CCJ Innovators profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact CCJ Chief Editor Jason Cannon at [email protected] or 800-633-5953.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) estimates that weather – namely rain, snow, freezing rain, severe crosswinds and other adverse conditions – contributes to nearly 500 fatal truck crashes in the U.S. annually.
The proliferation of technology, namely mobile device apps, has made it difficult for severe weather to sneak up on anyone – unless you're federally prohibited from using handheld mobile phones while operating a vehicle (like truck drivers) and travel across multiple regions in the course of a day.
Truck drivers often don't see the push alerts from native apps and can't look up the forecast based on the look of an ominous cloud, making them susceptible to weather surprises.
"When I was dispatch, I had drivers that had been drivers since the '70s," said Matt Fengler, operations supervisor for South Sioux City, Nebraska-based K&B Transportation, "and they would be like, 'We never would slow down for weather. The only weather was whether or not you were going deliver our freight."
Fengler is part of a small team at K&B (CCJ Top 250, No. 120), a perishable food hauler fleet with more than 700 trucks, that is responsible for monitoring the weather and communicating with drivers. The fleet added a custom weather alert system to enhance the capability of its driver app, a feature that enhances driver safety by channeling severe weather warnings through a dedicated newsfeed with read-aloud functionality to prevent driver distraction.
Fengler and his team don't have any fancy weather equipment at their disposal; rather, he uses the same information available to everyone else and the same sources, including monitoring the websites and social media channels for the departments of transportation for all 48 states the company drives through.
"We're watching the weather all day. We got two TVs upstairs that just are on The Weather Channel nonstop," he said. "We're just kind of watching, and we're checking the National Weather Service, and we're trying to stay in front of where the weather's at. Some states and some regions do a great job on [social media]."
What makes it all work is the commingling of numerous technology providers.
The motor carrier uses eSquared for its mobile device management and Eleos for its driver app. Once a weather situation has been identified, Fengler, through Geotab, defines a geofence and sets parameters of what drivers should do when they cross into that zone.
"We have to categorize that zone type: shutdown zone, or maybe we want that driver to travel at 50 miles an hour," he said. "We're running API jobs on the back end all the time, just processing. So when a truck crosses into that zone, we get that notification (via GPS), and then that prompts an alert through our eSquared MDM."
The alert takes over the driver's screen, "and if the driver's in navigation, we're going to prompt an alert that pops up, and it might say, 'You've entered a 50-mile-an-hour speed zone,' or 'Please report any changing conditions,' and, 'Drive safely.' Something along those lines."
The system requires driver acknowledgment, ensuring critical safety information is noticed.
"If they're in an area where we know we don't want them to drive, we're going to remove the load information card completely and just replace that with an image or something from our office that explains where they're at or the current weather situation and all that kind of stuff," Fengler said, adding the reason for that is if the driver is coming off a break and they aren't reading their messages or they haven't spoken with anyone back at the office, it's impossible to miss. "Their load card isn't there, and their navigation isn't there."
Drivers, too, play a role in determining road conditions since they're the ones with a first-hand view and can report back to the safety team what road hazards may or may not exist.
The results include an 80% decrease in DOT recordable accidents year-over-year since the function was rolled out in 2023.
K&B also uses this information to keep customers informed of any delays or adjustments to their delivery schedule and have improved their service levels.
"We're not going to forego any of our customer requirements because we're spending so much time trying to get drivers stopped. It's really allowed us to keep everything moving as a company," Fengler said. "Everything we're doing is to support our drivers and make sure that they're in the best situation possible to be safe and make sure that their load is delivered successfully.
"Ideally, what we would like to do is, any truck going from Kansas City to Chicago, for example, instead of going up I-5 through Des Moines, right through the weather, if at all possible, we will call them and say, 'Hey, if you go over to St. Louis, go by 55. It's essentially the same distance. It's like 30 miles. Well, in the grand scheme of things, that 30 miles is well worth it if we can completely avoid all that weather in Iowa," he added. "We're not putting any drivers in a situation where they're stuck or coming into icy roads; we're not putting any freight in any situation with perishable goods where we have a truck that's shut down and can't get to a delivery and service the customer."
K&B is in the process of integrating eSmart, a dynamic speed management solution that uses GPS technology to determine vehicle location to actively manage its maximum allowed speed, into the platform, which would allow the office to cap truck speed remotely when weather dictates that it's necessary.
While it won't apply the service brakes, it gradually will decelerate the truck once it arrives in a pre-defined safety zone. Fengler said the ability to manage truck speed also helps keeps trucks in compliance with posted speed limits when the states themselves implement local safety measures.
"Pennsylvania, I've noticed over the last couple of years, if there's bad weather, they'll push it out there: 45-mile-an-hour maximum speed," he said.
The CCJ Innovators program is sponsored by Comdata, ExxonMobil, Fleetworthy and Mack Trucks.