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Alfred E. Neuman & COVID-19

MAD Magazine came out in 1952 and, for the next 57 years, successfully lampooned just about everyone and everything in the world. The magazine’s carto...

Four Items For Your DOT Audit Checklist 

No one in trucking looks forward to a DOT audit. An auditor can cause a great deal of stress with the power to slap your company with costly fines. Mo...

7 Principles of Truck Driving Safety | AvatarFleet

Brian Fielkow presented his seven principles of safety that he has implemented at JetCo Delivery over the last 10 years to achieve a world-class safet...

3 Traits that All Driver of the Year Candidates Share

AvatarFleet proudly sponsored the Ohio Trucking Association 2015 Driver of the Year, hoping to shine a bigger spot light on Ohio's best professional d...

Ideas to Improve Truck Driver Onboarding: Part 4

Embed Safety Everyone agrees that focusing on safety has to be part of a good onboarding or orientation program. But the best ways to incorporate safe...

Ideas to Improve Truck Driver Onboarding: Part 3

Humanize Paperwork This is the third installment in a series on improving orientation for new drivers. (See Part 1 and Part 2) Getting new drivers sta...

Ideas to Improve Truck Driver Onboarding: Part 2

Think People, Not Process Last week we provided ideas how good driver orientation and on-boarding integrates the new driver into your company. It sets...

Vetting Professional Drivers in 2016

Here at AvatarFleet, we’ve often wondered how Uber and Lyft were allowed to come into existence. We’re not quite sure how they have thus far escaped t...

Are Truck Drivers Really Different?

Would you drive a truck for your fleet?

THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW: DISTRACTED DRIVING

Like most kids growing up in the sixties, I read the newspaper funnies every night with my dad after he was done with the sports section. In those day...

Benesch Named Top Law Firm in Transportation

U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers, has named AvatarFleet partner Benesch Law the top law firm in transportation law.

Treating Drivers Well Pays—Turnover Punishes

When you treat drivers well, they will appreciate it and be more likely to stay and do a good job. When you don’t, it’s a source of turnover.

Retaining Drivers Via Health Programs

In these days of driver shortage, retaining drivers is extremely important.

GOOD INTENTIONS - WRONG ASSUMPTION

The Truck Safety Coalition is arguing against the current transportation bill that would eliminate an ancient old rule that has been outdated for deca...

Truck Driving Would be a Great Job if You Got Paid

Truck Driving Would be a Great Job if You Got Paid Fleet Owner

BUILD A SUCCESSFUL TEAM IN TRUCKING

What an incredible article in Wired Magazine on the right way to build a successful team. https://www.wired.com/2015/04/hire-like-google/

Young Drivers Wanted | ATA Working to Change Age Requirements

Once again, we see the trucking industry, through its chief lobbyist, the American Trucking Associations (ATA), attempt to influence the federal gover...

RISK OF DEATH DOESN’T SEEM TO FAZE TODAY'S DRIVERS LEARN WHY

Fleet Owner

How To Find Drivers In A Tight Labor Pool

HireRight® is hosting a free webinar on this important topic on November 12th and we’re excited to be part of it. By all indications, we’re going to s...

There Are Still Self-disciplined Millennials | AvatarFleet

A talented safety professional and friend of mine, David Guess, posted an article on this month’s NATMI newsletter. He’s a smart guy, good writer, Exe...

Protect Your Company From Negligent Hiring

Two Steps to Protect Your Company From Negligent Hiring and Retention Claims

Safety begins and ends with leadership

SOMEONE GETS IT! Safety begins and ends with leadership.

Prevent tragedies by reducing or eliminating risk

Common sense might just be another term for regulations. Instead, the transportation industry could prevent tragedies by reducing or eliminating risk....

OTA Announces The Next Truck Driver of the Year | AvatarFleet

The Ohio Trucking Association recently honored the best drivers in Ohio. Lew Eaton, from Ross Transportation, was named Driver of the Year. He has two...

National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners Webinar

What does the new National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners mean to you and your drivers? Are you prepared for the launch of FMCSA’s new Nation...

Swift Kick in the Pants, Class Action Lawsuit | AvatarFleet

Swift Transportation has agreed to pay $4.4 million to settle a federal driver class action lawsuit over claims it failed to inform prospective driver...

Distracted Driving Awareness Month

April Is Distracted Driving Awareness Month

Distracted Driving PSA From A Crash Victim | AvatarFleet

Last week, I celebrated my 24th anniversary of surviving a near fatal head on collision. I suppose I could feel sorry for myself, but instead, I treat...

March Madness Comes To Trucking

By now, you've trashed your NCAA tournament bracket. And, your dreams of winning one billion Dollars of Warren Buffet’s money are toast. Millions of p...

HireRight Webinar on Transportation Employment

Our friend and partner, HireRight, has some excellent learning content scheduled for next week! Their webinar on April 9 will highlight details of dat...

TCA Annual Convention Wrap-up 2014 | AvatarFleet

In partnership with Benesch, Attorneys At Law, we recently presented, “How to Stay Legal & Avoid Risky Drivers,” at the National Truckload Carrier...

What Are Advantages of Assessments To Select CDL Drivers?

Finding good CDL drivers is very tricky. Keeping them is even trickier.

Where In the World Is Avatar Teaching Safe Driving?

Avatar is spanning the globe to make the world a better place through safe driving.

Debating Contradictory Reports on CSA Value–Trucking Tales Ep15

Are Driver Health Problems Overstated? Take the On-Line Survey

Recently there’s been a rash of articles about big rig drivers and the poor state of driver health. In addition to the physical toll on drivers, these...

No One Wins But You Don’t Have To Lose | Part 2 | AvatarFleet

Some carriers have policies that ban any applicant, including drivers, with a criminal background. Based on EEOC guidance, this can create serious leg...

ApplicantCare / HireRight Integration - Speeding Driver Hiring Process

AvatarFleet and HireRight team up to improve hiring quality and driver retention for the transportation industry. Press Release AvatarFleet has a new ...

Pushing For Mandatory Training For Ontario Truck Drivers

There is a push for Ontario government to introduce mandatory entry level training for commercial truck drivers. The Ontario Trucking Association, ins...

Santafest Benefits Children With Donated Toys From Everyone

Part of the mountain of toys donated to Summit County Children's Services at Santafest.

Highway Safety: Are We Winning the Battle?

Highway safety is improving-- or is it?

Getting A Positive Return On Driver Training

This month, CRST announced that in addition to its biggest increase in driver pay ever, it’s also spending $25 million to train drivers. That’s a huge...

Superior Selection or Excellent OTR Training?

Do you build a high performing team through superior selection or excellent OTR training? Remember the old proverb: you can teach a squirrel to fly bu...

CVSA Sponsors Brake Inspection Blitz | AvatarFleet

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the folks that bring Operation Roadcheck to you every June, is sponsoring the North America-wide Brake Inspect...

Best Professional Driving Course Ever Conceived

Professional Safe Driver Course

Fantasy Football Parallels Driver Selection

What can you learn about driver selection and CSA from fantasy football?

Lawyers Exploit CSA Data to Target Trucking--Trucking Tales Ep14

How lawyers exploit CSA and PSP data was the topic as Bright Mountain Trucking managers ate lunch at their outside picnic table.

Axing Paperwork and Unintended Consequences

Double-edged sword. Cuts both ways. Mixed blessing. Unintended consequences. These contrast-evoking expressions come to mind when I read about the int...

Final Ruling on HOS Challenges

The United States Court of Appeals ruled today that the new HOS rules will stand, with one very inconsequential exception. Short haul drivers do not h...

Nine “Reasonable” Years–Trucking Tales Ep13

The changing nature of laws and compliance is once again a topic at Bright Mountain Trucking’s monthly staff meeting.

Operation Roadcheck Begins Today

Starting June 4 and running 72 hours straight, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and its members across the United States, Canada and Mexi...

Strengthen Your On-line Presence to Win the Driver Recruiting Game: Part 2

In our last Blog, we discussed how bemoaning the circumstances arrayed against the trucking community is not very productive. What is productive is co...

HOS Changes Hard To Digest–Trucking Tales Ep12

"Look, all we gotta' do is make sure the drivers record their detention time as off-duty and the new half-hour-break thing is no big deal," said Bud.

Oil and Gas Boom: What It Means For Trucking

Recently our partners at Benesch issued a white paper entitled:

How Not To Treat Truck Driving Customers | AvatarFleet

Despite the general craziness of the world we live in, it’s always seemed that there are some givens.

Ten Safety Lessons: #10 Take a Look In the Mirror

For some carriers, to call their safety strategy “fatally flawed” is a huge complement. For some, it’s not even that good. That’s because they have no...

Ten Safety Lessons: #9 Use Root Cause Analysis

When things go wrong, what was the real cause? You can ask “Why” five times and go back to the source of the problem. That’s the type of thinking that...

Ten Safety Lessons: #8 Grasp Six Truths About Safety

Truth One Safety is freedom from risk. Accept this truth: you will never be safe. The best you will ever do is reduce risk. "Safety" is relative, not ...

Ten Safety Lessons #7: Treat Distracted Driving As a Canary in the Coal Mine

Hot topics in transportation rise and fall. One of the hottest issues for trucking companies today is how they deal with distracted driving. Distracte...

Ten Safety Lessons: #6 Make Change Management Work For You

Every executive wants to get better results. After all, better is better. Producing “better” is part of the job description. In many ways, the busines...

Ten Safety Lessons: #5 Understand Risk Compensation

In 1982 John Adams of University College, London, published a paper called The Efficacy of Seatbelt Legislation: A Comparative Study of Road Accident ...

Ten Safety Lessons: #4 Hire the Right Drivers

Safety pioneer H.W. Heinrich introduced his domino theory of accident causation in 1932 in his breakthrough paper, Industrial Accident Prevention. The...

Ten Safety Lessons: #3 Install a Safety Resource Center

You need a place for all things safety. This home makes it clear that you are serious about the durability of the safety initiative. It’s a process no...

Ten Safety Lessons: #2 Post No Bills

In the old days, a big part of communication was via posters. That’s how Billboard, the company that ranks top music hits in a plethora of categories,...

Our Business On Hold?-Trucking Tales Ep11

The deadline for finalizing yearly budgets for Bright Mountain Trucking has come and gone yet little progress has been made.

A Cosa Nostra Pundit Explains CSA–Trucking Tales Ep10

Fritz ate a late dinner with his wife, Mollie, after spending all day at a CSA conference and driving home for two hours. Watching an old Godfather re...

Great Conference – Great People

Wow! Just got back from the ATA Management Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas and it was nothing if not impressive.

Lower Standards to Meet The Driver Shortage?–Trucking Tales Ep9

Hiring and retaining drivers has become much easier for Bright Mountain Trucking since it began employing a systematic approach to hiring and retentio...

What’s Really Going On In The Trucking Business? | AvatarFleet

Change blindness is an amazing phenomenon that demonstrates our perceptual limitations. It refers to incidents in which people fail to notice seemingl...

Plumb the Depths of Youthful Brains to End Driver Shortage?

Bud was perplexed. “What does this mean: ‘Research the cognitive functioning and behavior of 18-25 years-olds that could serve as the basis for gradua...

Sorting Out Health Care Options–Trucking Tales Ep7

Belinda is presenting her findings on health care options to the management team at Bright Mountain Trucking:

CSA: Promises to Keep and Miles To Go

In our 2010 White Paper, The Perversion of Safety in the Transportation Industry, we shared a model for how government intervention causes negative ef...

Roadside Checks: One Down, One To Go

As we predicted in our post below, government roadside checks took a toll on busing companies. "Earlier this month, FMCSA and its state and local law ...

Spring: Roadside Inspection Season Blossoms

It’s Spring. And along with the colorful blooming of azaleas and rhododendrons, it’s that time of year for roadside commercial vehicle inspections to ...

Doubt Cast On Regulator's Effectiveness in Cutting Accidents

We’ve asserted all along that regulations have little if any impact on the frequency of accidents in the transportation sector. Now, researchers at We...

Tax Day Causes More Driving Accidents! | AvatarFleet

You've heard the Kinks song: "The tax mans taken all my dough And left me in my stately home Lazing on a sunny afternoon"

50,000 Motor Carriers Get CSA Warnings...And Counting

When we wrote our White Paper, "CSA 2010: Pain and Suffering", in Summer, 2010, little did we know how predictive it would be.

All of a Sudden: Success-Trucking Tales Ep6

All of a sudden, Bright Mountain’s truck driver staffing problems are getting better. Naturally, this is a prominent topic at the weekly staff meeting...

The Brainstorming Conference-Trucking Tales Ep5

“Okay, let’s review where we’re at.” Jack, head of Bright Mountain Trucking, stood beside a flip chart pad. Several more sheets torn from the pad clun...

Advice From the Presidents-Trucking Tales Ep4

Jack is anxious to get his management going after returning from his monthly Presidents’ Council meeting, a voluntary business group where improvement...

Enlightenment at Annette's Diner-Trucking Tales Ep3

Every Friday, Jack and his management team from Bright Mountain Trucking head to Annette’s for lunch. The food is always top-notch, service is fast an...

So What’s the Problem–Trucking Tales Ep2

Suffering from hiring and turnover problems with truckers, Bright Mountain Trucking has decided to dig deeper. Cary gives his report to the management...

Tractors & Trailers Doing Nothing–Trucking Tales Ep1

“We got tractors and trailers sitting around doing nothing.” Jack, head of Bright Mountain Trucking, reflected on what Fritz told him this morning. It...

Fleets Boost Retention Efforts

The age-old driver shortage has once again become a spotlight issue for the industry. Experts, and others purporting to be experts, are ramping up the...