Trucking industry stakeholders are invited to participate in a free webinar to hear trucking industry experts discuss their real-world experiences with several different types of cutting-edge truck technologies.
Representatives from Con-way Freight, Boyle Transportation, James Burg Trucking and Maverick Transportation will highlight the benefits and costs of several technologies that improve fleet safety and/or increase productivity. Motor carriers have many technology options to choose from and this webinar will provide valuable insight into some of the most useful systems hitting the marketplace.
The technologies discussed will include:
• Roll stability systems
• Collision mitigation systems
• Tire pressure monitoring systems
• Specialized heavy haul equipment
• Driver monitoring systems
• And more…
Join TIMTC and the USDOT on June 26th for the Trucking Industry Technology Showcase. Click here to register today!
WHAT: Trucking Industry Technology Showcase
WHEN: Thursday, June 26, 2014, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET (1:00 – 2:30 p.m. CT)
HOW: Participants will need access to the internet and a telephone. For your free registration, please visit the TIMTC website at www.freightmobility.com or click here . An email with instructions for joining the webinar will be sent to all registrants.
Interested in becoming involved with TIMTC? Participation is free and provides the latest information and updates on trucking industry initiatives that improve the industry’s safety and mobility. Send your contact information to TIMTC@trucking.org to receive your free membership.
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The Trucking Industry Mobility & Technology Coalition (TIMTC) is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) and is jointly managed by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA). Members include motor carriers, commercial drivers, law enforcement, technology providers, equipment manufacturers, transportation planners and policy makers at the local, state and federal levels.
Every Safety Director that I know lives in dread of a school bus accident. The thought of one of their trucks getting tangled up with a school bus is a nightmare, regardless of which driver is “at fault.”
Every employee of your company, from the CEO to each of your drivers, is a compassionate human being. No one wants to see a child hurt. Worrying about a school bus accident can make you, a dedicated and professional Safety Director, an unhealthy insomniac. In order to get some sleep (after reviewing your truck driver hiring practices), you should develop your own company’s media plan.
You say that you are too small of a company to have a fancy “media plan”? Hopefully, you will never need such a media plan. But, if a noteworthy crash happens on your watch, you (as the Safety Director) will likely get pushed into the media spotlight. Being prepared and being empathic might determine if you retain your job after a noteworthy accident.
A media plan does not have to be complicated or outsourced to a high-priced media consultant. Simplicity is the key for you to remember your plan and then to implement it. A media plan has one purpose with five distinct components.
Purpose: The purpose of your media plan is to professionally identify your company as a safe and committed group of people. The media must tell a compelling story very quickly. All media – television, radio, newspaper and internet news – works off of the same newspaper article structure:
Who, What, When, Where and How.
The 5 components of your plan
Who #1 – Talk with your CEO and all department managers about your plan. Make certain that they all know the identity of your media representative. Typically, the CEO or the Safety Director is the natural choice for this important responsibility. Make certain the other company employees know that they should NOT interact with the media and that they should direct the media to you.
Who #2 – When first talking to the media, identify your company without giving the name of your involved driver. Your driver should be protected, at least initially. Have information on company’s history and safety record ready to impart.
What – Provide the basic details of the facts of the loss without inflammatory language. Know the type of accident it was (i.e. rear-end, overturn, t-bone) and exactly how many vehicles were involved. Do NOT speculate on the number of people injured or killed.
When – Much like the component of “what”, the “when” involves more details of the accident facts including at what time the accident occurred.
Where – Details of exactly where the accident occurred and possibly the name of any hospitals where the accident participants were transferred.
How – Do NOT guess or speculate as to the cause of the accident. Resist the temptation to tell everything you know. You can honestly answer questions without divulging the preliminary contributors to a crash until a full investigation is completed. You should be prepared to say: “We are not prepared to comment on the cause of this accident. We are working directly and actively with law enforcement officials to do a full investigation. It would be irresponsible for us to comment on the cause of the accident until all factors are fully investigated. We are aware that in many serious accident situations, in many cases the first reports prove to be inaccurate.”
Write it and follow your outline. Prepare a written outline with the basics of your company’s data. You are less likely to be misquoted if your statement is in writing. Avoid using industry slang or trucking buzz-words, as the general public does not understand trucking terms or trucking operations. Before meeting the media, practice what you want to say with a trusted staff member.
The basis of your initial statement should be a sincere care and concern for the accident participants and their families. You could refine this basic outline of your media statement: “The employees of ABC Trucking are shocked and saddened by this tragic accident. We offer our thoughts and prayers to all the accident participants and their families. We are diligently investigating all the facts of this accident. Additional details should be available shortly.”
Remember, you do not have to answer every media question in order to prove that you are a professional. I recommend that you tell your media contact that you have a statement, but do not have answers to all of his/her pending questions. Don’t say “no comment,” but do not get enticed into speculation. Recognize that there could be some uncomfortable pauses in the questioning. Don’t feel pressured to keep talking.
If you have sufficient time, coordinate your initial media contact with your defense counsel and your insurance company. These entities typically recommend that your company say nothing. However, a prepared statement of empathy and concern might be in your best interest.
Andy Sievers
Sievers Safety Services, LLC
Mahomet, IL
ajsievers@mchsi.com
(217) 714-1960
By a 21-9 vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment introduced by Senator Susan Collins of Maine at the behest of ATA as well as the federation and HOS coalition partners that would suspend two provisions that limit the use of the 34-hour restart.
The provisions, limiting drivers to one restart per week and requiring the restart include two periods of rest between 1am and 5am, have caused unjustified harm to the trucking industry and to drivers but their impacts were not fully studied by FMCSA prior to issuing the rule.
The amendment to the annual funding bill for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development in committee is the first step in the process. The bill now goes to the Senate floor, where once passed it must be reconciled with a similar bill in the House. ATA will continue to press for the amendment’s inclusion in the final bill that will fund DOT for the 2015 Fiscal Year.
Today’s success is one important step in the process, but it would not have been possible without the hard work of many ATA members, Federation partners, and ATA professional staff who reached out to many, many Senators on the industry’s behalf.
To read ATA’s press release on the amendment’s passage, click here.
By Craig Ballantyne
In the summer of 2000 I was finishing up my master’s thesis in Exercise Physiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada’s ‘steeltown’). At the time, I lived with two buddies, and the only computer with Internet access in our house was in my friend’s room in his basement apartment.
One Saturday afternoon, after getting home from running tests in the lab, I noticed my roommate was out at one of his Kung Fu classes, and so I went down to look for job opportunities on a fitness website.
It was during this fateful Internet search that I stumbled across the email address of the fitness editor for Men’s Health magazine, the biggest fitness publication in the world. I decided to take a chance and send him my latest fitness email newsletter, even though it had only 150 subscribers.
A few days later the editor replied back, and wanted to use a piece from my article in an upcoming issue. Just like that I had instant credibility. This one opportunity would be the foundation for the exponential growth of my fitness information publishing business over the next 10 years.
It allowed me to become a leader in my industry, and that has made all the difference. And today we’re going to cover my favorite advanced leadership mindset and marketing tips I was taught by one of my mentors, Dan Kennedy. These 7 steps will help you break the 6-figure and even 7-figure barriers in your business by establishing yourself as leader in your industry and niche market.
1) You Must Have Extreme Self-confidence
Your business is not only about selling your product. It’s also about attracting people who want everything you have to offer. Your business is YOU. It doesn’t matter if you run a shop on main street in your town or a website serving people from all over the globe, you must be confident that what you bring to the world is unique and different from everyone else offering similar products.
2) You Must Take Action and Implement What You Learn
This step is not nearly as much fun as thinking big, but it is just as essential. The most successful people in the world are action takers. They don’t think too much, they just get it done. If you’re struggling with implementing what you know, then set more deadlines in your business. If you already have deadlines, cut them in half. Be bold. If you have a product planned for release in 3 months, cut that back and set a deadline of 2 months. You’ll find a way to get it done and you’ll be one step closer to being a leader in your industry. Life rewards action.
3) You Can Never Be Satisfied
You can never rest or try to sustain status quo. As Kennedy says, “You must be finding the replacement for the replacement.”
If you are a salesperson having a record year, you must still be looking into the future and planning for when sales aren’t as easy. You must continue to stay hungry and remain on top of the trends in your industry.
Likewise, if you’re an online information marketer, it doesn’t matter if you are getting 10,000 visitors per day to your site from Search Engine Optimization and affiliates, if you don’t keep coming up with new stuff, eventually your traffic will dwindle and your business will die.
Keep learning and networking, and never be satisfied as long as you remain in business.
4) Really Big Thinking – “Make no little plans”
This is my favorite step on the list. I just love to think big, and to plan and predict future opportunities for my business. It’s a great exercise to do on airplanes, because research shows we’re more creative when we get outside of our daily work environment – plus, it’s much more productive than watching a movie you’ve seen before.
When it comes to big thinking, always be conceive and believe that you will achieve great plans. You must be sure of yourself that you will dominate your chosen niche. You must not be afraid to create bigger and bolder ideas everyday and always be looking for markets where you can charge top dollar, and bigger projects and products that will allow you to do so.
5) You Must Work on the Macro and Micro Components of Your Business
Everyone wants to be the “idea guy”, but if you want to succeed you have to force yourself to be good at ideas, follow through, and details. You need to have every aspect of copy, product creation, and lead generation in place if you want to create a 6-figure or 7-figure income.
6) You Must Develop Multiple, High-Value Skills
It’s not enough to be just a good speaker, or salesperson, or product creator. We need multiple skills. First we have to identify an opportunity, then generate leads, then build interest in our prospects, then persuade our prospects to become customers, and finally deliver extreme value and service. Don’t just stop when you’ve become good in one area of expertise.
You also need to develop the skill of learning how to say NO. Too many folks spread themselves too thin, so you have to decide what projects are right for you and will advance your business.
7) Always Focus on Strategic Associations
If you sit at home and think you can avoid seminars and mastermind groups yet still develop powerful affiliate and business relationships, you are sorely mistaken. You need to be at seminars, having conversations in the hallways and at the bar, meeting new people online and offline.
Listen, by nature I’m an introverted person. A highly introverted person. I’d much rather read a book than introduce myself to a stranger. But guess what? Of all the strangers I’ve introduced myself to at the dozens of conferences I’ve attended, not one of them has bit me. And many of them have become friends, and a few of them have become lifelong business partners.
In fact, I might never have had my chance to run Early to Rise if it wasn’t for a Mastermind group I joined where I met Matt Smith, my business partner. So get out there. Go to seminars and events. Plan ahead and have a list of people to meet and questions to ask AND people that you can help. Never go empty handed or without a plan.
Follow those 7 steps to start building a serious business and you’ll soon join the ranks of leaders in your industry.
