[ Updated 06 Jan 2011, 16:47:52 ]

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The driver of this lorry had a miraculous escape after his vehicle was left suspended over a 200ft drop… by a single punctured tyre.

The man lost control of his vehicle along a major road, clipped the concrete wall of a bridge and the heavy lorry rolled over as it slid perilously close to the edge, reports Daily Mail, London.

A passerby caught the moment on camera as the momentum of the lorry carried it into the barrier and flipped it over the top.

But thanks to the punctured tyre and pieces of torn sheet metal on the ground near the diesel tank, the lorry was somehow pinned in place suspended upside down over the deep gorge below.

Rescuers tentatively approached the vehicle and managed to pull the driver to safety, despite the fact the tyre could have given way at any time.

The barriers on the bridge are clearly too low to be an effective safety measure for lorries and it is unknown if the vehicle was recovered, or allowed to fall into the gorge.

The pictures, which circulated over a year ago on the internet, have just emerged within China which has strict bans on internet use.

Last year, another lorry driver had a lucky escape when the container on his vehicle hit the underside of a bridge and catapulted the cab nose first into the bridge in Changchun city

Virginia will launch a pilot program of truck-only rest areas along Interstates. (Courtesy Virginia Department of Transportation)

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Nov. 4 launched a new pilot program to provide additional truck parking along the Commonwealth’s Interstates.

For what McDonnell described as a “minimal cost to the Commonwealth,” the program will use undeveloped properties owned by the Virginia Department of Transportation as truck-only rest areas. The American Trucking Associations and the Virginia Trucking Association applauded the program.

“We are very appreciative of Governor McDonnell for continuing to recognize the essential role of America’s trucking industry and for his commitment to highway safety on the important issue of safety rest areas,” says Bill Graves, ATA president and chief executive officer. “ATA encourages other states with similar truck parking shortages to follow Virginia’s lead and look for similar opportunities to quickly expand parking at a minimal cost.”

The first site, a paved lot along the eastbound lanes of I-66, will open Monday, Nov. 8, and remain available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The site will have portable toilets and trash cans and be patrolled by local police, the VDOT said.

The pilot period will last 90 days, followed by a 60-day evaluation period. The truck safety rest area will continue operations during the 60-day evaluation period.

A similar rest area is in use on I-64 in Alleghany County. Pending the results of the pilot, additional truck parking facilities will be considered on or near other Interstates.

“We applaud the governor for taking this step to determine the feasibility of using this undeveloped property to increase the number of safe and secure parking spaces for truck drivers delivering goods throughout the Commonwealth,” said Dale Bennett, VTA president and CEO. “If the pilot is successful, this will be an inexpensive way to help prevent driver fatigue and improve safety on Virginia’s highways.”

ATA and VTA strongly urged McDonnell during his campaign for governor to reopen 19 safety rest areas and welcome centers shuttered by the previous administration because of funding cuts. McDonnell responded by promising he would, if elected, reopen the safety rest areas within three months of taking office. On April 14, McDonnell and VDOT officially reopened the remaining safety rest areas.

Net orders of heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles for North American markets in October rose 24 percent over September to 18,914 units, said ACT Research Co.

Medium-duty Classes 5-7 net orders increased 19 percent during the same period.

In release of its State of the Industry: Classes 5-8 Vehicles, ACT noted Class 8 net orders were the second highest monthly total since April 2008. Only October 2009 produced greater net orders, as some carriers sought to get the last of lower priced engines in advance of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emission mandate that raised the price of new heavy-duty vehicles by about $10,000.

“While September gave a hint to increasing demand for Class 8 equipment, October orders provided the strongest sign yet that the transportation sector recognizes the need to replace aging equipment,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT president and senior analyst. “With production of equipment rising only slightly in October, the order backlog is now 29 percent above its trough earlier this year, a sign that the commercial vehicle manufacturing sector is getting healthier.”

The court concluded Tuesday that carriers would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction on the owner-operator ban pending the appeal but declined to reinstate an injunction on other provisions of the port’s concession agreement, including the off-street parking provision.

U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder Tuesday reinstated an injunction against the owner-operator ban at the Port of Los Angeles.

The reinstatement of the injunction was sought in an appeal by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) last month.

Snyder had ruled Aug. 26 that the port can require big rigs entering the port to comply with strict diesel emissions standards and eliminate owner-operators as part of its plan, dissolving an injunction against the ban that had been in place since April of last year.

ATA had asked that the injunction be kept in place while it appeals Snyder’s ruling in favor of the Port and Synder found that ATA members “are likely to suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction pending appeal.”

Under a revised schedule, the Port is requiring motor carriers to transition to an all-employee workforce over the next three years, with 20 percent company drivers mandated by 2011, 66 percent by the end of 2012 and 100 percent by the end of 2013.

The Port argued that ATA could only show a “possibility” that motor carriers would be harmed by the first, 20-percent requirement. ATA had argued that carriers can’t just “flip a switch” and have employees rather than independent contractors.

The court concluded Tuesday that carriers would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction on the owner-operator ban pending the appeal but declined to reinstate an injunction on other provisions of the port’s concession agreement, including the off-street parking provision.

The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)and less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier Con-way Freight have announced the results of a year-long field test of an integrated system of crash warning technologies designed to enhance the safety of commercial trucks. Program funding was provided by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Con-way Freight supported the study by providing 10 Class-8 commercial freight tractors that were equipped with the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety System (IVBSS) technology. Over the course of the 10-month study, which began in February 2009, 18 Con-way Freight drivers operated the trucks out of the company’s Detroit service center as part of its normal business operations, logging 601,844 miles; 22,724 trips; and generating 13,678 hours of data.

While the test vehicles were driven, data acquisition systems recorded driver actions and responses to the integrated warning system. UMTRI researchers then analyzed the data to study the effect that the integrated warning system had on driver acceptance and changes in driver behavior.

Key findings from the study include:

•  The majority of drivers perceived that the integrated crash warning system would increase driver safety, and it made them more aware of the traffic environment around their vehicle and their position in the lane.

•  Seven drivers reported the integrated system prevented them from potentially having a crash.

•  Fifteen out of 18 drivers said they prefer a truck equipped with the integrated safety system and would recommend that their employers purchase such a system.

•  In terms of satisfaction, drivers rated warnings for lane departures the highest, and second highest in terms of perceived usefulness .

•  The integrated crash warning system had a statistically significant effect helping drivers maintain lane positions closer to the center.

•  Overall, drivers responded more quickly to potential rear-end crash scenarios with the system

Based on its experience with the study, Con-way Freight chose to invest in the new technologies for all new replacement units added to the fleet this year—more than 1,300 Freightliner Cascadia Class 8 tractors representing an investment of some $100 million, explains Bob Petrancosta, the company’s vice president of safety.

“The insight we gained from the IVBSS study confirmed the feedback we got from our drivers—these technologies are ready for prime time and are effective at helping drivers avoid the most common instances of crashes involving commercial trucks,” he notes.

The 1,300 new tractors were each equipped with an integrated suite of “detect, alert and respond” systems which provide for rollover stability, front collision warning with radar-based adaptive cruise control, and lane departure warning. The safety technologies for the new tractors, all of which have gone into service, represent a cumulative investment of about $5 million.

Additional program partners for the IVBSS commercial-truck research include Eaton Corp., Takata Corp., International Truck and Engine Corp. and Battelle. The cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation is administered by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with assistance from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)

MIAMI, Okla.— A former Missouri truck driver has pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the deaths of 10 people in a traffic collision in northeastern Oklahoma and will serve 30 days in jail and 10 years of probation, a prosecutor said Monday.

In Oklahoma, negligent homicide is a misdemeanor and not a felony, Ottawa County District Attorney Eddie Wyant said in a statement.

Donald L. Creed, 77, of Willard, Mo., pleaded guilty Monday to 10 counts as part of a plea deal. He will serve his 30 days in the county jail and be subjected to electronic monitoring for the first year of probation, Wyant said. He also will be barred from possessing a commercial driver’s license.

Creed was driving a tractor-trailer rig for Associated Wholesale Grocers on June 26, 2009, when the truck slammed into vehicles that had stopped for another accident near Miami on Interstate 44. It took emergency responders hours to free the victims, many of whom were related, from the mangled vehicles.

Oral Hooks, Earlene Hooks, Antonio Hooks and Dione Hooks, all of Oklahoma City; Ethan Hayes and Randall Hayes of Frisco, Texas; Cynthia Olson, of Crossroads, Texas; and Ricardo Reyes and Ernestina Reyes of Phoenix, were pronounced dead at the scene. Shelby Hayes of Frisco, Texas, died two days later at a Missouri hospital.

The Reyes’ daughter, Andrea, survived.

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol report concluded Creed’s inattention caused the wreck about 90 miles northeast of Tulsa. Investigators found no evidence that he tried to brake or take evasive action before hitting the other cars.

The victims’ families were notified of the plea agreement and decided to leave the sentencing up to the court, Wyant said.

“I hope that the resolution of Mr. Creed’s criminal matter will somehow begin the healing process for all of the friends and family members of the victims which are left behind to deal with the consequences of Mr. Creed’s actions,” Wyant said in the statement.

A civil lawsuit on behalf of survivors of several victims has been filed in Cleveland County District Court in Norman.

Wyant couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday afternoon. A call to Creed’s attorney, Paul Brunton, wasn’t immediately

Two escaped inmates remain on the loose after hi-jacking a tractor-trailer in Arizona with an accomplice who reportedly is a former truck driver.

Police in Rifle, Colo., located three hours outside of Denver, captured one of the fugitives, Daniel Kelly Renwick, 36, following a pursuit Aug. 2 that ended in his arrest.

All three inmates escaped July 30 from the privately run Arizona State Prison-Kingman, a medium-security facility, according to a Mohave County Sheriff’s Office’s statement.

The other escapees, Tracy Alan Province, 42, and John Charles McCluskey, 45, remain at large. Their accomplice, Casslyn Mae Welch, was identified as assisting McCluskey and Province in stealing a truck July 31 in the Kingman area, 10 miles east of the prison. The hi-jackers used handguns, but five hours later, they released the two male drivers and their truck in Flagstaff.

The 44-year-old Welch only previous legal problem was a traffic violation, which she pleaded guilty to a year ago, according to the Globe Regional Justice Court.

Welch, reportedly a former truck driver and McCluskey’s fiancé, is believed to have aided their escape from the Gordon Valley prison, according to a story in The Arizona Republic.

Following the truck theft, the Mohave County Sheriff sought warrants for Welch, McCluskey and Province for kidnapping and armed robbery.

McCluskey was convicted of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm in a Maricopa County. He had 14 years remaining of a 15-year sentence. Province was serving a life sentence for one count of murder and one count of robbery in Pima County.

Renwick was convicted in Pima County of two counts of second-degree murder with a sentence to expire in 2043.

Anyone with information should contact law enforcement immediately.

In this photograph taken Aug. 2, 2010, Dionne Dacosta, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. right, registers job applicants at a job fair sponsored by National Career Fairs in Danie Beach, Fla. (Associated Press: LYNNE SLADKY)

WASHINGTON  — Companies showed a lack of confidence about hiring for a third straight month in July, making it likely the economy will grow more slowly the rest of the year. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent.

Private employers added a net total of only 71,000 jobs in July, far below the roughly 200,000 needed each month to reduce the unemployment rate.

The trucking industry added 5,900 jobs in July, after slipping slightly in June when the for-hire industry lost 200 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number includes all employees who work at a truck-related company, including local delivery companies.

The BLS reports segment break outs on a one-month delay. In June, employment in truckload trucking increased 3,300 compared with an increase of 600 jobs in May.

In June, less-than-truckload employment fell by 100 compared with an increase of 1,900 in May.

Overall, the economy lost a net total of 131,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, mostly because 143,000 temporary census jobs ended.

Investors reacted by selling stock futures and shifted into safer investments such as Treasury bonds. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which helps set interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, fell to 2.87 percent from 2.91 percent late Thursday.

The department also revised down its jobs figures for June, saying businesses hired fewer workers than previously estimated. June’s private-sector job gains were lowered to 31,000 from 83,000. May’s were raised slightly to show 51,000 net new jobs, up from 33,000.

“There is still a labor market recovery, but it’s a very, very weak one,” said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight.

The slow pace of hiring will weigh on the recovery, he said, with economic growth in the current quarter likely to come in even lower than the April-to-June quarter’s already weak 2.4 percent.

The “underemployment” rate was the same as in June, at 16.5 percent. That includes those working part time who would prefer full-time work and unemployed workers who’ve given up on their job hunts.

All told, there were 14.6 million people looking for work in July. That’s roughly double the figure in December 2007, when the recession began.

Even if hiring picks up, it will take years to regain all the jobs lost during the recession. The economy lost 8.4 million jobs in 2008 and 2009. This year, private employers have added only 559,000 new hires.

Friday’s report is being closely watched by the Federal Reserve as it considers ways to energize the recovery. The report could persuade the Fed to take new steps to boost the economy and keep interest rates at record lows when it meets next week.

Without more jobs, consumers won’t see the gains in income needed to encourage them to spend more and support economic activity. Even those with jobs may not feel confident enough to ramp up their spending.

That’s important because many of the trends driving economic growth earlier in the recovery are fading. Companies boosted production in the winter and spring to rebuild inventories that were depleted in the recession. But that boost won’t last much longer. And the impact of the federal government’s stimulus package is also declining.

The economy grew at 5 percent in the fourth quarter last year and 3.7 percent in the first three months of 2010. But that slowed to 2.4 percent in the April-June period. That’s not fast enough to generate many jobs and reduce the unemployment rate.

Many companies appear to be getting more out of their current employees rather than adding new staff. The average work week increased by one-tenth of an hour to 34.2 hours, the department said. That’s up from about 33 hours in the depths of the recession.

Average hourly pay also rose 4 cents to $22.59, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier. That, along with the increase in hours worked, could provide some boost to spending.

The number of temporary jobs fell by 5,600, the first drop after nine months of gains.

Employers usually hire temp workers if they need more output but don’t want to hire permanent employees. But “firms aren’t even adding temporary workers right now,” Gault said.

Manufacturers added 36,000 jobs in July, slightly above its monthly average this year. Those gains were aided by General Motor’s decision to keep its plants running last month. Usually it closes them and temporarily lays off employees to retool for the new model year.

Construction firms cut jobs for the third straight month, losing 11,000, while financial firms shed 17,000 workers.

But retailers added 6,700 jobs. And the leisure and hospitality industry hired 6,000 additional staffers.

Corporate net income rose sharply in the second quarter, but businesses aren’t yet using the proceeds to ramp up hiring. Companies in the S&P 500 index reported a 46 percent increase in net income for the April-to-June period, compared to a year earlier.

But many employers are uncertain about the direction of the economy. Some are concerned sales will slow once government stimulus and other temporary factors fade. Others fear what will happen if federal income taxes are allowed to rise next year as tax cuts enacted by President George W. Bush expire.

“People have a long worry list they’re looking at,” said Ethan Harris, chief economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Some companies are adding permanent workers. The hospital chain HCA Inc. has 8,300 open positions, company spokesman Ed Fishbough said. That includes nurses, physicians and information technology professionals needed to build HCA’s ability to handle electronic medical records. HCA employs about 190,000 people.

But layoffs are also continuing. FBR Capital Markets, an investment bank based in Arlington, Va., cut its work force by about 15 percent in early July to about 500 employees, saying it needed to reduce costs

Pilot Travel Centers LLC and Flying J Inc. announced June 30 the completion of the merger of the two companies, creating a network of more than 550 interstate travel centers and travel plazas. The combination becomes effective July 1.

The new company, to be called Pilot Flying J, operates in 43 states and six Canadian provinces and employs more than 20,000 people. It is one of the top 10 privately held companies in the United States.

“We are now one great company, two great brands,” said Pilot Flying J President and CEO Jimmy Haslam. “Our new organization is a combination of two of the best-known brands in the travel center industry, both with strong family histories and shared values.

In July 2009, Pilot and Flying J announced a preliminary agreement to merge their travel center operations.

Customers will see the Pilot and Flying J brands on signage at the interstate facilities. Pilot has begun to accept the TCH card, and Flying J has begun to accept Comdata cards.  This change gives the trucking community many more options of where to fuel that are not dependent on the card they carry.

Other plans call for enhanced restaurant offerings with national brands in all locations. Brand additions to Flying J locations in the new network include Denny’s, Subway and Pizza Hut. In addition, there will be upgrades to drivers’ lounges, new gasoline and diesel pumps, enhanced showers and remodeled restrooms at many locations.

Pilot Flying J is selling 26 locations to Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores as required by the Federal Trade Commission as a condition for the merger. For a list of the affected locations and additional information about the merger, visit www.pilotflyingj.com.

Also, ConocoPhillips completed selling its 50 percent partnership interest in the CFJ Properties-Flying J truck stops to Pilot for $626 million.