The words you are searching are inside this book. To get more targeted content, please make full-text search by clicking here.
Discover the best professional documents and content resources in AnyFlip Document Base.
Search
Published by Arkansas Trucking Report, 2017-05-11 16:14:39

Arkansas Trucking Report Volume 22. Issue 2

ATR 2 2017 web

Award-Winning Magazine of the Arkansas Trucking Association Vol. 22 • Issue 2 2017 • $4.95

85

YEARS

And Counting

Platoonin g ❘ TORT REFORM ❘ CYBERSECURITY ❘ IRP IMPROVES

Aon Risk Solutions

EINMNOPVOAWTIEORN
Focus on the Future
Aon’s industry-leading data and analytics will help advance your
transportation and logistics solutions in today’s complex risk environment.
Contact our CEO and National Transportation & Logistics Practice
Leader Mark Brockinton at [email protected]

Risk. Reinsurance. Human Resources.

Congratulations,
Arkansas Trucking
Association,

ON

85 YEARS.

From one STEPHENS WAS FOUNDED IN 1933, one year after the Arkansas Trucking
proud Association. We’ve both grown along with our great state. Today, we serve as
Arkansas financial advisor to the best trucking companies in Arkansas — the best trucking
business companies, anywhere.
to another.
As an independent financial services firm, Stephens has the perspective needed
to focus on what really matters: the success of our clients. That’s why our clients
have counted on our advice and insights for more than eight decades.

STEPHENS INC. • MEMBER NYSE, SIPC • 800-643-9691 @Stephens_Inc STEPHENS.COM

3S5trYoeanrgs

RUSSELLVILLE, AR PINE BLUFF, AR LOWELL, AR LITTLE ROCK, AR
(888) 806-6149 (888) 804-8124 (888) 706-6119 (888) 827-2499
807 S. Bloomington
143 State Rd. 331 North 4325 Highway 65 South Lowell, AR 72745 11401 Diamond Drive
Russellville, AR 72802 Pine Bluff, AR 71602 N. Little Rock, AR 72117

www.summittruckgroup.com

FEATURES IN THIS ISSUE
VOLUME 22 - ISSUE 2 2017
COVER STORY
85 YEARS AND COUNTING 30

An oral history of Arkansas Trucklore
By Bethany May

CAPITOL WATCH
WHY DOES ARKANSAS NEED TORT REFORM? 19

Arguments for improving the state legal system
By Dan Greenburg & Marc Kilmer

WALKING THE TALK 23

Young driver Chris Rose models what it’s like
to find a fulfilling career in trucking
By Lacey Thacker

HARD WORK PAYS OFF 45

State IRP system will go modern
By Steve Brawner

COMING SOON: A CHANCE TO PLATOON 47

Vehicle-to-vehicle communications are headed to Arkansas
and offer big fuel savings for trucking
By Steve Brawner

TRADE SECRETS
CYBER SIEGE MENTALITY 51

Mitigating the risks associated with cybersecurity
By Angela Thomas

SCENE AROUND COVER ART BY ADAM PETERSON
ARKANSAS ROAD TEAM MAKES 50TH APPEARANCE 28 5

By ATR Staff

DEPARTMENTS

Up Front: by Shannon Newton 7
They Said It 9
News in Brief 11
Calendar of Events 14
New Members 16
Insider Trucking 54
Stat View 56
Advertiser Resource Index 57
The Last Word: by Butch Rice 58

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017



Award-Winning Magazine of the Arkansas Trucking Association UP FRONT

Arkansas Trucking Report is owned by the Arkansas Trucking Association, EIGHTY-FIVE CANDLES
Inc. and is published bimonthly. For additional copies, to order reprints
of individual articles or to become a subscriber to ATR, contact Caitlin I wish I could put 85 candles on a cake and pass out slices frosted with chocolate
Walraven at 501.372.3462. and sprinkles to all of you because this is a big deal. As we prepare to celebrate
the trucking association’s milestone anniversary, I can’t help but reflect on how
executive editor amazing it is that our organization has been around for eight and a half decades.
SHANNON NEWTON
Every day, we read about another industry on the verge of extinction. Progress
managing editor comes along and renders someone’s job or even an entire industry obsolete. It
BETHANY MAY makes the world better, safer, faster, more inclusive, but at the cost of careers,
people who built their livelihood and identity around operating switchboards,
contributing writers mining coal, building shopping malls, delivering milk to neighborhood porches
or renting out the latest blockbuster movies.
STEVE BRAWNER LACEY THACKER
[email protected] [email protected]

JENNIFER BARNETT REED ANGELA THOMAS
[email protected] [email protected]

JIM HARRIS TODD TRAUB
[email protected] [email protected]

RENEE MILLER
[email protected]

art director
JON D. KENNEDY
The Freelance Co. LLC, [email protected]
production editors
SARAH SHEETS, KATIE THOMASON, DAVID O’NEAL

illustrator
BRENT BENNETT
[email protected]
photographers
JON D. KENNEDY, JOHN DAVID PITTMAN

www.arkansastrucking.com Over the past eighty-five years, trucking has undergone its fair share of change.
The kind of changes that disrupt the way things were always done — the national
president highway system; deregulation; routing pickups, logging hours and billing
SHANNON SAMPLES NEWTON customers by computer rather than by paper; machinery that promises to be
[email protected]

director of operations
SARAH NEWMAN SHEETS
[email protected]

director of safety services cleaner and safer than the previous models but costs twice as much. These
DAVID O’NEAL changes can undo one man’s business and make the career of his competition.

[email protected] The disruptions of the past can’t even compare to the ones to come in the next
communications coordinator 10–20 years, but I still believe we’ll be here. We won’t go the way of milkmen
BETHANY MAY

[email protected]
business development coordinator

AMANDA LAMB
[email protected]

corporate services coordinator or VHS. We’ll have a bigger cake with even more candles, telling even more
KATIE THOMASON stories, because we adapt. Because our organization navigates challenges and
pursues what is good for the whole. We get out ahead of technology and make
[email protected]
executive assistant
CAITLIN WALRAVEN

[email protected]

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD progress work in your favor. We anticipate the ways customers’ expectations are
G.E. “BUTCH” RICE III changing, the way machines and the environment are shaping how we operate.
The vision and purpose that unite us will continue to do so in the years ahead.
Stallion Transportation Group
President & CEO

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MARR LYNN BEARDEN MARK MORRIS In this issue, we celebrate recent accomplishments (improving the IRP process,
Marrlin Transit, Inc. Morris Transportation, Inc. reforming tort law for a better business environment, recruiting a new generation

President President
ALLEN BERRY PAT REED
Central States Manufacturing, Inc. FedEx Freight
Transportation Director Executive Vice President & COO

CARL BOJA TRACY ROSSER of drivers and technicians to the field, embracing technology), but we also reflect
TravelCenters of America Walmart Transportation on where we have already been in our cover story, “85 Years and Counting,” by
Vice President Fleet Sales Senior Vice President curating the oral histories of people who have trucking in their blood.

GREG CARMAN WAYNE SMITH Though the association has been and continues to be the collective voice of
Carman, Inc. Wayne Smith Trucking, Inc. many different kinds of companies with varied priorities from communities
around the state, I’m overtaken with sonder, the acute awareness that each of
President President
DAN CUSHMAN VICKI JONES STEPHENS
P.A.M. Transportation Services, Inc.
President & CEO C.C. Jones, Inc.
CRAIG HARPER President
J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.
Executive Vice President & COO MARTIN TEWARI
AL HERINGER IV USA Truck
Star Transportation, Inc.
Vice President President - Trucking
TIM THORNE
ABF Freight

President & CEO

JEFF LOGGINS TODD VENABLE your epic stories that make up the history of Arkansas trucking is vivid and
Loggins Logistics, Inc. MHC Kenworth of Little Rock complex with protagonists, villains, allies, complications, cliffhangers, thrilling
beginnings and both victorious and tragic endings.
President & CEO Branch Manager
ROB LYALL DOUG VOSS ATA represents all of you — an impossible task that we strive toward every day.

Tyson Foods, Inc. University of Central Arkansas
Vice President - Transportation Associate Professor of Logistics

Distribution STEVE WILLIAMS
MIKE MCNUTT Maverick USA
Distribution Solutions, Inc. Chairman & CEO
CEO, Owner

An affiliate of the American Trucking All of your stories are embedded in our history, and we will carry them into
Associations
our future.
Arkansas Trucking Association (ATA) is an Arkansas corporation of trucking
companies, private carrier fleets and businesses which serve or supply the
trucking industry. ATA serves these companies as a governmental affairs
representative before legislative, regulatory and executive branches of
government on issues that affect the trucking industry. The organization also
provides public relations services, workers’ compensation insurance, operational
services and serves as a forum for industry meetings and membership relations.
For information, contact ATA at:
1401 West Capitol, Suite 185
Post Office Box 3476 (72203)
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Drivers Legal Plan Shannon Newton
Phone 501.372.3462 Fax 501.376.1810 President, Arkansas Trucking Association
www.arkansastrucking.com

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - IsDsruiveer2s L2e0g1a7l P lan 7



THEY SAID IT

“We’re here to solve problems,
not just run for re-election.”

—State Rep. Dan Douglas (R-Ark. 91st District), sponsor of a failed bill to give Arkansas
voters the opportunity to raise $200 million annually through a 6.5% sales tax increase on
wholesale diesel and gasoline for a 20-year bond that could be used to fund state highways

For various reasons many businesses do not have Because of the economic and social
a strong representative association like we have in significance of transportation, how
the Arkansas Trucking Association. Here we defend should National Transportation Week
ourselves, including our employees, against an (May 16-22) be celebrated here
army of well-meaning do-gooders who would force in Arkansas? Each of us should tell
feed us programs that would make our industry our neighbors about the economic
less efficient and less safe. significance of transportation and how

—Sheridan Garrison, late founder of American Freightways (later it impacts our economy.
known as FedEx Freight), commenting on the value of a strong
association in May 2002 —Dr. Grant Davis, former Orren Harris Professor of
Transportation at the University of Arkansas, urges
citizens to recognize and appreciate transportation in
1976

“Americans may some day travel across the country on rolling roads—super conveyer belts powered
by the energy of the sun …for one thing, many of science fiction’s seemingly impossible predictions
have already come true: the splitting of atoms, the hydrogen bomb, rockets climbing beyond Earth’s

atmosphere, guided missiles, robot brains—even television.”

—Roy Fruehauf, late president of the Fruehauf Trailer Company, makes a prediction about future infrastructure in 1954

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 “I want to challenge them to help the
rest of our country understand this
new phase of technology that they

love. They’re on the cutting edge, but
we’re just making a lot of the people,
the rest of the country, very ANXIOUS.”

—Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s advice to
Silicon Valley on new developments, including self-
driving cars and the expanding use of drones

9



NEWS IN BRIEF

TRUCKERS FIGHT TRAFFICKING quiz, said Kylla Lanier, deputy director drivers sued Maine-based Oakhurst
IN ARKANSAS of Truckers Against Trafficking, based in Dairy for $10 million in overtime pay.
Englewood, Colo. Oakhurst Dairy cited a Maine law that
On April 18, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said that certain jobs are exempt from
signed into law a bill that will require CDLs must be renewed every four overtime pay. Oakhurst Dairy won that
truck drivers to complete training on years, but the training will only be lawsuit.
recognizing the signs of human traf- required once.
ficking before obtaining their commer- The truck drivers took the case to
cial drivers license. Arkansas is the first Though Arkansas is the first state the United States Court of Appeals, dis-
state to pass this kind of legislation. to pass this kind of legislation, Kansas, puting the tasks for which they should
Texas and Ohio are pursuing similar have received overtime compensation.
With the support of the Arkansas measures. In the Maine law, the tasks exempted
Trucking Association, the bill was spon- from overtime pay are listed with each
sored by Rep. Charlotte Douglas (R-75th Arkansas Trucking Association task separated by commas.
District) and co-sponsored by Sen. partnered with Truckers Against
Linda Collins Smith (R-19th District). Trafficking in 2015 and has encouraged 
its members to voluntary train employ-
“The fact is that those places that ees to know the red flags of human
[human traffickers] utilize to pimp or trafficking and how to respond when
put out the young people are places that they believe someone may be in danger.
are frequented by truck drivers, and
95 percent of the truck drivers want to EVEN IN TRUCKING,
do the right thing,” Shannon Newton, PUNCTUATION MATTERS
president of the Arkansas Trucking
Association, said after a news confer- A recent court decision came down
ence at the state Capitol. “They want to to a missing comma when a Maine
help out. They want to know what to do court sided with a group of dairy truck
if they see something that looks suspi- drivers in a dispute on overtime pay.
cious.”
In May 2014, a group of dairy truck
Once the law goes into effect
later this year, the course will be
administered by the Arkansas State
Police or a state police-approved third
party. Drivers can also complete an
online certification course offered by
Truckers Against Trafficking. Evidence
of completion will be given to the
state Department of Finance and
Administration.

The free online course includes
a 26-minute video and a 15-question

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 11

NEWS IN BRIEF,

Continued from page 11

“Specifically, Exemption F states allowing voters to approve the state and/or rebating the sales and use taxes
that the protection of the overtime law Highway Commission issuing bonds for the state Highway and Transportation
does not apply to: 20 years and paying those bonds with Department pays for construction
a 6.5 percent sales tax increase on the materials.
The canning, processing, preserv- wholesale price of gasoline and diesel.
ing, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, With the proposal’s defeat and
packing for shipment or distribution of: “I’m not coming here today to few funding options left, Douglas said,
ask you all to raise the revenue,” Rep. “Instead of improving our highway sys-
(1) Agricultural produce Douglas said before the vote. “I’m com- tem, we will have to just manage the
(2) Meat and fish products; and ing here today to ask you all to let the decline of our highway system.”
(3) Perishable foods.” citizens of the state of Arkansas decide
Oakhurst Dairy said that the law if this is the way they want to fund J.B. HUNT INVESTS $2.7
meant the “packing for shipment” and their highway system.” MILLION IN INNOVATION
“distribution” were two separate jobs —
making the truck drivers ineligible for Gov. Asa Hutchinson supported CENTER AT UA
overtime pay. the legislation, but the measures faced
However, Judge David J. Barron opposition from conservative groups J.B. Hunt Transport Services
ultimately found that the language of who objected to the tax increase. announced a $2.75 million investment
the “Exemption F” portion of the law They argued that backing a highway in the University of Arkansas to cre-
was too ambiguous without the Oxford funding plan that is paid for with a tax ate the J.B. Hunt Innovation Center of
comma (punctuation that grammar increase, even if the voters themselves Excellence. The center will be a collab-
nerds know as the comma between the get to approve the proposal, is the same orative effort between the company, the
last two items in a list), so he sided as raising taxes, which many GOP College of Engineering and the Sam M.
with the truckers. lawmakers promised voters they would Walton College of Business to advance
Barron ruled that without an not do. supply chain management efficiency
Oxford comma after “shipment”, the through technology.
actions of packing for shipment and Rep. Andy Mayberry (R-27th District)
distribution were considered all one job. said, “I believe that when we send this “This grant will have an incredible
Because the truckers delivered the prod- out, it provides a tacit endorsement from impact on the university and further
ucts but were not involved in the pack- this legislative body that we think this is solidify our stature as an innova-
aging of those products per shipment, the right thing to do and we think this is tive leader in supply chain manage-
they were not covered by the exemption. the best way to go.” ment,” Provost Jim Coleman said.
Judge Barron wrote in his decision, “Interdisciplinary research projects are a
“For want of a comma, we have this Americans for Prosperity said major focus of ours, and this particular
case.” the proposal would a hit a state that collaboration between industry, faculty
For the record, the Arkansas is overtaxed as it is. David Ray, the and students is a great example of the
Trucking Report does not use the Oxford group’s Arkansas director, said the state type of research we continue to pursue.”
comma unless the meaning of the should look at ways to tap into or bet-
sentence is unclear without it. Maine ter manage existing revenue sources,
lawmakers may want to adopt such a including transferring tax revenue
policy. from auto-related sales to highways

ARK. VOTERS WON’T DECIDE ON
FUEL TAX INCREASE OR OTHER
HIGHWAY FUNDING IN 2018

A proposal to put highway fund-
ing measures on the Arkansas ballot in
2018 failed to get a majority (51 votes)
in the House when a group challenged
the proposal’s inclusion of a fuel tax
increase.

The house bill, sponsored by Rep.
Dan Douglas (R-91st District) proposed

12 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT

The center allows engineering, TRUMP TALKED HEALTH CARE try has faced with the Affordable Care
computer science and business research- WITH TRUCKERS Act and how changes are needed to help
ers and students to work with J.B. Hunt trucking employees, their families and
employees in finding solutions to real- Pres. Donald Trump met with customers “by lowering insurance costs,
world problems through innovative members of the American Trucking decrease mandates, liabilities and admin-
design and technology-driven supply Associations and America’s Road Team istrative burdens, and provide access to
chain solutions. Captains, a group of professional drivers quality care and patient choice.”
from across the industry, at the White
The center’s activities will be led House to talk about health care and the “The 7.3 million people who work
by a steering committee made up of 14 industry the day before a vote on health in the trucking industry — of which
members from J.B. Hunt and colleges’ care reform was cancelled. 3.5 million are professional truck driv-
leadership teams. ers — have a common thread — to be
“Trucking is the backbone of the safe and dependable and that requires a
The U of A is a leader in innovation nation’s economy. We employ 1 in 16 healthy professional behind the wheel,”
in supply chain management, with the people in the U.S. Driving a truck is the ATA Chairman Kevin Burch, president
Walton College supply chain manage- top job in 29 states. Trucking moves of Jet Express Inc., said. “One thing is
ment program ranking 14th in the 70% of the nation’s freight and 56% of for certain the professional men and
nation in 2016 by U.S. News & World GDP. To grow our economy, we need women drivers in America are proud of
Report. The SCM Journal List™ ranks to take care of the people that move hauling America’s freight. We are here to
the supply chain department as 5th America forward,” said ATA President
globally in empirical supply chain man- and CEO Chris Spear. 
agement research.
Spear shared the struggles the indus-

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 13

OCFALEEVNEDNATRS to working with you on improving our was requested by automakers of passen-
workplace, which is our highways.” ger vehicles.
MAY
MAY 3 – 5 A number of trucking executives In 2016, the EPA released regu-
were in attendance including Arkansas lation to similarly tighten emission
85TH ANNIVERSARY ATA Trucking Association members David standards by 2027 for commercial
ANNUAL BUSINESS CONFERENCE & Congdon, CEO, Old Dominion Freight trucks, buses and cargo vans. The truck-
VENDOR SHOWCASE Line; Mike Ducker, president and CEO, ing industry has not asked the Trump
John Q. Hammons Center, Rogers, Ark. FedEx Freight; and Rich McArdle, administration to reverse those rules,
MAY 19 president, UPS Freight. Arkansas driver according to Sean McNally, spokesman
NATMI OSHA AUDIT from America’s Road Team, David for the American Trucking Associations.
READINESS COURSE Green, of Werner Enterprises, was also
Little Rock, Ark. in attendance. Pres. Trump’s proposed budget
MAY 23 – 25 includes slashing 31 percent of overall
CALL ON WASHINGTON Before talking health care, Pres. EPA funding and cutting over half of
Trump was invited to see things from the 300 positions in the Federal Vehicle
JUNE a driver’s perspective by climbing in and Fuels Standards and Certification
JUNE 12 - 14 the cab of the American Trucking program, which is responsible for cer-
Associations’ Image Truck — Interstate tifying that new vehicles, engines and
TCA/WORK FORCE BUILDERS One, where the president took photos fuels conform with clean air standards.
CONFERENCE pretending to be truck driver gripping
Kansas City, Mo. the steering wheel and inspiring dozens Pres. Trump is still leaving in place
JUNE 13 of memes with his excitement for the a waiver that lets California and other
TRUCKING DEFENSE 2.0/THE photo op. states enforce stricter rules within their
DEFENSIBLE DRIVER SAFETY own borders.
SEMINAR
Little Rock, Ark. TRUMP PUTS AUTO EMISSIONS ARKANSAS APPROVES BILL TO
JUNE 22 LIMITS IN JEOPARDY; ALLOW HIGHWAY COMMISSION
Joint MTC and SMC Meeting
HEAVY-DUTY TRUCK STANDARDS TO INCREASE SPEED LIMITS
JULY STILL IN PLACE
JULY 13 - 15 Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a new
Pres. Trump directed the speed limit bill into law on April 1. The
50TH ANNIVERSARY ARKANSAS bill, sponsored by Rep. DeAnn Vaught
TRUCKING CHAMPIONSHIP Environmental Protection Agency to (R-4th District), allows for increased
John Q. Hammons Center, Rogers, Ark. speed limits — 75 miles per hour on
reconsider its recent conclusion that freeways and 65 on other highways for
AUGUST cars. The maximum speed limit would
AUGUST 8 - 12 automakers would be able to meet strict remain 30 mph on highways in urban
districts.
AMERICAN TRUCKING limits on greenhouse gas emissions that
ASSOCIATIONS’ NATIONAL TRUCK After traffic and engineering
DRIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS would have vehicles getting more than studies are conducted by the highway
AND NATIONAL STEP VAN department, the Highway Commission
CHAMPIONSHIP 50 miles per gallon on average by 2025, will be able to make the changes to the
Orange County Convention Center, The current speed limits.
Hyatt Regency Orlando, and the Rosen standards set during the final month of
Center Hotel, Orlando, Fla. 
AUGUST 17 the Obama Administration.
MTC MEETING
AUGUST 29-30 The review of the emissions limit
SAFETY SUMMIT: THE FUTURE OF
SAFETY and ambitious timeline for compliance
Little Rock, Ark.

NEWS IN BRIEF,

Continued from page 13

tell you, Mr. President, that the trucking
industry will support you as you work
towards solving America’s health care
challenges. In addition, we look forward

14 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT

1,000,000

TRUCKS DEPEND ON
SOUTHERN TIRE MART

We know you don’t make money when you’re down.
So, our goal is to keep you rolling.

America’s Favorite and Toughest Tire Brands

• Comprehensive Maintenance Programs
• Fleet Inspections
• Alignment, Balancing
•• 24/7 Call Center

Solutions Provider to the Transportation Industry

Southern Tire Mart - North America’s #1 Commercial Tire Dealer!
CALL 877.STM.TIRE – stmtires.com

NEWWAETLACMOEMMBEE,RS!

Together, We Are the Power of Association

We welcome the following new members. Each new member
adds to the Arkansas trucking industry’s collective strength to
promote, protect and serve with a unified voice.

PRIVATE CARRIER MARCELLO & KIVOSTO, LLC tory” state with no corresponding value.
MEMBERS Carlisle, Pa. David O’Neal, ATA’s director of
ARKANSAS STATE CHAMBER OF 717.579.8711
COMMERCE/AIA Offers legal services focused on trucking safety services, said that the Agency
Little Rock, Ark. law had found itself in a perfect storm of
501.372.2222 STRATEGIC CONSULTING SERVICES, LLC unfavorable conditions. “First, you
Number of Trucks: 1 Lowell, Ark. have an incoming administration
479-751-2674 which, on the tenth day after inau-
ALLIED MEMBERS Provides fuel procurement and guration, issued an executive order
ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY management consulting mandating a one-in/two-out policy,
Jonesboro, Ark. TENSTREET LLC meaning that for every new proposed
870.972.3515 Tulsa, Okla. regulation, two others had to be con-
Provides supply chain/logistics 918.505.9304 sidered for removal. Second, while the
education to graduate and Provides applicant tracking system/ overall concept of using data to guide
undergraduate students online applications, driver recruiting and decision-making was good, FMCSA has
COURTHOUSE CONCEPTS onboarding services struggled for some time to demonstrate
Fayetteville, Ark. that its data — and how they used the
479.582.3660 For membership data — actually correlated to improved
Performs DOT drug testing and information, visit safety performance. It’s been before
background checks arkansastrucking.com Congress, which in 2015 ruled they
had to remove CSA BASIC scores from
NEWS IN BRIEF, SFD RULEMAKING public view.”
WITHDRAWN BY FMCSA
Continued from page 14 O’Neal also observed that
Just over a year after issuing Congress, through the December 2015
“Basically what the bill does is a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking FAST Act, had mandated the National
authorize the highway department to (NPRM), the Federal Motor Carrier Research Council of the National
study raising the speed limit throughout Safety Administration in March with- Academy of Sciences to get involved
the state,” Danny Straessle, spokesman drew its controversial plan for a “Safety and conduct a correlation study on
for the Arkansas State Highway and Fitness Determination” program. The how accurate the data is in identifying
Transportation Department said. “That rulemaking was intended to further high-risk carriers.
doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.” the Agency’s Compliance, Safety,
Accountability platform by using road- In its formal announcement with-
The State Highway and side inspection data and other on-road drawing the rule, FMCSA indicated
Transportation Department plans to safety indicators — as well as investiga- it would review the correlation study
take its time with the study and find tion findings — to rate a carrier’s “fit- before determining whether a future
the areas in the state where the change ness” to operate.
would be appropriate.
In lieu of the longstanding safety
The stretch of I-49 from Alma to ratings of Satisfactory, Conditional,
Fayetteville would be a good candidate and Unsatisfactory, a single rating of
for a speed limit increase as that area is Unfit would be utilized for carriers so
primarily rural interstate, according to designated. All other carriers would be
the department. assumed to be operating in a “satisfac-

16 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT

rulemaking on the matter would be Exclusive. All-Inclusive. Simple.
considered.
Patron
O’Neal concluded, “Rather than try
to keep pushing this program through Utility Tri-State, Inc.
these headwinds, I think the Agency
made a good decision to pull this back Supporters
until the study is complete and they
have a better handle on the Trump Aon
administration’s regulatory outlook.” Drivers Legal Plan

ATRI LAUNCHES ONLINE Stephens
DRIVER SURVEY ON KEY The Larson Group

INDUSTRY ISSUES

The American Transportation
Research Institute launched online
data collection to solicit commercial
driver perspectives on a number of top
industry issues. The driver feedback
will be utilized in several ATRI studies
focused on transportation infrastruc-
ture funding, the driver shortage and
improving highway safety.

ATRI initially collected driver input
on these topics through a survey dur-
ing the Mid-America Trucking Show
(MATS) in March where ATRI staff
collected over 500 driver surveys. The
online version of the same survey will
allow larger numbers of professional
drivers to weigh in on these important
topics.

“Driver involvement is so criti-
cal to ATRI’s research, and we were
extremely pleased with the number
of surveys completed at MATS,” said
Rebecca Brewster, ATRI President
and COO. “We encourage drivers to
spend a few minutes completing the
online survey so that driver opinions
are included in the research on these
timely issues.”

The survey is available online
www.atri-online.org. ATR

In 1932, a small number of companies came together to lay the
foundation for today’s Arkansas Trucking Association --- the
recognized voice for the trucking industry in Arkansas.
Members today continue to provide the support that builds
upon those foundations. Founders Club members support ATA
because they believe, like we do, that trucking is the backbone
of our economy.

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 17

ADVERTISEMENT

TA and Petro Announce Citizen Driver Award Honorees April 1, 2017
WESTLAKE, Ohio

Marty Ellis has a huge heart, and is ready and willing and a fellow female driver were recently featured in an positive image wherever he goes. Dick wears a D&G
to help anyone in need. His positive attitude and big NPR interview, discussing their experiences and futures. logo shirt when he is working – dressing and performing
smile have touched many people, from friends and his duties in a professional manner. (He even wears them
family, to other drivers, and even complete strangers. She also strongly believes in giving back, actively most of the time he is not working!)
He is the guy who gets out of his truck in the rain to help volunteering with numerous trucking organizations,
someone, or gives away his last dollar without thinking her community, and at her local church. She won a He takes pride in his work and treats his customers as
twice. He’s humble about his achievements, and quick to citizenship award in her hometown of Camden, Arkansas friends. So much so that when he takes a vacation, his
give credit and praise to others. A prime example of his for her work in the community to help with festivals and customers miss him! Dick is a dedicated family man as
humility occurred in 2013 when he was named Driver events, and her many acts of compassion and kindness. well, and enjoys spending time with his grandchildren
of the Month, making him eligible for that year’s Driver when he’s home.
of the Year award. Having already won this prestigious Evan “Buddy” Haston is a solid citizen, and
award in 2006, Marty asked for his name to be removed truly oneof the Knights of the Highway. He is involved He is a 16-year member of the Wisconsin Motor
from the list of contenders so that another driver could in his community, church, and workplace, and Carriers Association, a non-profit trade association
have the opportunity to experience the win. is the plumb line that others are measured against. representing the interests of truck and motor coach
He started driving part-time over 50 years ago when he owners within the state of Wisconsin. Dick was the
Before joining A&A Express, he was a beekeeper. was 25, then quickly made it his full time career. He takes first owner/operator to join, prompting them to create
He was stung 100 times! In 2002, he became involved the constant changes of the profession in stride, whether an owner/operator member category.
in the South Dakota Convoy and Truck Show benefitting it’s dealing with difficult customers, congested traffic,
Special Olympics and has helped grow the event every or the day-to-day struggles associated with physical To say Jim Wilcox has dedicated himself to the trucking
year, bringing enormous benefits to kids with special and mental health. Through it all, he has established industry is an understatement. And with 35 years on the
needs. He is dedicated to the trucking industry and to a standard of excellence and integrity, which has not road and countless awards and accolades, it’s obvious
advocating for truckers through various forums and gone unnoticed. that the industry is better because of him.
listening sessions.
Buddy is always positive, with a smile on his face. He is His recognition includes: Induction into the YRC Freight
Idella Hansen was 18 years old when she started quick to put the needs of others first, lending assistance National Driver Hall of Fame in 2013. He was one of
driving with her family’s business, and now, more than 46 physically, spiritually, or financially. All of these 12 drivers to be inducted at that point in the 90 year
years later, she shows no sign of stopping! She is a true accomplishments, and many more, have been achieved history of Yellow Roadway Corporation. The 2005 Yellow
professional in all aspects of her career; her strong work with God, country, and family as his priorities. Transportation Professional Excellence Award. Jim was
ethic shines and her employers have high praise for her. the first driver to receive this annual award established
Dick Pingel is passionate about the trucking industry to recognize one exceptional driver in Yellow’s North
Her ability and dedication have earned her the respect and cares deeply about the welfare of the driver American operations. The 1988 Colorado State Truck
of her fellow drivers. She has had to overcome many community. He’s determined to make a difference for Driving Championships Professional Excellence Award
difficulties breaking into such a male-dominated industry, both experienced drivers and those just starting out, and – this is given to the contestant that best exemplifies
but she’s never wavered and is a strong proponent for works tirelessly with several organizations to accomplish Colorado’s professional truck driver as evidenced by his
women drivers, encouraging and mentoring them. She this. He is personable and easy-going and promotes a driving record, skill, attitude and personality.

ADVERTISEMENT

Why Does Arkansas
Need Tort Reform?

Arguments for improving the state legal system

By Daniel Greenberg
and Marc Kilmer

Guest Writers

An 18-wheeler is stuck on an icy being targeted by personal-injury system varies from state-to-state. Other
highway, unable to move. Poor visibility attorneys. You may know a fellow truck states have taken steps to fix parts of
and icy conditions cause a man to crash driver who has been sued. Maybe you’ve their legal system that give lawyers an
into the truck, tragically killing him. been sued. If not, just watch daytime incentive to file unnecessary lawsuits.
The jury assigns 60% of the blame for television and you’ll see commercials Arkansas can do the same.
the crash on the truck driver. The mon- with lawyers eager to represent someone
etary award? $37.9 million. alleging injuries by a trucker. That is why legislators have put
forward an amendment to the state
This is only one case of many where While negligent drivers should cer- constitution, SJR 8, which would alter
juries award questionably large sums of tainly compensate anyone they harm, the way Arkansas’s tort system works.
money in cases against truck drivers or the Arkansas legal system should not
trucking companies. Trial attorneys are encourage nuclear verdicts. The tort 
increasingly able to sway juries to make
judgments that, in years past, would
have been much smaller. This is caus-
ing disruption to the trucking industry
in ways that could have dire long-term
consequences if left unchecked.

One way to deal with the problems
caused by these out-of-control monetary
judgments, sometimes called “nuclear
verdicts,” is through tort reform. Fixing
the flaws in the legal system that make
these unjustifiably large awards possible
will help ensure that trucking remains a
viable industry for years into the future.

If you are injured, you can sue to
recover damages from the person or
company that injured you. This is a cor-
nerstone of our nation’s legal system.
Unfortunately, some unscrupulous law-
yers use this system as a way to enrich
themselves.

This abuse of the legal system was
first noticeable in the medical profes-
sion. But now truck drivers and compa-
nies that employ them are increasingly

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 19

This proposal will still allow Arkansans of doctors who found it more afford- driver safety. Trucking cases are big
to access courts to seek damages against able to practice in the state, which business for some law firms and
those who harm them, but it would leads to greater health care access for growing.
change some parts of the legal system residents. There is little evidence that
that make lawsuits prone to abuses. these reforms have led to ill effects for Jurors may also be desensitized to
Its passage could mean a big positive patients or consumers. large sums of money. They may have
change for trucking companies. heard about large verdicts in other
The same principle can apply in cases. They may also be swayed by com-
When people are damaged by the other industries, such as trucking, parisons that really have no place in the
bad actions of others, courts often order plagued by frivolous lawsuits. Just as we courtroom. In one Arizona case, the
the bad actors to pay money (called have seen tort reform contain skyrock- attorney brought up the value of paint-
“damages”) in order to make victims eting insurance costs for doctors, its ings in the Louvre in Paris. If a painting
whole. These payments fall into two passage in Arkansas would likely do the can be worth over $10 million, how
categories: economic damages and non- same in the trucking industry. can a life be worth any less? That type
economic damages. Economic damages of reasoning may sound superficially
are damages which are easily measured Huge verdicts that have been hand- appealing, but it is no basis upon which
in dollars, such as the cost of medical ed down around the country show why to base a monetary judgment.
bills or foregone wages. SJR 8 would not the trucking industry should be very
affect economic damages. interested in SJR 8. Take, for instance, a One thing that does not seem to
be driving this trend is problems with
However, non-economic damages FIXING THE FLAWS IN trucking safety. In the past decade,
are those damages which are difficult THE LEGAL SYSTEM there has been a decline in fatalities
or impossible to objectively calculate THAT MAKE THESE involving large trucks. That fact is not
or quantify monetarily. Non-economic UNJUSTIFIABLY LARGE being reflected in court cases.
damages are typically damages for AWARDS POSSIBLE
injuries like pain and suffering, mental WILL HELP ENSURE THAT Whatever the reasons, juries are
anguish and loss of happiness in life. TRUCKING REMAINS returning large verdicts against truck
SJR 8 would cap these at $500,000. A VIABLE INDUSTRY drivers and trucking companies. This
FOR YEARS INTO THE is bad news not only for those who are
The amendment would also cap caught up in the legal system, but also
contingency fees, a common way that FUTURE. for anyone who needs affordable insur-
personal-injury attorneys seek com- ance. In other words, this is something
pensation. If a lawyer works on a con- 2013 Texas jury that awarded $281 mil- of concern to the entire industry.
tingency fee basis, it means that lawyer lion to the family of a driver killed by
will not be paid unless the client wins a drive shaft that broke off a truck and When juries return these large
or settles the case for a sum of money. flew into the driver’s windshield. This verdicts, it is insurance companies who
The contingency-fee system is ripe for huge sum of money is difficult to justify end up paying. When juries award large
abuse because it introduces anti-client on the merits of the case, even though awards, they are the ones who must
incentives into the legal system. it may have been reasonable for the jury then pay the plaintiffs.
to find the motor carrier at fault.
Capping contingency fees at one- With the rise in large awards,
third of damages recovered curbs these There are varying opinions insurance companies face a choice.
negative aspects while still allowing on why these large awards against One option is to raise their rates. In
contingency fees for appropriate situa- trucking companies are becoming more this case, trucking companies will be
tions. common. As the medical industry has paying more for the insurance they
fought back against trial lawyers, there need to stay in business. Or insurance
Tort reform affects many indus- may be more incentive for these lawyers companies can decide to focus on other
tries, but where its effects can be seen to pursue cases in other industries. risks and drop truck insurance. That
most clearly is in the medical industry. As can be seen from daytime TV ads, indirectly affects the rates that truckers
Doctors and other health care profes- there are lawyers who now specialize in pay, since less competition in the mar-
sionals are a big target for lawsuits, trucking cases. There is now an industry ketplace generally means higher rates.
which is why they often pay very high involving experts in regulations and
medical malpractice insurance rates. These things are already happening.
Studies have shown that tort reform In 2016, AIG and Zurich stopped offer-
leads to lower insurance rates for doc- ing insurance in the for-hire trucking
tors. market in response to large jury awards.
Across the states, truck insurance rates
This benefit has consequences far are rising, and there is evidence that
beyond the medical sector. After tort large tort awards share a large part of
reform in Texas, the state saw an influx the blame. This trend is likely to con-

20 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT









Our roots go back more than 90 years
through our LTL carrier ABF Freight®.
Today, that commitment to quality
lives on through the ArcBestSM suite of
logistics solutions.

Here’s to always finding a way to
exceed expectations.



this year. The trailer travels all around offer someone. While many kids have dents, but he recently heard something
the state, usually to high schools, but been raised thinking a college degree truly exciting: the tour had convinced
it can sometimes be found at other was the only option, once they get on one student to stay in school. A repeat
locations for workforce events like com- the trailer, they realize how many other senior toured the unit and shared that
munity career fairs. Rose usually parks choices they have. “Kids just wanna he was considering dropping out of
the trailer at its destination the evening know how long and how much. A lot school. “He came on the truck and he
before an event, and then he’ll show up of kids these days are doing work after was very good at the welding simula-
the next morning, along with Callaway, school for minimum wage. You start tion. He ended up telling the principal
at 7:30 a.m. It takes about an hour and throwing numbers out there about how that he was going to stay in school, get
a half to set the stage for the tours. An much they can make in these profes- his diploma, and then he was going to
actual stage unfolds from the side of the sions, and their eyes just light up.” And go become a welder.”
trailer, while technology in the truck it’s not just male students visiting the
must be removed from its secure storage trailer, though that’s certainly been a Students are interested in Rose’s
and set for use. majority. Rose is quick to point out that story. He’s young enough that high
none of these careers are gender spe- school students can imagine being his
Students come through in groups of cific; they’re for any willing party. After age, and they’re often curious to know
about twenty, with roughly 125 to 150 how he got into his role, as it gives them
students coming through the trailer per all, “Nothing says a woman can’t be a
day. After the students’ contact informa- truck driver, and nothing says a woman a sense of where they could be in just
tion is captured on tablets, so a single can’t be a welder.” a few short years. “I’m in a stable situ-
follow-up email can be sent, they are led ation at a fairly young age. Ultimately
through the stations in the trailer. First, Parent response, too, has been my CDL is the main reason I got this
there’s a demonstration of the Be Pro, positive. While they may have been job, which students like to know.” From
Be Proud website, an extremely usable encouraging their kids to attend col- there, Chris makes sure to let them
platform offering information on job lege, often it’s because they themselves know his CDL — and strong skills — were
descriptions, employers hiring in the weren’t aware of the viability of other ultimately the reasons he was selected.
area, income potential, and, arguably options. Once parents experience the He goes as far as to suggest the stu-
most important, where to find training, tour, they realize these jobs don’t have dents consider getting a CDL even if it’s
how long that training will last, and how the negative connotation they may have not necessary in their primary career.
much the investment will be. Finally, the originally thought. “It used to be, trade “Companies close, places lay off, and
students are led through various simula- jobs were thought to be for people who if you have a CDL you’re guaranteed
tions, such as a plumbing game, a hand- weren’t smart enough for school. That is employment the next day.”
eye coordination exercise, and a welding a statement that just should never have
simulator — which Rose always runs. been said. Everybody’s got their own Rose hopes to continue with the
thing they’re good at. If you’re the best program and advance as it expands,
Rose notes that the students get welder in the state, it sure doesn’t mean with intentions to be there as long as
quite competitive while playing with you’re not smart.” they’ll keep him.
the simulations in the trailer, but
it’s competition that helps them get And the program has already But as Rose reminded the students,
excited about the career possibilities. proven beneficial for student retention. with his set of skills and a CDL, there
Of course, as one would expect with In the roughly hour-long program, Rose will always be positions driving a truck
high school students, they’re not always hears many of the same questions and in Arkansas or around the country and
totally focused on the serious aspects of comments from different groups of stu- this is a career where you won’t soon
career selection. One group of students run out of road. ATR
recently requested a loan from Rose—a
loan of the trailer for a party. He, of
course, denied their request. His easy-
going nature combined with the fact
he’s “walking the talk” makes him seem
accessible to students, who usually have
many questions about the career pos-
sibilities presented.

Rose is an ideal representative; his
passion is obvious for skilled trade and
what employment in any one of the
industries featured on the trailer can

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 27

Arkansas Road Team makes
50th appearance

Arkansas Road Team takes their Share the Road message to schools, community events

By ATR Staff Jerry Whittenburg, students are sur- even the role of diesel mechanics and
prised when they are invited into the logistics directors in making sure their
In the last twelve months, the cab of the truck to see for themselves Amazon orders arrive on their doorstop
Arkansas Road Team captains have been what appropriate following distances in time. “If I have one person’s atten-
busy visiting every part of the state to and blind spots look like from behind tion, and save one life, save just one of
teach students and citizens about safely the wheel. Audiences ask questions those kid’s futures, I’ve accomplished
sharing the road with big trucks and to about how to stay safe around big my duty for the Arkansas Trucking
answer questions about what it’s like to trucks, but Whittenburg says students Association,” he says. “Saving lives and
see America from the cab of a truck as a are also interested in the life of a truck sharing my job with young drivers is
professional driver. driver, where to go to school, and what it’s all about.” ATR

According to Road Team captain

 April
Coolidge and
Gary Mars

 Loren Hatfield and Larry Rhein

 Otto
Schmeckenbecher and
Jerry Whittenburg

 Students watch Larry Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT
Rhein in the Share the
Road video curriculum

28

 Mark Rook and Gary Jaworski 50 VISITS IN 12 MONTHS

Danny Fuller ACH Teen Safety Roadeo in Batesville
ACH Teen Safety Roadeo in McLarty
 Tom Miller, Jerry Whittenburg, Walter Stanley and ACH Teen Safety Roadeo in Mountain View
Robert Kelley ACH Teen Safety Roadeo in Stuttgart

 Mark Rook Alpena High School
and Robert Arkansas State Fair
Kelley Arkansas Trucking Championship in Rogers
ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 ATA Business Conference & Vendor Showcase
Batesville High School
Bergman High School
Brady Elementary in Little Rock
Bruno Pyatt High School
Central Arkansas Home Schools in North Little Rock
Clarksville High School
Crawdad Days Festival in Harrison
Crossett Career Fair
CVSA National Conference in Little Rock
East Poinsett County High School in Lepanto
Fort Smith Northside High School
Fort Smith Schools Career Expo
Great American Trucking Show in Dallas
Great Rivers Educational Cooperative in Marianna
Green County Tech High School in Paragould
Green Forest High School
Greenbrier High School
Hamburg High School
Harrisburg High School Career Fair
Harrisburg High School Life Skills
Harrison High School (2x)
Harrison Kiwanis
Heritage High School in Rogers
Joe T. Robinson High School
Maynard High School
Midland High School
Newport High School
North Little Rock High School
North Little Rock Lions Club
Roadcheck in Benton
Rogers Crossroads Alternative School
Scranton High School
Searcy High School
Smackover High School
Southside High School
Star City High School
Tuckerman High School
USA Truck Safety Day in Van Buren
Valley Springs High School
White County Central Schools in Judsonia
Yellville Summit High School

29

85 years & counting

An oral history of Arkansas Trucklore

1896 1908 1916 1919 1928 1932
Gottlieb Daimler Ford sells the Model Congress enacts the Harvey Jones Plant Truck Line Shippers and
invents “vehicle T first vehicle built by exchanges two begins operations in Carriers Association
no. 42,” a horseless Federal Aid Road mules and wagon Heber Springs of Arkansas
wagon, the first truck assembly line Act of 1916, the first for a Federal-brand founded by
truck for a delivery Robert Black
federal highway route serving
funding legislation in Rogers, Springdale
and Fayetteville,
the U.S. beginning the
trucking industry in

Arkansas

1907 1914 1918 1924 1929 1932
First national road First electric traffic Chevrolet produces The Bureau of Public The Arkansas General First federal gas tax
inventory is published signal installed in its first truck – the Assembly creates the goes into effect at 1
490 Light Delivery Roads works with
(for 1904) Cleveland, Ohio states to create a State Road Patrol cent per gallon
national numbered under the jurisdiction
highway system
for marking main of the Arkansas
interstate highways Highway Commission

By Bethany May Tuberculosis. Because of those stories, tion began when Black joined Howard
we know what life was like during that Tune, R.M. Kemp and B. C. Rotenberry
Managing Editor time and have a better understanding of to create a forum for business owners
where we came from. to promote the “motor truck” industry.
In the 1930s, a New Deal program Black was elected the group’s first chair-
called the Federal Writers’ Folklore Around the same time in Arkansas, man. The forum Black envisioned has
Project collected the stories of the Nov. 26, 1932, Mr. Robert Black of El stood the test of time from dirt roads to
American experience — heading West Dorado incorporated the Shippers and a national highway system, from carts
with pioneers, working on the railroad Carriers Association of Arkansas, begin- and buggies to 53'-long trailers, from
or immigrating from Europe. ning a long story — 85 years and count- the Great Depression of the ’30s to the
ing — of trucking interests in the state Great Recession of 2008. The group has
The project provided work for coming together for the common good. changed names four times and grown
archivists and writers after the Great to over 300 member companies from
Depression and preserved some of the Mr. Black owned one of Arkansas’ all corners of the state and segments of
rich history of citizens who built busi- early trucking companies, Black Transfer
nesses, worked in factories and survived & Storage Co., which moved household 
encounters with Billy the Kid and goods from 1916 to 1966. The associa-

30 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT

1935
The Motor Carrier Act requires
interstate, for-hire motor carriers to
obtain a Federal license to operate
(“operating authority”). The license
is limited to specific routes and
commodities and gives the holder
the right to object if someone else
applies to offer competing service,
creating monopolies. Under the act,
the Interstate Commerce Commission
(ICC) has authority to set minimum
and maximum rates for trucking
services and makes it illegal to
charge less than the published rate.
1939
A report to Congress on “Toll Roads and
Free Roads” contains the first formal April 1954
1935 concept of the Interstate Highway System. Pulaski Chancellor Guy
OK Transfer acquires Williams rules the 1953
and assumes name of Arkansas law limiting truck
Arkansas Motor Freight load weight is unconstitutional.
(AMF); becomes an
interstate carrier with 1936
Hines Trucking is
the purchase of Motor established in Prescott
Express. Now named with one truck, which 1945 1956
ABF Freight, the Fort was used to transport Arkansas Trailer President Eisenhower signs the
Smith-based carrier is Mfg. Co., Inc. is Federal-Aid Highway Act and
the longest-standing logs, lumber and Highway Revenue Act of 1956,
active member of the gravel. founded in creating the Highway Trust Fund
Little Rock and providing a mechanism for
Arkansas Trucking financing the interstate system.
Association.



1935 1938 1953 1955
John W. Tyson begins Motor Carrier Act gives The Wall Street Act 98 of the
delivering chickens the Interstate Commerce Journal reports Arkansas General
throughout the Midwest; he Commission responsibility on survey finding Assembly provides
incorporates the company as for trucking regulation, drivers of trucks a new weight law,
Tyson Feed and Hatchery, Inc. including the first hours- and buses believed setting overall
weight limits at
in 1947. of-service rules. to be most 56,000 lbs.
courteous on road
1936
The Interstate Commerce Commission 1944
establishes the Bureau of Motor Carriers The Federal-Aid
to write and enforce truck safety rules. Highway Act of 1944
approves the near
40,000 mile “National
System of Interstate
Highways” and
establishes a federal-
aid secondary system
of principal secondary
and feeder roads.

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 31



2003
FMCSA makes
changes to hours-of-
service rules for the
first time since 1962.
An additional hour of
1988 driving time is added, 2014
FHWA adopts reasonable cause, pre- Having served the organization for more than
employment, biennial, random and while one hour of
post-accident drug testing requirements allowed on-duty 10 years in various roles, Shannon Newton
time is removed. The is named president of the Arkansas Trucking
for drivers who operate CMVs in changes also include
interstate commerce. the introduction of Association.
the 34-hour restart
provision.
2010
Almost a decade
in the making,
1992 FMCSA launches its 2015
Stallion Transportation Compliance, Safety, FMCSA issues its long
Group begins operations
in North Little Rock; the Accountability awaited Final Rule
company would move their program to measure for Electronic Logging
headquarters to Beebe.
and evaluate the Devices (ELDs).
safety performance of

motor carriers.

1992
The Interstate Highway System is
completed with the opening of the
I-70 near Denver. The system ends 2004
More than 524,000 U.S. 2015
up costing three times what was Following the enactment of
originally estimated, when measured carriers are on file with
the U.S. Department of state legislation to create a
in inflation-adjusted dollars. fund for improving highway
Transportation, including
for-hire fleets, private fleets, safety, the Arkansas Trucking
1999 and owner-operators Association receives a grant
1986 The Motor Carrier to launch a variety of safety
The Commercial services, including the
Vehicle Safety Safety Improvement Arkansas Road Team and a
Act establishes Act creates the Federal
the commercial Motor Carrier Safety Share the Road program.
driver’s license Administration (FMCSA)
(CDL) requirement 2012
for interstate and effective January 1, President Barack
intrastate operations. 2000. Obama signs the Moving
Ahead for Progress in
the 21st Century Act
(MAP-21). The funding
and authorization bill 2015
governs federal surface Congress delivers
transportation spending. the first highway
bill in more than a
The act mandates decade: the Fixing
development of a America’s Surface
national freight policy Transportation
and reforms tolling on
federal highways. (FAST) Act.

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 
33



the industry, boasting some of the most ATA Chairman Butch Rice introduces retired driver
powerful executives and best companies O.C. Reed to ATA members at ceremony honoring
in the state, nation and world. veterans in the industry

To celebrate the milestone, the Kennedy and her husband bought the BUTCH RICE is the outgoing
Arkansas Trucking Report put together its business from her father in 1959. She chairman of the Arkansas Trucking
own trucking folklore project to reflect was the first female member of the board Association’s board of directors. He
on the Arkansas trucking experience. of directors for the trucking association worked in sales at Harold Ives Trucking
With each story, it is clear that this in 1967 when the industry proved to be Company in Stuttgart before decid-
industry is so much more than moving a hostile environment for women. She ing to start his own company. Stallion
freight. It is the education not found at became an advocate for other women in Transportation Group, in Beebe, Ark.,
the library. It is the reputation earned trucking and a community leader. At 89, just celebrated its 25th anniversary.
when your word is your bond. It is the though she has retired from trucking,
terror you feel when your brakes give she still serves on six boards in the Heber THE TRUCKING GENE
out halfway down the mountain, but Springs community.
the only option is to shift into neutral We read it in every ATR issue and
and pray. Trucking is hero worship, the GUY CAMPBELL is the president of hear it from almost everyone we meet,
frame around sweet family memories Arkansas Trailer, Inc., a business his trucking must be encoded on some gene
and the red line between bitter rivals. father started in 1944. He has been an that scientists have yet to find because
And today, for one in twelve Arkansans, active allied member of the trucking when mommas and daddies, uncles and
it is our world. association since 1959. He is one of only aunts, grandmas and grandpas love
five elected chairmen of the associa- trucking, somehow that love gets passed
CHARACTERS tion’s board of directors who is not a down liked hooked noses and brown eyes.
trucking company executive. Campbell So many of us come to this industry in
We asked five individuals who have has been a passionate champion of the footsteps of the people we love.
played a role in trucking’s story to tell the industry in the political sphere for
us what life has been like amongst all decades, educating policy makers on O.C. REED (retired truck driver):
that rubber, chrome and horsepower. behalf of trucking. I had an uncle who drove trucks that
Their experiences are varied from I thought could walk on water. Back
different parts of the industry and VICKI JONES STEPHENS is the presi- then, every boy had a hero; [Mine] was
different decades. Yet, they all agreed dent of C.C. Jones, Inc., the North Little a truck driver. He owned his own truck,
that trucking drew them in like nothing Rock trucking company her father start- and I wanted to be like Uncle Woody. So
else could. ed in 1946. She was hired by her father I grew up to be a truck driver. I blame
right out of high school and bought the my Uncle Woody.
A retired truck driver, O.C. REED company from him in 1990. She joined
was born in 1925 in Staves, Ark. His the board of directors in 2001 and was NELDA KENNEDY (retired owner of
father was a sharecropper who moved named the first woman chair of the Plant Truck Line): My dad had the truck
his family around during the Great board in 2005.
Depression because he “did not believe 
in letting grass grow under his feet.” In
1943, O.C. enlisted in the U.S. Navy.
Only about 100 miles from Okinawa
when Japan surrendered to end WWII,
he was discharged the last day of 1945
and began driving a truck in California
before returning to Arkansas to drive
for Arkansas Motor Freight (now ABF
Freight) for 10 years. He then went to
work for Trans-Con Freight Lines until
retiring in 1978 in Memphis, Tenn.

NELDA PLANT KENNEDY took over
the family business, Plant Truck Line in
Heber Springs, Ark. Her father bought
a truck after returning from WWI and
started his trucking company in 1928,
just a few weeks before she was born.

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 35

line. And when I was 12 years old, I June of 1947, and I was born in April As ATA Board Chair,
began to make out freight bills for my of 1948. That’s how my life in trucking Vicki Stephens addresses
grandfather. To this day, I can still type began.
his freight bill if I had to. attendees at the ATA
He would take mom and I on the annual conference in 2005
VICKI STEPHENS (owner of C.C. truck. I was an only child for five years.
Jones): Dad got into trucking because of I think I saw just about every state in nal with gas or diesel. He worked there
some breaks that happened in his life. the U.S. in that five-year period of time. for 40 years, and I spent every minute
He was 12 years old when his mother I could with my dad after work on the
passed away from Hodgkin’s disease. GUY CAMPBELL (owner Arkansas weekends.
Trailer Company): When I was two
…DAD HAD TO DROP years old, we moved to Fort Smith. My I THINK BEING
OUT OF SCHOOL IN dad walked out in front of Fort Smith AROUND THE DRIVERS
THE 8TH GRADE TO Trailer Company, walked up and down
GO TO WORK TO HELP the street begging them for a job, and AND SEEING WHAT
RAISE THE KIDS. they finally gave him a job at seven MY DAD DID HAD A
BECAUSE THEY WERE cents an hour. He worked there for BIG IMPACT ON MY
FARMERS, HIS FIRST eight years. And he borrowed 300 dol- CAREER. I WAS GIVEN
JOB WAS DRIVING lars each from the owners of Arkansas THE OPPORTUNITY
A WAGON. I THINK Motor Freight.
HE MADE ABOUT 50 TO WORK FOR A
CENTS. HE THEN GOT The first year that we were in Little TRUCKING COMPANY
INTO THE PRODUCE Rock was 1944. And my dad worked on [HAROLD IVES] AT AN
MARKET AND MADE nothing but Arkansas Motor Freight EARLY AGE, AND SO I
SOME FRIENDS WITH equipment. His deal was he would get
SOME PEOPLE THAT their equipment in shape. At the end of JUMPED ON IT.
WERE IN THE NORTH that year, he would pay them back the
LITTLE ROCK PRODUCE 600 dollars they loaned him to move TRUCKING 101
down [to Little Rock]. And he built a
MARKET. building at 901 East 8th Street …and I Though there are now trucking
worked every summer at my dad’s. and logistics programs at University of
When World War II came about, Arkansas, Arkansas State University and
he joined the Navy. When he got BUTCH RICE (owner of Stallion University of Central Arkansas, driver
out, he went back to the market. He Transportation Group): My dad was and technician programs at several com-
and Red Grimes went into business a terminal manager for a tank line. munity colleges and CDL schools around
together. Dad would go purchase what- Actually, petroleum storage tanks. My the state, higher education wasn’t always
ever product that Red needed to sell in dad would have anywhere from 50 to a part of the path to success in trucking.
the market. They had to go to Carrizo 70 trucks that would fill at his termi-
Springs, Tex. to get onion plants. That’s O.C. Reed dropped out in the 9th
where he met my mother. She worked grade from Grapevine, Ark. after mov-
for McClendon’s farms in bookkeeping.
That was in February of 1947. 

[When he] found out that he was
no longer going to have to go down to
Carrizo Springs, he met her mother and
dad and asked for her hand in mar-
riage. They decided since he was a hard
worker, he cussed a little bit too much
and he drank a little bit too much beer,
but he was a hard worker and an honest
man, and if Joyce wanted to marry him,
that would be fine. She married him in

36 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT

800.228.8602 Knowledge is Power

gwccnet.com Not All Trucking Companies Are Alike

Trucking is all we do. When you choose Great West to insure your trucking
business, you are getting over 60 years of experience in the trucking industry.

Our agents work with you. Not every insurance agent can represent Great
West. With a keen focus on the trucking industry, our agents are knowledgeable,
dependable, and responsive. They understand your needs and work with you to
match the right coverage and level of service for your trucking operation.

Do one thing, and do it right. Our agents can guide you through the process and
customize a plan to provide you the broadest protection possible. You can also feel
confident knowing that our agents’ service begins, not ends, with the issuance of
your policy.

GREAT WEST CASUALTY COMPANY – No matter where the road takes you, you
will discover that at Great West, The Difference is Service®.

ing around schools throughout his child- started studying tariffs to join the family
hood. When he returned from the Navy business.
in the 40s, there was no special training
for truck drivers. Likewise, the early NELDA KENNEDY: I wouldn’t stay
industry was made up of entrepreneurs in college; I wanted to be in the freight
who skipped the classroom for hands-on business. I didn’t want college, I wanted
learning. to do this. My daddy promised me that
if I quit college, if I’d go to the law and
Nelda Kennedy said when her par- learn to read tariffs and everything,
ents dropped her off for her first day of he’d go along with me. That’s how I got
college at UCA, the buses were running started.
and she beat them home. Instead she

38 VICKI STEPHENS: Mother and dad
wanted me to go to college. I got a 1966
Mustang for graduation from North
Little Rock High School. I was in love
with my childhood sweetheart, and I
wanted to get married. Dad offered me
a proposition. He said that if I went to
college, my college would be paid for,
my car would be paid for, everything
would be taken care of, but if I decided
to get married, then I had to go get a
job.

I said, “Okay,” and I went out and
I got a job at the telephone company.
Came back, told him, “Introduce me to
the banker. I have a job.” He said, “Oh
no. That’s not really what I wanted you
to do.”

He said, “I really want you to come
to work for me.” Dad always wanted
a boy, and he had four girls. I think I
turned out to be the son that he never
had. It was fine with me. I enjoyed
bookkeeping. I had taken it in high
school. I went to work at my dad’s in
1966 making $40 a week. I got married
in August of 1966. I was able to do what
I wanted to do.

My plan was to eventually to go
back and go to college, but I truly loved
what I did. Bill and I had been married
five years when we had our only child,
Gabe. By that time, I was settled into
doing what I liked to do.

BUTCH RICE: My actual first job was
sweeping floors and cleaning bathrooms
for a trucking company when I was 14.
When I was 20, I had completed two

Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT

years of college. That really wasn’t going LEGACIES And I turned him down. That was the
well for me. I was offered a sales posi- biggest mistake I ever made. But he was
tion for a trucking company, and so I Each person we talked to had a a wonderful person.
jumped in at 20. trucking hero. In Arkansas, the men who
paved the way and shaped the industry …I DON’T KNOW
…I THOUGHT I QUIT are household names. Everyone had a ABOUT THE OTHER
COLLEGE IN ‘82, BUT Johnnie Hunt (J.B. Hunt Transport), LARGE CARRIERS
I’M PROBABLY THE Robert Young (ABF Freight), Robert BUT I DO KNOW
LONGEST STUDENT IN Powell (USA Truck) or Steve Williams THAT J.B. HUNT WAS
COLLEGE IN HISTORY, I (Maverick Transportation) story. THE MOST HONEST
BELIEVE, BECAUSE IT’S A Arkansas is home to the trucking legends PERSON THAT I’VE
LEARNING EXPERIENCE that have inspired and encouraged the EVER WORKED WITH;
next generation to love trucks and treat IF J.B. TOLD YOU
EVERY DAY. people right. SOMETHING, HE
WOULD DO WHAT
Guy Campbell found his college O.C. REED: I was with [Arkansas
career at the University of Arkansas Motor Freight] when it went to ABF, HE SAID.
enriched his passion for the industry. and Mr. Young is one of the nicest
men I ever met. I don’t know what the Guy Campbell recalls J.B. Hunt’s
GUY CAMPBELL: My major in col- man was, but he had a vision. And his vision and how he used deregulation
lege was general business, but I had men, his drivers, would stick their neck to his advantage when so much of the
a concentration in transportation… out for him because he’s the man that industry fought against it.
When I was in college, the head of the owned the company. He’d sit out there
transportation department was a guy on the little brick concrete walkway GUY CAMPBELL: I went to
by the name of Dr. Westmeyer. His during the afternoon and talk. He told Washington, D.C. to visit our congress-
nickname was Choo-Choo. Choo-Choo us about his only experience as a truck men and our senators when deregula-
Westmeyer. In the summer months, he driver, that he went to Pine Bluff in a tion was being discussed. One of the
worked for the Illinois Central Railroad bob truck and got a mule one time. He things that we had talked to Jimmy
as a conductor. He felt the transporta- said that’d likely killed him. Carter about when he was running for
tion model was for the truck industry to president, was we were not in favor of
handle a 60-mile radius, the air to han- The first thing I’d tell Mr. [Robert] deregulation. We liked the regulation.
dle overnight, and the water to handle Young [III], I’d tell him, “Young man, We liked the ICC. However, President
the big bulk. And the rail was supposed your dad was the best boss I ever Kennedy had vowed that he was going
to handle everything else. And I kept had… I loved your dad. I loved him as to destroy the teamsters. And part of
telling him, “Until the rail gets their a boss, as a good friend, because Mr. that destruction was deregulation.
stuff together, it’s not going to work.” Young never put himself above his
employees. You could just write to him 
Later, the relationships Campbell or call him, and he’d take care of it
made in college helped him advocate for because you took care of him on that Guy Campbell (left) and Nelda
the trucking industry. job pulling them heavy loads with that Kennedy (center) on the association’s
small tractor. I’d go the last mile for board of directors in 1967
GUY CAMPBELL: I had graduated your dad.”
from university in 1957. I was rush
chairman of our fraternity at the time. Nelda Kennedy knew Mr. J.B.
We had 4,000 students total at the uni- Hunt before he started one of the most
versity. And that included med school profitable trucking businesses in the
here in Little Rock and law school in country. She said she thought of him like
Fayetteville. So I virtually knew every- a brother and can’t believe she refused his
one that went through rush. And as a business offer so many decades ago.
result, I knew a lot of people. And a lot
of them had been elected to the legis- NELDA KENNEDY: The thing I regret
lature. So I would go to my friends and most is that J.B. Hunt asked me for
ask them to vote for our way. And was $5000 when he started in the business.
reasonably successful. I doubt if we had $5000, but I just said
to John that deregulation had already
started. I said, “Johnny you can’t make
a living at it; you don’t need to do it.”

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 39



ATA is committed to maximizing members' value from their involvement with the association!

Exclusive. All-Inclusive. Simple.

Since 1932, Member
ReSqeurveisctee!d
the Arkansas Trucking
Association has pursued
a mission to protect
and promote the state’s
trucking industry.
ATA now announces
our most significant and
prestigious opportunity
for our members ---
The Founders Club.

For more information about The Founders Club, Contact Amanda Lamb at 501-372-3462 or [email protected]

WOMEN IN FREIGHT Stephens’ role as first female chair of the then; it was, “Mrs. Edward Kennedy;”)
board in 2005, the boys’ club underwent “Would you serve on the board?” And
The perception of drivers has a massive shift that wasn’t always evi- the first thing that came out of my
changed throughout the years, and the dent to the men in the room. mouth was, “You think that bunch
public has sometimes overlooked the hard of chauvinists would put me on the
work, long hours and unwavering dedica- NELDA KENNEDY: We’d been mem- board?” And he said, “They will if I
tion to safety that goes into the job. The bers [of the association] 4, 5, 6 years. nominate you.”
perception of women in business and an I was on the elevator one day, and this
industry like trucking has also evolved. man from the trucking association was …WELL I WAS THE
Between Ms. Nelda Kennedy’s invita- in there. He said, “Miss Kennedy?” (See FIRST AND ONLY
tion to sit on the trucking association’s they didn’t say, “Nelda Kennedy” back
board of directors in 1967 and Ms. Vicki WOMAN.

screen It took a while. Some of them never
simulation did accept me. Most of them did, but there
were one or two in the group that would
TAKE ON THE FSMA not accept a woman. And I don’t know
how they get along with their wives.
WITH THE NEW
There were more women that went
STANDARD OF to work, and several years later, I orga-
nized a Women in Freight party. I think
CLEAN one time we had around 80 women at
that party. We even had Guy Campbell
Make a statement with Great Dane’s Everest reefer, the only trailer on dressed as a woman to come and enter-
the market that offers broad-spectrum, 24/7 antimicrobial protection tain us that night, and the association
in its liner for the life of the trailer. Exclusive Microban® antimicrobial worked real close with us. It took sever-
technology fights bacteria, odors and stains, promoting a clean en- al years because that was in the 60s and
vironment for your temperature-sensitive deliveries. This breakthrough 70s and 80s. It was a long hard fight.
science now comes standard—because when it comes to safety and
efficiency, we always go the extra mile. Kennedy references Arkansas Rep.
Van Dalsem whose public statements in
Take on the FSMA with the industry’s most powerful antimicrobial 1963 were indicative of the hostile envi-
protection. Let’s go. ronment she faced as a woman in the
industry. The representative said, “We
Learn more at don’t have any of these university women
GreatDaneTrailers.com/Everest in Perry County, but I’ll tell you what we
do up there when one of our women starts
GREAT DANE AND THE OVAL ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF GREAT DANE LLC. 702 DMD 0417 poking around in something she doesn’t
Confidential Scientific, Technical Information. Not for Public Release or Dissemination; Not an Offer for Sale. know anything about. We get her an extra
milk cow. If that don’t work, we give her
a little more garden to tend to. And then
if that’s not enough, we get her pregnant
and keep her barefoot.”

NELDA KENNEDY: Now that was the
chauvinistic days that I went through.
And those things really happened.

You had to stay up; you couldn’t
let it put you down. I’d gone home and
cried many a night over things that
would be said. My husband was easy-
going. He pushed me on; he knew I
loved it. And he’d push me on. I think
it made me the happiest because those
men that didn’t like me at the start all
began to like me, and they defended me.



42 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT

The Arkansas Trucking
Report has covered
several of the people
mentioned by those
interviewed for this

article as well as some
of the interviewees
themselves.

Official Journal of the Arkansas Trucking Association Volume 4, No. 6 • November/December 1999 • $4.95

Regional Journal of the Arkansas Trucking Association

KIRK T HO MP Volume 8, Number 3 • July 2003 • $4.95

THE MA NB EHIN D TH S ON

E C U R TA I N

INDUSTRY’S 20 MOST IsSspueec!ial S H I PA W E I G H S I N • ATA B U S I N E S S C O N F E R E N C E
INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE
OF THE 20TH CENTURY

NOT “FOR MEN ONLY” • E-COMMERCE • HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRY

Award-Winning Magazine of the Arkansas Trucking Association Vol. 20 | Issue 2 2015 | $4.95

TheTaRkeiinngs 43
Butch Rice of
Stallion Transportation

A n t i - i n d e m n i f i c At i o n PA s s e s | t e c h i n t r u c k i n g | c A r g o t h e f t

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017

Kennedy recalls things starting to BUTCH RICE: I think the role of the  Butch Rice address attendees at ATA
change within the association in the ’70s association is to reach out… Now you annual conference in 2016
and ’80s when women would host poker can ask anybody over at the Capitol who
parties while the men played golf or join- the trucking association is, and they’ll about big trucking companies. It’s
ing them on the course with golf carts. smile at you and say, “Yeah, we know about us all. That’s what Robert Young
She said she saw the transition when men them and we like working with them.” said. He said it takes every trucking
and women started working together. company in the state of Arkansas to
VICKI STEPHENS: I started attending make this work.
WHAT IS THE POWER OF the [board] meetings and sat back and
ASSOCIATION listened. I’d always been told that the As the industry has changed and
Arkansas Trucking Association — I think the association’s responsibilities with it,
As women got more respect in the it was Arkansas Motor Carriers at the we look back at what and who we came
industry, so too did the issues. The time — was all about the big trucking from. The technology that has enabled
group had always been a place for col- companies, the big boys. I didn’t find business has also made it more expensive
leagues to commiserate their shared it that way at all. In fact, it was prob- and complex. Sure, a horse and buggy
experience in trucking. But as more ably in about 2002 when the state of didn’t go very fast, but it didn’t require an
laws were introduced that impacted Arkansas decided that those of us who ELD to be installed either. The old trucks
the industry, the association became a had been licensing in Oklahoma could and trailers may have been a fraction of
stronger arm of advocacy to enact the no longer do that and we were going to today’s cost, but they weren’t as safe or
kind of change that would make every- have to come and license in Arkansas clean either. Everyone we talked to remi-
one’s business better. and pay three years of back taxes, sales nisced about CB radios and when com-
taxes on the equipment we had pur- puters were introduced in their offices or
GUY CAMPBELL: Initially, it was chased. cell phones allowed them to lengthen the
somewhat of a social club. But it evolved tether that had tied them to their desks.
into a legislative endeavor. And I think I was just appalled. I couldn’t
that’s the purpose of the association. believe we had gone to Oklahoma and In the next 85 years, we can’t predict
You’ve got like-minded businessmen we had abided by the rules and regula- what will come our way, but we can wager
that want generally the same thing. tions. We did it out of good business the association will adapt and hope that
Years ago, I used to say that the rail- procedure, because it was $10 a truck as the trucking gene gets passed to a new
roads had a real advantage over the versus what Arkansas wanted to charge. generation, someone else will be here to
trucking industry legislatively because tell those stories of what trucking was
every railroad wanted the same thing. I STOOD UP IN A like. A recruiter will reminisce about 2017
BOARD MEETING AND when he was trying to find a professional
During regulation, you had your PLEADED NOT ONLY workforce during the driver shortage.
long-haul carriers and your short-haul A driver will remember the day she got
carriers. The truck-load carriers and MY CASE, BUT THE her first electronic log installed. We’ll
the LTL carriers. And they each had a PLIGHT OF SMALL recall the headlines about crumbling
different view and wanted something TRUCKING COMPANIES roads and bridges before smart highways
different. And I can recall that we used THAT HAD GONE replaced inferior infrastructure. The
to have to kind of work things together TO OKLAHOMA OR next generation will shake their heads in
to make legislation work for everybody. TENNESSEE TO DO THE disbelief that so much has changed. But
It just evolved that way. SAME THING, AND the one thing that won’t? People that love
SAID, “THIS IS GOING trucking. ATR
One of the biggest victories for the TO PUT A LOT OF
association came in 1994, when it became TRUCKING COMPANIES
evident that trucking interests had power OUT OF BUSINESS.”
to protect itself from harmful legislation.
They agreed to file a lawsuit
GUY CAMPBELL: I think the biggest against the state of Arkansas to go back
singular political victory that we had and repeal what they were attempting
was when Gov. Jim Guy Tucker had a to do. I went out and told everybody
road bill, a bond issue, that he was try- that I knew. We wouldn’t get this done
ing to pass. We not only beat that bond if it hadn’t have been for the Arkansas
issue, we beat it by 83% “no” votes. I Motor Carriers Association. It’s not
mean, just totally destroyed it. And that
alone kind of announced to the legisla-
ture that we were a powerful player.

44 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT

Hard Work Pays Off

State IRP system will go modern

By Steve Brawner

Contributing Writer

With the stroke of a pen and A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF IMPROVING EFFICIENCY
the statement, “It is now law,” Gov. FOR THE CONSUMER, BUT IT’S ALSO REFLECTIVE OF
Asa Hutchinson ended two years of THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY GOVERNING YOUR OWN
work and started moving Arkansas’ AFFAIRS. YOU SAY, ‘THERE’S A PROBLEM; LET’S GET A
International Registration Plan process
into the 21st century. SOLUTION FOR IT.’

Act 532 was the Arkansas Trucking ARKANSAS GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON
Association’s top priority this legislation
session. Because of it, by Jan. 1, 2018, states have more convenient processes, motor vehicle fee. The fees are to be
motor carriers will be able to perform motor carriers that can register else- deposited into the Commercial Driver
routine International Registration Plan where often choose to do so. License Fund to enhance the Arkansas
transactions online, include registering, Motor Carrier System.
renewals and transferring registrations. To pay for the upgrade, the
They will be able to print their own Department of Finance and Changing the law began during the
registration cards, maintain license Administration will add $9 in IRP 2014 gubernatorial campaign, when
plate inventories, and affix plates decals charges – $2 to register commercial then-candidate Asa Hutchinson told the
bearing the company logo. They’ll also motor vehicles or conduct online ATA he would support the Department
have 30 days from the date of the regis- administrative transactions, $2 when of Finance and Administration mak-
tration to submit all the required source an IRP registration is issued or renewed ing changes. For much of the next two
documents. in order to display their logo on their years, members of the industry worked
plates, and $5 as an annual commercial
The move was necessary because 
Arkansas’ administrative processes
have been out of date and cumbersome.
All trucks engaged in interstate com-
merce are required to register with the
IRP in a particular state where they do
business, with the money disbursed to
other states where they travel. First-time
carriers have been required to register
by mail or in person at DFA offices
in Little Rock. Afterwards, they could
register online, but they’ve been forced
to wait for licenses and credentials to
arrive by mail, leading many to send a
company representative to Little Rock to
expedite the process with each truck.

Not surprisingly, because other

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 45

with agency representatives to design dent. “We had to bring car- Governor’s Conference Room, site of
a system that would meet the needs of riers to the table who were many historic moments, on March
everyone. already registered here, 21. During the ceremony, Hutchinson
carriers to the table that praised the industry, saying the law is
“The entire process was a big were registering somewhere “just a perfect example of improving
undertaking,” said Shannon Newton, else, to make sure that we efficiency for the consumer, but it’s
Arkansas Trucking Association presi- were crafting a desirable also reflective of the trucking industry
option. We didn’t want to governing your own affairs. You say,
go through the exercise ‘There’s a problem; let’s get a solution
and create something that for it.’”
companies weren’t going
to choose to use, and so Soon after the bill was signed and
there was a lot of effort put the comments were made, Hutchinson
into making sure that the left to attend to other matters during a
product that we were going busy legislative session. When he left, so
to provide would actu- did the rest of the ATA, leaving Newton
ally meet the needs of our to reflect on the industry’s accomplish-
members.” ment.

Once the legislation Holding one of the pens used to
was crafted, passage was sign the bill into law, she praised the
relatively easy. The bill by Rep. Andy governor for his support of the bill.
Davis, R-Little Rock, the grandson of a
trucker, passed the House 83-2 and the “This was a big deal for us,” she
Senate 32-0. said. “It’s something that we really
About a dozen ATA representatives wanted, something we put a lot of effort
attended the private bill signing in the into, and something that he was very
helpful in making happen.” ATR

46 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT





including Arkansas, which requires 200 the Highway Commission. CourtHouse Concepts™
feet. At the time, Peloton had the ability Apparently, platooning legislation
to operate in about 10 states, and that
number is growing. Michigan’s gover- was meant to occur this year. The ATA
nor, for example, in late 2016 signed had drafted a bill prior to the session
into law an exemption to that state’s but decided not to pursue it because
required 500-foot following distance for with so many other priorities, there
commercial vehicles. wasn’t time to find a sponsor. Then
it learned Collins had filed his bill on
PREDESTINED TO PLATOON his own without contacting the ATA.
At that point, the ATA started work-
Shannon Newton, Arkansas ing with Collins. As originally written,
Trucking Association president, said “a the bill would have more expansively
very small number” of ATA members allowed autonomous technology in the
have trucks equipped with the technol- passenger car industry, but stakehold-
ogy and would like to test it on a couple ers including Uber, Google and Lyft
of routes. For that to happen, the law couldn’t agree on language in time, so
had to change in Arkansas as well. Collins amended the bill to focus spe-
House Bill 1754 by Rep. Charlie Collins, cifically on truck platooning. That bill
R-Fayetteville, (signed into law on closely mirrored the one originally writ-
April 3) will allow two or more vehicles ten by the ATA.
equipped with platooning systems to
drive in tandem at closer distances than Among the states that have already
otherwise allowed under state law, as made progress in adapting the tech-
long as the human operator controls nology is Nevada, which performed a
the steering and systems monitoring. demonstration project in 2014 with two
Operators must have a plan approved by trucks south of Reno. Paul Enos, CEO



Save the Date

July 13 - 15 CHAMPIONSHIP
50TH ANNIVERSARY
Rogers, Ark. 2017

John Q. Hammons
Convention Center

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT - Issue 2 2017 49

WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE’RE NOT STIFLING platoons from the current 7 percent
INNOVATION AND WE’RE NOT PICKING WINNERS AND to 20 percent. Boyd said Peloton will
LOSERS IN THIS ROUND, AND WE HAVE LAWS AND continue to search for ways to make
REGULATIONS SET UP THAT ALLOW FOR DIFFERENT the driving process simpler and improve
APPLICATIONS, DIFFERENT TYPES OF TECHNOLOGY safety. In the future, the systems will be
integrated with traffic jam assist provid-
TO BE INVOLVED, AND THAT WE’RE NOT TOO ers, already available in passenger cars,
PRESCRIPTIVE. where the radar enables the vehicle to
move smoothly through congested areas
PAUL ENOS, CEO OF NEVADA TRUCKING ASSOCIATION and the driver isn’t forced to engage in
stop and go driving.
of the Nevada Trucking Association, round, and we have laws and regula-
said truck platooning, and automation tions set up that allow for different No matter what Silicon Valley and
in general, have wide support among applications, different types of technol- other innovators create, he foresees
government and regulatory bodies and ogy to be involved, and that we’re not there always being a need for drivers.
among his members, and at this point, too prescriptive,” he said.
policymakers are focusing on standard- “Even when you start to increase
izing definitions and ensuring Nevada Peloton will continue to improve the automation in the vehicles, it’s real-
defers to federal law. its technology. The company has ly about making the job better, improv-
joined a project sponsored by the U.S. ing the safety,” he said. “There may be
“We want to make sure that we’re Department of Energy’s Advanced an opportunity for drivers to take a
not stifling innovation and we’re not Research Projects Agency-Energy whose break, but there’s still a role. There’s still
picking winners and losers in this goal is to increase fuel savings in truck an individual freight professional who’s
with that truck, driving that truck,
supervising the key parts of that freight
delivery task, and doing other things as
well.” ATR

ATA GOES TO WASHINGTON

MAY 23-25, 2017

hOTEL mONACO . wASHINGTON d.c.

50 Issue 2 2017 - ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT


Click to View FlipBook Version