Reading Between the Lines

How many times have you passed a state trooper or other police officer dealing with a trucker or motorist stopped on the side of the road– and we are talking flashing lights, the whole works here– and you have not bothered to move one lane over, even if that lane was wide open? Well, shame on any of us who has not given that officer as much of a safety cushion as humanly possible.

For the sake of these officers doing their duty not to mention the persons they are ticketing or helping, as the case may be, please do so. And if you run a fleet, please instruct your drivers to do the same. In many states, it’s the law and it ought to be so in every state if you ask me.

Whenever possible, give them a wide enough berth to safely do their job…

Just consider this Good Samaritan story, which actually has a happy ending:

While a Pennsylvania state trooper was dealing with a motorist he pulled over for speeding, he was struck by the mirror of an SUV going by. That driver kept going and is now wanted for hit-and-run and I imagine that thwacking of a police officer is not going to sit well with any judge down the road.

Anyway, it turns out the ticketed motorist was an EMT and she got out of her car– putting herself potentially in the path of another lousy driver– and rendered assistance to the stricken trooper who wound up with a broken arm and bruised spine.

But he could have been much more severely injured if not killed. All because someone did not have the brain power to either move the hell over or at least proceed by with the utmost caution.

It was just last week that Ford Motor Co. surprised many by reporting strong first-quarter results.

Ford’s long-term strategy of emphasizing global growth was credited in large part with that performance: “We had a challenging first quarter due to market conditions and the slowing economy,” said chairman & CEO Mike Bannister according to a news release. “However, our strong underwriting and risk management practices continue to generate high-quality assets. Our global transformation begun a decade ago has laid a solid foundation to help us weather challenging business conditions.”

The only shame is that the folks in the Glass House did not see the outside world clearly enough to have started the “global transformation” long long ago, as their competitors in places like Toyota City did– long long ago.

The view from this glass house is looking up lately…

But don’t take it from me that one of our nation’s industrial powerhouses is back on track. Nope, much better to listen to gazillionaire gadfly and corporate raider extraordinaire Kirk Kerkorian. According to The New York Times this morning, Kerkorian, via his Tracinda Corp. investing arm, “had acquired a 4.7 percent stake in the Ford Motor Company and planned a $170 million cash offer for an additional 20 million shares.”

This bid of course follows Kerkorian’s earlier attempts to buy Chrysler and also attain a big enough stake in GM to influence its global course.

Ford execs, not to mention members of the still-ruling family, are perhaps less than joyful about Kerkorian’s appearance at their gates. “We welcome confidence in Ford and the progress we are making on our transformation plan,” said a statement issued by the autmaker and reported by The New York Times. “Any investor can purchase Ford shares, which are sold on the open market. The Ford team remains focused on executing our plan to transform Ford into a lean global enterprise delivering profitable growth for all.”

They might not like having crafty old Kirk trying to gain leverage on them; that is understandable. But getting that kind of attention does show that Ford’s latest “better idea” is working… and what’s bad about that?

It seems like just yesterday I was first introduced to the Modec– an electric truck headed to the U.S. from England– by a rather eccentric and yet altogether fitting indoor test drive.

The Modec gets its good looks from its mother– the London taxi cab!

I took my silent spin in a Modec back in February at the National Truck Equipment Assn. (NTEA) Work Truck Show in Atlanta and my write-up ran in our April print edition but may be read online here.

At the NTEA show, the chairman of Coventry-based Modec Limited, Jamie Lord Borwick, stated that the OEM, whose roots are in the manufacture of London’s iconic black cabs, was exploring its options but gave no definitive time frame for when it might enter the truck market here.

Yet now I hear tell from William Doelle, director of business development for the young truck maker‘s U.S. operation, that “in part owing to the favorable comments from journalists, and our winning the innovative product of the year [award] at the Work Truck Show, we have moved up our U.S. launch date… We are going to launch a select fleet of 50 Modecs– or more– in Washington DC starting in January of 2009.”

Now, upon reading that, who out there doubts the power of the press AKA the “media”? Not to mention that of NTEA awards!

Click below to see a promotional video of the truck produced for the U.K. market:

Like so many other things– good and otherwise– occurring anew in modern-day America, it’s happening first in the Golden State. Four-buck-a-gallon gasoline, that’s what.

Now, hold on, I know the rocketing cost of fuel is having a far bigger impact on truckers.

No matter how many times good scouts in the “mainstream” media, not to mention trucking advocates, point out the suffering of truckers and how the ridiculously high cost of diesel is boosting the prices all Americans pay for consumer goods, nothing will grab the attention of the Average Joe and Jane like forking over a C-Note every time they’ve gotta gas up their own four wheels. If that happens enough, may be more voters will vote this Fall and may be more voters will think long and hard about who they will vote for– this Fall and for a long, long time to come. One can hope, anyway.



This and a buck-eighty-five will get a four-wheeler filled up… and buy a cup of coffee.

We pause here for a tip ‘o the editorial eyeshade to one of those good-scout mainstream journos– NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams.

I don’t catch him every night but it seems every time lately that he has started off a broadcast on the high cost of fuel he has done so by referencing right off the bat how hard-hit truckers are and then reiterates how what they are paying for diesel impacts all of us at the grocery and every other store.

I have heard Mr. Williams described pretty much as a self-made and self-effacing regular guy out of New Jersey. The Garden State is a trucking state for sure, so may be that explains it. Or may be he drove a truck once upon a time or has some truckers in his family tree.

Whatever the provenance of his informed view of trucking, it pleases me no end that at least one member of the much maligned Fourth Estate– outside the Trucking Press Corps, that is– cannot be accused of exercising an automatic bias against trucking.



NBC’s Brian Williams: He’s not all wet about trucking.