In this episode we cover…
– Arkansas opens rest stops to food trucks
– FMCSA changes CLP rules
– FEMA sends 85 reefers to NYC to use as morgues
David Compton:
Hi, I’m David Compton. The State of Arkansas allows food trucks at rest stops, and the FMCSA reduces restrictions on student truckers. Plus FEMA sends 85 reefers to New York city to become makeshift morgues. These are the stories we’re covering on this edition of The Trucker News Channel.
David Compton:
The Arkansas Trucking Association and the Arkansas Department of Transportation are working to bring food options to truck drivers at two state rest areas to ensure places to eat and rest. The Arkansas DOT will be issuing temporary permits to certified food truck operators to serve truck drivers at four locations in Arkansas. Eastbound and Westbound exits at Social Hill Rest Area on interstate 30 West of Malvern and Eastbound and Westbound exits at Big Piney Rest Area on interstate 40 West of Russellville. Normally, these types of commercial vendors are forbidden on state properties such as rest areas, but truckers are finding fewer places to find healthy meals as restaurants and truck stops around the country, close their dining rooms to prevent the spread of the Corona virus.
David Compton:
In response to national emergencies the FMCSA has issued a three month waiver that relaxes regulations for commercial learner permit holders. The two-pronged phased waiver is designed to facilitate the flow of essential products and personnel during this national crisis. First, the requirement that a CDL holder with the proper CVL class and endorsements be seated in the front seat while the CLP holder operates a commercial vehicle on public roads or highways is lifted. However, the CDL holder must be present in the vehicle the waiver states.
David Compton:
Second, States themselves may now administer driving skills testing to any non-resident CDL applicant regardless of where the applicant received his training. Normal restrictions limit non-resident testing to applicants who receive training in that state. Veteran drivers and trainers have expressed concern to the trucker news channel about the first prong of the waiver allowing CLP holders to operate a commercial vehicle without a CVL holder in the passenger seat, but agree ultimately the decision should be made on a case by case basis depending on the skill level of the trainee.
Speaker 2:
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David Compton:
Well there are thousands of reefers on the road every day carrying supplies that we need across the country. However, FEMA is sending 85 reefers to New York city, not to carry supplies but to be used as temporary morgues. New York remains one of the hotspots in the country for Covid 19 virus where the total death toll has risen to over 1500. As desk continued to mount, it’s placing other significant pressure on the healthcare system and available morgue space. According to data before the Covid 19 pandemic, New York city had morgue capacity for 900 bodies.
David Compton:
Hi, this Dave Compton with the trucker news channel. Joining me today is Hayden from Idelic. Hayden, welcome to the show.
Hayden:
Hi, thanks so much for having me.
David Compton:
So Hayden, tell me from a really high level for the viewers that aren’t familiar with the company, what do you guys do?
Hayden:
At the core of it, we help fleets reduce accidents, reduce claims, and reduce driver turnover, that’s really our whole goal. If we can help drivers get home safe every night, we’ve accomplished our goal.
David Compton:
Let’s drill down a little bit further. How do you do this? Is this a software platform, is it an app? Go deeper.
Hayden:
Yeah, great question. It is a software platform. We provide a driver management platform that allows fleets to integrate all of those different disparate data systems that they have to deal with. So normally when they’re going in and trying to understand how do we help a driver, they’ve got to look at 15 different places, whether its external vendors or internal spreadsheets, there’s just so much data available that they’re drowning in it. And so what we do is, we help integrate and pull all that data into one place, give them a nice clean, easy to use workflow on logging and tracking that information and making their day to day job easier, but more importantly, our bread and butter is taking that data and making it actionable.
Hayden:
We have machine learning, predictive analytics that can take all of that data, both in cab and out of cab, and condense it down into a nice easy to use watch list with a score that can help the fleets understand which drivers need their attention and then also point them to what are some of the highest risk factors for those drivers. So not just an understanding of who’s most at risk, but really diving into the why. And this is really, really critical because the fleets have so much that they can do, but such a limited time, so giving them and arming them with the ability to understand who to train, what they need to be trained on, and then giving them the tools to actually go into the sign performance improvement plans, assign training, and make sure those drivers can stay safe on the road.
David Compton:
Let’s talk about training the trainer. When it comes to software, we’re all kind of reluctant like, Oh God, is this going to be hard to learn?
Hayden:
Yeah.
David Compton:
So let’s talk about integration.
Hayden:
The integration piece is something that’s really, really critical to us so we built our platform on a very flexible API architecture. What that means is, we can tie into basically any third party vendors. For our customers, we tie into their ELDs, their camera’s, the FMCSA portal background checks, MVR monitoring, accident registries and you name it, we’re tying it in and because that’s where all the data lives. We have a nice white glove onboarding service where we tie in all that information, we pull that information from their internal systems on our side and make it very, very easy and light for their internal teams to get up and running.
David Compton:
Sounds very cool. So I’m a carrier and I want to find out more about the company, where do I go?
Hayden:
Idelic.com. We’ve got fantastic reps that are ready to dive in and show you a more in depth demo of the product and happy to discuss what’s coming out as well.
David Compton:
Very cool. Okay everybody that’s Idelic. This is Dave Compton with the trucker news channel, back to you in the studio.
David Compton:
Well, that’s it for this edition. If you’re watching this on YouTube, make sure to click the little red subscribe button below. You can also go to the trucker.com and read the latest breaking news stories. That’s all for this edition so on behalf of myself and everybody else here at the trucker news channel, thanks for watching.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.