation of this reaping freight broker business with FreightBrokersCourse.com. The Freight broker course offered here is exceptional when compared to other similar training programs. Our program targets at the comprehensive assistance that is required by new candidates especially when they are new to the industry itself.

Freight Broker Training
Freight Broker Training
The FreightBrokersCourse comes at half the price and double the features of other online broker courses. Moreover, we don’t only sell the course and leave you wandering in the industry. We back you up with our strong transportation network which we have developed in last so many years being in the industry.
The training manual is very easy to understand and outlines all the minute details which you might want to know before you start the freight broker business. This handy manual is a must have as it will resolve many of your queries at different stages while you are in the business. It comes along with the purchase of the course or can be purchased separately. The topics covered in the manual are:
• Freight Broker/Agent job description
• Setting up your business
• Becoming a freight broker
• Members involved in a freight movement transaction & their roles How to find shippers (customers)
• Contacting Shippers
• Shipper Cold Call Script
• Paperwork between broker & shipper
• Approve a shipper for business
• Calculate a freight shipment rate
• Locate trucks to move your loads using load boards
• Make sure a truck is legal & reputable
• Calculate the rate for the truck
• Paperwork between broker & carrier
• Load Tracking
• Billing & Payment
• Step by step guide to freight movement
• Factoring
The most amazing part of the FreightBrokersCourse.com is if you purchase the comprehensive course then we will offer you one year free membership of our leading load board FindFreightLoads.com. The value of this deal is $360 which you get absolutely free. This is the deal which you can get nowhere. This exclusive load board team up will provide you with immediate and effective loads and shipper matching.
Our service not just stops after providing you the required training. We at FreightBrokersCourse.com provide extensive license filing service. We assist in BOC-3 form filing, receiving the Motor Carrier Number (MC#), completing formalities for $10,000 surety bond, searching appropriate insurance agent in all 48 states. This license filing package is included when you purchase the comprehensive course or you can even buy this package separately.
At FreightBrokersCourse.com we will provide you with the needed factoring service to secure your business in any time of financial upheaval. We also offer website designing service to start your full-fledged freight broker business without a loop hole.
With our passion to serve you the best, we have arranged this all inclusive package at an unbelievable price. To know more about our service and products and to learn about our package price do visit the website: http://www.freightbrokerscourse.com. Who knows you are just a step away from your dream career.

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Carriers

Regulation Room

We see that you have recently blogged about EOBRs and their impact on CMV drivers. Now that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has proposed to require EOBRs for all long haulers and many short haulers, we hope you’ll ask your readers to tell FMSCA what they should do to get this rule right. There’s an easy way to learn about the proposal and lend your expertise to the rulemaking process at http://regulationroom.org/

Regulation Room is an online public participation website where individuals and groups can learn about and discuss proposed new federal regulations. Most important, unlike other blogs and discussion forums, Regulation Room discussion actually gets read by agency decision-makers because we submit a detailed summary of all the comments directly to FMCSA. The Department of Transportation’s open government flagship initiative, Regulation Room is designed and operated by the Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative (CeRI).

The EOBR rule will affect truckers more directly than anyone else, and Regulation Room offers an innovative way for them to have their voices heard effectively by FMCSA. We hope you will consider spreading the word to your audience about Regulation Room and the unique opportunity it offers them to get their on-the-job expertise into the final rule. The more input we receive, the better the chance that the final regulation will reflect the concerns of all stakeholders. For more information, visit http://regulationroom.org or email us at [email protected]

Sincerely,
The Regulation Room Team