Trucking news and briefs for Friday, June 21, 2024:
Parade honors Kenworth's 50 years in Ohio
The parade was led by a 1923 Kenworth and parade grand marshal and 50-year Kenworth Chillicothe employee, Dan Murphy.
Kenworth's truck assembly plant in Chillicothe, Ohio, recently hosted what has become the annual Kenworth Truck Parade through downtown Chillicothe. This year, the parade paid tribute to the plant’s 50th anniversary.
The 2024 Kenworth Truck Parade featured more than 60 new, classic, and customized Kenworth trucks, including a vintage 1923 Kenworth and models built in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s through to present day trucks manufactured at the Chillicothe manufacturing plant. The parade was led by grand marshal and 50-year Kenworth Chillicothe employee, Dan Murphy. Murphy, a well-known and respected plant employee, was hired just days after the plant first opened in 1974. He began as a production specialist, was promoted to section supervisor, and served as liaison engineer until his retirement in May.
“The Kenworth Truck Parade has become a beloved June tradition in Ross County, made even more meaningful this year with the opportunity to celebrate 50 years of producing The World’s Best Trucks in Chillicothe,” said Jack Schmitt, Kenworth Chillicothe assistant plant manager. “We are grateful to this incredible community and the drivers who travel from near and far to make this special event so successful year after year.”
ATA expresses concern over marijuana reclassification
The American Trucking Associations on Thursday sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressing its concern to the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposal to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. ATA is asking Secretary Buttigieg to share whether the U.S. Department of Transportation will maintain the authority and means to conduct testing of marijuana use by commercial motor vehicle drivers and other safety-sensitive transportation workers.
Without this certainty, ATA contends industries that must screen workers performing safety-sensitive roles would operate under a cloud of uncertainty, and if the trucking and broader transportation industries’ ability to conduct drug testing for marijuana use is restricted, a heightened risk of impaired drivers threatens our nation’s roadways.
“…[I]t is critical for transportation safety that we maintain the scope and scrutiny of testing that currently exists for individuals engaged in safety-sensitive industries, including commercial trucking, bussing, airlines, and rail,” wrote ATA Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Safety Policy Dan Horvath. “While ATA does not maintain a formal position on marijuana legalization or the ongoing testing of non-safety sensitive employees under HHS’s Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs, we remain concerned about the broad public health and safety consequences of reclassification on the national highway system and its users.”
Between 2000 and 2018, crash deaths involving marijuana more than doubled, from 9% to 21.5%. Immediately following Canada’s 2018 legalization of marijuana, the country’s emergency rooms saw a 94% increase in the rate of marijuana-involved traffic injuries.
