Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021:
Diesel prices continue climb
Average diesel fuel prices across the U.S. increased again during the week ending Nov. 1, bringing the national average to its highest point since the week ending Oct. 6, 2014.
The U.S.’ average price for a gallon of on-highway diesel is now $3.727, up 1.4 cents over the previous week, according to the Department of Energy’s weekly report.
Prices increased in all regions across the country last week with the most significant increase being seen in California, where prices jumped 5.1 cents to $4.651 per gallon.
California holds the nation’s highest diesel prices, followed by the West Coast less California at $3.932 per gallon.
The cheapest fuel can be found in the Gulf Coast region at $3.486 per gallon, followed by the Lower Atlantic region at $3.631 per gallon.
Prices in other regions, according to DOE, are:
- New England – $3.651
- Central Atlantic – $3.862
- Midwest – $3.639
- Rocky Mountain – $3.814
ProMiles’ numbers during the same week saw fuel prices fall significantly by 15.4 cents, bringing its national average to $3.569 per gallon.
According to ProMiles’ Fuel Surcharge Index, the most expensive diesel can be found in California at $4.526 per gallon, and the cheapest can be found in the Gulf Coast region at $3.384 per gallon.
Landstar owner-op named ‘Hero of the Highway’
Landstar owner-operator DeWayne Walker won TIDA's Hero of the Highway award for helping a stranded motorist.
Each year commercial drivers are nominated for TIDA’s award based on heroic behavior or an extraordinary act of public service. The TIDA Board of Directors selects one recipient. Walker received $2,500 and an all-expense-paid trip to TIDA’s Annual Seminar, where he was honored in a special ceremony that included a video about his act of kindness.
In the winter issue of Landstar’s Road to Success magazine, Walker was featured in a winter weather story that included his encounter with a stranded motorist and her two young children who were facing freezing temperatures. Walker was settling into his spot at a truck stop for the night in North Dakota.
“As I backed into my parking space, I noticed that there was a woman in the parking lot with the hood up on her car,” he said. “When I looked under the hood, it was clear to me what the problem was. She was driving a diesel, and her fuel had jelled up because of the cold.”
The motorist had two daughters under the age of three with her, and it was 37 degrees below zero with heavy snowfall. The truck stop had closed, so Walker knew she couldn’t get her car fixed that evening.
He feared the family might not survive in the cold overnight, so he offered to shelter them in his rig, shared his dinner, found “Scooby-Doo” on the TV in his cab, and let the mother and her little girls sleep in his bunk while he slept in the front seat.
The next morning, Walker made them breakfast and got their car running. The mother said when she offered to pay him, he refused, saying, “No ma’am, that’s not how this industry works.”
Walker’s life-saving actions the night of Feb. 10, 2021, earned him the Landstar Platinum Star of Quality earlier this year, and now the honor of TIDA Hero of the Highway.
