More than 11 million U.S. households own a recreational vehicle (RV), which means millions of RV travelers likely are on highways alongside heavy-duty commercial trucks every month — particularly in the summer. With millions of RVs traveling America’s highways alongside the nation’s 3.5 million-plus truck drivers, understanding how to safely share the road has never been more important.
The group’s event captain for that month’s meet-up was Tami Ike, who reached out to the Women in Trucking Association after searching for a way in which to bring a professional truck driver to speak with the women on a variety of topics of how RV-ing women could feel more confident about sharing the roads with big semi-trucks.
“Her initial search did not even have a woman truck driver in mind,” says Kelley. “That grew into a blessing that came as she conducted her research on ways to help bridge a gap between the RVing world and trucking world. She heard stories and concerns the ladies shared over navigating the roads with big rigs.”
“To say I personally was overjoyed at the prospects of such an interaction is an understatement,” recalls Kelley. “What a brilliant opportunity to learn and share about my passion of trucking with an RVing group of ladies! I have been in the industry for seven years now, which is relatively brief. Yet with a half a million safe miles behind me, I can speak to a few things professionally and personally about trucking. I also could also learn a lot from a non-trucking group of motorists enjoying our roads today.”
"My employer’s Local Operations Team in Mount Crawford, VA, approved a day where I could represent Walmart Private Fleet and Women in Trucking at this event,” continues Kelley. “Tami and I chatted on an approach to the meeting and decided on a 9am start. It was to be an interactive share at the Kampground under a setup of tents. It was attended by more than 20 amazing ladies of the SouthEast Wanderers, who were inquisitive and lively on this cool and overcast Saturday morning.”
Ike had sent Kelley a list of questions and talking points that she had gathered from the group, including:
“Some other main subjects discussed included truck weight factors - the main reason trucks can move slow up hills/mountains and rapidly down the other side is the weight of their load, and even type of load - commodities can be liquid in a tanker truck, which can cause potential sloshing (moving of their cargo), other trailers include dry goods or refrigerated goods, and many trucks are high profile (over 13’6” tall while being 8’6” wide),” continues Kelley. “There are many other mitigating factors, so I kept it as direct and general as possible while still attempting to convey such general items. I shared about the FMCSA’s Hours of Service regulations and how the time is regulated through an Electronic Logging Device. In short, a commercial driver of a big rig can drive a maximum of 11 hours within a 14-hour time frame and then must take a 10-hour break before legally driving again. There are more nuances, yet I opted for digestible factoids. I also shared that some local commercial drivers are exempt from this if their routes are near their facility yard, say within 150 miles away from their yard.”
Kelley also mentions that fuel economy was top of mind, and tractors that may seem like they are running their engines may alternatively be running the generator in their refrigerated trailer — keeping frozen or dairy foods regulated. Or they may be running smaller Alternative Power Units (APUs) to manage comfort inside their cabs (heat and cool), run certain equipments (televisions, microwaves, etc).
Kelley notes that the APU’s often burn much less fuel, yet generate sounds of a running engine.
“There are of course some who must idle their engines for certain comforts mentioned above, so hopefully I was able to convey the broad uses of engines they may encounter,” says Kelley. “We also discussed TAT (Truckers against Trafficking) where the trucking community can be eyes and ears of illicit activities they may see and be able to report on. I shared how my utter reliability and faith in God continually blesses me with a safeguard against some of the news cycles others may witness. The earth is inundated with difficulties no matter what field folks are in or what activities they pursue for recreation. I may drive an 18-wheeler, yet I keep God in complete control over my 19th wheel – the steering wheel. I will sense and avoid all areas that I receive a ‘gut feeling’ to avoid. I ask no questions on it, just completely and utterly trust this feeling of intuition (for me it’s the Holy Spirit within me).”
Concludes Kelley: “To say this event was rewarding for my soul and spirit hopefully conveys to you how much I enjoy trucking, and enjoy sharing with and learning from others. When I retire and enjoy some RVing adventures of my own, I certainly hope I find a group of ladies as vibrant and wonderful as this group was. I humbly thanked them for reaching out and I thanked God for directing them to Women in Trucking, who in turn reached out for my participation.”
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