News and briefs on trucking for Friday, 21 June 2024
Kenworth celebrates 50 years of service in Ohio
Kenworth’s truck manufacturing plant in Chillicothe (Ohio) recently hosted the annual Kenworth Truck Parade, which is now held through downtown Chillicothe. The parade was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the plant.
The 2024 Kenworth Truck Parade featured over 60 new, classic and customized Kenworths, including a vintage Kenworth from 1923, models built in 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, through to the present day trucks produced at the Chillicothe Manufacturing Plant. Dan Murphy, a 50-year Kenworth Chillicothe worker and grand marshal of the parade, led it. Murphy, a well known and respected employee of the plant, was hired only days after it opened in 1974. He started as a production expert, was promoted as section supervisor, then served as liaison engineer up until his retirement in may.
Jack Schmitt is the assistant plant manager at Kenworth Chillicothe. “The Kenworth Truck Parade in Ross County has become a June tradition, and this year it was made even more meaningful by the opportunity to celebrate fifty years of producing The World’s Best Trucks here in Chillicothe,” he said. “We are grateful for this incredible community, and the drivers that travel from far and wide to make this event so successful every year,” said Jack Schmitt, Kenworth Chillicothe assistant plant manager.
ATA expresses concern over marijuana reclassification
The American Trucking Associations sent a letter on Thursday to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, expressing their concern over the U.S. Department of Justice proposal to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III. ATA wants Secretary Buttigieg’s response on whether the U.S. Department of Transportation has the authority and the means to test marijuana use among commercial motor vehicle drivers, and other safety-sensitive workers.
ATA argues that without this certainty, industries that screen workers in safety-sensitive roles will operate under a cloud. If the trucking industry and broader transportation industries are restricted from conducting drug testing for marijuana, a higher risk of impaired driving threatens our nation’s roads.
“…[It is important for transportation safety to maintain the scope and scrutiny that testing currently exists for individuals in safety-sensitive industry, such as commercial trucking and bussing, airline and rail, wrote ATA Senior Vice president of Regulatory Affairs and Safety Policy Dan Horvath. “While ATA doesn’t have a formal stance on marijuana legalization, or the ongoing testing for non-safety-sensitive employees under HHS Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. We remain concerned about the public health and safety implications of reclassification of the national highway system.
Between 2000 and 2018, the number of fatal crashes involving marijuana has more than doubled. Canada’s emergency departments saw a 94% rise in marijuana-related traffic injuries immediately following the legalization of marijuana in 2018.