Hannah Butler

Semitrucks may be primarily used to haul goods from one place to another, but what if big rigs could become more like traveling superheroes? That’s something the highway patrol agencies in Florida and Tennessee are proving to be possible with their use of tractor-trailers in traffic law enforcement and education initiatives. The highway patrol rigs don’t “transform” like Optimus Prime, but they do play a vital role helping keep highways safe. Both Florida and Tennessee are using commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to educate the public and, at the same time, help prevent traffic crimes. Both departments obtained semitrucks through criminal or intervention searches and seizures. After safety inspections, the patrols decided to put them to use. In total, the Florida Highway Patrol has six semitrucks that are used for traffic stops along the highway. “We have used (them) for outreach and educational purposes for commercial motor vehicles, as well as the education and enforcement of traffic laws in the state,” said Dylan Bryan, master sergeant for the Florida Highway Patrol. These vehicles are often showcased during safety presentations at high schools or trucking companies, or at commercial vehicle “rodeos.” The rigs are also used to educate the public about the blind spots of semitrucks. “We set up vehicles within the blind spot of a tractor-trailer and what the driver can and can’t see, and use that as a demonstration purpose for the motor-vehicle public to see exactly what it’s like being in that cab — and hopefully educate those drivers when they operate their own vehicles around commercial motor vehicles,” Bryan said. The Florida Highway Patrol works with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Florida Truckers Association. Other than education, the patrol occasionally uses the semitrucks to issue traffic-violation citations through its program Operation Safe DRIVE: Distracted Reckless Impaired Visibility Enforcement. To do this, the semitruck, along with a conventional patrol car, is stationed on the side of the highway to observe any reckless or dangerous driving. Bryan said using a semitruck gives two advantages to the highway patrol — it allows patrol officers to be eye level with drivers of other semitrucks, and provides a wider view for observing the movements of smaller vehicles. The vantage point from a semitruck allows a wider view to observe motor vehicle drivers using cell phones, speeding or following too closely to another vehicle. The Florida Highway Patrol deploys a semitruck two or three times a month to monitor traffic violations. “When we start deploying these vehicles, it’s not like we’re hiding,” Bryan said. “We’ll use a marked vehicle, pick a stretch of road that’s 8 to 10 miles long, and we’ll do several loops around it. We’ll see the violations that you normally see drastically decrease once we’ve made a few stops here and there. You know the community is talking, and it’s nice to see that. The end result is that people are driving safer, and that’s what we want.” The Tennessee Highway Patrol also occasionally uses semitrucks to spot violations. During a recent 24-hour event stretching from the Kentucky state line to the Tennessee and Georgia state lines, there were zero fatalities on Interstate 24 while the Tennessee Highway Patrol patrolled using its semitruck, according to Lt. Bill Miller, public information officer for Tennessee Highway Patrol. Much like the Florida initiatives, the main usage of Tennessee’s semitruck is for education and training across the state. The truck has been flipped into a “Teens and Truck” driving simulator that assists teenagers in understanding how to drive around semitrucks. “It has six driving simulators and it kind of looks like a video arcade, so it immediately grabs their attention, and they want to participate,” said Lt. Allen England of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The driving simulators have 10 different simulations to show students driving scenarios such as a CMV’s blind spots, driving around a CMV or driving the CMV. To combat cellphone usage on the road, the driving simulator also tests students with popup notifications and grades their answers. “The equipment is completely equipped with vibration in the chair, so the teen feels if they did something wrong,” Miller said. “If they sideswiped the car or struck a deer that was running across the roadway, or had a crash, they (can) feel the vibration through the chair in their body.” Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Tennessee’s semitruck was taken out three to four times a month, traveling around a school system within 95 counties, Miller noted. “It’s one of the most popular and highly requested services that the Tennessee Highway Patrol has,” he added. The usage has inspired the Georgia Highway Patrol to research implementing a similar educational semitruck, according to Miller. Although both Florida and Tennessee highway patrols have implemented CMV usage, officers don’t plan to completely ditch their Dodge Chargers for semitrucks anytime soon. “Realistically, it’s not practical to use it as a solo vehicle to try to enforce traffic laws, simply because it’s so large,” Miller said. “Traffic is more and more congested each day. With it being a semi, if you’re trying to make a traffic stop with it, you do have the increased chance of someone trying to flee or elude law enforcement.” Using semitrucks can also be costly. Bryan said the operating costs and maintenance may dissuade police departments from implementing semi-trucks. “On the flip side, I do think it’s beneficial,” Bryan said. “I think it’s a very effective program, and I’m thankful the Florida Highway Patrol is continuing that program. It’s very unique.”

The National Labor Relations Bill, known as the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, is set to be a big win for unions and pro-union supporters. However, a nugget included in that act is set to shake the way owner-operators, and the companies that employ them, do business. The PRO Act proposes three required prongs for independent contractors to meet in order to remain classified as independent contractors: The individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under the contract for the performance of service and in fact. The service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer. The individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed. The PRO Act can be easily compared to California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), which was introduced by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019. AB5 holds the same prongs for independent contractors to meet as the PRO Act. Until recently, that law was under a preliminary injunction from being enforced on motor carriers and independent owner-operators after the California Trucking Association (CTA) pursued litigation with the state. “Our big concern is the process of the ABC test,” said Bryce Mongeon, director of legislative affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). “Basically, at least, an owner-operator who is working with a motor carrier is not going to be able to satisfy the test.” Although this would cover gig workers with Uber or Lyft, it wouldn’t support current independent contract operations in the trucking industry. In a nutshell, the PRO Act will affect both independent contractors who are paid with a 1099 tax form and the companies who hire contractors for jobs. If an independent contractor works with a business that transports goods, that will qualify as “the same course of business” and would fail to meet the “B” prong of the test. Under the PRO Act, those contractors could no longer be considered independent, but instead would be treated as employees. “If you’re a trucking company, and your job is to deliver freight, why would you hire an independent contractor to deliver freight?” explained David Heller, vice president of government affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA). “This law would say that you wouldn’t be allowed to do that. You would have to make independent contractors employees, and quite frankly, they don’t want to be employees. This PRO Act jeopardizes that business model and would actually put an end to, basically, the trucking version of the American dream, that has demonstrated time and time again the success stories of companies like Swift Transportation and J.B. Hunt that started with just one person, one truck.” The act changes the original definition of independent contractors, which are generally considered as those whose payers have the right to control the result of the work, but not what will be done or how it will be done, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The PRO Act is part of President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan — also known as the infrastructure bill — but it could actually overturn jobs in the trucking industry. Lisa Schmitt and her husband, Lee, own a truck and are leased to a motor carrier. “We have two choices,” Schmitt said. “We can either quit trucking — which is what a lot of (owner-operators) will do — or get your own authority, and that’s not always the best way. There’s many places that we get loads from right now that if we were to go get our own authority tomorrow, they wouldn’t load us for six months because they want to see safety history.” Jeremy Johnson, a truck driver and administrator of the Facebook group “The Disrespected Trucker,” has already decided he will leave the trucking industry if the PRO Act is implemented. He owns his truck and is leased to a company that primarily uses owner-operators. “Guys like me, lease-term owner-operators, will have to go get our own authority and insurance and we — or I can’t — afford to go buy my own trailer and get my own insurance paid for my own authority,” Johnson said. “Not to mention, my insurance goes through the roof the first year because I’m a new insurance holder.” So, Johnson said, he’ll sell his truck and leave because he’s “tired of the politicians attacking us for no reason.” Johnson has been organizing protests at state capitals to protest the PRO Act and other issues in the trucking industry for three years now. He just returned from protesting the PRO Act, along with the disruption of trucking jobs, during the “May Day” protest held May 1-3 in Indianapolis. “This will completely upend the trucking industry,” he said. It is unclear whether owner-operators will be forced to get their own authority, according to OOIDA’s Mongeon. However, he does suspect the costs associated under the PRO Act will be prevalent for companies who must hire independent contractors as employees, as well as for independent contractors who have made the investments of buying equipment. Schmitt said she suspects companies like Diamond Transportation, which solely relies on owner-operators, could go out of business as a result of the PRO Act’s “B” prong. “It’s going to (depend on) how it’s deemed,” Schmitt said. “If they’re deemed as a carrier, meaning their industry is trucking goods, then they’re going to be gone because you can’t have an independent contractor with someone who does the same thing as what you do.” To complicate the matter, companies would be required to provide the newly elected employees benefits and an equitable pay structure. Many companies could not afford this. In an interview with The Trucker, Diamond Transportation president Jon Coca confirmed that the PRO Act could mean unemployment. “We run a much bigger risk of simply having to close our doors,” he said. “Our insurance and benefits would have to stretch much longer than they are, and we’d have to redo all of our contracts. I don’t know if that’s feasible, when they’re owning their own equipment. To pay them a certain percentage of earnings or margins that are already so small and tight, the added extra expense to us would put us under.” It wouldn’t just be Diamond Transportation. Many other carriers using an independent contractor business model could be at risk. “Just in our company alone, you’re looking at 50 people losing their jobs,” Johnson said. “It’s 35 owner-operators, and I think he has three company drivers. I’m almost positive he wouldn’t be able to keep his doors open, because he has a lot of contracted freight that he relies on us for — and if he loses us, he’s gonna lose that contract to trade, and he’s just going to have to shut his doors.” However, Coca, TCA and OOIDA said it is unlikely the PRO Act will ever pass. The act did pass in the U.S. House of Representatives March 9; however, it is unclear when it will be moved out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. In order to pass the Senate, there must be 60 votes to overcome a filibuster that may be proposed by opponents of the bill. This would mean there must be 10 Republicans supporting the bill for it to pass. However, the Senate may choose the budget reconciliation route to create a simple majority vote for measures such as revenues, spending or debt. Some proposed legislation does not qualify for the budget process. Already, elements of Biden’s infrastructure bill — which contains the PRO Act — are expected to use the reconciliation route, according to the Associated Press. “The rules of reconciliation are strictly tied to budgetary items,” Heller said. “The PRO Act does not represent a budgetary item.” California’s AB5 had been blocked from being enforced against motor carriers after a request from CTA to place a preliminary injunction. However, an April 28 ruling to overturn the injunction is likely to affect 70,000 truck drivers who can be classified as employees of companies that hire them instead of as independent contractors, giving them a right to overtime, sick pay or other benefits. The circuit court in San Francisco overturned a ruling last year by a federal judge that said federal interstate transportation law preempted 2019’s AB5. “We continue to stand by our initial claim that the implementation of AB5’s classification test is preempted by federal law and is clearly detrimental to the long-standing and historical place California’s 70,000 owner-operators have had in the transportation industry,” said Shawn Yadon, CEO of CTA, in a statement on April 28. “The California Trucking Association will take any and all legal steps necessary to continue this fight on behalf of independent owner-operators and motor carriers operating in California.” The Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County decision paved the way for California’s AB5 and the federal-level PRO Act to originate. The decision surrounded a case of employee misclassification, in which two delivery drivers sued Dynamex for misclassifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. Due to the confusion surrounding the case, the court determined to set up the ABC test to define independent contractors and employees. CTA had argued the law could make it harder for independent drivers who own their trucks and operate on their own hours to make a living by forcing them to be classified as employees. For organizations like the Teamsters union, the overturned injunction on AB5 and the passage of the PRO Act in the U.S. House are to “restore fairness to the economy at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated income inequality, stifling the ability of far too many hardworking Americans to earn a decent wage that allows them to support their families,” according to a statement from Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. Teamsters has 600,000 members in its freight division, which includes truck drivers as well as workers in packaging, mass transit and more. “Research shows that workers want unions,” Hoffa said. “However, there is a huge gap between the share of workers with union representation and the share of workers that would like to have a union and a voice on the job. So-called ‘right to work’ is a big reason for that, but the PRO Act would override such state laws that have kept the wages of hard-working Americans down. “The needs of workers have been ignored by too many elected officials for too long. COVID-19 has put too many on their heels,” Hoffa continued. “Meanwhile, the misclassification of workers is on the rise, and too many working Americans are falling through the cracks.” The largest chunk of the PRO Act is dedicated to reshaping certain labor laws. The act would eliminate right-to-work protections, which prohibit employees from being persuaded to pay union fees as a result of their employment. Twenty-seven states have right-to-work laws. The PRO Act could also prevent an employer from replacing a worker who has gone on strike, paving the way for more picketing and strikes, and allow a panel to broker agreements if an issue has not been resolved within 120 days. Despite the support for the act by unions and supporters, the opposition against the small but heavily impactful ABC test weighs on OOIDA, TCA and owner-operators in the industry. “It would allow independent contractors the right to organize, which basically says it would allow them the right to become a union — which quite frankly is the very antithesis of what an independent contractor is, because they are their own businessman. They negotiate their own rates; they advocate their own time; and allowing them to become union would be the direct opposite of what they actually would be,” Heller said.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Road user charge pilot programs are being implemented by state department of transportations across the nation. However, none specifically focus on what a road user charge program, more commonly known as a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax, would mean for trucks. Formerly known as the I-95 Corridor Coalition, the Eastern Transportation Coalition (TETC) has sought to change that. While the TETC has evaluated passenger vehicles in a road user charge system, the coalition has made a point to focus on tractor-trailers. “There really hasn’t been enough attention really focused on the trucking industry as we’re looking at a way to fund transportation,” said Trish Hendren, executive director of TETC. “That is of concern to the coalition. We’ve been working with the coalition throughout our 25-year history, and we understand that it’s a very complex, very diverse and heavily regulated industry that faces a lot of fees. We understand the complicated operating environment in which truckers exist, and we were concerned that those unique attributes of the trucking industry were not a part of this national discussion of how we pay for transportation in the future.” So far, the coalition has conducted two mileage-based user fee (MBUF) studies, one in 2018-19 and another in 2020-21. While the coalition is still awaiting results and data from the second pilot program, the first showed key findings that an MBUF still requires more research before implementation. The first truck pilot consisted of 55 trucks that traveled more than 1,430,000 miles across 27 states during the six-month program period. The technology used was in collaboration with EROAD, a fleet management and tracking systems research partner, to create an in-vehicle device to compile MBUF data, as well as record hours of service (HOS), the electronic logging device (ELD), the International Fuel Taxation Agreement (IFTA) and record keeping. Although the technology has the capability to track all of those, it could also be a separate device from other traditional forms of ELDs, according to Hendren. “The work is not designed to say that EROAD has the technology answer,” Hendren said. “There’s going to be a range of providers, and that’s the way it needs to be. But we wanted to partner with an actual technology provider so we could get that real-world information. You either use existing devices and data within the truck, or you have additional hardware that is installed temporarily for the pilot.” The on-board unit (OBU), called Ehubo, uses sensors to track the distance the vehicle travels, locations and route, including a global positioning system (GPS). The rates per-mile in an MBUF system had to take in account a range of average fuel efficiencies, how far a truck can travel on a gallon of diesel and states’ diesel taxes. For the pilot, TETC used an average of 6 miles per gallon (mpg). The per-mile rates were designed to be “revenue neutral,” meaning that a truck achieving the national average mpg would pay the same amount of fees as paid in state diesel tax, according to TETC’s final report on the first pilot program. However, TETC found that an actual per-mile tax rate in an MBUF system would need to vary based on the type, age and typical operating weight of trucks as well as the mileage traveled. “If you have an average value, you’re going to punish your fuel-efficient companies that are invested in fuel-efficient trucks, and you’re going to reward your fuel-inefficient trucks,” she said. A national average mpg generates rebates for fuel-inefficient vehicles, while fuel-efficient fleets would be required to pay penalties. “I think one thing that was exciting to me when we started this pilot … is the responsiveness of having the (trucking) industry at the table,” said Marygrace Parker, director of the freight program. “The industry being able to say, ‘We’re not all the same’ — even in talking about size and weight they run for the hills, but they recognize that we do need to think about classification settings; how do we do that and how do we make it amongst ourselves, because it’s very complex.” From the first pilot, five key points were found: Bringing the trucking industry’s voice to the table is essential. Trucks cannot simply be treated as big cars in an MBUF system. Existing regulations provide guidance for MBUF implementation. One rate for all trucks does not work. There is a further need for education and outreach. Further research includes analyzing the rate-settings by developing per-mile rates for each state, taking into account weight variables for trucks, tolling systems and improving operations of the pilot. Within future studies, Hendren said setting up enforcement and compliance of MBUF would also be a goal for the coalition. “There is just a need to not treat cars and trucks the same,” she said. “If we move in this direction, everyone should do it. It shouldn’t be just one or two companies that follow the rules, so how do we as an industry set up enforcement and compliance in a way that is not burdensome? So, (we’re) talking to them about making it fair across the industry and making it set up in a way that is easy to fulfill.” The mileage-based user fee research is funded by the Surface Transportation System Funding Alternative (STSFA) under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, authorized by former President Barack Obama in 2015. STSFA provided grants to research and test the design of user-based alternative revenue mechanisms to maintain the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). The HTF provides funding for highways through a federal fuel tax, which is 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents on diesel. The tax has not been increased since 1993 and has been primarily funded through a series of transfers, according to the Congressional Research Service. As it stands now, the HTF will be exhausted by 2022. TETC, along with a handful of departments of transportations, were granted STSFA funding to create pilot programs of road user charge systems. “Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) is pleased to see that the Eastern Transportation Coalition’s new study has produced much-needed multistate data on the viability of a mileage-based user fee (MBUF) for the trucking industry,” said John Lyboldt, president of TCA. “This study is a good first step, and we agree with the coalition’s report that additional data is still needed before any nationwide policy on MBUF can be pursued. We hope that the coalition’s work will provide a signal to federal policymakers that it is premature to start transitioning to a new revenue collection model and that significant questions must be addressed regarding MBUF implementation, especially for the trucking industry, before moving forward.”

POMONA, Ca. — Ahmed Shaaban made his way to pick up a load in an area of California he’d never been to before. Two firsts happened in his 7-year career as an owner-operator for Slingshot Trucking, on Tuesday, April 6. Oddly, his load was already picked up when he arrived, and he picked up an unexpected second load — aiding in the arrest of a murder suspect. Shaaban was driving through the city, chatting with a friend on his headset, when he saw the police pursuit. Shaaban mentioned to his friend the police pursuit had about 50 police cars chasing a dark gray truck. The friend, familiar with the area, told him it was a murder suspect. “Hold on,” Shaaban told his friend. “I’m going to try something.” Shaaban went in a few circles, driving around a gas station, in hopes of positioning his truck in front of the gray truck. “I wanted to block the whole intersection so he can stop and get caught,” he said. “Then, I see him gunning his truck to his right to go around me. So, I’m like, ‘Hell no,’ and pull forward my truck. I hit him.” Shaaban said his intention was for the suspect to stop as he blocked the chase at the intersection of Holt and San Antonio avenues. Identified as Michael Caleb Reed, 35, the suspect had led the police pursuit through four counties for two hours before he encountered Shaaban. Reed is a suspect in the shooting of a 40-year-old man in Oildale, California, according to the Los Angeles Times. He is currently being held in Kern County Jail facing multiple charges of reckless evasion of a police officer, carjacking and violating parole. The damage to Reed’s vehicle was significant, according to Shaaban. Both airbags popped out, and the hood of his truck was crushed. “I hit him pretty hard,” Shaaban said. The full extent of the damage to Shaaban’s truck is yet to be determined. While the damage does not seem to be significant, he said damage to the frame is a concern because it looks twisted. Shaaban’s truck is dedicated to his mother, Yousria. His mother’s name and her birth year 1948 are both proudly displayed on the truck as a tribute. “Either way, even if it’s a total loss on my truck, I’m going to keep it,” he said. “That truck means a lot to me.” While waiting for the details regarding the coverage of the damage to his truck, Shaaban has set up a GoFundMe page. “To the insurance, I’m just a number,” he said. “And if I’m intentionally doing it (causing the accident), they can say a lot of things, like I’m trying to get a truck, to get aid, whatever they can think … I’ve always owned my own business and I see how they work, so it’s a big concern for me, of course.” His wife, Tracy Adler, created the GoFundMe page on Wednesday, April 7 with a goal of $65,000. The funds raised have since surpassed that, totaling $82,810 as of Friday, April 16.