Comments By The Highlight Reel

YouTube - Powerful Engines Starting Compilation

This may be the most satisfying video that you see all day, if you're a fan of big, loud, engines. Literally, a bunch of folks just playing with their big toys.

Admittedly, some of the clips featuring people in loose clothing standing next to the spinning parts of a running engine make us kind of uncomfortable.

From nationally-recognized college swimmer to world traveler to rookie truck driver, fitness has always been Siphiwe Baleka's "thing". After retiring from a successful amateur swimming career that led to a state swimming championship, a spot on the Yale swimming team, and being named to the First Team All-Ivy League Swim Team, Baleka eventually found himself signing up for Prime Inc.'s Student Driver program in 2008.

Within 2 months, he found his weight had gone from his usual 140 lbs to 155 lbs, which doesn't really sound like a lot until you math it out and it becomes a 10% gain. Over the next 3 years, and realizing that nobody had come up with a workable fitness and nutrition plan targeted specifically at the estimated 86% of truck drivers who are overweight, Baleka, through trial and error, developed the Fitness Trucking program.

Implemented at Prime in 2012, Fitness Trucking's 13-Week Basic Program was an instant success.

How much exercise is enough? Well, if your body can handle, pretty much all you can get. Realizing that most drivers, if they're doing it right, are constantly pressed for time, it really takes a surprisingly small amount of time daily to get the exercise you need. It will really help if you can get put aside any feelings of self-consciousness when it comes to others watching you work out, as you'll see in the video Baleka gets in a pretty good 1-minute workout at the fuel island. Of course any fitness program should be coupled with a reasonable, balanced, diet.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends:

Aerobic Exercise: At least 150 minutes of moderate activity (about 20 minutes a day), or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity (about 10 minutes a day).

Strength training: Work all major muscle groups twice a week, with enough weight or resistance to tire your muscles after 12-15 repetitions.

Another fun fact:

More From TruckingTruth:

TruckingTruth Wiki: Getting Exercise As A Truck Driver

Truck Driver's Career Guide: Stress, Health, & Exercise

From the Web:

Siphiwe Baleka Official Site

How much should the average adult exercise every day?

Every year since 1983, Goodyear Tires has recognized truck drivers who have gone above and beyond their duties on the road, and put themselves in harm's way, to help someone who needed it. The Goodyear Highway Hero is chosen from 3 finalists, and this years winner, announced at the Mid-America Trucking Show, is David Webb, a Jim Palmer driver from Billings, MT.

While driving through Washington State with his wife in June, 2016, a swerving dump truck in the next lane got his attention, and he noticed the driver slumped over the steering wheel.

The dump truck eventually slowed enough to allow David to park his own, and run after it, while wife Carol dialed 911. As the dump stopped and then began to roll backwards, David jumped on board, opened the door and applied the brakes. David, using his experience as a former member of the military and as a volunteer firefighter, along with another bystander performed CPR on the unconscious driver until the EMT's arrived.

The dump truck driver survived and spent about 3 weeks in the hospital. Despite admittedly initially being mad at the driver for coming over into his lane, the two now consider themselves friends.

As for the award, David received $5,000, a Highway Hero ring, and a trophy.

The Other 2 Finalists:

The other two finalists were Chris Baker, from Chicopee, MA, who rescued an unconscious minivan driver from his fiery wreck, and Tim Freiburger, a driver from Huntington, IN, who rescued a mother and her three children, whose car had gone out of control and flipped into a creek, upside down.

The Goodyear Highway Hero Award winner is selected by an independent panel of trucking trade press members.

Goodyear Names 34th Highway Hero

The Goodyear Highway Hero Award

In short, deep vein thrombosis is a condition in which a blood clot forms in your body, usually in your legs. If that clot breaks free, it could travel through your body into your brain, your heart, or your lungs, creating a blockage in your arteries (embolism). This could, literally, cause you to die.

Truck drivers are especially at risk due to the long periods of time sitting, as well as the general prevalence for obesity or being overweight.

Typical DVT Risk Factors For Truck Drivers:

• Obesity/overweight.
• Sitting for long periods of time.
• Family history of DVT or embolisms.
• Previous injury or surgery.
• Age.
• Smoking.

Deep Vein Thrombosis Risk Factors

Symptoms:

• Swelling, pain, or tenderness in one or both legs;
• Warm, red, or discolored skin;
• Tired legs
• Veins you can see

Don't ignore the warning signs. Get checked out ASAP, and get treatment immediately if you experience any sharp chest pains, sudden coughing, extreme lightheadedness, or shortness of breath/rapid breathing.

Prevention & Treatment:

Every few hours, stop and get out, and walk around. Or do some sort of leg exercises. Whatever it takes to get the blood flowing. Behind the wheel, practice flexing your ankles up and down, and contracting (flexing) your calf muscles. Additionally, compression stockings, though not clinically studied in drivers, have been shown to reduce instances of blood clots in frequent, long-distance, fliers.

Symptoms and Tests for Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)

Should drivers be worried about blood clots?

Prevent Leg Pain With These Stretches for Truck Drivers

Along the coast of North Carolina on Highway 158, just up the road from Kitty Hawk in the community known as Poplar Branch, is a site that every monster truck fan or American culture aficionado should have on their list of "must visits" - Grave Digger's Dungeon.

Throughout the 1970's, modified and raised pickup trucks were gaining popularity, as were the sports of truck-pulling and mud-bogging. As the trucks got bigger and bigger, and tires reaching diameters of 48 inches at the time, inevitable competition sprang up to build the biggest and baddest truck out there, giving us what we like to call the Monster Truck Movement.

By 1981, Grave Digger, along with other well-known trucks such as Big Foot, Bear Foot, and King Kong, were active in competitions and demonstrations, with Big Foot being the first to verifiably perform the car-crushing bit that has become synonymous with monster trucks. Before long, the field had evolved from heavily reinforced stock chassis' to specialized, custom-built frames and bodies that could stand up to the abuse they were about to be given, sitting on 66-inch diameter tires.

By the late 1980's, the sport had evolved into a more racing-oriented spectacle, and the Monster Truck Racing Association was born to not only standardize the construction rules, but also rules governing safety.

The site is the main home base for Grave Digger's driver's & mechanics, and also features a gift and memorabilia shop, complete with jagged hunks, bits, and pieces of previous versions of the iconic machine. Earlier versions of the truck also reside at the site, ready for the fans to snap a picture with them. For the real fans, one version is fitted with passenger seats provides for the thrill of actually riding in one of these monsters, though giant ramps and car crushing are not (intentionally) part of the experience.

Grave Digger's Dungeon

Monster truck Wikipedia

Unfortunately, and many times for good reason, the stereotypes and reputation of truck drivers as a whole often precede them, and the General Public may have a certain perception for them which can make a hard job even harder.

Anyone who has spent any time here at TruckingTruth, and stuck around, is probably the type who doesn't have to be reminded of how far attitude and a little courtesy can go.

What Makes a Truck Driver: Dealing With The Stereotype

You might not be able to change the world alone, or today, but it's never a bad time to reflect and exercise patience, and drop a little extra courtesy where needed. Stop keeping score, use your attitude to pay it forward, and stay safe out there.

2 Mental Mistakes That Cost Drivers Their Sanity...And Maybe More

With all of the chatter about self-driving trucks taking over the industry, big steps are being made in the world of drone technology. Years ago, many people imagined a future in which we would all be driving flying cars, by now. While technology, lobbied legislation, and demand, haven't exactly given us anything like that, the people at HoverSurf have developed a drone technology they call Scorpion-3.

Their platform aims to make rideable drones, air taxis, and heavy-lift cargo delivery a closer reality, though they are far from the only outfit doing these sorts of things. The Scorpion-3 was conceived in the style of a compact dirt-bike, combining a heavy-duty framework with agile maneuvering. They do claim, also, that their heavy-lift drones can carry up to around 5,500 pounds reliably.

Additionally, DHL, and now UPS, have been moving forward with their drone delivery systems in Europe, with DHL completing an extensive trial program that moves them closer to full-blown automated delivery.

HOVERSURF

In 2015, there were nearly 500,000 unemployed military veterans, with an unemployment rate of just over 5%. That rate is only a bit higher than the U.S. average for all demographics, but military veterans, and their families, face a unique set of challenges after they leave their service.

Physical injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and undiagnosed psychological problems can throw up extra barriers to finding meaningful employment for our nation's military veterans.

In 2011, the U.S. Chamber Of Commerce launched the "Hiring Our Heroes" initiative, dedicated to helping military veterans, transitioning service members, and their spouses find employment. They offer resume writing assistance, a job portal, and assists veterans and their spouses to connect with experienced mentors, among their other offerings. They also hold literally hundreds of job fairs every year, and have hiring commitments from over 2,000 companies of all sizes.

Hiring Our Heroes is open to all U.S. service members, veterans, and/or military spouses of either of those groups.

Employment Situation of Veterans Summary

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce "Hiring Our Heroes"

Trucking Companies, GI Bill, And Military Veterans

March 15, 1968: Construction starts on the Eisenhower–Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel, a dual-bore, 4-lane tunnel that carries Interstate 70 under the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains.

When the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnel on I-70 just west of Denver was completed, it was, and still is, the highest tunnel in the United States, allowing some 10 million vehicles a year to pass through it. It is also the longest tunnel and highest point on the Interstate Highway System, and was at the time it was completed in 1979, the highest tunnel on Earth.

The complex is actually two different tunnels with slightly different lengths, and were actually one of the last parts of the Interstate Highway System to be completed.

The tunnels original posted height limit was 13 1/2 feet, with any vehicle higher than that triggering an audible alarm that would turn the traffic signals at the entrance red, stopping all traffic through the tunnel. This meant that frequently, trucks that used air suspensions or had a slight accumulation of snow and ice on the trailer would trigger the alarms unnecessarily, and the trucking industry lobby in 2007 successfully argued for the raising of the height limit, bringing it to 13 feet 11 inches.

Construction begins on America’s highest vehicle tunnel

Eisenhower Tunnel

511: America's Traveler Information Telephone Number

Drivers in the Northeast this week will want to be paying close attention to the weather, as always, as Nor-Easter "Stella" is dumping a pile of snow and general mayhem on the entire region. Connecticut has enacted a travel ban for the state as a whole, and New York preemptively declared a State Of Emergency in anticipation of this giant storm system rolling through.

Though produced in the 60's, this film is always worth a look, as driving in winter weather hasn't really changed all that much. Obviously, the best advice for driving a semi-truck in winter weather, is don't. Pay close attention to what the weather is doing, and is going to do, and avoid driving into and through poor conditions whenever possible.

Stay informed, stay prepared, and stay safe, out there.....

Is Winter driving on your mind?

Truck Driving in Winter Weather

Winter Driving Tips & Items To Bring