-K. Starks

K. Starks with his "old red"

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Planned power unit orders (for the next 3 months) are down from last quarter and down from the same quarter last year, both in the percent of fleets planning purchases and the overall size of the planned orders. When asked about the overall outlook for your fleet for the next three months, researchers received the highest average rating it’s seen since it started asking the question. However, increasing costs for drivers, fuel and other expenses are still challenges. 

More fleets in the survey (40% of those placing orders) are actually adding some capacity with their orders now, and the average percentage of planned orders designated for capacity increases is up as well. The availability of drivers, however, may be holding some back. More and more fleets in the survey report they are seeing an impact of the driver shortage in their operations, with an increasing number needing drivers right now to fill current seats. 

One fleet said it may downsize due to the lack of drivers. A few are changing how they do business, such as aligning freight with driver demands, doing more local and regional business and handling more driver-friendly freight. Meanwhile, about 50% of the respondents report that EPA-2010 engines are doing better than expected, 28% saying fair results and 9% reported not as good results. For 9% of the respondents, their experience has been excellent; at the other end of the scale, 5% say very poor.

Original Article

If fact, most adults have not learned how to properly drive with trucks along the highway – a detail that has not escaped the American Trucking Association, which is teaching students nationwide how to stay safe around big rigs.

Recently, the ATA’s Share the Road program came to Bland County.

“We want to show you how to share the road safely with a truck so you won’t be so afraid of trucks,” said David Boyer, a road driver for ABF Freight System Inc. in Wytheville.

Boyer was one of three million-mile, accident-free professional truck drivers delivering life-saving safety tips to students at Bland High School. The drivers also visited Rural Retreat High School, George Wythe High School and Fort Chiswell High School.

According to Boyer, 75 percent of all truck-involved fatalities are unintentionally initiated by car drivers.

By teaching motorists about blind spots, safe merging and following distances, how long it takes a fully loaded tractor-trailer to stop, and other safety tips, Share the Road hopes to change driving habits and help make the county’s roadways safer.

On hand to help with the presentation was Robert French of Bland, the 2006 National Truck Driving Champion, Twin Trailers Class.

“It’s a wonderful program,” French said. “It gives these kids information on how to drive safely around trucks and live safely with trucks. It teaches them not to hang out around a truck. Stay a safe distance away from a truck, whether you are in front of one, behind one or on the sides.

As part of their presentation, the truckers took students outside to a tractor-trailer parked between two cars. Students took turns sitting in the truck driver’s seat, looking out of the rear view mirrors. None of the students could see the cars because the cars were parked in the truck’s blind side.

Most motorists are not taught that there are large blind spots on all four sides of a truck, Boyer said. The largest is on the passenger’s side of the truck. It reaches across three lanes of traffic and runs the length of the truck.

“If you cannot see our face in our side mirrors, then we cannot see you, and you are in our blind spot,” he explained. “And if you have to pass a truck, pass on the driver’s side because it has the shortest blind spot.”

Hopping out of the big rig, Bland eighth-grader Cameron Ray Goodsell, 14, said the program was very educational.

“It will really help me a lot when I start driving, to know where the blind spots are and knowing that driving through the truck’s side air draft is dangerous, it can make you lose control of your car.

‘It’s a very good program for people who are just learning to drive,” Goodsell said.

Fellow eighth-grader Kayla Coleman, 14, agreed with her classmate.

“You wouldn’t think you could be so close to a truck that size and the driver can’t see you,” she said. “It opened my eyes quite a bit.”

Boyer said he hopes his safety message saves lives, young and old alike.

“We care about you,’ he told the students. “Don’t think that truck drivers don’t care about other drivers on the road, because we do.”

Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Operators:
The job outlook for those who have a CDL and can drive a tractor-trailer combination or a truck with a capacity of 26,000 pounds or more Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) is excellent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of job openings for heavy and tractor-trailer operators is expected to increase by more than 20 percent between 2010 and 2020. This is a much faster rate of grown than that of most other occupations. This increased need for heavy truck operators isn’t surprising. As the economy continues to strengthen, more goods and products need to be moved across the country and much of it travels by truck.

While the BLS reported in 2011 that the average heavy and tractor-trailer truck driver earned about $37,770, many big rig operators actually earned far more than that. For instance, the BLS listed the mean average salary for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers working in the courier or express delivery service field as much higher than $37,770. Drivers of heavy trucks and tractor-trailers are usually paid by how many miles they have driven, plus bonuses. The per-mile rate varies from employer to employer and may depend on the type of cargo. Some long-distance drivers, especially owner-operators, are paid a share of the revenue from shipping.

Bus Drivers:
Driving a bus, either long distance or locally is another way you can make a good living with a CDL. The median salary for bus drivers in May of 2010 was $35,520, while the median for school bus drivers was $27,580. Unlike many big rig jobs, which may require days or weeks on the road, most bus driving positions are locally based, making them a good match for drivers who don’t want to leave their families for long periods of time. Many moms and dads are attracted to school bus driving positions, which often have schedules that coincide with their children’s. In school districts that are not year-round, bus drivers are usually off for the summer, as well.

Ice Road Truckers:
Fan of the TV show, “Ice Road Truckers”? Please know that this is an extremely dangerous, but well-paying driving opportunity but only for brave, as well as very experienced drivers. Ice road trucking requires drivers to maneuver big rigs through severe weather conditions on iced over rivers and lakes in extremely remote areas, while dodging large animals that may stray into a truck’s path. Ice road truckers can gross as much as a typical year’s salary in three months or less, but they earn every penny of it driving supplies and shipments over the frozen tundra and waterways that lies between remote Yellowknife and civilization.

These are just three of the job opportunities available if you have a CDL. Before deciding on a driving position, take the time to look around to make sure that you pick the one that will best suit your lifestyle and salary needs.

Read original article

Ron Patterson, government contract coordinator for Roadmaster Drivers School in Columbus, said the new trucking jobs in the fracking industry are making the existing shortage of truck drivers, even worse.

“We’re just seeing the start of it right now, and in the foreseeable future it’s going to make a huge difference and there’s already a shortage of truckers in the industry,” Patterson said.

The Roadmaster Drivers School starts a new class of students every week. They spend one week in the classroom and three more in the field. By the time they graduate, many students have multiple job offers.

With salaries estimated in the mid 50’s, the oil and gas industry is able to attract experienced drivers. But Patterson says that experienced driver leaves a job opening behind.

“It’s got a dual impact,” Patterson said. “They’ve got a need in the fracking industry, but because of that need… people who are already truck drivers are leaving to go into the fracking industry which is creating another need for the vehicle that’s already needed in the trucking industry.”

The Ohio Trucking Association (OTA) says the shortage of truck drivers in nothing new. Nationally, there’s an estimated shortage of about 200,000 drivers. OTA president Larry Davis says there are trucking companies in Ohio that have 10 to 12 trucks sitting idle because of a lack of drivers.

Patterson said a typical beginning truck driver can expect to make $35,000 to $45,000 the first year. Learn more at Roadmaster.com.

Commander F. Wong, a Vietnam War veteran and a native of New Brunswick, N.J., said the American Legion was pushing for more employers to recognize military service and occupational specialties so that veterans — especially those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan — have better chances of finding work. He pointed to efforts making it easier for former military truck drivers to earn commercial driver’s licenses without months of retraining on civilian vehicles.

“You’re getting a person that’s highly disciplined, highly motivated, highly trainable … those are the types of characteristics you want in any employee,” Wong said yesterday during a visit to the Legion’s office at the Federal Building, Downtown.

Finding and keeping jobs gives returning veterans stability and security in their transitions to civilian life, he said.

He was not surprised, he said, by a recent inspector general’s report on the Pittsburgh regional VA office that found veterans’ claims for benefits were taking too long to be processed. The agency still works largely on paper, and it can take years for new staff to be fully qualified to decide claims.

Wong noted that the VA has been moving toward computerizing records and getting “the right number of people with the right knowledge,” even if it wasn’t as fast as the American Legion had hoped.

“If somebody has to wait 16 months, two years, three years for a claim, especially if they don’t have a job, you can’t tell me they wouldn’t be frustrated,” he said. “The sooner we can help an individual get back to normal, the better off we are.”

Read more: American Legion commander urges employers to hire veterans – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

I attended Roadmaster in Chattanooga TN. I had a great experience, David Mathley is the lead instructor and is great at what he does. Any time I had a problem he was right there for me no matter what it was and in fact he still is! We have built a good working relationship and friendship over the last several weeks and I don’t know many people in his position that take the time he does for his students. I came to his class green and due to David and his instructors I am now a trucker and I love it. They pushed me through all the fear and made me a driver with passion for trucking. Marcey was a huge help with my paperwork and all the headaches that go with it. I want to also say I had to have a talk with David about a couple of the other instructors for the fact that they just need to try harder with the students. I would recommend this school to anyone for the main fact that David is there! 

Roadmaster is a hands-on truck-driving school and CDL training center with locations across the United States. Roadmaster provides you with the CDL training you need to get either a Class A or Class B CDL license to help you start your professional trucking career.

With classes forming weekly, you can be on your way to an exciting new career in as little as three to four weeks. Roadmaster truck driving school offers free job placement assistance after graduation. Tuition assistance is also available for those who qualify.

Roadmaster Drivers School provides professional truck driver training that will prepare you for a career in the trucking industry. And how do we do that?

Carl Matthews, Director of Training

You’re going to get intense training. You’re going to get complete training for the trucking industry. We cover all aspects of everything that’s needed for the trucking industry. So when you leave here, you’re fully prepared to go out and start with a company. And what we do here is we build a good foundation of a student that’s never even been inside of a truck before. Start with classroom. We cover all the classroom curriculum, the logs, the recap. We cover federal motor carriers regulations. Different things inside the classroom, we prepare them for the permits.

Pat Felty, Admissions Representative

Half the class will be out on a back-up pad. The other half of the class will be on the road. So all the new guys will be in the classroom for the first, pretty much the first 40 hours of their training is in the classroom. But they’re not always in the classroom. They’re outside doing pre-trip inspection training. They’re doing logbook training. We have a Pro-
TREAD lab, a computer lab. They do some audio-visual interactive computer stuff. They do that. So there’s a lot of stuff going on in that first 40 hours of school.

Carl Matthews, Director of Training

You’re going to be in a real truck. We have a 22-foot conventionals. We have 48- and 53-foot trailers. And by the end of the first week, they’re actually driving, shifting, up-shifting, down-shifting, and driving tractor trailers. They go out, they drive on the highway each day, progressively getting more complicated, until the point that they’re able to pass those tests at the end of the three weeks on their own.

Still wondering if a new career as a CDL professional is right for you? People from all walks of life have found their exciting new career at Roadmaster.

Pat Felty, Admissions Representative

There’s all sorts of people that come in to see me. I’ve got people that have master’s degrees. I have people that didn’t graduate high school. We get everybody here. It’s the most diverse community you will ever see is at Roadmaster. I just had a guy in here, and he was in construction. Now a lot of my students are former construction people that worked in that industry. Well construction, as you know, is up and down. So he would tell me, “Well, I’d worked three months, and I’d go on unemployment. Work another three months and go on unemployment.” And a lot of why he was here, hey I don’t think he just woke up one day and said “I want to be a truck driver.” I think he was looking for something that was good, consistent income that he can support his family with. And I think that’s what brought him to Roadmaster.

In these uncertain economic times, Roadmaster provides you with the training you need to begin a stable career for you and your family.

Tanya Mort, Finance Manager/Placement Director

There is no such thing as a laid-off truck driver. Like I said, we have an excellent placement rate. Roadmaster in general, across the board, has an excellent placement rate. If they can get through the representative and get into school, we can usually work with anybody, and as long as they’re willing to work with us and do the applications, they’re going to go to work. They’re going to go to work.

Pat Felty, Admissions Representative

Everything that’s delivered in America, everything is delivered by truck. There are four million truck drivers in America. There is work. I have jobs.

Carl Matthews, Director of Training

The majority of all of our students have jobs waiting for them before they graduate. Some have more than one.

Roadmaster Drivers School features a short three to four week CDL training program. Hands-on truck driver training. Classes available days, evenings, and weekends with new training sessions forming weekly. Tuition assistance available for those who qualify. Job placement assistance available after graduation. For those who are qualified, you can even be pre-hired before you finish training.

Roadmaster truck driving schools are available throughout the United States. So what are you waiting for? Get your career out of the slow lane and onto the road to a bright future as one of America’s trained CDL professionals. Call Roadmaster today at 1-800-831-1300, or visit us online at Roadmaster.com.

"Thank you Roadmaster and Covenant!"

“Well I was a fire fighter and a personal care assistant for 9 years and then work stopped so I decided to be a truck driver. I called Roadmaster in Chattanooga and got my training there. I had very polite instructors and they were all very helpful. My thanks to G. Vance, Scott, and all the instructors there – You’re great! I passed my CDL test the first time around with flying colors! I also met a bunch of nice women and men that were in the class and got to be friends with them and see them on the road. I’ve been to all the states a few times. I started driving Dec 2nd of 2012 and I love seeing all the different places and driving and backing up. I’ve driven over the mountains on Donner Pass and through Flagstaff with snow and ice, many times. I just have to use good judgment. Covenant is the place to be, they’re so kind and helpful. I would not drive for anyone else. Thanks Roadmaster and Covenant for everything!”

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