Dale Duncan, a Con-way Freight professional truck driver based in Chula Vista, CA, was named the 2006 National Truck Driving Grand Champion, in an American Trucking Assns.-sponsored event held in New Orleans.
Duncan competed with 381 other drivers across the U.S. in driving skills and knowledge of transportation and truck safety information. Duncan has driven for Con-way Freight for 16 years, logging 1.1 million accident-free miles.
The contestants were the state champions in eight truck types from all 50 states. In their respective classes, drivers tested their expertise in the driving skills they use daily.
Duncan also won the individual tank truck driving competition. Joining Duncan as champions in their respective classes:
Five-Axle: James Hines, Wal-Mart Transportation, Richmond, VA.
Five-Axle Sleeper: Ryland Hogan, Wilson Trucking Corp., Stuarts Draft, VA.
Four-Axle: Mark Hassemer, Yellow Transportation, Whitelaw, WI.
Three-Axle: Daniel Shamrell, FedEx Freight, Battle Ground, WA.
Twins: Robert French, Con-way Freight, Bland, VA.
Flatbed: Anthony Spero, ABF Freight System, Stratford, CT.
Straight Truck: Randy DeVault, Roadway, Hartford, ME.
Timothy Cohen, a three-axle driver for FedEx Ground from Stafford, CT., was named 2006 Rookie of the Year. Bruce Green, a five-axle driver for Yellow Transportation from Lenexa, KS, won the 2006 Professional Excellence Award. Daniel Shamrell of FedEx Freight also won the 2006 Neill Darmstadter Vehicle Condition Award.
The Maine state truck driving championship team won honors as the highest scoring state team, followed by Kansas and Iowa
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Court upholds dismissal of truckers' bridge-toll lawsuit
Federal law doesn't allow commercial truckers to challenge toll increases on Delaware River bridges, an appeals panel ruled Thursday.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision of a lower court judge who had dismissed a lawsuit by three trucking associations and a trucking company against the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.
The truckers sought to reduce a $2.75-per-axle fee that went into effect two years ago and re-establish an earlier $2.25-per-axle fee. They said the increase wasn't "just and reasonable" as required by the Federal-Aid Highway Act because the commission had a $118 million surplus -- almost three times its annual operating budget of $40 million.
But Judge Dolores Sloviter, writing for a three-judge appeals panel, said the law does not give truckers or other private parties a right to sue.
"The truckers' efforts to realize such a right would be best directed at Congress by pressing for an amendment" to the law, Judge Sloviter wrote.
Until then, "the state political process could be the venue that Congress had in mind for the airing of toll grievances," she wrote. "Congress intended to remove the federal government from toll oversight because it viewed the regulation of tolls as a matter better left to local officials."
The lawsuit was filed in December 2002 by American Trucking Associations Inc., the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, and Roadway Express, an Ohio company with centers in Bethlehem and Stroudsburg.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision of a lower court judge who had dismissed a lawsuit by three trucking associations and a trucking company against the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.
The truckers sought to reduce a $2.75-per-axle fee that went into effect two years ago and re-establish an earlier $2.25-per-axle fee. They said the increase wasn't "just and reasonable" as required by the Federal-Aid Highway Act because the commission had a $118 million surplus -- almost three times its annual operating budget of $40 million.
But Judge Dolores Sloviter, writing for a three-judge appeals panel, said the law does not give truckers or other private parties a right to sue.
"The truckers' efforts to realize such a right would be best directed at Congress by pressing for an amendment" to the law, Judge Sloviter wrote.
Until then, "the state political process could be the venue that Congress had in mind for the airing of toll grievances," she wrote. "Congress intended to remove the federal government from toll oversight because it viewed the regulation of tolls as a matter better left to local officials."
The lawsuit was filed in December 2002 by American Trucking Associations Inc., the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, and Roadway Express, an Ohio company with centers in Bethlehem and Stroudsburg.
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