Arkansas Trucking Association

Up Front- Remembering the Empty Seats

Shannon Newton
President, ATA

This time of year, there’s a lot of pressure to spend weeks (and your whole paycheck) shopping for and wrapping holiday gifts for your family, but in the minutes after all the presents are opened, bellies full of chocolate oranges and surrounded by a small mountain of crumpled reindeer paper and ribbon, we can forget that the most expensive gift is the one we sometimes take for granted—living in a free country.

For all the reasons to love the holidays—presents, parties, your kids in matching pajamas on Christmas morning—the expectation to make merry and have an abundance of joy is not always the reality for the families who have an empty seat at the dinner table. The songs tell us to trim up the tree and deck the halls, but there’s a melancholy about the season for anyone remembering loved ones who have laid down their lives for us to freely celebrate whatever holidays we want.

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The Last Word

The Road to Arkansas Tort Reform

By Carl Vogelpohl

In 2018, Arkansas voters have the opportunity to enact meaningful civil justice “tort” reform.  A coalition representing a diverse group of Arkansans, including the Arkansas Trucking Association, has banded together to take a stand against out-of-control trial lawyers.  This coalition wants to limit the financial windfall reaped by trial lawyers who use the threat of unreasonable “nuclear verdicts” to unfairly harm truckers, small business owners, farmers, doctors and job creators in Arkansas. 

Studies show that the threat of unlimited verdicts hurts not just jobs in the trucking industry but all small businesses.  The Institute for Legal Reform notes that over three-quarters of small businesses fear they will be the target of unjustifiable lawsuits.  And The Wall Street Journal has noted that some insurers have dropped coverage in the past few years for certain types of fleets. And the rates for the coverage that has remained have skyrocketed. 

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Up Front- Do Not Delay

Shannon Newton
President, ATA

This year has been marked with reflection over the past 85 years since the Shippers and Carriers Association of Arkansas was formed in 1932. While it might be easy to talk about how the Association took tough stances on issues that improved conditions for Arkansas carriers, it’s much harder to be the association that takes those tough positions and persuades others to come along. Sometimes, we’ve gotten it right and led the change, and other times, like when the Association opposed deregulation, we followed the change and learned to adapt.

On every issue ATA tackles, we want to be on the right side of history.  The questions we always ask are these: Does this improve safety? Does this make carriers more efficient, more profitable or more risk averse? Does this protect our most valuable asset—professional drivers?

When the answers are yes, we don’t hesitate to stand out front, lead the discussion and speak to our legislators and other decision makers. Fortunately, on ELDs, we have been heard by those in Washington.

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The Last Word

The Road to Recovery

By Tracy Rosser

Editor’s Note: As reports continue to come in that Puerto Ricans are without enough water, food, health care and electricity almost a month after Hurricane Maria tore through the island and residents of Houston and Florida are still expecting months of cleanup, the wheels of trucks have not stopped rolling with trailers full of supplies for relief and rebuilding. Walmart especially has been a leader in delivering aid in the recovery efforts. ATA would like to thank every company who reached out to help our fellow Americans despite logistics challenges, pouring money, manpower, and equipment everywhere the waters rose. We are proud to represent an industry that carries hope into hurting communities.

When Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria made landfall in August and September of this year, they impacted millions of people in their path, destroying homes, knocking out power and flooding towns as they crawled across the Caribbean, Gulf and Atlantic coasts – forever changing the lives of those who live and work in these areas.

Our associates responded to these emergencies with a level of outstanding service that is simply admirable. Throughout Walmart’s 55-year history, we’ve been known for our low prices and for revolutionizing the retail industry. We’ve also applied what we’ve learned in serving thousands of communities across America in how we respond to major disasters and helping people when they need it.

One group that helps us step up during disasters is our drivers, who are part of the largest and safest private fleet in the industry. On any typical day across our country, you see our trucks on the road and the hard work of our drivers in action. Their commitment to service is amazing: Together, our drivers travel more than 700 million miles annually to deliver countless loads of merchandise to Walmart and Sam’s Club locations across the nation.

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