Linda Garner-Bunch

For most of the world’s population, 2020 brought never-before-seen challenges, beginning with a global pandemic caused by a new coronavirus first discovered in China in late 2019. As 2020 came to a close, the number of COVID-19 cases — along with deaths related to the disease — continued to climb. The year also brought the trucking industry into the international spotlight as professional drivers put in countless hours on the road, working to provide hospitals and pharmacies with medical supplies, and grocery stores stocked with essentials (who could ever forget the great toilet-paper shortage?). For most truck drivers, those hours spent on the road were “all in a day’s work.” Many were surprised when they were greeted with cheers as they made their deliveries. As the year progressed, some of that appreciation faded — but drivers continued to work behind the scenes, making sure vital supplies, as well as little luxuries, reached their destinations in a safe and timely manner. On Sunday, Dec. 13, truck drivers and other members of the transportation industry once again found themselves in the spotlight as the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine approved for emergency use in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) departed Pfizer’s Portage, Michigan, facility. The day was the start of the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history, an effort that health officials are encouraging the public to embrace, even as many people expressed skepticism or worry about the drug’s safety and effectiveness. As the first of many freezer-packed COVID-19 vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites that day, the nation’s pandemic deaths approached a new milestone of 300,000 with those numbers expected to skyrocket during the following weeks. Because Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at an extremely low temperature — about minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit — quick transport is vital to the success of the immunization effort. On the first day of the rollout, workers at Pfizer — dressed in fluorescent yellow clothing, hard hats and gloves — wasted no time as they packed vials into boxes. They scanned the packages and then placed them into freezer cases with dry ice. The vaccine shipments, tracked with GPS-enabled sensors, were then taken from Pfizer’s Portage, Michigan, facility to Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, where the first cargo plane took off amid what airport officials called a “jubilant” mood. “This is a historic day,” said Richard W. Smith, who oversees operations in the Americas for FedEx Express, which delivered more than 630 packages of vaccine to distribution sites across the country the week of Dec. 13. UPS is also transporting a share of the vaccine. Helping with the transport of the vaccine has special meaning to Bruce Smith, a FedEx package handler at the Grand Rapids airport, whose older sister, Queen, died after she contracted the coronavirus in May. She was hospitalized in Georgia one day after he saw her on a video chat, and they never spoke again. “I think she would be ecstatic to know that something that has ravaged our family — that a family member is going to be part of such a big project,” said Smith, 58, whose nephew, Queen’s son, also got sick and is still undergoing therapy for stroke-like symptoms. “It is very, very important.” In addition to FedEx and UPS, Massachusetts-based Boyle Transportation was part of the Dec. 13 vaccine rollout, with two teams of drivers participating in the first convoy to leave Pfizer’s Michigan facility. “It was an honor for us to play a small role in that historic event,” said Andrew Boyle, co-president of the company, which has been in business for half a century. “There were so many eyes watching, and people crying, seeing your vehicle go by — that’s quite a humbling experience.” Less than a week later, on Dec. 18, the FDA issued emergency authorization for a second COVID-19 vaccine, this one manufactured by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna. FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn described the approval of the two vaccines as “significant milestones” and “crucial steps” in battling the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the FDA followed an open, transparent review process for the approval of both drugs. While much of the transportation of both vaccines will rely on air cargo and last-mile delivery services, Boyle stressed that over-the-road ground freight will continue to play a vital role in transporting both vaccines. “Up to this point, there have been heroic efforts by the drug developers, the clinical trial participants and the regulators,” Boyle said. “But now, we’re at a point where the execution is going to rely, in large part, on blue-collar transportation and logistics professionals — people on the loading dock, professional truck drivers and mechanics, the air cargo handlers, pilots, and then ultimately the package delivery drivers. Those are our people. We’re not scientists, but we can play our role. We’re not physicians or nurses, but we can play our role. “Let’s remember, there are millions of people without a job right now. There are millions of people who can’t feed their family members, and there are millions of kids who can’t go to school right now,” he continued. “We have an opportunity to ply our trade and contribute to solving that problem. What greater honor is there?” The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — Rahm Emanuel’s chances of landing a top Cabinet post in Joe Biden’s administration appear increasingly unlikely after the former Chicago mayor emerged as a source of controversy for the president-elect, who had been considering Emanuel for transportation secretary, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Emanuel, among multiple candidates in the running for the Cabinet position, appeared to slip down the list in the last two weeks after progressive leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, criticized the prospect of nominating him for the post, the person said Dec. 10. That concern has grown deeper in recent days, particularly after the Rev. Al Sharpton raised similar concerns during a meeting with Biden and other civil rights leaders, the person said. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss private deliberations and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. A decision hasn’t been finalized, and the dynamics could shift as Biden builds out his Cabinet with an eye to ensuring diverse leadership in the top ranks of his administration. Whether Emanuel is ultimately picked could also be affected by other factors as Biden has placed a premium on building out a Cabinet and team of senior advisers from a diverse set of backgrounds, according to people familiar with the transition’s deliberations. The dynamic, perhaps more than progressives’ opposition to him, is an important factor in whether Biden eventually asks Emanuel to join the administration in a Cabinet role, according to two people familiar with deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. An announcement on transportation secretary is not believed to be imminent. Representatives for the Biden transition and for Emanuel declined to comment. Emanuel, a former congressman who also served as former President Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff, has been a significant force in Democratic Party politics for much of the last three decades. However, progressives and civil rights leaders have been critical of his handling of the high-profile police shooting death of Laquan McDonald, a Black teenager killed by a white officer, during his time as Chicago’s mayor. Emanuel’s allies have pointed to his extensive work making transportation issues top priorities as Chicago’s mayor, including reviving the city’s public transportation system and overhauling the city’s two worn airports. Emanuel also is credited with making Chicago one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the country during his time in office.   The allies also have argued that Emanuel’s breadth of experience and knowledge of Congress would make him uniquely positioned to lead the department, which includes the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration and others. The new secretary would inherit an agency at a time the airline industry has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, with many airlines turning to massive job cuts. The pick would also be responsible for ensuring that priorities that have been pushed for years are carried out, including ensuring railroads across the U.S. implement critical speed-control technology, known as positive train control, that federal safety investigators have been pushing for close to five decades. The Associated Press reported in 2017 that crashes that federal officials believed could have been prevented by positive train control led to nearly 300 deaths and thousands of injuries and almost $400 million in property damage. Emanuel was among a number of candidates being considered for America’s top transportation post, including New York City transit chief and former Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah Feinberg — a major proponent of positive train control in the Obama administration — and ex-New York City transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg, the person said. Two other high profile Obama-era alumni were announced Dec. 10 as joining the Biden administration — Denis McDonough as veterans’ affairs secretary and Susan Rice to head the Domestic Policy Council. By Michael Balsamo and Aamer Madhani, Associated Press, with contributions by Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York.

MINNEAPOLIS — The driver of a tanker truck who drove into a crowd of protestors who were demonstrating against the death of George Floyd on Interstate 35 in Minneapolis May 31 has now been charged with two crimes, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Oct. 22. Bogdan Vechirko, 35, of Otsego, Minnesota, has been charged with a felony count of threats of violence and a gross misdemeanor count of criminal vehicular operation, according to a statement released by Freeman’s office. A complaint issued against Vechirko by the State of Minnesota includes a summons to a court appearance Nov. 10. If Vechirko fails to appear in court, a warrant will be issued for his arrest, the summons states. During a scheduled interstate closure May 31, more than 1,000 peaceful protesters were gathered in the westbound lanes of I-35 on the Mississippi River Bridge just east of downtown Minneapolis. A petroleum tanker truck, driven by Vechirko, approached the bridge from the south and headed right for the crowd at a high rate of speed. According to the complaint, Vechirko did not stop until a person in the crowd stumbled and fell forward. Multiple reports note that after stopping the truck in the middle of the crowd, Vechirko was pulled from the cab of the truck and was beaten until a group of protestors stepped in to protect him until law-enforcement officers arrived. Vechirko was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and then arrested for suspicion of assault, according to Minnesota authorities; he was later released. A thorough investigation of the incident by Minnesota authorities later revealed that Vechirko planned to “scare” people out of his path, according to the complaint, filed with the 4th Judicial District Court. “In addition to traffic cameras, officers collected a number of cell phone videos that captured portions of the incident. Protestors can be seen screaming and fleeing the bridge in a panic, in order to avoid being struck by the vehicle. The videos show that the defendant did not stop his vehicle but continued into the area of the crowd at a high rate of speed. Various collected videos show that in addition to the large crowd, there were multiple vehicles stopped on I-35 northbound as the road approached the bridge and that a number of vehicles were driving the wrong direction up an entrance ramp to the freeway — all indicators that something was occurring up ahead,” the complaint reads. Investigators also spoke to numerous people participating in the protest who said they thought they were going to be struck or killed by the truck. At least one person suffered scrapes and abrasions to her leg as she tried to get out of the truck’s path. During the investigation, a similar tanker truck was used to reconstruct Vechirko’s drive. The re-enactment showed that Vechirko’s line of sight would have provided him sufficient time to see the crowd and stop his truck well short of them, according to the complaint. In a post-Miranda statement, Vechirko admitted that he was “kind of in a hurry” and said that when he saw the crowd, he hoped that if he went slow the crowd would let him past. Vechirko said he stopped when he saw someone fall. He also acknowledged that he saw cars pulling off to the right of the highway as he approached, and that he could have stopped the truck sooner. The felony charge of Threats of Violence-Reckless Disregard Risk carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine. The gross misdemeanor charge of Criminal Vehicular Operation-Bodily Harm-Gross Negligence has a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment and/or a $3,000 fine.

CAMBRIDGE CITY, Ind., and EATON, Ohio — A truck driver who was charged with multiple felonies related to a July 9 accident in Wayne County, Indiana, that resulted in the death of four children has been arrested on separate charges in Preble County, Ohio, according to county records. In addition, the driver has been declared an “imminent hazard to public safety” by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). A July 14 report by Ohio news outlet WHIO noted that Corey Withrow, 31, of Camden, Ohio, was arrested July 14 and charged with violating terms of probation related to a 2019 drug conviction; a hearing was set for July 21. At the time of this writing, July 24, no record of the July 21 hearing had been filed on the county court’s website and Withrow was listed as an inmate in Ohio’s Preble County Jail. County records reflected 13 previous arrests for Withrow between 2013 and 2019, with charges ranging from possession of drugs to burglary. The July 9 accident, which occurred about 5 p.m. on Interstate 70 near Cambridge, Indiana, involved two tractor-trailers and a Chevrolet passenger vehicle. When Wayne County Deputies arrived at the scene, they found a Chevrolet car and a 2004 Kenworth tractor with a loaded box trailer off the left side of eastbound I-70, both fully engulfed in flames. A preliminary investigation by law enforcement indicated that the Kenworth, driven by Withrow, was eastbound in the right lane when the driver came upon traffic that had slowed to merge into the left lane for a construction zone. The Kenworth failed to slow as it approached the slowed traffic and rear-ended a Chevrolet car in the right lane, pushing the car forward into the left rear corner of a tractor-trailer that was also in the right lane, directly in front of the passenger car. The Kenworth continued, pushing the passenger car into the left lane and eventually onto the berm of the left lane, where the two vehicles burst into flames. At the time of the July 9 incident, Withrow was employed by Barnets Inc. of Camden Ohio. A passerby was able to pull the driver of the passenger car from the vehicle but was unable to rescue the four passengers from the car. Indiana State Police Investigators have identified the fatalities as Anesa Noel Acosta, 15; Quintin Michael McGowan, 13; Brekkin Riley Bruce, 8; and Trentin Beau Bruce, 6. The driver of the car, 34-year-old Aaron Bruce of Kansas City, Missouri, was transported to a hospital in Indianapolis with burns and internal injuries. Withrow escaped the burning semi with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the tractor-trailer that was hit from behind has been identified as Thomas Flaherty, 57, of Springfield, Ohio. He was not injured. Wayne County jail records show that Withrow was arrested at 1:20 a.m. July 10 and charged with Level 4 and Level 5 operating while intoxicated, Level 5 reckless homicide, four counts of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated resulting in death, and four counts of causing catastrophic injury while operating intoxicated. Withrow was released on bond at 11:40 p.m. July 10. RTV6 Indianapolis reported July 14 that witnesses said Withrow’s truck had been driving erratically prior to the crash, at one point pushing another tractor-trailer onto the shoulder. Indiana State Police investigators determined the truck was moving at 72 mph at the time of the crash; the speed limit in the construction zone was 55 mph but traffic was moving slower as it merged into a single open lane. Police said that after the crash, Withrow was “staggering and off balance, his speech slurred.” The results of a court-ordered blood draw showed evidence of marijuana, amphetamines and methamphetamine use. A notice published July 23 by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) declared Withrow to be an imminent hazard to public safety and has ordered him not to operate any commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce. Withrow was served the federal order on July 17. The out-of-service order states that Withrow’s “blatant and egregious violations of the [federal safety regulations] and ongoing and repeated disregard for the safety of the motoring public … substantially increases the likelihood of serious injury or death to you and motoring public.” Withrow also may be subject to a civil penalty enforcement proceeding brought by FMCSA for his violation of the Agency’s safety regulations. Co-written by The Trucker’s Wendy Miller.

On June 25, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule, a first-of-its-kind regulation that requires truck manufacturers to make the move from toxic-exhaust-emitting diesel engines to electric zero-emission vehicles. The transition is set to begin in 2024 and will culminate in 100% zero-emission trucks in California by 2045. A statement from CARB described the move as “bold and timely,” adding that the ACT rule sets a clean-truck standard for the nation and the world and marks the most important air-pollution regulation to date implemented by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. The rule zeroes in on air pollution in the state’s most disadvantaged and polluted communities. On July 14, in the wake of California’s resolution, 15 states (including California), plus the District of Columbia, announced a collaborative memorandum of understanding (MOU), pledging to work together to advance and accelerate the market for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, including Class 8 trucks. The group’s goal is that 100% of new large pickup trucks and vans, delivery trucks, box trucks, school and transit buses, and big rigs be zero emissions by 2050. The group also set an interim goal of 30% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2030. “California is proud to be joined by 14 other states and the District of Columbia in a push for clean, zero-emission trucks,” Newsom said. “Our efforts in California will be magnified through the efforts of this multistate coalition to reduce emissions and improve air quality, especially crucial in communities where our most vulnerable citizens live. By working together, we can move toward a cleaner future.” Other states signing the MOU include Connecticut, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. By reducing diesel emissions, the group hopes to also reduce carbon pollution across the nation. The transportation industry is noted as the largest source of greenhouse emissions in the U.S., and commercial vehicles also contribute to unhealthy levels of smog in many of the states that signed the MOU. “Now is the time to act regionally to protect the health of our residents and our climate by reducing emissions from medium- and heavy-duty trucks,” said Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. “In Connecticut, as in other states, our most vulnerable residents are hit hardest by the health effects of air pollution, including asthma and other respiratory ailments. I am looking forward to working with partner states through this agreement to leverage private sector ingenuity with smart public policy to transition to zero-emission vehicles.” According to a July 14 statement issued by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), accelerating the electrification of trucks and buses is an essential step to achieve the deep economy-wide emission reductions needed to avoid the worst consequences of climate change and protect the health of millions of Americans. “While trucks and buses only account for 4% of vehicles on the road, they are responsible for nearly 25% of total transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions,” the statement continued. “In fact, emissions from trucks are the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases, and the number of truck miles traveled on the nation’s roads is forecast to continue to grow significantly in the coming decades.” By converting commercial trucks and buses from diesel fuel to electric-powered engines, the group says it hopes to reduce air-pollution levels in communities that experience heavy truck traffic; adding that a large number of communities near major trucking corridors and distribution hubs are low-income. “Reducing air pollution from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles will result in cleaner air for our communities — including low-income neighborhoods and communities of color that are often disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution,” said Basil Seggos, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “(This) announcement bolsters New York’s ongoing efforts to electrify the transportation sector and reduce climate pollution, helping to realize our ambitious emissions reduction goals and grow a powerful green economy to benefit all communities.” In addition to providing public health benefits by reducing toxic emissions and helping prevent smog and other air pollution, the interim goal that 30% of commercial new-vehicle sales be zero-emission by 2030 could result in a total cost of ownership for electric trucks and buses to be on a par with that of conventionally fueled vehicles. “The electric vehicle industry is primed for tremendous growth,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. “We cannot afford to miss this opportunity to place clean transportation technology and infrastructure at the center of the nation’s economic recovery.” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said her state also hopes to have a positive impact through the MOU. “Oregonians have been leading the way in adopting electric cars to lower emissions. Electrifying trucks, buses and delivery vehicles is the next logical step in cutting emissions, improving air quality and fighting climate change,” Brown said. The 15 states and District of Columbia will work through an existing multistate zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) task force created by NESCAUM as they seek to reach their goals. By promoting and investing in electric trucks and buses and the charging and fueling infrastructure needed to serve these vehicles, the signatory jurisdictions will support the creation of jobs and help build a resilient and clean economy, according to NESCAUM. “We have seen our economy adapt to new models (during the COVID-19 crisis), such as increased reliance on deliveries, which also means more trucking,” said Shoshana Lew, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation. “As we move towards the future, it is critical that we consider how we can innovate together to ensure that the freight sector grows in a way that leads to both a thriving economy and cleaner air.” Members of the U.S. PIRG, a federation of state public interest research groups, applauded the signing of the MOU, saying the group effort will help protect the health of Americans. “Getting to school or commuting to work shouldn’t include a daily dose of toxic pollution or increase the chances that people will get sick,” said Matt Casale, transportation Campaign director for U.S. PIRG. “These states’ commitment to 100% zero-emission school and transit buses, along with other heavy- and medium-duty trucks, will help slash lung-damaging pollution and save lives. The sooner we get more electric buses and trucks on the road, the healthier our kids and communities will be.”