PFMI certification In your "Time Out" article in the November issue of FLEET OWNER, you made reference to programs available through PFMI for private fleet manager certification. Would you please send to my attention an address and phone number for PFMI? George Roberts, The Vons Companies Inc., Ontario, Calif.
Thank you for your inquiry. Please contact the Private Fleet Management Institute at 66 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 600, Alexandria, Va. 22314, or phone 703-683-1300. You can also visit the home page of the National Private Truck Council at www.nptc.com. -- Editor
CRASH landing The organization known as Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) not only is attacking the American trucking industry unfairly, but it is doing a major disservice to our nation. While Americans rely on efficient, safe, and dedicated truck drivers to deliver life's basic necessities, CRASH, masquerading as a purveyor of truth, is bashing our trucking industry -- and they are doing it with a shameful lack of integrity.
Throughout its history, CRASH leaders have relied heavily on sensationalized "horror stories" and distorted half-truths (and, sometimes, outright lies) about truck safety to promote the self-seeking commercial interests of those who are providing financial support. For example, while every fatality on the highway is a terrible tragedy, CRASH carefully avoids the fact that in more than 70% of truck-car fatalities, the driver of the car was at fault.
CRASH studiously avoids our industry's well documented, positive safety story. Facts of this kind simply do not coincide with CRASH's true agenda. It is obvious to all of us who work in the trucking industry -- and to many outside the trucking industry -- that CRASH is simply anti-truck rather than pro-highway safety.
While CRASH makes claims about promoting highway safety, there are several other entities, including America's trucking industry, that are actually working diligently and effectively for safety. I am proud of our industry's improving safety record, which is the result of our many safety initiatives. Without any help from CRASH, the trucking industry worked hard for and achieved a nationwide ban on radar detectors in commercial vehicles, random drug testing for truck drivers and bus drivers (including school bus drivers), and funding for nearly 2-million roadside safety inspections every year. And it was the trucking industry that fought for and won the commercial driver's license.
CRASH's constant haranguing about heavy trucks is a disservice to our nation. Unjustified and unwarranted additional restrictions on heavy trucks would, of course, drive up costs for shippers. In turn, all Americans would suffer unnecessarily as costs of essential goods increased. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, we all should help to expose CRASH for what it is -- a front organization for special interests; an organization that does not serve our nation well. Robert A. Barnes, President, United Carriers Corp., Newark, Ohio
Inspection help Can you tell me where I can purchase a copy of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) "Out of Service Guidelines"? I have a motor terminal inspection coming up soon. Thanks. Dale Jehning, Mountain View, Calif.
Contact the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance at 5430 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 130, Bethesda, Md. Their telephone number is 301-564-1623.-- Editor
