ATA Commits to Eliminating Trucker Hours Of Service

It seems that the old adage has held true… "No news is good news." In this case, it seems that almost all of the news that comes out of quite a few of the trucking news websites seems to be negative, or at best shows a glaring lack of optimism.

Between the recent hikes of oil prices (hovering at approximately $105 a barrel at last count), the unrest in Libya, and the new possibility of Portugal requiring a bailout from their recently revealed financial crisis, it's a wonder that there's anything at all besides "fluff" stories to point towards a better time. You know the type: little blurbs like the one put out by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) regarding Cheryl Wilson, of Issaquah, who recently passed a milestone in her trucking career - she's been working professionally for seven years without a single accident. While such a feat is noteworthy, and should in no way be denigrated, it's more than a little bit disappointing that more of the news that regards the trucking industry is half as inspirational.

There are some bright points to bring up, of course, such as the American Trucking Association (ATA) chairman, Barbara Windsor's recent commitment to eliminating the proposed hours of service legislation that would seriously curtail quite a few independent truckers' efforts to make a living. Their recent efforts to make the public aware of this measure has resulted in well over twenty-five thousand comments being presented for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA's) perusal. Windsor even went as far to comment that should the measure pass, "ATA is going to litigate. So we're ready to move. We believe we're right and we're going to move forward on it."

Unfortunately for the majority of truckers who just want to move on with their lives, and hopefully make a bit of profit, the possible effects of such endeavors rarely make a difference for the here and now… Trailer kingpin repair, on the other hand, is a measure that can do so. Instead of going through the time consuming, costly, and ultimately damaging process of removing a worn or broken kingpin, and re-welding a replacement onto a trailer cross-brace that may be nowhere near as sturdy as it was prior to the removal, one should be more than willing to consider refurbishing as a worthwhile alternative.

Refurbishing a worn kingpin costs a small fraction of the cost of a wholesale replacement, and is a much quicker procedure, thus saving your company both time and money.