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September 2014 Volume 25, Issue 9
Cool technologies: Refrigerated goods carriers are tracking cargo temperatures in real-time.
Page 26
Not so fast: Al Goodhall offers a driver’s perspective on autonomous trucks.
Page 21
A costly mistake: Permitting vs pro-rating. Understand the differences or face the consequences.
Page 14
Page 13
Western Canada’s Trucking Newspaper Since 1989
On the road: We take the new Volvo VNX heavy-hauler for a drive. Will it find a home in the oilpatch?
trucknews.com
Getting to know MTA’s new executive director By Lou Smyrlis
Manitoba driver Sidhil Kumar’s truck was shot up by unknown assailants while driving on I-94 in Wisconsin.
Too close for comfort
Reach us at our Western Canada news bureau
By Carolyn Gruske
PM40069240
Contact Jim Bray at: jim@transportationmedia.ca or call 403-453-5558
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BALDWIN, Wisc. – “Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.” That’s how Sidhil Kumar described the sounds that first alerted him that something serious was happening. Kumar was driving a 2012 Peterbilt east along I-94 in Wisconsin. He had entered the US at the Pembina/Emerson border crossing and had refuelled in St. Cloud, Minn. Friday, Aug. 1 was rapidly drawing to a close, as the clock was just about to come up on midnight. Until that point, the trip from Trappers Transport in Winnipeg had been uneventful. Kumar had done this run before – hauling a 53-ft reefer full of frozen French fries from Manitoba to St. Johns, Mich. – so he thought he knew what to expect. He was planning on stopping for the night in either Menomonie (about 40 miles up the road) or Black River Falls, depending on where he could find space, but he didn’t get that far. At that point in the night, traffic along the busy highway was light. Kumar, whose truck is limited to 62 mph, was cruising in the right lane. Everything was perfectly normal. That’s when he first spotted the red or maroon car. “It was in front of me for a while – a few minutes,” said Kumar in an exclusive interview with Truck West. “There was a white car as well, but
Careers: 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
this maroon car slowed down. It looked like it was going to take an exit, so I moved to the left lane because I didn’t want to slow down. Exit 16 was very close to me. This car was in the right lane, but I didn’t see the car. I couldn’t see it. When I went to the left lane, I guess the car came up to the normal speed and was driving parallel to me. I didn’t pay much attention to it. It was quite normal. I just passed it when I had enough space to move over.” Kumar, however, quickly found a reason to start paying closer attention, even though by then it was too late. “I heard something like hammering on my cab. Like somebody was beating on the cab with a hammer. It was several shots. I know about bullets. I have a gun licence. But I never expected this: that somebody was shooting at my truck without any reason. There was no expectation. There were a number of gunshots - I’d say 15 to 20. It was like tat-tat-tat-tat-tat. Then a stop. Then tat-tat-tat-tat. Then stop, then three, four or five shots again. Then stop, and again shots. It felt like non-stop for 10 or 15 seconds, like somebody hammering at me. It was a mixture of bullet shots and hits. I know they fired more than 15 bullets at me. Maybe 20. “I didn’t realize exactly what was happening
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WINNIPEG, Man. – There’s a new person at the helm of the Manitoba Trucking Association. Terry Shaw, who spent three years as the association’s general manager, moved into the executive director’s office after the retirement of the much respected Bob Dolyniuk (who spent 43 years in the industry, 17 of them as head of the MTA). Truck West publisher and editorial director Lou Smyrlis travelled to Winnipeg to get to know Shaw, and understand how he will shape the association in the years to come. • TW: Bob Dolyniuk was the head of the Manitoba Trucking Association for a long time and was one of the best known and respected people in the industry. Now that he has retired, you are stepping in to run the association. How will your background before joining the MTA affect the kind of leader you will be? Shaw: I’m one of the guys in the industry who doesn’t have a family history in trucking but I have been in the industry since 1996. One of the gentlemen I went to school with had a friend working at TransX at the time, and I ended up working at TransX for about five years in a variety of roles. One of my first roles was as a log audit clerk. From there I worked through planning, dispatch, customer service and other positions. When I left TransX, I went to work for the Workers Compensation Board here in Manitoba for about a year and then went to Big Freight Systems – working out of their Steinbach office initially and over the years out of both their Steinbach and Winnipeg offices for just under a decade. So in terms of leadership, I’ve had the opportunity to work for a large company and a smaller company to work with an LTL focus and a projectrelated open deck focus. It was excellent working and learning with the executives running these companies and capturing the elements that would work for me in terms of my own professional development. TW: It’s interesting that you do not have a family background in the industry. As you know, this is an industry where family ties are common. Yet, Continued on page 22
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