Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/989498
Voices 14 | Overdrive | June 2018 Will new FMCSA chief fi nd a path to improve hours of service? New Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief Ray Marti- nez, interviewed at the Mid-Amer- ica Trucking Show, seems intent on making meaningful change. In this edition of Overdrive Radio, he discusses with Overdrive News Editor James Jaillet and Truckers- News.com Editor David Hollis plans to thread a needle through diverse opinions on hours of service, the elec- tronic logging device mandate and more. The podcast includes a separate discussion among Jaillet, Hollis and Overdrive Senior Editor Todd Dills about the potential for hours change. LISTEN ON OVERDRIVE RADIO Visit OverdriveOnline.com/overdriveradio to hear all the podcasts featured here and more from our weekly series. Alternately, subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Music or other podcasting app. Trucking needs 'brotherhood virus' to come alive, spread Owner-operator Jim Bardsley believes that perhaps the best thing that could happen to trucking, from perspectives of safety and more, is the spread of what he calls the "broth- erhood virus." He envisions a return of honor to the hiring practices, follow-on training protocols and more at carriers large and small. Kentucky-based Bardsley refl ects on his long career and the seeming dorman- cy of the virus, which includes that elusive camaraderie enjoyed among too few in today's trucking world. Among other subjects, he touches on the 1980s Ford LTL9000 he's recently purchased and is looking to restore and put into operation, beginning a long wind-down into retirement. Most readers approved of the Trump admin- istration's pullout from the international agreement with Iran. It was inked by the Obama administration and intended to slow Iran's progress toward a nuclear bomb in exchange for lifting econom- ic sanctions. The nearly eight in 10 readers who either favored the move as the right thing to do or suggested more time was necessary to truly evaluate its effi cacy aligned almost di- rectly with the 80 percent of readers who told Overdrive in 2015 the original deal should have been dead on arrival in Congress, where it was approved narrowly after negotiations with Iran. Wayne Van Hooser was among such readers, noting in comments under the above poll at OverdriveOnline. com that the United States "should have never been in that deal to begin with. … I'm not saying that we don't need to rein in nuclear power from some of these rogue nations, but not with the stupid giveaway deal that Obama made. These other countries upset about the U.S. pulling out didn't seem to have anything to lose to begin with." OWNER-OPERATORS' VIEWS OF THE U.S. PULLOUT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT WITH IRAN TO RESTRICT ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS IN EXCHANGE FOR LIFTING SANCTIONS Wrong move. It will alienate allies, potentially hasten Iran's nuclear development 20% Right move. Sanctions reinstatement will spur better deal 66% Time will tell / Don't know 14% hoT BUTTons Readers endorse U.S. pullout of nuclear deal IRAN NUKES IRAN NUKES 'One-and-done' mindset shortcuts good broker relationship Don't be a "one-and-done," what brokers sometimes derisively call owner-operators with a strong sense of entitlement to high-paying freight. That was part of what Sirius XM radio host and owner-op coach Kevin Rutherford emphasized during the last of three seminars at the Mid-America Trucking Show, billed to focus on surviving (and thriving) in the fi rst year under your own authority. Rutherford has pushed the idea that an owner-operator with authority who develops good relationships with brokers could make for the most effi cient model in trucking — as long as all parties are honest with each other. While that's not always the case with brokerages, too many owner-ops, Rutherford believes, shoot themselves in the foot by viewing a freight broker they're working with as a necessary evil, something less than their central customer.