Starting this week, drivers caught without required tire chains in Oregon will face a stiffer fine. Effective September 25, a new Oregon law will increase the fine for chain law violations to $880. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) points to the cost of stuck trucks as a reason for the fine increase.   “The estimated cost of delays caused by trucks failing to follow Oregon chain laws is over $8 million a year – to the motor carrier industry and other...

A California-based trucking company has been the subject of a months-long, multiple agency investigation that has resulted in large drug seizures and multiple arrests. On Thursday, the Salinas Police Department held a press conference to report on the results of “Operation Black Hawk,” a five-month investigation into the suspected drug trafficking of Salinas-based trucking company Nor Cal Transportation. According to the Salinas Police Department, Nor Cal “is suspected of...

The truck driver involved in a recent wreck that sent a steel coil smashing into a nearby car didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation, a 911 call reveals.  The Wednesday accident began when a Total Package Express Inc truck hauling steel coils north on Highway 127 was ran off the road and into the grass by a motorist. The trucker then stopped his rig and got out to speak with the motorist, but there seemed to be a language barrier, and that’s when the trucker noticed...

A reckless motorist led to the crashing of two semi trucks in Connecticut on Wednesday morning.  The accident happened on September 15th at around 7:40 a.m. in the southbound lanes of Interstate 91 in Meriden.  According to the Hartford Courant, 43-year-old Eric Ploof was driving his 2014 Toyota Camry ‘erratically’ in the right lane of I-91, weaving in and out of traffic, when he cut off a tractor trailer driven by 45-year-old John Sullivan and knocked the...

The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) has issued a commercial vehicle travel restriction for a construction zone that has proved to be crash-prone. The truck ban goes into effect on Wednesday, September 15 along I-95 northbound from I-495 to north of the Brandywine River Bridge in Wilmington. DelDOT says that signage informing drivers of the ban is in approaching the I-95/I-495 northbound split. This restriction will remain in place until the construction project is...

A truck driver was arrested after attempting to drive around secondary inspection in Texas late last week.  The incident occurred on September 10th at around 6:10 a.m. at the Interstate 35 checkpoint in Texas.  According to LMT Online, Agents were conducting an inspection of a semi truck when the driver, Jarvis Carter, started to drive the rig away. Agents finally had to tell Carter to stop so that they could complete the inspection, and he complied. When questioned, Carter...

A truck driver was hospitalized following a suspected road rage shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday. The shooting occurred at 1:40 p.m. on September 14 on the Murfreesboro Pike in the southern part of the city. Police say that two suspects in a black Acura with a temporary tag cut off a truck driver during a suspected road rage incident.   The suspects were reportedly angry that the truck driver had changed from the right to the left lane in front of them. From the...

Police are seeking information from the public after a semi truck was damaged by a large rock thrown from an overpass in Xenia, Ohio, on Friday. The incident occurred in the early morning hours of September 10. The Xenia Police Department says that they were called to the scene at US 35 westbound at Bellbrook Avenue after a truck driver reported that his vehicle had been hit by a rock.   “The truck had a significant scratch on the passenger side of the truck,” police...

Illinois police found a truck driver who apparently passed away in the sleeper berth of his truck at a truck stop in Effingham. Around 1 p.m. on Friday, September 10, the Effingham Police Department received a call to perform a welfare check at the TravelCenters of America truck stop on West Evergreen Avenue, according to local outlet Effingham Radio. When officers located the truck, they found a male deceased in the sleeper berth area and called in the Effingham County Coroner. The...

Trying to decided between attending a truck driving school or signing up with a trucking company directly might be a challenging decision. Either option has merits and both options will put you on the right track for advancing your career.   Should I go to Truck Driving School to get my CDL? Attending a local truck driving school may have been the first thing that came to your mind when you initially started to think about getting your CDL.  Truck driving schools do a great job of...

Truckers trekking through some parts of Colorado will now need to make sure that they have chains on board. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) requires that commercial vehicle drivers traveling on I-70 between mile markers 133 (Dotsero) and 259 (Morrison) carry sufficient chains from September 1 through May 31 each year. Chains are not required for trailers, only for trucks, according to Colorado law.   When the chain law is in effect, drivers will be notified via...

A man apparently convinced he was battling sex traffickers has been taken into custody after beating a truck driver with a metal rod and biting a state trooper.  The incident happened in the very early morning hours on September 7th in Candler County, Georgia and involved 22-year-old Jeffrey Days.  According to WTOC 11 News, police responded to calls of a man who had driven off the road and was running along Interstate 16 attempting to flag down sex traffickers to free the...