Safety

Your May 26 Pre-Trip: Storms hammer Texas

May 26, 2015

Here are five things worth knowing today: 1. Nearly a foot of rain that fell in some spots overnight has inundated the highways and byways of Houston, TX. According to CNN, the flooding has slowed first responders and knocked out power. The city’s emergency management coordinator, Rick Flagan, told CNN, “We got hammered. We had cars that were stranded, mobility was stopped, … signals didn’t work. It was just a madhouse.” According to the Baltimore Sun, a line of storms from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes dumped record rainfall on parts of the Plains and Midwest, causing tornadoes and flooding that destroyed more than 1,000 homes.2. Freymiller trucking company and the American Trucking Assns. gave Republicans visiting Oklahoma City for a GOP Conference “7 Million Reasons to Pass a Long-Term Highway Bill.” According to The Duncan Banner, those 7 million reasons are the number of people in trucking-related jobs as of 2012. According to the report, Freymiller employs 500 drivers, and each of its drivers averages 115,000 miles a year hauling refrigerated food.3. A tanker truck’s brakes may have locked up moments before yesterday’s fiery crash on I-75 in Detroit, a source has told 7 Action News. Action News reports that it uncovered mechanical safety violations logged against the trucking company involved in the accident. The driver, Kai Moore, told Action News, “It’s amazing that I survived.” According to the report, Moore declined to discuss the details of what led up to the accident, but he did not dispute Action News’ reporting. 4. An Illinois trucker who averaged 9.74 miles per gallon from February to April in a Navistar International ProStar says “taking it easy” is the key to getting great fuel mileage in a big truck. According to the Daily Mail, the driver’s employer, Mesilla Valley Transportation, awarded him a Nissan Versa for his achievement. The Daily Mail went on to say that environmentalists want the Environmental Protection Agency to set a standard of 10 miles per gallon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but some truck manufacturers say that “could be too aggressive.”5. Former monster truck driver Tony Farrell was killed this weekend by a man who allegedly rammed people with his car as he drove through a concert crowd in Tennessee, WISHTV reports. Farrell owned a trucking company and was a former monster truck driver who drove Blue Thunder, according to the report. Police have arrested Billy Jason Carson and charged him with criminal homicide and reckless endangerment, WISHTV said.

About the Author

Cristina Commendatore

Cristina Commendatore was previously the Editor-in-chief of FleetOwner magazine. She reported on the transportation industry since 2015, covering topics such as business operational challenges, driver and technician shortages, truck safety, and new vehicle technologies. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.