New Jersey’s legislature and governor have taken a bad idea and made it worse.

They passed a new law requiring truckers to remove snow and ice off their vehicles, but then took out the part that provided facilities to help them do it.

What they didn’t do was deal with the reality of what they created.

Truckers climbing on top of their trucks, when that surface is at its most dangerous.

Trailer roofs unable to support a truckers’ weight, adding to the danger.

The complete lack of any reasonable or available method to accomplish this safely.

And on and on …

I hope every trucker in New Jersey will call their state representatives and let them know what kind of danger they’ve put truckers in.

They passed this law in the name of safety, out of concern that snow and ice would fly off and harm other drivers.

However, they didn’t need to endanger truckers’ safety in order to do that. Ignorance of that kind is really inexcusable, especially from the people who make our laws.

Remember, folks, they represent all the people, not just the folks who drive on four wheels.

They need to be reminded of that.

Some years back, I accompanied my car-shopping daughter on a test drive of an older model Honda.

The owner, a young man, rode in the back seat while my daughter drove and I rode shotgun.

Suddenly there were lights and a siren behind us.

We would learn later that the kid had already switched his tag to his new ride and forgot to bring it for the test drive.

We came to a quick stop, and I got out to see what was wrong.

“GET BACK IN THE CAR!!” came blaring from the state police car.

Turned out the officer was a female.

But she still scored 6 points on my “Shouldn’t be a Cop” checklist.

• Unnecessarily rude and absurdly defensive (like two kids and a dad might wrestle her Glock away and go on a tri-state crime spree.)
• Patent leather black shoes polished to such a sheen that I couldn’t look at them without putting on my Cool Ray Polaroids (which she told me to take off).
• No sense of humor. Didn’t want to hear the one about the priest, the pilot and the highway patrolman …
• No compromise. Didn’t want to hear about why the tag wasn’t on the car for this short test drive.
• No nonsense. Seemed to relish being an automaton whose vocabulary was limited to words and phrases like “your license,” “registration,” “you have 7 days to appeal this ticket,” “I am a robot,” “I am a robot”…
• No eyeballs. If there were green or blue or blood-red eyes behind those mirrored aviator shades, you could have fooled me.

Anyhow, the poor kid got a $65 ticket and we didn’t even buy the car.

The robot got back in her Galactic Cruiser and left.

I thought about sending my damning checklist to the Missouri Highway Patrol, the governor, my elected members of Congress and then-president George W. Bush.

But then I thought, who the hell’s going to put any stock in a checklist?

For some time, we’ve been bringing you letters we’ve received from U.S. soldiers who have been sent care packages courtesy of OOIDA’s Truckers for Troops effort.

Here’s another, and as with many of the others, it is addressed to OOIDA staffer Connie Becraft, who helps lead the packing of the boxes, and who stays in contact with many of the soldiers on behalf of the Association and its members.

Dear Connie,

I received your care package today, and wanted to e-mail your organization and say thank you.

I will distribute the items to my men, as they will enjoy them. It’s nice to know that you are thinking of us over here.

We are an Infantry Battalion assigned to the city of Kirkuk, Iraq. I am on a Military Transition Team (MiTT) that is responsible for the 4th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division here.

This is our second tour here in Iraq, as we were in western Baghdad last time.

Again thank you for your time, effort, concern and care packages.

Sincerely,

SFC John Trevino Jr.

The government issued a new braking standard for heavy trucks Friday, July 24, which is designed to improve stopping distance by 30 percent.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that beginning in 2011 heavy trucks going 60 miles an hour must be able to come to a complete stop in 250 feet. The current standard is 355 feet.

Land Line Now asked Rick Craig, OOIDA director of regulatory affairs, for the Association’s reaction to the rule.

“Generally we’re supportive of reducing stopping distances,” said Craig. “Obviously it’s going to have an impact on reducing crashes and so forth, but the question always remains: How much is it ultimately going to end up costing?”

Craig also discussed the technology required for the new braking standard.

“Although the manufacturers are saying they can achieve this 30 percent reduction by going to larger brake drums, others say that they could require disc brakes. And it’s probably going to require much better steering-axle brakes to achieve these reductions,” Craig said.

NHTSA thinks the new braking-distance rule will save 227 lives each year, according to a news release.

– By Reed Black, staff writer

reed_black@landlinemag.com

While many lawmakers are scrambling to raise tolls in their states as transportation budgets dry up, one lawmaker in West Virginia is telling his constituents how to avoid paying tolls.

Faced with a toll increase on Aug. 1, Republican Delegate John Shott of West Virginia has outlined a plan for drivers there to avoid those higher tolls.

Shott, who fears that toll increases will hurt businesses in Charleston by keeping away those who live nearby, presented his plan to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph on Saturday.

In his plan, he included specific directions for getting around the three main toll plazas affected by the increases. Discounts are available for those with an E-Z Pass transponder, but Shott said that many in the region may be “allergic to technology.”

Rather than buy into the E-Z Pass system, Shott says most motorists will be looking for a way around the tolls. He thinks motorists will be more willing to sacrifice time and convenience to take the longer routes than to sacrifice their hard-earned money.

The issue of hot fuel has been dropped from the agenda of the National Conference of Weights and Measures.

At a meeting this week, the group rejected making temperature compensation devices mandatory on fuel pumps and removed the issue of hot fuel from further consideration. The executive director of the Conference, Don Onwiler, says studies by agencies such as the California Energy Commission found temperature compensation at the pump wouldn’t significantly help consumers.

“The commission report states that the addition of automatic temperature compensation into the marketplace could actually cost the consumers more in price per gallon in the long run to pay for that technology and the inspection of that technology,” Onwiler said.

OOIDA has long sided with consumers who contend that hot, inflated fuel costs Americans billions of dollars each year because the fuel delivers less energy than diesel or gas at a lower temperature. OOIDA’s Tom Weakley says he’s not surprised that the weights and measures conference didn’t act on the hot fuel issue since there’s a lawsuit pending in federal court on behalf of consumers.

Weakley says hot fuel compensation at the pump would definitely save truckers and motorists a significant amount of money, and the oil industry could easily afford to install compensation equipment.

“We certainly don’t believe that it causes negative financial impact on retailers or certainly not the large world companies – not enough to impact them to even be a drop in the bucket with the kind of profits they make, “Weakley told Land Line Now. “So our stand is that it needs to be looked at. It needs to be carefully examined, and certainly I think the courts will do that.”

In April, the big retailer Costco announced plans to install temperature compensation devices on its fuel pumps in some states. That move would settle its part of the federal court lawsuit against oil companies and retailers.

– By Reed Black, staff writer

reed_black@landlinemag.com

On July 1, hard enforcement of Ontario’s speed limiter requirement began.

Part of our job since that day is monitoring the effect of that enforcement on truckers – and, in looking at the real information and date, determining whether the claims of those supporting the regulation hold water.

What we’re finding is pretty much what we expected: Those claims have little basis in reality.

A number of truckers have called to say their personal experience shows that fuel savings is not a certainty – by any means – when speed limiters are activated. In fact, some are showing percentage fuel mileage losses in the double digits.

It’s not a surprise. We knew that fuel mileage increases were kind of a myth.

That argument for speed limiters saving fuel makes sense for accountants who figure the whole thing on paper, rather than looking at the realities of trucking on the pavement.

However, we know that fuel economy in a truck has far more to do with the driver’s habits and how the truck is driven than it does with a pure numerical value on the speedometer.

I remember an interview I did years ago with OOIDA member Frank Kennedy. He talked about the habits he used to get an incredible mileage figure. It included feathering up every time he accelerated, and feathering down every time he slowed or stopped.

But it also involved something mechanical – taking the top limit off the engine. Running that setting free and open was vital, he said, to making that truck run so lean.

Another member who called – and who noted huge fuel economy losses since his speed limiter was activated – pointed out the flaws in another argument for speed limiter use, that it reduces greenhouse gases.

That claim, under examination of the facts, holds less water than any other claim they’ve made.

Let’s assume, even though we know it’s not true, that the truck uses less fuel, and therefore emits less of those gases.

Well, what about the cars? They move at a different speed than the truck, causing backups, traffic interactions, speeding up and slowing down, all of which increase their fuel consumption, and therefore their emission of greenhouse gases.

You really have to wonder – did anyone who voted for this think it through? Or were they just following the party line without questioning whether there were any facts behind this whatsoever?

It seems pretty clear to me what happened. The only thing left is to figure out if I’m mad as hell, or just sad.

This week saw a serious blow to the fight against hot fuel, as the National Conference on Weights and Measures decided to remove automatic temperature compensation for retail fuel pumps from its agenda.

In case you’ve forgotten or you came in late, here’s a brief history of how we got to this point: Hot fuel is defined as fuel that is sold at temperatures above the industry standard of 60 degrees. We’ve had records of fuel being sold as high as 90 degrees. So what’s the big deal?

Well, as it gets hotter, the fuel expands. And as it expands, it loses energy. So a gallon of fuel sold at 90 degrees will not have as much energy as one sold at 60 degrees. In other words, you’re not getting what you pay for.

OOIDA has led the fight against this for several years, pushing for automatic temperature compensation at the pumps. That is, the installation of devices which would adjust a gallon of fuel according to the temperature of the fuel, thus ensuring you would get what you pay for.

With this recent announcement about temperature compensation, that fight has suffered a major setback. What kills me, though, is statements like the one made by Natso, the trade association that represents truck stops and travel plazas across the country.

In a news release, Natso said this decision, and I quote, “maintains a level playing field for consumers.” Excuse me? On what planet is this a level playing field? Consumers aren’t getting what they pay for, and the industry is refusing to install devices that would allow that to happen. How is that level?

And if you think that definition of “level” is crazy, it gets even nuttier when you head up to Canada. There, the problem isn’t hot fuel, but rather, cold fuel. The fuel gets cooler there because of the colder temperatures, which means it contracts and you get more energy per gallon. Somehow, the fuel industry thought this was not a level playing field, because they were the ones losing money, and installed temperature compensation devices to take care of it.

Funny, isn’t it, how the playing field is only level when the fuel industry stands to benefit from it? It may look level from Natso’s point of view, but from where I sit something is very much out of whack.

We’ve been bringing you some of the thank-you notes from soldiers who received care packages as part of OOIDA’s Truckers for Troops effort. And since all of you paid for the care packages, we wanted to share some of the notes with all of you.

Here’s a recent offering, addressed to OOIDA staffer Connie Becraft.

Dear Connie,

I got a chance to talk to Sgt. Koch yesterday over Windows Messenger. He wanted me to relay to all of you a great big THANK YOU for the care package he received from OOIDA.

He had no idea it was coming. When it arrived, one of the other soldiers slipped it into his room before he returned from a mission.

He told me he did not know what to think – that someone would just send him a care package without knowing him personally. Told him that we do know him, because a lot of us truck drivers are ex-military, and we take care of our own.

It's like I told you the last time we spoke, Connie – if there ever was an organization that deserves dozens of roses, it is your group for doing this for our troops.

THANK YOU once again,

A VERY PROUD MEMBER

Kenneth Borgmeyer

The ATA and some shippers continue to push for larger, heavier trucks. And with the new highway bill being debated right now in Congress, it gives them an opportunity to bring this point up once again.

We’ve long pointed out that this is not about the environment, or fuel savings, or any of the many other reasons the ATA and others have pushed for this so long.

This is about saving labor and costs for large companies, companies that already have a number of distinct advantages over smaller operations.

But it turns out those may not be the only reason.

The ATA and their allies want to raise U.S. weight limits to 97,000 pounds. OOIDA Life Member Jeff Martin pointed out recently that roughly the same weight is the standard for truckers operating in Mexico.

Well, well … how these things crop up. It must be random chance.

Just in case you think Jeff is full of … well, something not to be mentioned here, let me run this by you.

I checked with Rick Craig, who’s director of regulatory affairs here at OOIDA. And he is right about the weight in Mexico.

Rick sent me a document that shows the weight regulation in Mexico. And sure enough, a typical tractor/trailer with 5 axles and 18 tires can weigh 96,916 pounds.

A few differences exist. For example, in Mexico, regs call for five axles. In the U.S., the 97,000-pound proposal for larger trucks shows six – even though most of our truck and trailer combos have only five.

And that’s one of the problems here.

In a time when we’re trying to save on our resources, why would we want to invalidate hundreds of thousands of existing trucks, leading to huge amounts of perfectly good tractors being trashed, and forcing truckers to update their equipment unnecessarily, just to satisfy the desire of a few larger carriers to make more money?

And on the same line of thinking, why would we make this huge change in the U.S., and then let in heavier trucks from Mexico that are known to be less safe than the existing U.S. trucks?

Again, it would save those large carriers, and some specific shippers, a bundle of money, much of which would come at the expense of truckers, who would be forced to haul the greater weight at no additional pay.

No matter how I break this down, it still doesn’t sound like a good idea. This is just one more straw on that camel’s back.

We originally did this on the show that aired on Monday, July 13, but it’s such an special case, we thought we’d hand them out again here.

We’ve got a couple of dozen ROSES to hand out today. The first dozen go to OOIDA member David Grose, who was recently diagnosed with lung and brain cancer.

David has spent a lot of his time working with the Trucker Buddy program over many years of his trucking career, and we think he deserves some recognition for that as well as our thoughts and prayers as he begins the long fight ahead of him.

The second batch of ROSES goes out to the Trucker Buddy program itself and its board members. When they heard about David, they wasted no time in setting up a fund and taking donations to help David with his medical bills and other expenses.

They say what goes around comes around and David has done a lot of work for Trucker Buddy, and it’s good to see that that work did not go unappreciated.

They teach the concept in driver’s education classes. It’s considered gospel in some other countries, such as Germany. But it’s fairly often ignored here in the good ol’ U S of A.

The concept is called “drive right.”

The idea is simple: You stay to the right unless you pass. That way, those who want to go faster can get around you, and traffic flows more freely.

Louisiana has now put the concept into law. But one trucker who called last week has found a hitch in the plan.

I-10 in some parts of the south is not in such good shape. And the worst of the two lanes is the right.

So what happens when we put all that extra traffic in that one lane? Won’t that make it worse? And why shouldn’t truckers – especially team drivers who have a person legally needing some rest in the sleeper – use that left lane occasionally so the other driver can rest?

Those are good questions, and they deserve an answer.

Honestly, I think the folks in Louisiana probably haven’t thought about it that way themselves.

It might be worth pointing out to lawmakers there that all the additional vehicles in the right lane will put even more wear and tear on that pavement – so maybe a little more TLC on those lanes would be appropriate.

Did you hear that one of the venues of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will actually be 2,400 miles away in the Flying J parking lot in Carneys Point, NJ?

That’s right.

It’s the “Truckers on Ice” competition in which the athletes see who can knock all the snow and ice off the top of a 53-foot trailer the fastest.

Here’s a sneak preview of what commentators Al Michaels and Tonya Harding will sound like as they cover the event:

Tonya: Well, Al, we couldn’t have picked a better day for the Truckers on Ice competition – it’s a blinding snowstorm!

Al: Tonya, I’d look for another 6 to 10 inches of snow to accumulate on top of the solid sheet of ice that’s already on top of these trailers.

Tonya: We should remind our viewers that each trucker is given an identical 16-foot aluminum extension ladder, a 36-inch push broom and an 8-pound pickaxe.

Then it’s all up to them.

Al: That’s right Tonya … and here comes our first Olympic competitor, team South Korea’s En Ja Rhee.

Tonya: There’s a heart-warming, gut-wrenching, tear-jerking story behind Rhee.

Al: Really?

Tonya: You betcha. He told me he’s competing for gold here in Carneys Point to honor his father, Miz Uh Rhee, who was paralyzed from the eyebrows down during the Truckers on Ice competition in Turin four years ago.

Al: Took a spill, eh?

Tonya: I’ll say. He slipped on the trailer’s ice during the freestyle broom sequence and did a swan dive onto the pavement. Ouch!

Al: Well, let’s hope the younger Rhee—who’s ready to climb the ladder with his broom in one hand and the pickaxe in the other—will escape unscathed.

We’ll be back with his performance right after this word from Plaster Wear—the world’s leading maker of full body casts.

(Fade to commercial)

The soldier and the trucker.

Most folks think of those as two separate and distinct groups.

But many, perhaps most, truckers have served in our nation’s armed forces. Certainly that’s true with OOIDA members.

In fact, whether they served or not, truckers are a patriotic lot. And over the past year, we’ve seen a lot of truckers go the extra mile to honor or even help our military overseas.

For a lot of folks behind the wheel, it can be as simple as a nice letter, a card or an e-mail.

But OOIDA Life Member Dan Toops went a step further. His card to the troops, if you can call it that, was a 3-foot-wide, 1,000-foot-long piece of paper, rolled up like butcher paper, and filled with notes and signatures from truckers and others.

I talked with the London, OH, trucker back in April about his scroll. He told me then that his effort was not only about support – it was about preventing the repetition of an old mistake.

“My nephew did two tours in Iraq, and I don’t want our military coming home like they did from Vietnam,” Toops said. “There’s no sense in that. These men and women fight for our freedom, and they need our respect and our support.”

Some of the most obvious efforts by truckers to reach out to our troops came as part of OOIDA’s Truckers for Troops Telethon.

Trucker, OOIDA member and country singer Leland Martin is donating a portion of the sales from his newest disc, also called “Truckers for Troops,” to the effort, which raises money to send care packages to our troops in combat zones overseas.

“Well, those that know me already – especially my fans out there, the drivers – know how patriotic I am,” Martin said. “I never served, because at that age, I wasn’t in very good health.

“But I was very patriotic,” he added. “My dad’s a Marine; my grandpa, he was Navy.

“As a matter of fact, a song on this album – called “Flags on a Christmas Tree” – I wrote inspired by my grandpa,” Martin said. “I was always raised to respect our flag, our elders and our soldiers, and that’s just the way I am. “

Another pair of truckers who have shown their support for our soldiers in song have put out a CD of music, much of it patriotic: OOIDA members Howard Salmon and Ron Terry.

The disc is titled “These Trucks Are Made of Gold.” It contains “The Soldiers and the Truckers,” and several pieces created around Ron Terry’s poems, including “Thanks to the Soldiers.”

Like Martin, a health problem prevented Terry from having a career in our nation’s military; instead, he spent years serving in law enforcement. But also like Martin, Terry has a lot of family who have served, and he has a strong sense of patriotism.

“My dad was in the Army,” he said. “I joined, but then – because of a fluke – after I got in there, I got injured and had to come out. Instead of … trying to get back in the military, I got into law enforcement.

“I’ve got three boys, and all three of them have been in the Army,” Terry added. “I’ve got numerous relatives, uncles on both sides, that were in the military.

Terry grew up in northwest Florida, near the edge of Eglin Air Force Base.

“I always worked around and was involved with a lot of military personnel, and just found had a real close bond with them, just appreciated them for what they were doing,” he said. “It seemed like nobody ever really paid attention to what was really being done.”

Howard Salmon’s connection to the military is even closer. Salmon served himself, and last year donated another CD of music he created to go in the care packages sent by OOIDA to troops overseas.

He talked about his military experience recently during a conversation we had – and how his memory of that, and his fondness for his fellow truckers, inspired his music.

“The soldiers never really get a thank you,” he said. “The drivers never get a thank you.

He remembered one song on the disc he wrote after watching some children playing in a corn field. The image made him think of how different the soldiers’ environment is from that.

“I got to thinking about it; our troops are over in the sand,” he said. “And I said, you know, I’ve gotta write something here.”

“It just brings to heart what I remember, being in the military, and as a driver now,” Salmon added. “I put this song together and it worked out really well; it’s just an all-around beautiful song that I’m proud of.”

Helping out truckers as well

In an earlier interview, Terry agreed with that sentiment, saying he and Howard wanted to, in his words, “put out a project that would be something to be proud of, that would benefit other people.”

In fact, that was the very purpose of the CD. Howard and Ron created the disc with the intention of donating some of them to go in the care packages that are sent to U.S. troops overseas.

But they also had something else in mind. The pair both believe strongly in supporting their fellow truckers.

Howard and Ron have provided 90 of the discs for OOIDA to offer on the air through Land Line Now.

Those discs will go to the first 90 people who call our special member offer line and join OOIDA for the reduced referral rate of $25.

You can take advantage of Howard and Ron’s offer by calling the member offer line, 1-800-324-6856, and pressing the number 3.

Leave your name, and a phone number where we can reach you. Our membership department will call you back during business hours. The offer is open only to new, first-time members.

Meanwhile, if you want more information about Howard and Ron’s music, just go to HowardSalmonMusic.com on the Web. And you can find out about Leland Martin’s Truckers for Troops benefit at his site, LelandMartin.com.

By Mark H. Reddig, host
Land Line Now

Land Line Now Senior Correspondent Terry Scruton contributed to this report.

Wyoming says it needs more capacity on Interstate 80. But do they really?

At least one trucker who regularly runs that road said no. And the answer to that question isn’t just an exercise in examining state decision making.

The state wants to expand I-80 in Wyoming and use tolls to pay the cost.

Well, let’s examine that trucker’s point: If more capacity is not needed, why build it?

What’s more, isn’t the state getting fuel tax on those miles? Well, of course they are. And those fuel taxes are supposed to be used to build and maintain highways.

We make an exception for new highways, using tolls there to get them built in some cases. But even in those cases, after the cost of construction is paid, the tolls are supposed to come off.

Of course they rarely do.

And that means everyone on that road is getting taxed twice – once at the pump, again at the tollbooth.

Well, why are we looking at taxing people twice to build an extra lane on a highway that likely doesn’t need the capacity?

Once again, I think that trucker raised a good question.

I wonder if anyone in the Wyoming state government cares to answer?

For some time, we’ve been covering the activities of the FMCSA’s Medical Review Board.

The group has made quite a name for itself … although I’m pretty sure it’s not a name we can say on a family program.

Its proposals and discussions on the topic of sleep apnea have especially gained truckers’ distrust and, sometimes, anger.

But as always, the key to change is getting truckers involved.

A trucker and OOIDA Life Member recently called to remind us of one of the best ways to do that: Calling and writing members of Congress, and the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, who will have say over who gets nominated to the Medical Review Board.

That trucker also pointed out that medical review boards covering other industries, such as airlines, have doctors on those boards who are experienced experts in treating folks in that industry.

That’s not true with the FMCSA’s Medical Review Board. As far as we know, only one doctor experienced with actually treating truckers was nominated, and he did not receive a seat on the board.

It’s especially telling right now that so many people involved in the Medical Review Board are linked to the sleep science industry, and surprise, surprise, their plans all seem to revolve around high-cost tests for sleep related problems. Wow, how did that happen? It must be coincidence.

Perhaps if we could get Transportation Secretary LaHood or Congress to appoint some trucking-savvy doctors to the board, we might actually get something that would really improve truckers’ health.

It’s a worthy effort, and I strongly encourage everyone listening to write those letters, and to call their members of Congress as well.

To get a fax number – the best way to get a written letter in Mr. LaHood’s hands, or the hands of your member of Congress – just call the Membership Department here at OOIDA at 1-800-444-5791.

And to call your member of the House or either or your U.S. Senators, just dial the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

A radio station in Kansas City, Missouri, recently started a series that used a bad phrase in a good way – the series is called “don’t quit your day job.”

Here’s the idea: That phrase – “don’t quit your day job” – is often used as kind of an insult. It’s a way of saying, you’re not very good at this, so you better keep whatever other way you have to make a living.

What that radio station has discovered instead, is that many artists – singers, guitarists, painters or whatever – who are very good at what they do use that other job for inspiration. It’s not a sign that they’re not good; it’s a big part of what they do; it inspires them.

Perhaps nowhere is that more true than in that unusual little niche we call “truckers’ music.”

Countless country artists over the years, going back to Red Sovine and the Sons of the Pioneers, all the way up to artists such as Aaron Tippin, have sung and played music inspired by the folks behind the wheel.

In a way, the trucker has replaced the cowboy as a symbol of American independence in those songs.

We’ve heard a lot of those singers and other musicians here at OOIDA. And two of the latest are Howard Salmon and Ron Terry – both truckers, both OOIDA members, and both of whom worked on a recent CD titled, “These Trucks Are Made of Gold.”

That song you were listening to just a moment ago was “I Ain’t Gonna Do It Again” – one of the 12 tracks off that very CD.

Howard Salmon has been a trucker since he left the U.S. Air Force in late 1984, and has been on his own authority for 15 years now.

While he was still in the military, Salmon became interested in music.

“This has been a dream of mine, doing music, for quite some time, and these are the songs I’ve written,” Salmon said. “I wanted to get them out finally, so what better time to do it than now.”

Ron Terry ended up Howard’s partner on the CD. But he arrived at that destination from a very different path.

Ron started in trucking, and thought at one point about the military. But he worked instead in law enforcement, eventually racking up 17 years of service in that field before returning to the wheel of a truck, where he’s been for nine years.

During the long runs, Ron started a hobby of writing poems. And some of those ended up being songs on the CD.

Ron Terry wanted an outlet for those poems, but he says that more than anything, it was the chance to work with a good friend that made the idea of putting out a CD sound so good.

“You know Howard,” Terry said. “We met through the XM Radio really, talked over the phone some, and found out we had a lot of common interests, and things that we agreed on, and things that we believed in.

“We were sitting somewhere one day talking, and we were talking about that we needed to combine our forces to put out a project that would be something to be proud of, that would benefit other people,” he added. “With that in mind, we started thinking and working on putting together a project that we could both work on.

“It’s just been a lot of fun, and a lot of enjoyment getting it put together. And everything we hoped for, I think, has come to pass in this.”

“Something that would benefit other people”

Ron said that he and Howard wanted to, in his words, something “that would benefit other people.”

In fact, that was the very purpose of the CD. Howard and Ron created the disc with the intention of donating some of them to go in the care packages that are sent to U.S. troops overseas

But they also had something else in mind. The pair both believe strongly in supporting their fellow truckers.

Howard and Ron have provided 90 of the discs for OOIDA to offer on the air through Land Line Now.

Those discs will go to the first 90 people who call our special member offer line and join OOIDA for the reduced referral rate of $25.

You can take advantage of Howard and Ron’s offer by calling the member offer line, 1-800-324-6856, and pressing the number 3.

Leave your name, and a phone number where we can reach you. Our membership department will call you back during business hours.

The offer is open only to new, first-time members.

--By Mark Reddig, host

Land Line Now

Although the Tennessee Highway Patrol denies it, a Nashville TV station is reporting that state troopers appear to have a quota system for issuing tickets.

News Channel 5 cites a memo that was posted at patrol headquarters, which warned troopers that the number of tickets they write will influence their evaluations and that “low activity is a killer.”

The memo said troopers who write 600 citations per year are assigned a grade of 3, while those writing 800 tickets are awarded a 5 when it comes to evaluations.

It also warns troopers that if they don’t write more than the average number of tickets, they won’t be able to work for overtime pay in one county.

– from Land Line Now

What’s the problem with the highway trust fund? After the second time in as many years that we’ve heard it’s going broke, you must be asking that question.

We heard first it was a drop in fuel tax revenue. But then we found out that it was a drop in taxes paid on truck and trailer sales.

Let me throw out another idea. It’s not about the money coming in. It’s about how and where the money comes out.

What about so-called transportation enhancements – the money used for museums, street beautification, and so on. Ten percent of your highway dollars have gone to that for years, plus interest.

And let’s not forget mass transit.

The government loves talking about so-called user fees, where those who use a service pay for it. Yet they have one of the oldest user fees anywhere in the fuel tax, and then they use the money for other things, like mass transit. How about a user fee there? Let the bus riders pay for the bus.

And there’s more. All the federal agencies related to highways are now paid for by the fund, whereas they used to be paid for out of the general fund, which is how the system was designed.

The highway fund is supposed to pay for pavement, not thousands of bureaucrats. Again, use the money for what it is intended for.

Now, if we do want to discuss revenue, fine.

First, the economy’s in the sewer, and when no one buys trucks, no truck sales tax is paid. Duh.

Then we can talk fuel tax. The federal fuel tax, the one that goes into the highway trust fund, hasn’t been raised in years. The last hike in the federal tax was in 1993 – 16 years ago.

OOIDA strongly believes that our highways should be paid for out of fuel taxes, but before that sucker is ever raised, we want to see them spend what they have now responsibly.

As far as I’m concerned, they aren’t being responsible with that money now. And until they do, all this discussion about revenue is just one more case of hitting the wrong target.

Anyone who’s listened to this program for any length of time has little doubt about where we stand on the Indiana Toll Road.

Some years back, the state essentially sold the toll road to a private company, a company based overseas.

I say “essentially sold,” because technically it’s a lease. A lease that’s longer than a human lifetime, but nonetheless a lease. A lease so long that the governor who will preside over the end of the lease likely won’t be born for another 30 years – but hey, technically, it’s a lease.

In the meanwhile, during the term of this lifetime-length lease, the private company collects the ever-increasing tolls. And they’re supposed to use some of that money to maintain the road.

Well, guess what? Just what we thought would happen in this case, did.

We hear from one caller after another who says the road is in terrible shape.

A couple of points about that: First, I don’t blame the state workers of Indiana – they don’t maintain the road anymore, so we can’t blame them.

And second, I don’t blame the citizens of Indiana. I’m not sure I agree with who they chose for governor, but I’m sure they wouldn’t agree with some of my picks. And fair is far.

Third, some folks say that the detractors’ assessment is wrong, that the toll road is just fine. But for every one of those calls, I get 10, 15 or 20 who say that the quality of the toll road has dropped significantly. The information they give me is specific and consistent.

All that being said, here is my point:

This is the problem with highway privatization.

The tolls on the road were supposed to pay for the road’s original construction costs.

Then the state said they needed them to maintain it. And for years, tolls didn’t go up.

Now we have a private company running the thing – a private company that can spend those tolls anywhere and for anything they want.

A good percentage goes to the stockholders of that company, or for issues and costs far from Indiana’s borders.

And that means that even though everyone on that road is paying more money to run it, less money is available to fix the highway.

I’m a big believer in private business. I think it is one of the things that’s made America great. But I also know from observing that while private business is good at many, many things, government does other things better.

The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are and should be part of our government. I want the government to enforce our laws. And I want them to run our highways, because in every case that a private company has run a highway – and we have many of those cases now – it has done a far worse job than government, and for a far higher cost.

Seeing that become more common is sad. But even more sad is hearing that this once-great highway is falling apart.