Page 22 - ATR 1 2015 web

Hilton cited West Memphis as being a always available then, so they have to owner-operators will note the situation
problem because it’s at the crossroads of decide how much wiggle room to allow. so that, if stopped by an enforcement
I-55 and I-40. Finding a place to park and then pulling officer, they can prove what happened.
into the stop eats up valuable minutes – An hours of service violation can affect
saFety First even hours – of a driver’s allotted time. the carrier’s CSA score, and that’s a
The parking situation forces driv- What does a carrier do when a problem. However, it’s not as big a
ers and carriers to balance competing driver has reached his limit but can’t problem as leaving a driver in an unsafe
priorities. They only get paid when the find a place to park? In that case, driv- situation.
truck is on the road, so ideally they ers don’t have a choice but to exit the “You always put safety first,”
would drive until they reach their hours highway at the first safe opportu- Loggins said.
of service limit and then park just nity. Jeff Loggins, president of Loggins The parking problem was worsened
in time. Unfortunately, parking isn’t Logistics out of Jonesboro, said his by the recent FMCSA hours of service
rule that required drivers to take rest
periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on
two successive nights in order to take
advantage of the 34-hour restart provi-
sion. That rule, suspended in December
by a congressional act, forced a lot of
trucks off the road at the same time
and then put them back in traffic
together just as congestion was about
to worsen in the morning. That made
it harder for drivers like James Collado,
an owner-operator who has driven for
Calark for 15 years. “Everybody was
It’s Time converging in the truck stops at the
same time,” he said.
for a Checkup. More than FueLing

Are your employment policies and practices up-to-date with Locations and greasy diners
recent changes in the law? Could they be better? The number of truck stops in
Arkansas is growing, but not quickly
If you’re not sure, then 2015 could be an expensive year for you.
enough. Among the major chain pro-
From hiring to performance reviews to discipline – and things in viders, there are two TA spots, at Earle
between – you can’t afford noncompliance. off I-40 and Prescott off I-30, and two
Petro stops, both on I-40 at North Little
CGWG’s HR Checkup provides a basic review of your company’s
health. For $500, set up a one-on-one meeting with Rock and West Memphis. Between
CGWG attorneys who will help you identify employment law them, the four stops offer 992 spots.
compliance issues and establish a path to best practices. Tom Liutkus, vice president of Travel
*Participating in the HR Checkup establishes an attorney-client relationship only Centers of America, which owns both,
to the extent of the agreed-upon services.
says the company has added about 30
Contact us today to schedule your HR check up. properties to its network during the last
Little Rock | 501-371-9999 three years, but there are no identified
Northwest Arkansas | 479-725-3825 spots in Arkansas where negotiations
are taking place. Among its six Pilot
Travel Centers and three Pilot Flying J
Travel Plazas, Pilot offers 1,150 parking
spaces in Arkansas, according to Anne
CGWG.COM
LeZotte, communications manager for
Pilot Flying J. It also has no plans to
build any new stops. Love’s Travel Stops
offers 452 spaces at its eight current
locations, including a location in Searcy
that opened last July with 80 spaces.

22 arkansas trucking rePort | issue 1 2015