Page 12 - ATR 6 2014 web

News iN Brief, cussed in personal forums. for two reasons,” Clark said. “We
Continued from page 11 “The volume of industry-specific wanted to understand the challenges
conversations happening in social and issues that are most important to
comprised of 15 trucking industry presi- media was surprising,” said Dan Clark, the industry and to do it in an objective
dents and CEOs. president of GE Capital, Transportation way. And we wanted to see where our
As President and CEO of ArcBest Finance, according to the source. “But customers and prospects were spending
Corporation, Ms. McReynolds is respon- on the other hand, we know that drivers time and having conversations online.”
sible for managing the multi-billion want to keep in touch with their fami-
dollar freight transportation and logis- lies when they’re on the road, and social few drIverS HaraSSed wHILe
tics services company, including over- media is a convenient way to do that.” USIng eLectronIc LoggIng
sight of the operating companies ABF Over 80 percent of online activity devIceS, SUrvey fIndS
Freight, ABF Logistics, Panther Premium involved three topics: safety and health; Responses to a recent survey, con-
Logistics and FleetNet America. A recruitment and employment; and regu- ducted by Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Certified Public Accountant, Ms. latory issues. The discussions tend to Administration (FMCSA), found that
McReynolds holds a bachelor’s degree be interrelated, involving several of the few truck drivers feel they are harassed
in accounting from the University of issues simultaneously. by their employers or shippers, and driv-
Oklahoma. ers who use electronic logs experience
“We are excited to see Judy in the no more harassment than those who
chairman’s role at ATRI and know that use paper logs.
her extensive industry experience and The agency conducted the sur-
strategic leadership will serve ATRI vey to study concerns that harass-
well,” commented Phil Byrd, immedi- ment will increase under the pending
ate past chairman of the American electronic logging device mandate-
Trucking Associations. concerns raised during 2011 court
In acknowledging Steve Williams’ ruling that said the agency needed to
six years of service as ATRI Chairman, consider the possibility of harassment
ATA President and CEO Bill Graves under the ELD mandate.
remarked, “Under Steve’s leadership, “The evidence in this survey
ATRI’s research has gained worldwide research does not support concluding
recognition for its objective analysis of that harassment occurs due to being
key industry issues on topics ranging in a situation where [hours of service]
from hours-of-service, CSA, conges- are logged using ELDs,” the agency
tion, highway funding and the envi- said.
ronment. The result is a safer, more The mandate will require most
productive trucking industry.” drivers to eventually switch from
Technology-related discussions paper to electronic logs. It will set stan-
StUdy reveaLS trUckIng focus on new products that are being dards for the devices and the support-
trendS In SocIaL MedIa developed in response to regulatory ing documents that regulators need to
TrueVoice, in alliance with GE demands, especially those relating to confirm compliance, as well as protect
Capital, Transportation Finance, emissions and safety. In general, online drivers from harassment.
recently performed a year-long study conversations about technology were The agency surveyed and inter-
that looked over fleet services trends. jump-started by company-issued prod- viewed drivers and carriers, asking
According to the report, there were 250 uct announcements. about the type and frequency of their
million online areas that were searched, A lot of the activity in the equip- interactions. The drivers were given
and the researchers found the most ment category was related to fleet own- a list of 14 kinds of interactions that
topical and debated conversations in the ership. Most of the online activity took could be considered harassment, and
industry. place in forums, indicating that fleet were asked how they viewed them.
The study discovered more people company leaders were looking to inter- Fewer than 30 percent of the driv-
in the industry were vocal with their act with their peers. ers considered any of the interactions
online presence when a government This is the second-consecutive year to be harassment, and 42 percent said
agency made an announcement about that GE Capital, Transportation Finance none of them were.
the trucking industry. The news would has conducted a study of social media The interactions most likely to be
often be passed from blogs to social usage in the trucking industry. considered harassment were interrup-
media sites like Facebook and then dis- “We launched this project in 2013 tion during off-duty time (28%), asking

12 arkansas trucking report | issue 6 2014