Jerry Van Emmerick, of Wheaton, Minn., has been named America’s Safest Truck Driver by The TLC Companies. Van Emmerick, who works for Lake Valley Trucking, Inc., received a $12,500 check during the annual Safety Top Dog program sponsored by The TLC Companies. Van Emmerik drives approximately 125,000 miles per year, and has been driving for Lake Valley Trucking since 1997. He qualified for the national safety award by having a clean driving recor…
MORE AND MORE trucking companies are telling drivers that it’s time to slow down. Literally. As with so much in the industry lately, the need for less speed is all about saving fuel. Schneider Truckload Services lowered cruising speeds on their 10,000 tractors from 63 mph to 60 mph. Although actual savings figures weren’t available, Dan Van Alstine, senior vice president and general manager, says the company expects to use 3.75 million gallons less fuel a year with only a three-mile…
I’VE DRIVEN close to 5 million miles. I’ll be 74 in September and still run about 3,000 miles a week. It’s been quite a ride. I guess the thing about trucks that first fascinated me was the air brakes. I loved the sound of them when I was a kid, and it stuck with me. So when I got out of the Air Force I started to ride with a guy who hauled furniture, and I would load and unload, getting paid 25 cents per hundredweight and $7 expense money. I tried and tried to get a job …
FALL WEATHER MEANS more deer accidents in many parts of the country, where October marks the start of mating season.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates there are about 1.5 million auto-deer collisions every year, resulting in more than $1.5 billion in damages nationwide. Most of these accidents happen around dawn or dusk, owing to the fact that deer are nocturnal. “You want to keep an eye out on the edges of the road, median strips and grassy areas,” says Di…
WHEN FORMER BOEING DRIVER Rick Hoy retired after 35 years on the road, he never would have pictured himself back behind the wheel just a few years later. But something happened that changed his life. “I was going to remain retired, but my best buddy Skip ended up getting diagnosed with cancer and died,” he says. “I sat around for about a year, got a little bored and heard about this from one of the other drivers at work.”What he heard was that the Cancer Institute at Swe…
