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Author: Courtney Hemond

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Independence Avenue Bridge

This bridge is notorious for causing semi-trucks to crash

Getting into a crash is a truck driver‘s worst nightmare. Even if the driver themself isn’t injured, there’s a good chance another person involved in the crash will sustain injuries. In fact, it’s estimated that semi-trucks are involved in over 4,000 deaths per year in the US. It’s nobody’s fault; simply the reality of driving a 12-ton vehicle with much smaller four-wheelers on the road.

But not all crashes are deadly.

In fact, there is a location in the United States that causes crashes multiple times per year without any deaths. That location is the Independence Avenue Bridge in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Independence Avenue Bridge causes multiple crashes per year and the city doesn’t know how to fix it

If you’re a trucker who is unfamiliar with the Independence Avenue Bridge, you need to get familiar with it. The Kansas City location seems to cause multiple crashes every year. Each time, it’s the same story — a trucker thinks their truck can make the clearance and it just can’t.

I can’t find specific statistics on how many crashes there have been, but a quick google search of “Independence Avenue Bridge” will reveal a plethora of articles detailing crashes at that location.

Last week, the bridge took another victim, slicing off the top of a semi-truck despite a 12-foot clearance sign. Here’s a video of that.

You can even see the truck begin to stop as the driver realizes that it’s too short.

Again, this is not an isolated incident. If you want, you can take a deep dive into that Twitter account — it exists for the sole purpose of documenting anything crash-related that has to do with the Independence Avenue Bridge.

Steps are being taken to help drivers avoid the Independence Avenue Bridge’s trap

Thankfully, this is an issue that Kansas City officials are working to fix. After decades of trucks crashing, you’d hope they’re looking to do so. Thankfully, it looks like changes are on the horizon, according to KMBC. Here’s what they said.

“The city has said that as long as the bridge has been there, trucks have been hitting it. As KMBC reported in June, Kansas City is working with Kansas City Terminal Railroad, which owns the bridge, to install a warning system with plastic tubes to let truck drivers know if they can clear it before they get to it. When a truck hits the tubes, they make a loud warning noise.”

Hopefully

Smokey and the Bandit, Snowman's Truck

‘The Snowman’ from Smokey and the Bandit drove a 1974 Kenworth W900A

The trucking industry is well-represented throughout popular culture. Whether trucking is being used to create a villainous antagonist or being used as the good guy in a film, there is no lack of semi-trucks in the industry.

And more than a handful of these trucks have become infamous over the years.

One that we’ve discussed in the past is the Green Goblin from Maximum Overdrive, a 1986 film about a self-aware, evil semi-truck. Optimus Prime from the Transformers series is another big one.

Another one, often forgotten about, is The Snowman’s truck from Smokey and the Bandit, an extremely popular movie from nearly a half-century ago. But what truck model was driven in this movie and why?

“The Snowman” drove a 1974 Kenworth W900A

If you are unable to read the title and the headline above, “The Snowman” from Smokey and the Bandit drove a 1974 Kenworth 900A.

Why?

There’s no concrete answer here but hotcars.com theorizes that the truck’s main appeal for the film was it’s look. After all, if you’re shooting a movie with a prominent truck in it, you’re going to want that truck to look as truck-y as possible. Here’s how Hotcar’s Edwin Karicho described it.

“With a big hood and a ton of power beneath said hood, the truck is heaved by a twin-turbo Cummins, with the occasional truck carrying a 3408 Cat instead. The BBC (bumper to back-of-cab) for the W900 model ranges from 121 inches to 130 inches, which makes it one of the largest cabs you can find.”

This truck did have its flaws, but it was perfect for the film.

But if you already knew all of this, here’s something you may not know. Smokey and the Bandit actually used three different trucks to shoot this movie. Two were nearly identical 1974 W900As, while the third was a 1973 model with a gold Kenworth logo, according to Hotcars.

Unfortunately, nobody knows where these trucks are today.

Women in Trucking

The trucking industry is “getting a lot better for women truckers”

When you think of the stereotypical trucker, what comes to mind? Answers may vary to an extent but generally speaking, you’ll think up a tough-looking man who might be rough around the edges. Perhaps a similar profile to that of a construction worker or any other profession in manual labor.

Oh, and most importantly — you’re probably picturing a man.

And rightfully so. After all, women only make up 24% of the transportation industry, with just 7-8% of truck drivers being women.

Trucking isn’t where it needs to be for women, but it’s getting better

There are a couple of reasons why women don’t get into trucking.

For starters, they’re not necessarily encouraged to enter the field; recruiters generally target men. And again, this makes sense — nearly 93% of CDL holders are men, so why would companies be targeting an empty audience?

Then there’s the issue of safety for women.

This is something that is being spearheaded by organizations like the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which recently spoke on issues regarding women in trucking at the Women In Trucking Association’s Accelerate in November. Administrator Robin Hutcheson referenced findings in a federal study that surveyed over 500 truck drivers. She called these findings “disturbing and unacceptable.”

And the sad reality here is that you don’t need a study to confirm its results. Anyone who has spoken about the issue with a woman in trucking will have heard more than a handful of stories. These often range from derogatory comments to full-blown sexual assault.

It’s being addressed, but there’s still a long way to go.

Experienced women in trucking, however, do report a much safer environment than in their earlier days in the industry. Take Connie August, who spoke with Quartz, as an example. Here’s what the 49-year-old trucker said.

“From when I started to now, I have to say the whole trucking industry atmosphere has gotten much more agreeable—a lot better for women truckers”

Desiree Wood, president of Real Women in Trucking, mentioned that trucking is actually a very good option for women without a degree. She references other options for these same women, including being a stripper, bartender, or cocktail waitress. Compared to those, trucking is a promising career option, Wood says.

Trucking is a solid industry, women just have to be careful with the companies that they work with.

Truck jump, Gregg Godfrey

This is the story of the longest jump ever by a semi-truck

Semi-trucks were created to serve a single purpose — haul as much cargo as physically possible. Despite the fact that more could probably be fit into a semi-truck at times, the legal limit for gross vehicle weight is 80,000 pounds.

Long story short… these trucks were not made for stunts. Not even close.

But that didn’t stop Gregg Godfrey, a member of Nitro Circus, from attempting to pull off a huge stunt. That stunt was to jump a semi-truck as far as he could. Godfrey originally started with just a 50-foot jump before building his way up to a jaw-dropping 166 feet.

Gregg Godfrey’s family has a history of trucking

Godfrey’s decision to jump a semi-truck may seem random. But in fact, it wasn’t — it was far from random. What isn’t often mentioned is that Godfrey’s father was a long-haul trucker when he was born in Draper, Utah.

This is likely what inspired him to jump a semi-truck 166 feet. Godfrey himself admitted that he didn’t even intend on jumping as far as he did —he said he “meant to only go 140 feet.” Guess he got carried away and smashed the old record.

A video of the jump can be seen here:

One of the first replies to the video simply states “WTF who thinks this sh*t up.”

Godfrey did something that few will dare to attempt in the future. Jumping a semi-truck is seriously dangerous. This record has been held since 2015 and it seems unlikely that anybody will attempt it again anytime soon.

Electric Truck, Tesla

Elon Musk’s Tesla Truck Just Ran 500 Miles With Over 81,000 Pounds

Remember the whole electric truck thing? Yeah, well… it’s actually happening. After years of talks and countless claims by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it looks like the company is finally springing into action and rolling out some effective electric trucks.

Earlier this week, Musk tweeted about a 500-mile trip performed by an electric truck.

If true, this is the most impressive trip by an electric truck to date.

Elon Musk and Tesla just began an electric truck empire that he plans to expand

Tesla is releasing two trucks. One will cost $150,000 — that’ll get you 300 miles on a single charge. The other is $180,000, which will drive you 500 miles. This is presumably the semi-truck used for the trip referenced in this tweet.

And this is the start of a plan to produce 100 trucks by the end of the year. By the end of 2024, Musk wants that number to grow to 50,000. For the drivers who are tired of paying $4.00 per gallon, this will be good news down the road. Granted, those prices won’t stay consistent, but if electric semi-trucks are normalized, gas won’t be a concern for anybody anymore.

Elon Musk and Tesla were not the first to complete electric vehicle deliveries

Believe it or not, Tesla was not the first to get going with electric semi-trucks. In fact, Volvo may have snuck its way ahead of Musk with its subsidiary company, Renault, which has already “implemented electric trucks for delivery” for Coca-Cola.

Musk doesn’t plan to implement his until December 1st. Here’s the timeline given by CDLLife.

“Musk’s tweet comes just days ahead of a planned delivery event to be held December 1 at the Tesla Gigafactory located east of Reno, Nevada. December 1 is the planned date for PepsiCo to begin to accept a delivery of 100 Tesla Semis that the company pre-ordered in 2017.”

Trucking, Gas Prices

Here’s Why 91% Of Trucking Companies Could Shut Down

It’s a bad time to be an owner-operator in the trucking industry, as gas prices don’t look like they’re coming down anytime soon. After a couple of years of a booming economy for OOs, it may be time for some of these drivers to settle down and drive for a big company.

It’s simple, really — gas prices continue to surge and OOs pay out of pocket for these expenses. While the larger trucking companies can take on expenses like this, it leaves OOs earning lower pay than they would like. With other expenses on their budget, profit margins are looking low for many of them.

But it’s not just OOs. In fact, some would consider OOs pretty lucky, as they’re still making really solid money. But small trucking companies are not and as gas prices continue to surge, we’re starting to see more and more of these companies shut down.

91% of companies are at risk of shutting down due to high gas prices

I just said smaller companies are at risk — so let’s define what a smaller company is. South Carolina Trucking Association CEO Rick Todd defines it as a company with “six or fewer” trucks. Perhaps even more terrifying — companies of this size account for 91% of trucking companies, according to Todd via Fox News.

If you’re a company driver, there is good news here.

The good news is that you won’t have trouble finding a job; at least not in the immediate future. There’s still a major shortage of truck drivers and even though you likely will not have the same available CPM rate, there are plenty of high-quality companies out there thriving like Whiteline Express, which continues to increase its pay for over-the-road drivers.

But for more than a handful of companies, profits are not high enough to do this. A lot of the same companies that are advertising 75-80 cents per mile for company drivers will not be able to offer those same prices. Actually — scratch that — they won’t even exist anymore.

A lot of these companies are shutting down with no warning, too. Look at Freon Trucking, a company that filed for bankruptcy after failing to pay their employees for weeks. Apparently, the company owes up to $16,000 to some employees. And Freon wasn’t even a tiny company — their company had around 25 drivers. This is the unfortunate risk you run when you drive for a smaller company in 2022.

If you’re a company driver, be careful out there. Until the economy, and specifically gas prices, stabilize, only jobs at large companies are safe.

Roy Williams, Dallas Cowboys

Celebrities in Trucking: Roy Williams Jr.

The trucking industry is huge. When you look at people involved in it, you’ll find people from all walks of life — semi-trucks do not discriminate. Some notable names are Elvis Presley, Richard Pryor, and Liam Neeson.

For one reason or another, big names gravitate to the trucking industry.

Former NFL Pro Bowl WR Roy Williams Jr. began a successful trucking company after retiring

Roy Williams Jr. was one of the best receivers in the NFL for a stretch of time. The former Texas Longhorn pass-catcher played for the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, and finally, the Chicago Bears before retiring at the conclusion of a seven-year career. He accumulated over 1,300 yards and seven touchdowns in 2006, earning the opportunity to play in the Pro Bowl. He was one of the most reliable players in the league for a long time.

But after retiring, Williams found himself completely bored. Here’s a quote from the former wideout via NBCDFW from 2014, a couple of years after he retired.

“I played golf, I played with my children and I played video games for three weeks,” said Williams. “I could not sit still. I knew nothing about it, knew absolutely nothing about trucking or the oil field. I knew that I loved here in the oil field, but knew nothing about it.”

It was at this point that he decided to enter the trucking industry, starting RDUB Trucking. Unlike former NBA superstar Karl Malone’s trucking business, Williams’s actually took off and found success. As far as I can find, RDUB Trucking is still in commission today, eight years after its inception.

Whiteline Express Referral Bonus

Whiteline Express’s Referral Bonus Could Put Over $3,500 in Existing Drivers’ Pockets

I started at Whiteline Express just around six months ago as a Social Media Recruiting Specialist. My job is to increase traffic to Whiteline social accounts, increase the total number of job applications, and ultimately, increase the number of truck drivers at this company. To reach this goal, I started looking at the company to see which aspects of Whiteline Express would appeal to someone looking for a company.

The company has plenty of benefits — the pay is really solid, the drivers are treated well, and the company is extremely reliable. But one recruiting point stood above the rest for me: the referral bonus for over-the-road drivers.

Not a lot of drivers take advantage of our referral bonus and I cannot figure out why. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of awareness or possibly the fear of losing miles to another driver (which will not happen) — whatever the case is, there needs to be more people bringing in referrals. Here’s why.

Whiteline Express’s referral bonus puts up to $4,000 in drivers’ pockets for doing almost nothing at all

When I say it’s easy to get Whiteline’s referral bonus, I’m not exaggerating at all. There’s a single step: make sure the driver you’re referring puts your name on their application. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. That action alone could get you up to $4,000.

There’s no catch; this isn’t a pyramid scheme. It is as good and as easy as it sounds.

Now, there are specific things that have to happen in order to get this but once you’ve finished your only task, there’s nothing but free money coming in. Your work is done. So how does the bonus actually work?

It gets a little bit complicated, but I’ll give you a quick breakdown.

Once the driver you’ve recommended completes onboarding and starts driving, you will earn $0.12 per mile for their over-the-road driving in the first three months of their employment. The payments come in monthly and the driver does have to complete that month. That said, if the driver only finishes a single month of driving and quits halfway through the next, you will have been paid from that first month. Usually, that would be over $1,000.

Let’s say they drive 2,250 miles per week for their first three months — that would put just over $3,500 in your pocket. For doing absolutely nothing. Let’s say they’re on the low end of miles and only drive 1,500 per week for those three months — that will give you $2,340. FOR DOING NOTHING. IT IS SO EASY.

There’s no limit to the number of drivers that you can refer, either. Referring one driver will get you around $3,500. You might refer five drivers and earn around $15,000 for their driving. Heck, hypothetically speaking, you could refer ten drivers in a year and earn over $30,000. You could refer 20 drivers in a year and earn $60,000. There is no limit.

If I was a truck driver, I would be relentlessly recruiting people to join this company. It’s such a small amount of work that can earn you such a large amount of money. It benefits you, it benefits the driver you’re recruiting, and it benefits the company.

The smart move is to refer drivers to our company.

You will NOT lose out on miles by referring another driver — here’s why

After repeatedly asking our recruiters why more drivers don’t do this, I finally got an answer. Most existing drivers are afraid that the driver they refer is going to take their miles. It’s a valid concern and definitely something that happens at smaller companies.

Whiteline Express is not a small company — there are plenty of miles to go around.

We have a fleet of over 300 trucks and extremely consistent loads for drivers. Nobody at this company is struggling to accumulate miles — you will get what you’re looking for, no matter who you refer. If you’re not convinced, our 2,500 weekly mileage assurance will keep your miles safe.

The referral bonus can benefit new hire drivers too. Here’s how.

The best part about Whiteline’s referral bonus is that it doesn’t just apply to existing drivers. It can actually benefit prospective drivers too.

Let’s say you’re already considering driving for Whiteline Express but you haven’t actually applied yet. You can reach out to an existing WE driver, put their name in your application, and then split the bonus (you didn’t hear this from me). That’ll put upwards of $2,000 in each of your pockets. It is important to note that this will be off the books — you’re going to have to trust the existing driver to split this money with you.

Here are some stipulations to stay aware of:

  • Both drivers must be active at the time of payout
  • Payments are monthly
  • Bonus lasts through the first three months of referees’ driving
  • $0.12 CPM bonus only applies if you referred an over-the-road driver (day pay is below)
  • There is no limit to the number of drivers you can refer
  • You will earn referral money from each month completed by referred driver

The referral bonus for day-pay drivers is great, too

I’m spending all of this time talking about the over-the-road referral bonus for a reason — it’s really good. That said, we have a respectable day-pay bonus system too and it’s much simpler than the over-the-road bonus. Here’s how that works.

If you refer a day-pay driver to Whiteline Express, you will earn $1,500. Here’s how that money is spread out.

  • $250 after referred driver completes first three months
  • $250 more after referred driver completes six months
  • $1,000 after referred driver completes a year
Trucking Strike

Employees Are Saying Freon Trucking Isn’t Paying Them

If you’ve been in the trucking industry for a long time, you’re likely familiar with a few sketchy companies. Even though the industry can be sturdy and reliable, there will never be a shortage of scammers or irresponsible employers.

This week, a new company may have just been exposed in this light.

According to KGET, double-digit employees joined together to stand outside of Freon Trucking and demand pay that has been missing. There have been other issues too — one driver said that he had to pay his own money for a new tire in order to get back home in his truck. A few drivers found themselves stranded on the highway, as the company did not pay for their gas. Here are all of the details that we know about this situation.

Freon Trucking recently filed for bankruptcy, but have they already done too much damage?

Prior to this week, Freon Trucking has a totally clean record. According to Bakersfield Now, the company has had no prior cases filed in the past eight years. So what gives?

It seems like the company has totally fallen apart, allegedly trying to spread a small number of trucks among 25 drivers. An employee named Joel Juarez said that sometimes the drivers will be paid and sometimes they won’t. He continue by detailing how much the company owed him and others. Here’s what he said.

“I have a couple colleagues that haven’t been paid over a good few weeks even months, two months I heard the most. It’s been for a couple of my colleagues it’s been over $12,000, $16,000 that have been owed. As for myself I’m owed $2,000 which is a little bit but still I need that money to pay my bills. Take care of the stuff at home. You know I have a family to take care of.”

Apparently, the company promised to pay back workers for lost wages before realizing that the bank had frozen their accounts.

Many trucking companies are struggling right now, but this is not a good look for Freon Trucking.

Pilot Flying J

Trucking: Pilot Flying J Is Releasing a Unique Thanksgiving Meal

The trucking industry has more than a handful of perks. You don’t have to sit in an office and you get plenty of alone time. It’s currently a driver’s job market, so you can really earn your worth at the right company.

Still, there are also a few downsides to the profession.

The most notable, perhaps, is the lack of consistency in your schedule, especially if you’re an Over-the-Road driver. Oftentimes, America’s truck drivers are out working during national holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the 4th of July. It’s not ideal, but all drivers know this going in.

Pilot Flying J is releasing a unique Thanksgiving meal for drivers that can’t be home for the holidays

Thankfully, some trucking-adjacent companies are looking out for drivers. One of those companies is Pilot Flying J, which has been making a handful of moves to make truck drivers happier, including a project that will launch the re-haul of hundreds of locations across the country.

This time around, Pilot Flying J is giving drivers a Thanksgiving Meal during the holidays. Here’s what it will look like, according to PRNewsWire.

“Pilot Flying J’s new Thanksgiving entree includes a delectably sweet, brown sugar-glazed ham, made-to-perfection mashed sweet potatoes, and classic cornbread stuffing.”

Pilot Flying J will be selling this meal all through November and December, giving out special deals near the end of the year. Anybody with the myRewards Plus app will be able to get 25% off of this meal from November 21-27th. They’ll also extend their 10-cent gas discount through the end of December.