By Aaron Huff

The transportation industry is a very broad, diverse group of companies and individuals that collectively keep America moving. With all of the time and effort it takes to keep those wheels turning on the highway, the amount of traffic that goes online would seem to pale in comparison.

The opposite appears to be true. The online community for news, blogs and social media in trucking has exploded. To help make sense of where all of the online traffic is headed, GE Capital’s Transportation Finance recently commissioned a year-long study.

The company hired TrueVoice based in Westport, CT, to conduct a study of social media use in trucking. The company used software to gather, filter and analyze about 250 million online outlets that touched on commercial trucking. Some interesting trends began to emerge.

(Click to view an infographic from GE Capital that highlights its study on transportation in social media)

The info graphic to the right is an overview of the content from 72,000 posts related to areas of interest in the trucking industry. It provides a summary of what types of topics people are interested in and the channels they go to for news and daily topics of conversation.

As for why a finance company like GE Capital would want to analyze the trends in social media, Dan Clark, the president and general manager of its Transportation Finance business, said the goal is to be more than just a banker.

“We know that the industry needs money, but it also needs insight, knowledge and expertise — and that’s where we come in,” he says. “We want to understand the challenges and issues that are most important to the trucking industry so we can translate that into business objectives that will benefit customers and the others we do business with.”

One of the most interesting findings from the research is the concern over diet, exercise and health. This is encouraging news for an industry where the average lifespan of a long haul trucker is just 61 years.

“(Drivers) have voiced opinions that increased regulation is forcing them to spend more time on the road, which they believe is increasing their sedentary lifestyles,” Clark said. “Unlike online chatter about equipment management and regulations, we saw a lot of emotion around conversations about health — and that’s not surprising because it’s inherently personal.”

The study also showed that recruitment and employment accounts for 24 percent of traffic. Driver pay, as expected, was a hot topic but other items also simmered to the top.

“We expected to find chatter about salary and benefits and, to a lesser extent, equipment safety. We were somewhat surprised, though, to find experienced drivers expressing frustration about the training level of new recruits,” Clark said.

Goodyear has announced the four finalists for its annual Highway Hero award to be presented during the Mid-America Trucking Show in March. Talk about an impressive group.

Professional truckers Brian Dunn of Knoxville, Tenn., Tim Horton of Sheridan, Ark., Scott Rosenberg of Isanti, Mich., and Ivan Vasovic of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., are the four finalists. And they are all deserving of recognition.

“The Goodyear Highway Hero Award recognizes truck drivers who put their lives on the line to help others,” said Gary Medalis, marketing director for Goodyear Commercial Tire Systems.

“Each of our Highway Hero finalists took action without concern for his own safety in order to save another person from a life-threatening situation.”

A group of trucking journalists will decide the 31st annual award. The Highway Hero will receive $5,000, a special ring and a plaque while each of the finalists receives a cash prize.

The award ceremony will be Thursday, March 27, during the Mid-America Trucking Show at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky.

Narratives provided by Goodyear put an exclamation point on the heroic acts of these truckers, who represent a vast number of nominees and Good Samaritans on the highways.

Brian Dunn was driving down a highway in Oklahoma when he witnessed a car crash through a guard rail and land on its roof in the middle of the road. He ran to the car as its engine caught fire. Running back to his truck to grab a fire extinguisher, he heard a child crying. Dunn spotted a 2-year-old boy who was trapped in the back seat of the burning vehicle. Braving the flames, Dunn yanked on the car’s door until it gave way, allowing him to rescue the child, whom he then handed to bystanders. Dunn ran back to his truck for his fire extinguisher, while other bystanders tried to rescue the boy’s mother, who had driven the car. They later learned that she had died as a result of the crash.

Tim Horton was driving outside Tuscaloosa, Ala., when a small car passed his truck, spun around, and drove into a 35-foot-deep ravine, landing upside down in a creek bed. The car’s driver, a teenager, was trapped inside the car and had suffered a large cut on his head. Horton got out of his truck and flagged down the driver of another vehicle, who happened to be a volunteer firefighter, to assist him. Horton and the firefighter made their way down the steep, brush-covered embankment and found the teenager alive, but bleeding heavily. Horton cut the teenager’s seat belt and pulled him from the car. After Horton and the firefighter stabilized the teenager’s condition, Horton called for additional help. It took 10 men using a 50-foot fire ladder to transport the teenager to a waiting ambulance.

Scott Rosenberg had just dropped off a load in Stillwater, Minn., when he spotted a pickup truck that was upside down in a pond, with steam rising from it. At the time, Rosenberg was driving a trailer with a boom crane used for loading heavy concrete products. Acting quickly, he positioned his crane in place, hoping to flip the pickup truck over and back onto its wheels. In the meantime, two other men had reached the pickup and were trying to pry its doors open, to no avail. Using his crane, Rosenberg turned the pickup right-side up. Its driver, a college student who had fallen asleep at the wheel, was still alive. Police then arrived and pulled the student from the vehicle.

Ivan Vasovic was at a stop sign when he witnessed a double tanker truck hit the concrete divider of a freeway overpass, careen off a wall, and slam into a guard rail. Its tanks, which were full of diesel, ripped open and the truck came to a stop with its tractor and first tanker hanging over the side of the overpass. The truck’s driver was trapped inside and was trying to exit when the diesel ignited. The driver, now on fire, kicked out a window, slid down the truck and fell 20 feet to the ground, breaking his arm and leg. By that point, the suspended truck was engulfed in flames. Vasovic and another bystander tried to pull the driver to safety. However, due to the intense heat, they could only drag him a few yards at a time. Vasovic ran to his truck and poured water on himself, which enabled him to drag the driver 20 yards away from his original position. Moments later, the entire burning tanker truck crashed to the ground.

Rosenberg is an OOIDA senior member, and Vasovic is an OOIDA member.

“Each Highway Hero Award finalist is a true credit to the trucking industry,” Goodyear’s Medalis said.

“We are honored that these individuals are part of our Highway Hero program, and we look forward to recognizing them for their bravery during MATS.”

By Juliet Eilperin

President Obama announced Tuesday that the government will tighten fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, part of an ongoing effort to use his executive authority to address climate change and spur domestic manufacturing.

Speaking at the Safeway distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md., Obama did not specify what new standard the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation should set for these larger trucks, which weigh more than 8,500 pounds, but he said he is confident that manufacturers will be able to meet this “ambitious” goal.

“Don’t make small plans; make big plans,” the president told a crowd of about 275 people, including environmental leaders and trucking industry officials. “And anybody who had dire predictions for the auto industry, said we couldn’t do it, manufacturers couldn’t bring jobs back to America — every time they say that, they’re proven wrong. Every time somebody says you can’t grow the economy while bringing down pollution, it’s turned out they’ve been wrong.”

This is the second time Obama has mandated a cut in fuel consumption and carbon emissions from medium- and heavy-duty trucks, a category that includes large pickup trucks, school buses and 18-wheel tractor-trailers.

An earlier rule, finalized in September 2011, improved the fleet’s fuel efficiency by 9 percent to 23 percent, with the largest trucks showing the most improvement. The Obama administration estimates that those standards, which applied to the model years 2014 through 2018, cost the industry $8 billion but will save truck users $50 billion in fuel costs over the lifetimes of the vehicles.

The new greenhouse gas standards will become final by March 2016, Obama said, and will apply to subsequent model years.

Unlike some of Obama’s greenhouse gas proposals, which have prompted a backlashfrom the affected industries, many truck suppliers have embraced the idea of reducing carbon emissions.

Phil Byrd, chairman of American Trucking Associations, said in an interview that he spoke to engine manufacturers and that “they are very upbeat” about their ability to make additional improvements in fuel efficiency. He noted that his members are hoping they can recoup the costs on any such investment within 18 months and that they want to make sure any new technology is reliable so their trucks won’t be idled. By contrast, owners of passenger cars and light-duty trucks would recoup their investment in fuel efficiency within 3¹ / ₂ to four years.

“We have to ensure our members are protected and this technology is ready for the marketplace,” Byrd said, noting that after the first round of efficiency improvements, “many fleets experienced a loss in productivity with that new equipment that was not reliable.”

Byrd, who met with Obama before the speech, said the president “assured us we would continue to have a voice in this process.”

S. William Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, wrote in an e-mail that “the juxtaposition between the positions of the motor vehicle and power sectors on the president’s climate action plan is startling.”

“While truck manufacturers are lining up behind the plan pledging their support and cooperation, most of the power plant industry is fighting it tooth and nail,” he wrote.

In 2011, transportation accounted for about 28 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, second only to the electricity sector. Heavy-duty vehicles offer a major opportunity to cut transportation oil use and carbon pollution.

In 2010, heavy-duty vehicles represented 4 percent of registered vehicles on the road in the United States, but they accounted for about one-quarter of the transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. They are the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions within transportation, after cars and light trucks.

The president, who stood in front of a large truck whose fuel economy was improved by 75 percent over the past year, said he announced the proposal at Safeway because the company has invested in more efficient trucks and trailers. “That’s why we call this ‘SuperTruck,’ ” he said, prompting laughter from the crowd.

He said the administration is offering new tax credits to manufacturers of heavy-duty, alternative-fuel vehicles and to firms that build fuel infrastructure for biodiesel, natural gas and hybrid electric vehicles to make sure the new efficiency goals can be realized.

“What the president plans is a classic example of using executive power to make further reductions in greenhouse gases from one of the most notorious emission sources,” Frank O’Donnell, president of the advocacy group Clean Air Watch, wrote in an e-mail.