Unless
you live your life inside a bubble,
you could find yourself at the mercy
of Iowa’s CMV drug busters
Iowa state police, working with the National Guard, are using ion scanners to test for trace evidence of drugs inside truck cabs. Positive tests on truckers’ log book pages, seats, even floors have Iowa crowing that 10-20 percent of truckers has had contact with drugs.
Enforcement officers say that a microscopic speck on your logbook means that at one time, there have been drugs inside your truck. The detection instrument looks like a Dustbuster and can ascertain amounts as microscopic as a single nanogram (one billionth of a gram). It is self-calibrated, purges itself of the previous test and identifies more than 100 different substances. If you are pulled over for failure to use a turn signal, any "suspicious" behavior on your part may trigger a call for the National Guard van and the ion scanner.
While a single nanogram detected in your cab is not enough to get you arrested, it is enough to give officers legal cause for an even closer look. According to Lt. Tom Gabriel of the state police, a more thorough search is then conducted, hoping to find larger amounts.
One Colorado trucker told Land Line that following his first experience with the ion scanner, he left Iowa with an inspection sheet and the words "tested positive" written on the bottom. A nanogram of the drug known as Ecstasy had been detected on his floor. He denied even knowing for certain what Ecstasy was and pointed out he could have picked up that much on his shoe walking across the parking lot. As to the notation on the inspection, Lt. Gabriel says it’s for the record. He also said the driver’s motor carrier would be alerted to it.
While using the ion scanner on truckers is new, looking for traces of drugs on personal belongings or money is not. Cash containing measurable traces of cocaine is now so widespread that U.S. courts are increasingly rejecting cocaine-tainted paper money as proof that the owner was involved in drug activity. Reportedly, Janet Reno even had some tainted cash.
Fuel
prices reach new heights
The national average cost
of diesel fuel reached a 17-month high early in July at roughly
$1.10 per gallon. This is more than four cents higher than the
previous month, and approximately 15 cents higher than during
the third week of February (when prices reached record lows).
Diesel fuel prices increased through the month of June, and into the first week of July. The result is a 6.6-cent increase in price from 1998. The result, according to the American Trucking Associations, is a $15.5 million cost to the trucking industry.
Trucking
company seeking foreign drivers
According to published reports, Hogan Transport of
St. Louis, MO, intends to hire 75 to 100 truckers from Barbados,
a Caribbean Island nation. Hogan has apparently complied with
a Department of Labor requirement by providing proof that they
were unable to fill their job vacancies locally, thus enabling
them to recruit foreign workers to fill the slots. Land Line confirmed
the drivers will be trained at a Florida truck driving school,
though school officials declined further comment. Hogan Transport
officials declined Land Line’s request for an interview.
High
court shoots down ADA petitioners
In a decision handed down June 22, the Supreme Court
ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not apply
to individuals with conditions that can be corrected. The decision
was in response to three cases where individuals claimed protection
under the act when they were fired or were refused employment
for various physical conditions.
A former mechanic for United Parcel Service filed suit after he was fired for having high blood pressure. A veteran driver for the Albertson’s supermarket chain filed suit after he was fired for failing a DOT vision test because he was almost blind in one eye. (Albertson’s reportedly refused to reinstate the driver even after he obtained a DOT vision waiver.) Two pilots filed suit after they were denied employment by United Airlines because they are extremely nearsighted.
Teamed
up to help kids
Western Star Trucks, McDonald’s
restaurants, and a local hockey team in Kelowna, BC, have made
a $3,425 contribution to the children’s ward of Kelowna General
Hospital. For every goal scored during the 1998-1999 regular season,
$25 was donated to the children’s ward.
Negotiating
the new HOS regs -
what process will it be?
In early June, an official report by two
hired "convenors" rejected the idea of negotiating with
interested parties on new hours-of-service regulations. It appeared
that the two convenors felt a traditional "notice and comment"
rulemaking should be a last resort and recommended, instead, a
"scientific dialog." The convenors, hired by FHWA to
study the situation, suggested the feds establish an advisory
committee of industry representatives to collaborate on the process.
Waiting
time costs big bucks
according to survey
A survey of dry van drivers
by Martin Labbe and Associates for the Truckload Carriers Association
found that the typical dry van driver spends an average of 33.5
hours per week loading, unloading, or waiting to do one or the
other. The study concluded this waiting time results in more than
$1.5 billion in lost productivity.
Traffic
deaths blamed on
fuel economy mandates
Of the 21,000 car occupant deaths that occurred
last year, between 2,600 and 4,500 were attributable to the federal
government’s new car fuel economy standards. According to
a newly-released study by the Competitive Enterprise Institute
(CEI), the increase in annual traffic deaths is due to the downsizing
of cars over the past 20 years.
Oh,
here’s good news...
More Americans than
ever own RVs and now account for nearly 10 percent of all vehicle-owning
households. According to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association,
there are 9.3 million RVs on the road.
"As the baby boomers age, the roads are going to be flooded with these things," says Gerald Celente, head of the Trends Research Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. "It’s no longer looked upon as unhip to hog the road."
Vehicle
problems?
Does your truck or trailer have a recurring
problem or one that seems to be unfixable? Does the problem affect
your safety or the safety of the motoring public? The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has an online method
to report problems to their Office of Defects Investigations (these
are the folks that initiate recalls). Log onto www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq
and complete the Vehicle Owner’s Questionnaire. You will
need to have the vehicle’s VIN and owner’s manual handy.
