Osterberg Safety Award Breaks New Ground
By Oliver B. Patton
Over the years there have been some hard words and even harder feelings between the trucking industry and safety advocacy groups, but last night something new happened.
Last night the Truck Safety Coalition, a partnership between Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers, presented a Distinguished Safety Leadership award to a trucking executive.
The award went to Don Osterberg, senior vice president of safety at Schneider National.
It was presented by Dawn King, the daughter of a man killed two days before Christmas in 2004 by a Schneider National driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel. "Dad would have approved," King said, noting that Osterberg's characteristic of looking for ways to solve problems reminded her of her father.
Osterberg's achievements in safety are well known to the trucking industry. His pioneering efforts in fatigue control, driver wellness and the use of safety technology, as well as plain old safety management, have yielded impressive statistics. Since he's been at Schneider, fatigue related crashes have dropped by 27 percent and the fatal crash rate has dropped by 59 percent, said Jeffrey Burns, an attorney on the board of CRASH and PATT.
"To top it off, he's done this while he's saved the company money," Burns said. "Through his leadership there is now absolute, hard solid proof that safety need not be sacrificed to promote productivity."
Burns added that the award is extremely important to the Truck Safety Coalition. "We've never done what we're doing tonight," he said. "I hope it's a watershed (in relations between the advocacy groups and trucking)."
Osterberg said he would not want to overstate what the award might mean to industry-advocacy group relations, but he is optimistic. "I believe there is a quiet majority in trucking who recognize that this could represent the dawning of a new era of collaboration and civility between organizations that have often been at odds with one another," he said.
"I'm not naive enough to believe that we would agree on everything but if you think about it there's a higher calling here to be served. If we can work together on the topics we agree on I believe we can be very powerful and accelerate the improvement."Anne Ferro, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was on hand for the event and expressed a similar sentiment.
"There's a strong commitment to safety in the trucking industry," she said. "And there's a strong commitment to safety among the safety coalitions. It's a matter of listening for that common ground. But I also think it takes real leaders, (like) Don Osterberg."The presentation was made at the opening ceremonies of the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference, which is being held near Baltimore, Md., through today.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
St. Louis Dispatch lists Dollar, Burns and Becker as one of the top financial supporters of the Missouri court plan
By Tony Messenger
POST-DISPATCH JEFFERSON CITY BUREAU
04/14/2010
For several years, a group of conservative political activists has been seeking to make changes to the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. Under the plan — which has been copied and adapted in several other states — members of an appellate judicial commission sift through judge candidates and send finalists to the governor, who makes the ultimate choice.
The plan's goal is to make sure that judges are chosen based on merit, not politics.
. . .
But Harris has been unsuccessful in his attempts to push legislative changes to the Missouri Plan, so this year he decided to try to obtain enough signatures to get an initiative on the November ballot that would scrap the plan altogether.
Harris said he believed the effort would cost at least $1 million. He said he asked American Democracy Alliance and other "right-of-center" groups for money. But Harris declined to discuss where the alliance got its funding.
. . .
Former Missouri Supreme Court Justice Chip Robertson calls it the "height of hypocrisy" that a group claiming to want more transparency in the process of choosing judges would go to such lengths to hide a source of its campaign funding.
"They say they want more transparency in the process, but they've got a fundraising process that is so opaque, it's unbelievable," Robertson says of the group directed by Harris.
But the group Robertson leads to defend the Missouri Plan, Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Action Fund, also has raised money from various committees, making it difficult to track its source of funds.Robertson heads a nonprofit group with the same name as his political action committee. The group is a 501-c-4, similar to the American Democracy Alliance, and thus doesn't have to publish its donors.
On March 24, the nonprofit group Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts gave $25,000 to the political action committee of the same name. Just last week, the group donated another $20,000 to its sister organization.
Robertson argues that there is a difference between his group and American Democracy Alliance.
What is it?"
We're not trying to hide anything," Robertson says.
When asked by the Post-Dispatch for the donors to his nonprofit group, Robertson provided a list of 45 law firms from across the state that donated between $500 and $25,000, including Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy; Blackwell Sanders; and Dollar, Burns & Becker.
POST-DISPATCH JEFFERSON CITY BUREAU
04/14/2010
For several years, a group of conservative political activists has been seeking to make changes to the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. Under the plan — which has been copied and adapted in several other states — members of an appellate judicial commission sift through judge candidates and send finalists to the governor, who makes the ultimate choice.
The plan's goal is to make sure that judges are chosen based on merit, not politics.
. . .
But Harris has been unsuccessful in his attempts to push legislative changes to the Missouri Plan, so this year he decided to try to obtain enough signatures to get an initiative on the November ballot that would scrap the plan altogether.
Harris said he believed the effort would cost at least $1 million. He said he asked American Democracy Alliance and other "right-of-center" groups for money. But Harris declined to discuss where the alliance got its funding.
. . .
Former Missouri Supreme Court Justice Chip Robertson calls it the "height of hypocrisy" that a group claiming to want more transparency in the process of choosing judges would go to such lengths to hide a source of its campaign funding.
"They say they want more transparency in the process, but they've got a fundraising process that is so opaque, it's unbelievable," Robertson says of the group directed by Harris.
But the group Robertson leads to defend the Missouri Plan, Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Action Fund, also has raised money from various committees, making it difficult to track its source of funds.Robertson heads a nonprofit group with the same name as his political action committee. The group is a 501-c-4, similar to the American Democracy Alliance, and thus doesn't have to publish its donors.
On March 24, the nonprofit group Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts gave $25,000 to the political action committee of the same name. Just last week, the group donated another $20,000 to its sister organization.
Robertson argues that there is a difference between his group and American Democracy Alliance.
What is it?"
We're not trying to hide anything," Robertson says.
When asked by the Post-Dispatch for the donors to his nonprofit group, Robertson provided a list of 45 law firms from across the state that donated between $500 and $25,000, including Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy; Blackwell Sanders; and Dollar, Burns & Becker.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Driver repentant at sentencing
Trucker Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter Following Civil Investigation and Lawsuit By Dollar, Burns & Becker, LC.
Driver Clark Montogmery was sentenced to 50 months in prison for killing Rita Huscher in a hit and run collision. The attorneys at DB&B investigated the collision and aggressively pursued civil claims against the driver on behalf of Ms. Huscher's family before the guilty plea.
Tractor-trailer operator caused wreck that killed art teacher on Kansas 7 near 95th Street.
By DAWN BORMANN
The Kansas City Star
Clark Montgomery is headed to prison.
A Johnson County judge ordered him to spend 50 months in prison for killing 84-year-old art teacher Rita Huscher in a June hit-and-run wreck. But when he was sentenced for involuntary manslaughter Tuesday there was more to his plea agreement than just prison.
The judge also ordered Montgomery to write a letter to Huscher’s family explaining why he fled the crash scene. Montgomery will have to clarify why his tractor-trailer struck Huscher’s minivan from behind. The impact caused her vehicle to strike a pillar in the center median of Kansas 7 near 95th Street.
Huscher’s daughter, Joy Edge, and the district attorney’s office wanted the statement to be part of any plea deal that Montgomery would receive. Edge thinks it could answer some of the questions that have nagged at her since the crash.
Edge spoke Tuesday at the hearing. She wanted the judge and Montgomery to know that Huscher might have been 84, but her loss was profound.
"I believe that many people, younger people, think that when someone is over a certain age their life isn’t worth as much as someone younger,” she said. “That person can be a vital contributor to everyone else around them.”
Huscher touched hundreds of lives by teaching students, especially older adults and greenhorns, how to paint. She nurtured talents in those ready to take on new challenges, her students have said.
She gave lessons at The Art Shack in De Soto and regularly traveled to Leavenworth, St. Joseph and Laurie, Mo., to teach.
“There was nothing old about her except her age,” Edge said.
Montgomery, who was driving with a suspended license, apologized for the crash during his sentencing hearing. At first he awkwardly addressed his apology to the bench of Judge Stephen Tatum. But the judge gently stopped him.
“Tell them,” Tatum said, gesturing toward the victim’s family.
Montgomery quickly turned around and faced Huscher’s family.
"I’m sorry for what happened,” he told them.
“Thank you,” Edge said.
Driver Clark Montogmery was sentenced to 50 months in prison for killing Rita Huscher in a hit and run collision. The attorneys at DB&B investigated the collision and aggressively pursued civil claims against the driver on behalf of Ms. Huscher's family before the guilty plea.
Tractor-trailer operator caused wreck that killed art teacher on Kansas 7 near 95th Street.
By DAWN BORMANN
The Kansas City Star
Clark Montgomery is headed to prison.
A Johnson County judge ordered him to spend 50 months in prison for killing 84-year-old art teacher Rita Huscher in a June hit-and-run wreck. But when he was sentenced for involuntary manslaughter Tuesday there was more to his plea agreement than just prison.
The judge also ordered Montgomery to write a letter to Huscher’s family explaining why he fled the crash scene. Montgomery will have to clarify why his tractor-trailer struck Huscher’s minivan from behind. The impact caused her vehicle to strike a pillar in the center median of Kansas 7 near 95th Street.
Huscher’s daughter, Joy Edge, and the district attorney’s office wanted the statement to be part of any plea deal that Montgomery would receive. Edge thinks it could answer some of the questions that have nagged at her since the crash.
Edge spoke Tuesday at the hearing. She wanted the judge and Montgomery to know that Huscher might have been 84, but her loss was profound.
"I believe that many people, younger people, think that when someone is over a certain age their life isn’t worth as much as someone younger,” she said. “That person can be a vital contributor to everyone else around them.”
Huscher touched hundreds of lives by teaching students, especially older adults and greenhorns, how to paint. She nurtured talents in those ready to take on new challenges, her students have said.
She gave lessons at The Art Shack in De Soto and regularly traveled to Leavenworth, St. Joseph and Laurie, Mo., to teach.
“There was nothing old about her except her age,” Edge said.
Montgomery, who was driving with a suspended license, apologized for the crash during his sentencing hearing. At first he awkwardly addressed his apology to the bench of Judge Stephen Tatum. But the judge gently stopped him.
“Tell them,” Tatum said, gesturing toward the victim’s family.
Montgomery quickly turned around and faced Huscher’s family.
"I’m sorry for what happened,” he told them.
“Thank you,” Edge said.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Would Devoted Truck Lanes Make I-70 Safer?
Visit us at www.dollar-law.com
Interstate 70 is a major commercial artery for Missouri, providing an east-west route across the heart of the state for thousands of motorists and truckers every day. Every year, that vital passageway is becoming increasingly clogged with traffic, much of it in the form of big rigs hauling freight locally and on their way across the country.
According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, 70 percent of truck traffic goes from one end of Missouri to the other, accounting for 30 to 40 percent of all traffic on the highway. The trucks are involved in 28 percent of accidents on I-70 and 40 percent of the fatalities.
To alleviate traffic pressure and reduce the number of serious or fatal crashes, four states — Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio — are involved in a study of the feasibility of adding truck-only lanes to I-70, one of the busiest freight routes in the nation.
As currently envisioned, the plan would add four truck lanes (two going in each direction) in a center corridor down I-70, with passenger and local freight traffic traveling on separate, outside lanes (also two in each direction).
Missouri’s I-70 project manager for the Missouri Department of Transportation says regardless of what the other three states determine to be in their best interests, the truck-only lanes make sense for the approximately 250 miles of I-70 here.
Moving trucks into their own lanes would reduce truck-on-car collisions and the injuries and deaths they can cause. According to The Truck Safety Coalition, in fatal crashes involving a large truck and a passenger vehicle, 98 percent of the fatalities are in the passenger vehicle.
The biggest obstacle to I-70 truck-only lanes could well be the estimated $18 billion price tag. Some proponents of the lanes suggest tolls for truckers as a way to pick up all or part of the tab. Some safety advocates complain that the current plan does not include concrete barriers between the truck lanes and the outside lanes going in the same direction. Given the prevalence of fatigue in truck crashes, such barriers should be required as part of the plan.
Average daily traffic on the I-70 corridor is currently 45,000 vehicles, including 11,000 large trucks. The interstate has approximately 240 miles traversing urban areas, with 53 percent of those urban segments heavily congested.
It’s estimated that by 2035, daily traffic will surge to over 100,000 vehicles daily, including over 25,000 big rigs, with 97 percent of urban areas of I-70 experiencing heavy congestion. Non-urban areas won’t fare much better: It’s expected that without major changes to I-70, 87 percent of those areas will be congested as well.
Interstate 70 is a major commercial artery for Missouri, providing an east-west route across the heart of the state for thousands of motorists and truckers every day. Every year, that vital passageway is becoming increasingly clogged with traffic, much of it in the form of big rigs hauling freight locally and on their way across the country.
According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, 70 percent of truck traffic goes from one end of Missouri to the other, accounting for 30 to 40 percent of all traffic on the highway. The trucks are involved in 28 percent of accidents on I-70 and 40 percent of the fatalities.
To alleviate traffic pressure and reduce the number of serious or fatal crashes, four states — Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio — are involved in a study of the feasibility of adding truck-only lanes to I-70, one of the busiest freight routes in the nation.
As currently envisioned, the plan would add four truck lanes (two going in each direction) in a center corridor down I-70, with passenger and local freight traffic traveling on separate, outside lanes (also two in each direction).
Missouri’s I-70 project manager for the Missouri Department of Transportation says regardless of what the other three states determine to be in their best interests, the truck-only lanes make sense for the approximately 250 miles of I-70 here.
Moving trucks into their own lanes would reduce truck-on-car collisions and the injuries and deaths they can cause. According to The Truck Safety Coalition, in fatal crashes involving a large truck and a passenger vehicle, 98 percent of the fatalities are in the passenger vehicle.
The biggest obstacle to I-70 truck-only lanes could well be the estimated $18 billion price tag. Some proponents of the lanes suggest tolls for truckers as a way to pick up all or part of the tab. Some safety advocates complain that the current plan does not include concrete barriers between the truck lanes and the outside lanes going in the same direction. Given the prevalence of fatigue in truck crashes, such barriers should be required as part of the plan.
Average daily traffic on the I-70 corridor is currently 45,000 vehicles, including 11,000 large trucks. The interstate has approximately 240 miles traversing urban areas, with 53 percent of those urban segments heavily congested.
It’s estimated that by 2035, daily traffic will surge to over 100,000 vehicles daily, including over 25,000 big rigs, with 97 percent of urban areas of I-70 experiencing heavy congestion. Non-urban areas won’t fare much better: It’s expected that without major changes to I-70, 87 percent of those areas will be congested as well.
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