Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/978209
Voices 10 | Overdrive | May 2018 The 800-pound gorilla still in need of a few good lumpers | Weeks back, when they booked a load going from one Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas to another in Edwardsville, Illinois, husband-wife team owner-operators Gary and Ondena Caraway had some indications all would not be well for the couple's van trailer on the other end. Problem is, they missed some of the fi ne print on the load listing that 12 to 48 hours would be required for unload. That 48 hours turned into eight days. Lesson learned with respect to reading the contract, but "what is one to do when someone or a big business" essentially "hijacks your equipment?" Gary asks. LISTEN ON OVERDRIVE RADIO Visit OverdriveOnline.com/overdriveradio to hear both podcasts featured here and more from our weekly series. Alternately, subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Music or other podcasting app. Value of squeaky-wheels advocacy | Why do so many small fl eets and owner-ops feel as if regulators' targets are on their backs? Washing- ton State-based owner-operator Tilden Curl spoke with Overdrive following emotional mayhem that erupted during an hours of service seminar at the Mid-America Trucking Show in late March. In his view, it's clearly time to ease the pres- sures on small trucking businesses. That would include changes in parking, hours, electronic logging devices and large carriers' self-insurance "privilege." Change will occur only with a "unifi ed, large, loud voice" that counterbalances the "constitu- ency of the dollar" that has seemed to dominate trucking regulations for so long. Back in 2012, in the wake of the massacre of elementary school students by a suicidal young man in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, just 9 percent of readers favored any new restriction on fi rearms purchas- ing and/or ownership. About an equal share of readers believed fewer restrictions were in order (45 percent) as supported maintaining the status quo with adequate enforcement (46 percent). How things have changed since then, following a succession of mass killings that have included last year's dramatic slayings in Las Vegas and the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 died and another 17 were injured. As that shooting started a wave of student-led demonstrations around the nation, more than a third of Overdrive readers signaled agree- ment that it was time for at least some change in gun-purchase restrictions. A ban on bump-stock kits, which can convert single-fi re rifl es into machine-like guns, and a rise in the minimum purchase age for long guns to 21 were two options suggested by President Trump. Some states have moved in the wake of the Parkland massacre, yet the gas seems to have fallen out of the issue in Congress as the news cycle ping-pongs between shiny objects. As the issue began to fade in the na- tional conversation in April, the largest share of readers agreed with another who noted, in comments under the poll, that "we don't need more 'gun control' regulations or restrictions. Adequate enforcement of the existing rules and regulations – including incarceration of the ne'er-do-wells who steal guns or use them for illegal activities – would reduce the [death] tally by a lot." STANCE ON FIREARMS PURCHASING RESTRICTIONS Ban bump-stock-type kits 4% Raise minimum purchase age for assault rifles to 21 5% Both of the above 21% More restriction overall 9% Adequate enforcement of existing law 48% Less restriction overall 9% More restriction needed 39% Other 4% HoT BUTToNs Readers more open to gun restrictions GUN CONTROL GUN CONTROL Back in 2012, in the wake of the massacre Readers more open to gun restrictions GUN GUN GUN GUN GUN GUN GUN GUN GUN GUN GUN CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL While the largest share of readers favors preserving the status quo on firearms purchas- ing in a new Overdrive poll, more than one reader in the "Other" column pointed to the consideration of mental health when it comes to gun ownership as potentially paying real dividends in eliminating mass-shooting episodes.