A semi-truck in Milwaukee, Wisconsin crashed on Monday, March 26, 2012, spilling sulfuric acid on the intersection of N. 76th and (ironically)W. Good Hope Road. The HazMat team was on the scene cleaning up the spill while authorities blocked off the blocks between N. 76th and W Bradley Road.
Luckily, early reports said that the crash isn’t dangerous to local people, but precautions are being taken regardless. Traffic is being diverted until the mess is cleaned up. (more…)
Commercial truck insurance is different from normal private insurance for small passenger vehicles. It is often insured with a “Stated Amount” basis for physical damage. (more…)
Some people find choosing the right commercial truck insurance to be an extremely difficult task. The commercial truck industry is very complex and it may take some time and research to figure out what kind of coverage you need. Purchasing truck insurance requires that you be aware of the different coverage options and how they meet your individual needs.
Coverage needs will vary depending on whether the buyer is a large trucking company or an independent owner/operator. These examples are just a few of the myriad of coverage types you can find. (more…)
We’ve all been hearing about the Department of Transportation’s proposed hours-of-service (HOS) regulation changes. Quiet a bit of controversy has been stirred up over the potential impact of these new trucking regulations. How will this effect productivity, safety, etc.? What will be the impact on commercial truck insurance?
Among many significant changes, the proposal will reduce the number of hours per day and per week that a truck driver can operate. Additionally, the time it takes to load and unload the truck would now be considered as part of a driver’s limited driving hours, potential limiting productivity. (more…)
After certain trucking companies were found to be consistent violators of labor regulations, federal regulators began requiring violating companies to install GPS Truck Tracking Systems. These recorders are meant to monitor the hours that truck drivers are behind the wheel, and prevent trucking firms from fudging paper record books.
From one side, this protects truck drivers from the pressure above to lie on driving logs. On the other hand, this device protects employers against truck drivers milking the clock. Both parties can benefit from the feature to electronically record drivers’ inspections of their trucks, helping to prevent vehicle-maintenance violations. (more…)
The White House recently proposed to lift a current regulation that prevents Mexican truck drivers from traveling into the United States. Current regulations restrict trucks from Mexico from traveling more than 25 miles into U.S. borders. If a load needs to go any further than the allotted 25 miles, an American truck driver picks up the load where the truck from Mexico drops it off. Lifting this restriction would allow drivers from Mexico to finish their own deliveries into the U.S.
The proposal to open U.S. roadways to Mexican semi trucks has not come without sharp criticism, especially from the professional truck driving community and commercial truck insurance providers. One of the biggest concerns for U.S. truck drivers (and their employers) is that this will take freight loads away from them and lead to more layoffs and fewer runs. Industry wide, many U.S. drivers’ jobs are created by the loads brought through Mexico to our shared borders where our drivers then finish the load’s journey. (more…)