Technology Advances Holding Us Back? Posted by DC Cargo Mall on May 12, 2014

As technology advances, so does neglect.

People are relying more and more on gadgets and devices these days that they forget to implement the most basic safety measures that are crucial regardless, such as sufficient sleep, logging truthful information for their own sake, failure to load properly, texting while driving, and staying up to date on constantly changing regulations.

Electronic safety inventions were meant to aid in safety, not take away from it. What was found to have the most effect on driver’s influence for motivation was their score compared to other drivers. 

“Everyone loves some good competition,” Offers Samuel Doleco, a 7 year Trucker from West Virginia. "That's why score cards are crucial, because driver's want to know where they hold in comparison to other drivers. But Samuel is a big fan and defense of the techno world. He shows us several of what he calls ‘new-fangled gadgets’ that line his truck. 

“This device from SmartDrive now has a U-Turn trigger on its recorder. If I miss a turn, this thing can sense an unsafe maneuver and make that conclusion to lead me back onto the proper road. Other vehicles can afford to miss a turn or two, but us truckers can’t. We have a dispatcher, 2 companies, a family, or whatever combination that is dependent on our timely arrival. The dangerous part though, is that if I make a wrong turn and end up on a road that is not capacitated for trucks, I could ram the road or worse yet, be too tall for an upcoming bridge.

“My NexTraq has this Bluetooth trigger unit that works with an app on my phone to block all calls while I’m driving. It’s hard for me to control myself from the delicious sound of someone calling me, or even just the screen lighting up with a phone number. I let this app keep me in check.”

Doleco says his antennae are up for all the newest safety measures that are invented. He is looking forward to the new inventions that are ever changing and bringing safety closer to reality, such as intelligent transportation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-infrastructure/infrastructure-to-vehicle data.

Some companies don’t invest in high technology for their fleets though. Doleco says he feels lucky to be part of one that does. “My company understands that investing in our safety is investing in themselves. 

You see this safety camera here? If I get into a collision, which is already a less-likely scenario due to all the other safety measures implemented, then this camera can provide proof of my not being at fault. That reduces my insurance dramatically and takes a heck of a monetary load off of the company.”

DCCargoMall.com is lucky to be a part of Doleco’s satisfying trucking career: “My company also invests in loading gear that is top quality only and within the best results for your buck. This allows them to keep us safe inexpensively while still affording us higher salaries than most.”

The Text and Drive Epidemic Posted by DC Cargo Mall on April 30, 2014

Texting has evolved from just a secondary means of communication to the foremost preferred. Whereas phone conversations were the escape from face-to-face confrontation, texting now takes up precedence as the novel way to escape voice confrontation as well. 

Candid exchanges have become almost extinct. Assuming that texting requires half the effort, drivers the world over mistake it as an easy multitasking option for driving and communicating in one shot. It only requires, well, your line of vision, concentration, and hands. Other than that, sounds like a safe way to multitask, right? Wrong. 

Statistics back up the fact that no matter just how tech-savvy, and how ‘I-can-watch-the-road-while-siri-types-what-I-say’ you are, previous results are not on your side.

According to the Department of Transportation, nearly 16,000 truckers were ticketed for using their cell phones last year, but only four of those were suspended and taken out of service, WABC reported.

In just one scenario, ABC reports a George and Kathy Weed who were killed one year ago when a truck driver who police say was texting while driving slammed his tractor-trailer into the back of the upstate New York couple’s car on a Pennsylvania highway.

“Dad was in his lane and coming to a stop,” said their son, Brian Weed. “The truck just came up and hit him from behind and pushed him into another truck.”

“This utterly destroyed us,” said their daughter, Tricia Weed.  “I mean, devastating beyond words.”

This immeasurably horrifying tale is only one among thousands. Even if the driver lives to tell the tale, he may wish he hadn’t. 

In another example, in Arizona, a truck driver has pleaded not guilty to murder charges after a police officer was killed when the driver crashed into police cars and emergency vehicles.  The driver was allegedly looking at pictures on his phone at the time of the crash.

Practicing unsafe loading can aggravate the chances for a fatal crash as well, due to unwanted shifting and tumbling of heavy cargo in the wake of a texting-induced crash.

When WABC investigative reporter Jim Hoffer asked National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Robert Sumwalt if the consequences for texting while driving are strict enough for truck drivers, he had this to say:

“Well, is it really changing behavior?” 

“From your video, that indicates a lot of people driving commercial vehicles that are still using personal electronic devices,” he said. “And that would indicate the enforcement side of it is not strong enough.”

An investigation in New York City showed that the two crashes are not isolated incidents.  Cameras set up on major New York highways caught truck drivers dialing, texting and talking on their cell phones.

In one of the worst cases observed by the cameras, a truck driver carried on two conversations on two separate phones.

An institution of stricter laws have been consequentially put into place:

A truck driver stopped by police for talking on a cell phone in New York would receive a $150 fine and five points on a driver’s license. Accumulating 11 points over an 18-month period may result in a suspended license in New York, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

The hope is that the fear for suspension will deter avid texters and lousy loading to a thing of the past.