Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85445
VOICES CHANNEL 19 Measure carrier safety by turnover Former Overdrive Trucker of the Year Henry Albert is pushing a novel idea: adding an eighth Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) based on driver turnover rates to carrier evaluations in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. Albert mentioned it during a June 20 conference call between the driver- based Trucking Solutions Group, of which Albert is a member, and Anne Ferro, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. It's an idea I'd heard before, and Albert referenced the same source: David Owen, President of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies. Owen says the lack of experienced drivers is the nation's biggest safety problem. The opposite, he says, is his small-carrier members' bread and butter: the ability to attract and retain good drivers, yielding higher safety rates. FMCSA research dating to 2003 shows a solid link between turnover and safety. Ferro's response wasn't exactly positive. She noted that FMCSA doesn't have ready access to individual carrier turnover rates and no way at present to verify the reliability of those rates. For Owen's rebuttal, plus more on a lawsuit seeking CSA review his organization is party to, see the June 28 and July 19 Channel 19 blog posts. For a rundown of other issues discussed in the TSG's call with Ferro, see the June 22 and July 3 posts. '90s pop artists 'Settle Down' on big rigs No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani and bassist Tony Kanal piloting rigs in the "Settle Down" video. Kids' book teaches life on the road Nothing screams reunification like a truck convoy, right? Ten years following No Doubt's last album, members returned in July with the "Settle Down" tune and attendant splash of a music video. It put Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal, drummer Adrian Young and guitarist Tom Dumont behind the steering wheels (not to mention on top of cab roofs) of Class 8 trucks. Directed and produced by No Doubt collaborator Sophie Muller, noted Rolling Stone, the vid is meant to depict the band as truck- ers steering "their own highly stylized rigs to a celebratory reunion party." Kanal, in a nod to his Indian heritage, pilots a Southeast Asia-style "jingle truck," while Young "has his kit fastened to the top of what Muller describes as a neon Transformer," wrote Rolling Stone's Joe Tacopino. "Overflowing with speakers is the Jamaican-flavored rig of guitarist Tom Dumont. And Gwen Stefani drives a 'proper, old-fashioned Seventies truck.'" The last looks like a Pete decked out in gaudy check- erboard graphics – and Stefani makes the critical error of looking in the side-view mirror to put on lipstick while rolling. Don't worry, though – no band members actually drove these rigs on the road. Catch it and the new track in the July 17 entry on the blog. Scan this QR with your smartphone to watch the video for No Doubt's "Settle Down." For more of the interesting and odd parts of trucking, visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' 6 | Overdrive | September 2012 The first edition in Colleen Kelly Mellor's new series of children's books, "Grandpa and the Truck," has been released. The series is drawn from bedtime stories she told her grandson and is based on her husband's time as a household-goods- carrying owner- operator. Illustrated by Asheville, N.C.-based artist Dana Irwin, Book 1 tells tales of two night runs, demonstrating in suspenseful fashion "why one should never walk into unfamiliar territory alone, at night." Mellor is quick to note the teaching possibilities in geography, historical events, nature, life lessons, math skills and more. And perhaps most importantly, kids will get schooled on "the unique bond truckers enjoy." Mellor is passionate about truck- ers' public image. These books will make a great tool toward boosting it positively. Find ordering details and more in the July 16 Channel 19 entry. CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19.