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I took the exam but was unable to learn my score without entering personal information which I am reluctant to do, so I disengaged. One of the test questions mentioned the NFPA 704 rating system. Curious to learn more, I read up on the "fire dimond" here. That was interesting. The NFPA 704...

One of the things smart advocates do when building a support base is to bypass the people who do not agree and build a base of people who do agree. No matter what you propose, someone will always rise to argue with it. We would not be doing this to win arguements, we'd be doing it to win votes...

You are free to advocate what you want in the way you want. Good luck, though, in building a broad base of support for your reefer and liftgate safety agenda. P.S. You are hereby advised to keep your head out from under lift gates and away from their hydraulic components.

No it is not. Neither is being a lineman, electrician or plummer but those are considered professions and have licensing requirements. So too should it be for trucking, I suggest. Trucking is already a rule-heavy industry. It was when we entered it ten years ago and is more so now. It is less...

When home in Minnesota, we park the truck on a concrete pad that we had built for that purpose. It has a water hydrant nearby and shore power too. At our Florida house, we are in a gated community and there is a "boat yard" there where we rent a space. People park their boats and RV's there...

Here again, I thank you for sharing, because it shows what an advocacy group would encounter if such a group came into being and became active and effective, at least effective enough to stimulate a public debate. Notice, readers, how cubansammich is changing the subject. I am talking about...

Diane and I both come from white-collar professions in which continuing education is a requirement and a fact of life. It is ongoing and, in law, for example, even supreme court justices, must complete the CE courses on an ongoing basis. When I advocate continuing education, it applies to me as...

Which is precisely why standards must be raised. Any fool can drive a truck and many fools do. If we want truck driving to be a profession, professional standards must be applied (higher expectations, continuing education, improved compensation, etc.) and entry standards must be raised. Thank...

We would not do it better. We'd do it different. The political power that can be raised from the grass roots and applied for change exists in the grass roots. The idea is not to operate like beltway-oriented organizations (OOIDA, ATA, others). It is to rally enough people (voters) around a...

It has always been the case that East Coast truck stops fill up in the early evening. Interested in the effects, I have been keeping a close eye on changes in truck parking since the new regs went into effect. The one change I noticed and commented on several times here in the Open Forum is...

That part is not happening, at least not in a way we have observed on the road and over a number of Monday mornings now. There was talk of it before the new regs went into effect but it did not develop.

I'm having fun kicking the ideas around as Diane and I pass time over the long weekend waiting for a Tuesday pickup. But remember, we are on our way out of the trucking business, partly because of the increasing regulations.

Is that a reason to not try?

It takes time to build a grass-roots organization, but also, in today's hyper-connected world, less time and less money than ever before, if you are right on the issues and have credibility. I'm most familiar with what we did in Minnesota, but there are dozens of examples of organizations that...

If it is a grass-roots, outside-the-beltway effort you have much more freedom. If you can articulate a small number (no more than three) issues that resonate with the masses, you don't have to worry much about what the existing players say or do. Just build the organization and call on state and...

Forget about the name "Truckers for Safety." I just checked truckersforsafety.com. OOIDA already has it.

Support from all sides is difficult to obtain. And even if it is possible, various groups may withhold it because they are jealous of their place in the sandbox. The trick is not to get everybody on board, just enough. Also, support attracts support. A small group can get some attention. As it...

I wouldn't worry about that too much, Cheri. Most Americans heard little or nothing about the strike, and what they did hear has long since been forgotten. It got more coverage in the trucking press but made zero public impact. The strike itself got more air time and column inches before it...

This is not my area of expertise. Nor have I looked into the unpaid time issues many truckers face. That said, I wonder if existing labor laws might be brought to bear, at least for company (employee) drivers. As for independent contractors who willingly bend over and take it while grumbling...

In what wasy was stress put on the system? On our truck, the SlushBusters put no stress on the system. What little stress that is exerted when the wiper blade passes over the SlushBuster is absorbed by the give that happens in the rubber wiper blade when it passes over. See the photo below...