National Weather Service forecasts vary, but between One inch and Six inches of snow could fall across the region.

Lesser amounts predicted south of Ashland and Morehead, and greater amounts predicted in Maysville and northwest portions of the district.

District road crews spent time today getting equipment ready and are pre-treating highways where feasible, depending on local temperatures and forecasts. Many crews will begin duty at midnight tonight.

The district combats snowstorms with 75 snow plows and more than 100 crew members who work around the clock clearing snow and ice from roadways. Ample stocks of brine — a saltwater mixture used in pretreatment — and other snow-melting chemicals, including 15,200 tons of salt, are stored in each county.

Keep up with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s snow removal efforts using the online Snow & Ice Treatment Map at http://kytcgis.ky.gov/snow_ice/. You may also follow Highway District 9 online at @kytcdistrict9, or search for the districts page on Facebook. In addition, Kentucky travel information is available by dialing 511 or visiting online at www.511.ky.gov.

Road conditions are described as follows:

Motorists should check local forecasts frequently, and always use extra caution and allow plenty of travel time when driving in wintry weather. Remember, bridges and overpasses typically freeze before surface-level roadways.

Find more information about the Department of Highways District 9 activities, as well as weather forecasts, online at http://transportation.ky.gov/d9

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

Oh yea, didn’t you know about all this? It’s true, or is it? I heard they were connected directly to the TIA (Trucking Intelligence Agency).

They carry the “red phones” around with them everywhere they go. They are even in mobile units, driving around pretending to not know what they are doing, so as not to draw any attention to themselves.

They receive daily updates by “apps” to their “iPhones” where they stay connected and can talk over strategies before going on missions. They have nightly gatherings to discuss publicly their upcoming events. But on some special occasions they have other gatherings they try to throw you off with that specifically talk about the conspiracies, in code mostly. You must be a member of their group to completely understand it though.

The leaders try to throw the “Naysayers” off track with numbers of listeners they “say” they have achieved. They have spies who try and infiltrate the real organizations to “uncover these so-called” conspiracy theories, and speculations they have that the trucking industry is set up to fail you as a student truck driver. Even though thousands and thousands of brave students have gone on before.

They continuously “dream” up different things to try to get new members to join, they have years of experience to try to use to collaborate these fictional stories of scams, and abuses. They even involve pets sometimes, and make different accounts all over the internet to try to make it look as if they are really doing something.

They have gone as far as to get some International members as well. They are now operating in these known countries: Canada, Ireland, Australia and the United States. They are like virus’s the more you beat on them, the more false information they create to try and lure people back to them to join their groups.

The rest of us, who are living in reality know what this group is really after though. We all know they are just here gathering members to “call down the mother ship” to take the group back to their own planet to start up a trucking industry.

There is some real “cloak and dagger” kind of “James Bond – 007″ kind of stuff going on today in the trucking industry. Consider yourself warned, don’t fall for the lies and made up stories, and all the other BS that has come about within the last few months. Or you will end up on their mother ship being carted off to some far away planet, only to have to deal with the same old BS you have here today.

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

It had a Jake brake, but you had to work it manually, if you left it on and “Jaked” the engine down, it would kill the engine.

I drove it for about three months, pulling a thirty foot East dump trailer. The sides of the east trailer were bowed out and not straight.

The pivot pins on the back of the trailer were worn out, and the trailer on level ground would sway back and forth “looked like” a foot or so, probably an inch or so because of the sloppy holes. You had to be extremely careful when dumping a load.

Nearing the winter time, our company would do a lot of work for the Ohio Department of Transportation. We would haul “rift – raft” rock, which is a rock about the size of the palm of your hand. ODOT used it to put in washed out parts of roads that ran along creeks. The process is to dig out the washed out part, and build long wire cages in a box forms, and fill with the rock, and set it back in place. Yes, we ran a lot of two lane, sometimes one lane roads to deliver for ODOT.

I remember traveling towards Gallipolis, OH. one particular time, and it was on a Saturday. We were on RT. seven, and I had a pretty good jag on my trailer, Saturdays were almost considered a free day to haul what you wanted as far as weight was considered. The DOT enforcement officers rarely worked Saturdays. I was running with a group of drivers about six of us together, when suddenly my trailer leaned to the right and almost turned over on flat ground. The “trunnion beam” that connects the trailer wheels pivot parts from one side to the other, broke and allowed the trailer to fall down on the right side almost touching the tires.

This truck looks almost the same color and all.

Oh boy, this was going to be fun, we had to stop in the highway as there was not a pull-off close by. So, after about an hour of assessing the situation and how we were going to attempt a fix on the side of the road. One of the cars that had gone around us must have called the state police because an OSP unit pulled up that just so happened to be a DOT officer.

Great, now we were all overloaded, and all were stuck sitting on the road. This cop was going to have a field day with us. Surprisingly he asked what happened, and not for our paperwork. We explained what happened, and he told us there was a pull-off just up the road where we could go and have the trailer fixed, and more importantly open his road back up.

He offered to escort us, as we were going to have to go slowly, and we did so. We got in the parking lot, and began to work on it. The officer left and said he would swing back later if we were still here and check on us. We came up with a “quick fix” by sliding a 4×4 piece of oak on top of the broken beam, and jacking the trailer back up level, and chaining it all together. LOL, I know it sounds like trying to fix something with duct tape when you need to weld it, but we did what needed to be done to get the load off, and get it home.

We set the trailer back down on the ground, which tightened it all up, and the piece of oak was holding, it worked. Just about that time, our little buddy the cop showed back up to “Check on us”. He looked at our fix, and questioned it quite a bit, but finally agreed to allow us to continue on.

When we finally made to our destination, we had to “pile up” some rock on the side that had broken because it still was not completely level with our fix. We piled up the rock to compensate the leaning trailer, and I was able to unload and finally head for home. It took us a few days to fix it after work, but we finally replaced the broken beam, but it never entirely fixed the trailer as it must have bent something when it broke. We would have to pile the rock up on one side from then on while dumping a load on level ground.

I remember saving the life (or scaring the life out of) an Ohio State Patrol officer one time, with the Jake Brake. The old Pete, had one single exhaust stack, but it was just the hollow shell of a muffler, and boy was it loud. Also, the stack was on the right side, so if you were on that side it was even worse. I was hauling a load to a concrete plant, in Ashland, KY. and the general route was to travel up U.S. Ȕ in Ohio.

Traffic in and around Ashland, KY. gets pretty heavy at times as U.S. 52 is a four lane road part of the way. I was just outside the city of Ashland, and was in the right lane starting up a small grade loaded very heavy. At the top of this grade is an on ramp. I saw a car and the trooper starting up the ramp, and figured they would meet me at the end of the ramp, so I turned on my turn signal to get over, which BTW didn’t happen. All of a sudden the cop decided to pull the car over at the end of the ramp. Anybody who has seen an OSP unit pull someone over knows they like to nose the front of their cars out in front of traffic while making a stop.

I guess they figure this will make people get over in the other lane. Well, that only works if the other lane will allow you to move over. This cop pops open his car door without looking, I saw it happen and threw on the binders and the Jake Break, and was not slowing much. The cop realized the mistake he had made, and hurriedly jumped back in his cruiser and slammed the door, as I blew past him. It couldn’t have been more than a few inches from his car. His car was doing a lot of rocking when I went by from the wind off my truck. I am betting he had to return to his barracks and change his shorts after that.

The area we ran in, saw our fair share of “rookie cops” we must have been the training ground for them when they graduated school. I guarantee you he learned a valuable lesson that day. I will end this “episode” on that note for today.

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

“We want everyone who will be celebrating to remember that Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk,” said KOHS Division of Highway Safety Programs Director Boyd Sigler. “Please designate a sober driver before the Super Bowl party begins, and leave your car keys at home.”

In an effort to take the message directly to the public, the KOHS distributed posters to businesses statewide including liquor establishments, restaurants and bars. The poster not only promotes the use of a designated driver, but shows support for those taking on the important responsibility.

“We are asking all party hosts and bar owners to take special care of designated drivers,” said Sigler. “By making sure these drivers know how much they are appreciated, this year’s celebration will be extra special – and extra safe.”

Super Bowl Sunday is one of America’s biggest and most entertaining national sporting events as friends and families gather to socialize and watch the big game. Yet, it has also become one of the nation’s most dangerous days on the roadways due to impaired driving.

Nearly a third of all motor-vehicle fatalities in 2008 – 32 percent – occurred in crashes attributed to alcohol impairment – meaning a driver or motorcycle rider had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher, according to NHTSA research. But that rate jumped to 49 percent – nearly half – in the period of Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3 to 5:59 a.m. on Feb. 4.

If you are hosting a Super Bowl party:

If you are attending a Super Bowl party or watching at a sports bar or restaurant:

For more information, visit http://highwaysafety.ky.gov and www.Stopimpaireddriving.org.

Jack Hutchinson, program coordinator for the KOHS, places a designated driver poster at the Liquor Barn on Plaudit Place in Lexington.

Designated Driver Poster

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

It’s on page 102 if you get the magazine, but it was called ‘Old School’ by Life Member Robert Esler. Great read BTW, I love articles about how it used to be in trucking it seemed so much better in many ways, but to listen to the ‘old timers’ it’s much better today, at least the equipment is.

The article brought back some fond memories that I had tucked away from when I started driving. Most though would consider me to not be an ‘old school’ driver. But I would say I am, as when I started driving you only had to take an eight hour break, you could drive for ten hours – legally and diesel was Eighty-Five cents per gallon. And I was driving a 1975 International Cabover truck with a three-fifty Cummings engine and a nine speed transmission.

The truck pictured here is identical to the one I drove!

Picture provided by Dennis Shull on Hanks Truck Pictures thank’s Dennis

I pulled a 40 foot tandem axle Benson coal bucket, working for a local owner operator here in Kentucky. We hauled mainly anything you could put in a “dump bucket,” and be able to “dump” the load on the ground. My truck didn’t have air conditioning, unless you consider riding with the windows down, and not wearing a shirt and having a “dew rag” tied around your head to keep the sweat out of your eyes, while wearing “cut-off” shorts being A/C.

The truck didn’t have a Jake brake, or heated mirrors, the windshield wipers operated intermittently all the time because they ran off of an air supply, and it wouldn’t keep a constant flow of air, so I had automatic wiper delay. The engine was “juiced up” so much you could actually see raw fuel blowing out of the exhaust stack, and if you ever got behind me, the fumes would burn your eyes. Every load I hauled on that old truck grossed more than 40 tons, except when we hauled mulch. Mulch doesn’t weigh much, but you get one “helluva” looking load on the trailer.

I still have a scar on my right leg, from a burn I received from the shifter tower, which was metal, and set directly over the engine. The engine had so much fuel turned to it that you could actually mash the gas pedal, and watch the temperature gauge rise in neutral. Drivers back then had skill, it was called earning a living. We did what we had to do to earn a decent pay check, which BTW was sometimes a lot more than it is today. Today’s drivers most can’t relate to this- post because they never heard of some of the things I have and will talk about here.

We had one particular load that I hauled quite often, it was a load of “sorbent stone” short for “absorbent” or at least the quarry called it this because it went to a Marathon Refinery and was used in a filter. The way they made it reminded me of a “black top” plant, with the “kiln” turning as the stone went through it was heated and was very dusty, the dust was needed for the filter to work.

Anyway, if you can imagine driving this old truck, with no A/C and the windows down, pulling in under a huge building that had a vacuum recovery system that covered your trailer. It was supposed to collect all the dust. “Supposed to” being the key phrase here. This BTW, was the last load of the day because the refinery was open twenty-four hours a day and you could unload any time. Myself being hot and sticky from running like a scalded dog literally all day, would roll up under the vacuum recovery system in that building, and get completely covered in this dust.

It only took one time doing it that I figured out the vacuum recovery system didn’t do its job. From then on out I had to roll the windows up, and if you didn’t turn the heater on full blast the dust would still choke you as it came in every little crevice there was in that truck. Also, keep in mind this was a limestone rock, and lime and sweat do not mix very well. The loader operator would have to guess at how much he was putting on you because for some reason that stone varied in weight, and when loaded you would have to go to the scale, and either tarp it or go back for more or to dump some off.

That was also a load we could only haul eighty-three thousand pound gross. The refinery’s rules not ours. Once loaded and tarp-ed, we headed for the refinery, at seems like mach one speed because usually there was about fifteen or so trucks racing up the road to be first in line to unload. The refinery’s silo could only hold ten loads, and anything after had to sit and wait for them to make room. So it was very important to be in the top ten as finishers of the race. The refinery was located about seventy miles away from the quarry and about eighty miles from where I parked the truck. So, again you can realize the importance of being at least in the top ten, upon arriving.

The company we were leased to had all new equipment T-600 Ken-worth’s with Cat. engines, and shiny new East dump trailers. I could easily outrun anyone of these trucks, on flat ground. Therein lies the problem we were not in flat ground. But, usually I could hold my own. Their trucks were governed at around 75mph, mine didn’t know what a governor was. I could run pretty fast down the road, I say pretty fast because the speedometer worked about half the time, then I didn’t really know how fast I was going by looking at it either as it probably wasn’t accurate, but I could estimate it, by the tachometer and it was pretty damn fast.

In the days leading up to time to get rid of that old truck, my boss didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it. So, when the brakes “cammed over” we didn’t replace them. Time came for me to step out of that old truck into my “new” 1974 359 Peterbuilt truck we had. This was a jewel of a truck. It had a four hundred Cummings engine in it, with a number four button in the fuel pump, and two hundred and twenty pounds of rail pressure on the fuel. It had a thirteen speed transmission in it. It would blow some smoke. It had three-seventy-three rears in it, and I would imagine it could run well over one-hundred mph with forty tons on the trailer.

Some drivers would pull up beside me, and look and laugh and point making jokes on the CB radio, until we took off, and then they would wonder what was under the hood, and some instances if I was “burning Kerosene” because of all the smoke. These days, if a tractor trailer is blowing smoke, then usually a turbo went out. I am going to end this article here, but keep visiting as there will be more to come.

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

All this talk, the last few months over trucking school scams, and a show tonight endorsing a “recruiting website” I figure I would do my usual thing, and try and figure out what the heck is going on today in the trucking industry.

CDL Mill recruiters tell all the lies, and make everything sound like roses smell. They recruit a lot of people into these schools which were labeled as school scams last month.

Well, recruiting websites do the exactly same thing. They all run ads like “Company Paid CDL Training Programs!” or “Professional Job Placement for CDL Truck Drivers!” What makes them any different? I don’t see any difference’s in Cdl Mills or these websites.

You can Google trucking jobs, and thousands will come up. Every last one of them claim exactly the same things. Some can claim they won’t charge the driver anything. This maybe true, so who pays them? If the drivers are not paying them, and the “recruitment website” is claiming it can get you a job, then the company is paying them to recruit you as a driver.

I just don’t understand, how one month certain ones can scream foul, and the next month they are all for what they were against last month. Which is it? You are for this or you are against it?

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

It is very true some trainers don’t know how to train. I am not meaning they don’t know how to train you for the job, but how to go about doing the process. Some companies if you have been driving for two months you can be considered a trainer. This is usually the kinds of companies you will have problems with.

A lot of companies don’t look for “quality trainers” but look for a “quantity in trainers”. As they get so many new truck drivers, they really have no choice in the matter. As long as the driver hasn’t had any accidents, is really all they care about. The insurance companies are basically the ones that tell them who is allowed to train and who isn’t, when the driver only has two months experience. Meaning, can this driver be insured to have someone ride with them or not.

The good trainers that the industry has, usually have been driving for a long time. They have years of experience, and are really good at what they do. Very seldom will a good trainer have less than a couple of years experience driving a truck. In my experience with training new drivers at previous companies, is the hardest to train, is a driver from another company. This is what I would always tell new drivers from other companies. “Just because you have been driving before you came here does not mean you have been doing it right.”

My main experience has been in “heavy haul” with a coal bucket, and flat bed with oversize, and liquid and pneumatic tankers. There is way more to training involved in these parts of the industry than in just general freight pulling a dry van. I have never trained anyone for general freight as I didn’t pull a dry van, but maybe six months total.

For all new drivers:
My suggestion for you to be able to survive training with a male trainer, is to get rid of your attitude. Listen to everything the trainer has to say. Obviously, if the trainer tells you to do something illegal don’t, you are supposed to know the driving rules, so use your head. If you do not know how to do something tell them you don’t know how to do something. Ask questions, but don’t get annoying with them. Give the trainer some space, you are in his “house”. Don’t bring annoying “toys” on the truck with you. If you smoke and the trainer does not smoke, don’t smoke.

Don’t come on the truck “acting like” you know everything. Use common sense, if you have any and try to get along. If you feel you are not able to get along with a trainer, then try getting off the truck as soon as possible. Don’t keep putting it off, your first instinct is always your best instinct.

For new women drivers:
Same goes for you listed above, but adding to it. What I always told my daughter while she was growing up in high school, if you dress, talk, and act like a “slut”, “whore” or whatever then you will most likely be treated like one. Sorry to put it point blank to you like this, but it is true. Women like to “complain” I know I am married, don’t do a lot of complaining if the trainer ask you to do something. It’s a job not a game so be prepared to get dirty.

Obviously getting dressed with the curtain open is not normal. Use your head, statistically women are supposed to be smarter than men. But a lot of women I know have no common sense. This is by far not all that can be done, hopefully some women will read this and add their two cents in the comments.

As with any of my post/articles these are just my opinions, take them for what they are worth. If anyone has something to add that is relevant then feel free to do so in the comment section.

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

Eric Gremm, 59, was driving the truck and reportedly eating a bowl of chili, and the truck hit a bump in the road causing him to get choked, and pass out. The truck veered off the road and ran into a house Friday January 29, 2010 in Lowell, Massachusetts. There was a woman inside the house at the time of the accident, but was unhurt. The driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Yesterday a report came out that building inspectors and police checked the house and said that the safest way to remove the truck, which has been lodged inside the house since Friday, was to tear down the house around the truck. Now, they will have to tear the house down, and build one back I am sure, as it was not the house’s owners fault that the truck is sitting inside it.

Talk about an expensive bowl of chili. Wow, I hope it was some good chili too. Reports earlier said it was a bowl of chili from Wendy’s. But, it didn’t say the chili had anything to do with the accident, other than the driver got choked from eating and hit a bump in the road.

Photo by CBS

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

This happened here as well a few months ago, our “County Judge Executive” was caught speeding and drunk driving, and the county seat’s police chief was also caught drinking and driving.

The story out of Miamisburg, Ohio reads a local judge is back on the bench despite the fact he himself is facing criminal charges.

I’m sorry, but if he was caught for drinking and driving he SHOULD NOT be allowed to hand down verdicts for such crimes. If a truck driver is caught drinking and driving, he is not able to return to his job, and get a pay check. If getting caught for driving a vehicle under the influence wasn’t bad enough, this judge had an accident to boot, and tried to apologize to the victim saying he was sorry that he was going to fast.

The judge refused to do a field sobriety test and was arrested and taken to the police station where he also refused a breath analyzer test. Under Ohio law this refusal cost him his driving license for one year automatically. But on Monday, the judge was all business, on the bench. He was handling cases of traffic violations, multiple cases of underage consumption and possession and four cases of driving under the influence.

I feel this judge should have removed himself from his duties, and should not be allowed to handle cases of any traffic violations, and especially any cases of driving under the influence. I just wonder why, people above the law, that enforce the law, think they don’t need to obey the law? Bad judge!

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

So, I would like for someone to explain to me why this bill is needed so bad. If I read the bill right, it will only be for 20 million dollars per year for five years, and each state must apply for this money. I know I have heard others say, well it is a start. Must be because 20 million is not a lot of money, when it comes to construction to build parking lots.

Also, where is this money coming from? I keep seeing the ones that support this saying “No more Trucker Deaths” how is this going to stop truck drivers from being killed by random acts of violence? I’m sorry, but in the last four deaths, including Jason Rivenburg, how would this bill have helped?

All four drivers were not in a public parking places, one was at an abandoned gas station, one was on an exit ramp in California, one was in another parking place that was just a pull off according to the report in California, and one happened in broad daylight up near Chicago, along the inter state.

Yes, there is a need for more parking. I know this post will bring some mean thoughts towards me, but at this point I really don’t care. These questions need answers. Just by saying this will keep truckers from dying because of random acts of violence is preposterous at least. Yes, if parking security and upgrading parking lots with fences were applicable, and there was enough money to do it I could maybe see that it was needed.

Also, all truck drivers do not park in truck stops, Jason’s Uncle even said he didn’t like to park at truck stops that he preferred to be by himself. Seems like the conceal and carry bill would have been a better one to try and get passed. And before you “haters” turn this into a @Truckdrivernews is bashing Hope Rivenburg again-post. I want you to know I have called and talked to my Senators and Representatives all along, I’ve emailed them as well to try to get them on this bill.

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.