According to data from the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration), there are around 143,000 to 166,000 truck accidents reported every year in the U.S. As of 2023, the number of truck accident fatalities had increased by 10%. In the same year, 5,472 people lost their lives in large truck crashes. 

After a truck crash, victims can seek compensation for the injuries and damages sustained. Luckily, experienced truck accident lawyers can help you gather the right evidence to support your claim. Understanding what causes these crashes is the first step in preventing the accidents and holding the right parties accountable. Below are some of the most common factors that cause truck accidents in the U.S.

Driver Fatigue

Around 13% of truck accidents in the country are caused by driver fatigue. Truck drivers often work long hours and cover hundreds of miles in a single shift. The federal Hours of Service (HOS) regulations are enforced to limit driving time. Truckers are required to take mandatory rest periods. For example, drivers must take a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving as per the FMCSA regulations. 

When a driver is tired, their reaction time is reduced, their ability to make decisions decreases, and their ability to stay focused significantly drops. All these are recipes for serious accidents. 

Distracted Driving

Distraction behind the wheel is dangerous for any driver. A survey by Teletrac Navman showed that 70% of truck fleets are affected by distracted driving. Truck drivers may be distracted by:

• Smartphones
• GPS devices
• Dispatching systems
• Eating while driving

Just taking your eyes off the road for a second can cause the truck to drift into another lane, rear-end a small vehicle, or fail to see a traffic sign. Despite being a common issue, distraction is one of the most preventable causes of truck accidents. 

Speeding and Aggressive Driving

Speeding causes around 29% of traffic fatalities. When a truck is speeding, it becomes difficult to stop quickly or avoid obstacles on the road. For example, the stopping distance of an 18-wheeler is much longer than a regular car, and speeding only makes this worse. 

Additionally, aggressive driving behaviors like tailgating, weaving through traffic, or abrupt lane changes without signaling enough can lead to deadly crashes. 

Poor Truck Maintenance

Truck maintenance is mandatory in the U.S. The FMCSA regulates truck maintenance. Truckers are supposed to have records of routine maintenance. This is necessary for trucks to operate safely.

If brakes are worn out, tires do not have treads and hence lack traction, or the steering system is faulty, a truck automatically becomes a hazard on the road. Some companies try to cut corners to save money and fail to inspect their fleets regularly. When a mechanical failure leads to an accident, the responsibility automatically falls on the trucking company for neglecting proper maintenance. 

Poorly Loaded Cargo

Around 4,000 runaway cargo accidents happen in the U.S. every year. This represents about 1% of all truck accidents. When a truck cargo is not secured properly, it can shift during transit. This can affect the truck balance, leading to tipping or even jackknifing accidents. 

Overloaded cargo also poses a risk. That is why there are strict regulations about how trucks should be loaded. 

Lack of Enough Training and Experience

Driving a commercial truck requires special training and a CDL license. Unfortunately, not every driver is as prepared as they should be. Inexperienced drivers may not know how to react to emergencies or handle a truck in poor weather conditions. A trucking company has the responsibility to ensure all drivers are fully trained and qualified.

Conclusion

Other causes of truck accidents include drug and alcohol use and poor weather conditions. Knowing these causes can help prevent the crashes and identify who may be responsible when an accident happens.

Today, adding technology to the business process is very important. The seamless integration of new employees into the technological framework of the company ensures productivity and efficiency. 

An IT onboarding checklist is a high-level overview of the tools, information, and resources that will help new employees get set up and started in their new position. In this post, we look at the key things that should feature in such a checklist.

Account Setup And Access

One of the most important first steps in IT onboarding is setting up accounts and permissions. Following that, newcomers should be given access to various company systems such as emails, communication channels, and shared drives. A good configuration of these prevents communication and collaboration from being delayed. Having strong passwords and two-factor authentication will add a layer to company data protection.

Hardware Provisioning

New hires need proper hardware to do their jobs. The computers, smartphones, and other devices should be readied for immediate use. Making sure that all these devices are equipped with the essential software, such as antivirus programs and productivity tools, is important. With hardware ready to go, hardware disruptions are kept to a minimum, and the new hires can concentrate on new tasks without technical hurdles.

Software Installation

Providing employees with relevant software is at the center of smoother onboarding. Install essential applications before the new hire’s start date. That includes programs designed for a specific industry and general software, such as word processors or design programs. Making training resources or tutorials available for unfamiliar software helps the workers become confident in handling the new systems.

Security Training

Cybersecurity is a dire need for any organization. Be sure that new employees are given ample training regarding security procedures, along with how to detect phishing attempts, as well as how to deal with sensitive data. Conducting regular workshops/interactive sessions or enrolments for an online course helps keep current knowledge about security. A culture of security awareness promotes sound decision-making, helping to protect the assets of an organization and ensuring a safe environment for the changing nature of work.

Network Configuration

IT onboarding also involves connecting to the company’s network. Making sure that new employees know how to connect to the network on-site or remotely is important. It reduces potential vulnerabilities by giving information on how to use VPNs as a secure remote access solution. Understanding network policies will ensure compliance and connectivity.

Communication Tools Setup

Communication within a team is important in order to succeed. Establishing communication mediums such as messenger apps and video call software will help your coworkers adjust to the new way of interacting. New employees should be acquainted with these tools, including their features and functionalities. All this helps to smoothly mesh into the dynamics of the team, creating collaboration from the onset.

Accessing And Handling Data

Giving the right data access to the right personnel is vital in executing their job. New employees must understand the data resources accessible to them and how to retrieve them. Guidelines on data management procedures, such as storage and sharing protocols, facilitate the preservation of the integrity of data. An employee well aware of data privacy regulations ensures that the company data and client data are safe.

Technical Support And Resources

No matter how well you prepare, technical issues may surface. It is also important to give details on how they can access technical support through an internal helpdesk or an external service. In addition, when you share resources such as user manuals or online forums, employees  will be able to solve minor problems on their own. This network encourages a forward-looking approach to problem-solving.

Continuous Improvement Through Feedback

IT onboarding helps close the loop with feedback from new employees. It is important to understand the experiences of these employees to take a better look at the process and identify opportunities for improvement for the onboarding staff. Checklists can always be adjusted based on feedback that can be taken at regular intervals. The onboarding experience is iterative and continuously improving to meet the changing needs of employees and the organization.

Conclusion

A proper IT onboarding checklist is essential to help new hires smoothly adapt to a company’s tech environment. Organizations set themselves up for success by focusing on account set up, provisioning hardware, installing software, security training, and ensuring general adaptations—such as network configuration, communication tools, access to data to be analyzed, as well as technical support—to guarantee preparation. The onboarding experience is constantly tweaked and improved, and it encourages a smooth transition for new hires. Companies help employees work faster and more efficiently, including the fundamental things that are necessary to work comfortably and grow, to increase the productivity of employees through a well-structured approach.

(The Center Square) – Americans buying 30% more goods from overseas has helped create a logistics crisis at ports caused by a labor shortage and practices of ocean carriers that exacerbate the problems.

Since the start of the pandemic, a 30% increase in the volume of freight coming into the Port of New York-New Jersey has been seen, Lisa Yakomin, president of the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers, told The Center Square. The organization represents the trucking industry and industry-related companies doing business at the port.

“One would think, ‘Wow, that’s fantastic because it’s 30% more revenue and 30% more business coming into New Jersey,’” she said. “The problem is that it happened so quickly.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, multiple vessel cancellations occurred because all of the manufacturing shut down overseas.

“Not only did it come back, it was a tsunami of freight that came back after the lockdowns were over overseas,” Yakomin said.

But the port didn’t have 30% more longshoremen to offload the ships or truckers to haul the containers. And the equipment to move those containers had not increased by 30%, Yakomin said.

The biggest obstacles to hiring truck drivers are the difficult conditions at the port, she said. Drivers used to be able to pick up a container, have it unloaded at the warehouse and drop it back off at the same place, which is called a double move. Drivers could do three double moves a day, which was lucrative.

Now it takes four hours just to drop off a container and another two hours to pick up a new container.

“It’s that much harder to recruit new drivers because of the challenging conditions,” Yakomin said. “And it’s difficult to retain the drivers we have because of the challenging conditions.”

Trucking companies must pass along higher fuel costs to the businesses they service. But payment delays by those clients could put the trucking companies out of business as they lack the revenue to buy fuel and pay salaries, Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, told New Jersey 101.5.

Port drivers who work with the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers must go through a Homeland Security background check, undergo periodic medical certifications, and have their records checked to make sure they have no drug or alcohol-related arrests or charges, Yakomin said.

A large percentage of the drivers who do port work are independent contractors and set their hours. Unlike long-haul truckers who may spend a week away from their families, port workers can go home for dinner.

Employers are stressing the family-friendly aspect to recruit drivers, she said. Job fairs are held at local high schools in and around the port even though drivers must be 21 or older to do this interstate driving. But it lets them know it is a career option to put them on that track to enter the work force.

“There’s never been a better time to pursue a career in trucking because the pay is higher, the incentives have been increased, the sign-on bonuses have been increased, the retention bonuses have been increased,” Yakomin said.

It’s less expensive for the ocean carriers to make new containers than to retrieve their empties, she said. But despite not accepting the containers, they still charge trucking companies fees for missing return deadlines.

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 16, is a light at the end of the tunnel for the industry. It gives authority to the Federal Maritime Commission to deal with predatory fees, Yakomin said.

The bill requires the commission to investigate complaints about late fees charged by ocean carriers, determine whether those charges are reasonable and order refunds for unreasonable charges. It also “prohibits common ocean carriers, marine terminal operators or ocean transportation intermediaries from unreasonably refusing cargo space when available, or resorting to other unfair or unjustly discriminatory methods,” the bill summary said.

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (JULY 31, 2022)(CNBNewsnet)–With all this talk of a war between the United States with China or Russia, one has to wonder what would happen here in Southern New Jersey if a nuclear bomb was dropped on the City of Philadelphia the largest metropolitan city in the Delaware Valley. To answer that question wpgtalkradio.com/ used NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein to see what would happen if a nuclear warhead hit New York, Philadelphia, Washington or New Jersey.

The models show what would happen in aerial detonation, meaning the bomb would be set off in the sky, causing considerable damage to structures and people below; or what would happen in a ground detonation, which would have the alarming result of nuclear fallout. The models do not take into account the number of casualties that would result from fallout.

A nuclear blast centered in Philadelphia would cause severe death and damage to New Jersey.

The blast would be felt up the Route 1 corridor causing damage from Trenton to East Orange.

Buildings would be destroyed in every South Jersey city including Audubon, Bellmawr, Brooklawn, Gloucester City, Mt. Ephraim, Deptford, Voorhees, Riverside and Delanco.

Thermal radiation would cause third-degree burns from Haddonfield, Cherry Hill, Cinnaminson and Riverton.

Fallout would drift Northeast, spreading as far away as Middletown and Neptune to the East and Mount Olive to the West.

Deaths: 539,000

Injuries: 845,000

Philadelphia – Ground Impact with fallout

The blast would be felt as far away as Cherry Hill, Deptford, Maple Shade and Moorestown.

Buildings would be destroyed from Neptune to Mount Olive.

Thermal radiation would cause third-degree burns from Trenton, Plainfield, East Orange and Yonkers.

Deaths: 441,000

Injuries: 409,000