Arkansas Trucking Association

The Last Word

Game On

By Al Heringer, IV

Almost 25 years ago, my family expanded our business offerings to include a petroleum-hauling common carrier operation under the name of Star Transportation. After I graduated from college, I joined the business which at the time had only six trucks. Running a trucking company hadn’t been part of the plan I had for myself. Like most people who play high school and college sports, I thought I was headed to the pros – specifically, the NFL. But I found my path redirected in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I hung up my cleats for the last time.

I have a similar feeling when I think of how differently the trucking industry looks a quarter-century later.

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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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