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By Kirsti Correa

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), which requires individuals to have health insurance, could change the way trucking companies handle their healthcare coverage policies for employees. The Truckload Carriers Association held a webinar on May 23 to discuss its analysis of the ACA and the impact it will have on the trucking industry.

Tags: Drivers, Business, Health

By J.K. Jones, Contributor

Shippers must work smarter and cooperate closely with their carrier partners to offset expected losses in truck capacity caused by government regulation, according to presentations at the 11th Annual Transplace Shipper Symposium held earlier this month in Dallas.

Tags: Drivers, Transplace, Shippers

By HDT partner, Today's Trucking

New hours of service rules go into effect July 1. Are you ready? The American Trucking Associations has published an easy-to-use, free tipsheet to help you help your drivers understand the new HOS rules.

Tags: Drivers, ATA, Training, Driver Training, Hours of Service

By Oliver Patton

In the past two years, 34 states have adopted laws that allow motor vehicle departments to waive the CDL skills test for qualified military veterans, the Obama administration says in a new report. Nine more states plus the District of Columbia are considering legislation to do the same thing.

Tags: FMCSA, ATA, Driver Shortage, Veterans, Immigration reform, Drivers, Recruiting

By Jim Park

Poor fuel mileage can be a make-or-break proposition for owner-operators, and a lot of whether you get 6 mpg or 8 mpg depends on your skills and habits as a driver. Two drivers on two identical trucks can see a difference of up to 30% in fuel economy. Much of that chasm stems from good or bad pedal and stick management, and the driver's willingness to use available technology to his best advantage.

Tags: Drivers, MPG, fuel economy, Owner-Operators

By Deborah Lockridge & Oliver Patton

Each year, HDT honors the industry's most innovative truck fleet leaders with its Truck Fleet Innovator Award. Winners are profiled in the magazine, honored during a special event in conjunction with the Mid-America Trucking Show and become a valued resource for HDT's editors.

Tags: Fleet Innovators, Drivers, Prime Inc., Paramount Freight Systems, Cowan Systems LLC, Jet Express

By Thomas Bray, Editor, J.J. Keller & Associates

The driver qualifications regulations, which are found in Part 391 of the FMCSA regulations, apply to all interstate drivers and most intrastate drivers that operate a commercial motor vehicle – no matter whether your company employs one driver or 1,000.

Tags: Drivers, Owner-Operators, FMCSA, Recordkeeping

By Contributed by Pam Whitfield & Don Jacobson

February is American Heart Month for one really good reason. Heart disease is the number one killer in this country, accounting for about a quarter of all deaths every year. That means the odds are nearly six to one that you will die of a heart problem rather than in an accident.

Tags: Fit to drive, Health, Diet & Nutrition, Drivers

By John Hill, Contributor

In my 38 years of involvement with highway safety, and even more recently as a safety consultant, I have observed a unique situation distinctive to safe and compliant companies: They value their employees by creating a safety culture

Tags: Compliance, Safety, Drivers, CSA

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief

Bob Perry has been trying to help drivers be healthier for about 25 years, but he was way ahead of the curve. It's only in the past couple of years that the industry has embraced the notion that healthier drivers are safer, happier and more productive

Tags: Diet & Nutrition, Drivers, Health

By Steven Spencer, Contributor

These days, transportation companies are caught between the proverbial driver shortage and their CSA BASIC scores

Tags: Drivers, Compliance, hiring, HireRight

By Guest Commentary Megan Younkin, Contributor

In my seven years with Strategic Programs Inc., I have yet to come across a transportation organization that does not have an orientation for their newly hired Professional Drivers

Tags: Drivers

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

There's no B-Team in trucking. Nor do parallel roadways exist where inexperienced rookies can safely hone their skills before stepping onto the big road with the pros

Tags: Drivers

By Don Jerrell, Contributor

Regulations for commercial motor vehicle drivers are changing in regard to medical cards. The rules remain the same as to which drivers need a federal medical certificate (Fed Med card) while operating a commercial vehicle, but drivers will now have to provide an up-to-date copy of this card to the DMV when they obtain it

Tags: Drivers

Losing weight is rarely fun or easy, but winners of the Truckload Carriers Association's inaugural Trucking's Weight Loss Showdown proved that it can be done

Tags: Drivers

By Commentary Jim Park, Equipment Editor

How can you expect to maintain a good relationship if you never talk with your partner? This is where a marriage has something in common with your relationship with your drivers and owner-operators

Tags: Drivers

By Commentary Rolf Lockwood, Contributing Editor

Successful trucking depends on successful relationships - in every corner of our game. Nowhere is this more true than in the hyper-difficult connection between drivers and dispatchers

Tags: Drivers

By Genevieve Conti, Assistant Editor

Ron "Big Dog" Sowder has a good reason for his nickname: He's driven 50 years and 4 million miles without a single accident

Tags: Drivers

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor & Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief

Driver monitoring has evolved tremendously in recent years. Some carriers still rely on reports from a 1-800 "how's my driving" number to find out when a driver is driving poorly, but many more are putting technology to wor

Tags: Drivers

By Tom Nunlist, Contributor & Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor

In late 2005 and early 2006, two J.B. Hunt drivers were involved in accidents that claimed three lives. Both drivers had clean records, but both tested positive at the scene for cocaine

Tags: Drivers

By Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large

One definition of success in driving any sort of vehicle is getting where you're going without hitting stuff. Doing that involves the coordinated use of brakes and throttle and steerin

Tags: Drivers

By Tom Nunlist, Associate Editor

Technology is not only changing what the driver looks for in the job, but also what the job looks for in the driver

Tags: Drivers

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

That trucking is about to experience its worst labor shortage ever should as come no surprise. Our fate was cast years ago, though a few cruel twists have conspired to make it worse than it otherwise would have been.

Tags: Drivers

By Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor

Back in 2001, Dupre Logistics had a problem. The Louisiana fleet was having too many accidents, some of them fatal

Tags: Drivers

By Truckinginfo.com Staff

A fleet safety study recently released by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, suggests that companies that strictly enforce their no-cell-phone policies have a lower crash rate than companies with milder enforcement policies

Tags: Drivers

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

At a time when we're dealing with more acronyms than ever from the U.S. Department of Transportation - CSA 2010, HOS, EOBRs - there's one that may be getting overlooked: PSP, or pre-employment screening program

Tags: Drivers

By Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor

Sleep apnea is a public health problem and a truck safety problem that could soon morph into a legal problem for the trucking industry

Tags: Drivers