Trucking needs the ‘brotherhood virus’ to come alive, spread

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Updated May 14, 2018

Owner-operator Jim Bardsley believes about the best thing that could happen to trucking, from perspectives of safety and so much more, is the spread of the “brotherhood virus,” a return of some semblance of honor to the hiring practices, follow-on training protocols and more in place today at carriers large and small.

In this edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, Kentucky-based Bardsley, hauling with David Griffith Trucking of Corbin, Ky., reflects on his three-decade-plus career and the years-long seeming dormancy of the virus, in part that elusive camaraderie enjoyed among too few in the trucking world, among other subjects covered. Those include issues with electronic logging devices, a 1980s Ford LTL9000 he’s recently purchased and is looking to restore and put into operation, and the beginning of the long wind-down into retirement. Take a listen:

Owner-operator Bardsley’s current hauler is this early-90s Peterbilt 379 — ELD-exempt, of course. Other units in the Griffith fleet, however, aren’t exempt, and Bardsley details in the podcast a little of the now-mostly-resolved set-up issues the fleet had early on with the KeepTruckin ELD platform.Owner-operator Bardsley’s current hauler is this early-90s Peterbilt 379 — ELD-exempt, of course. Other units in the Griffith fleet, however, aren’t exempt, and Bardsley details in the podcast a little of the now-mostly-resolved set-up issues the fleet had early on with the KeepTruckin ELD platform. This gem of a 1980s Ford LTL9000 flat top may one day end up as Bardsley’s part-time hauler if and when he puts another driver in his Pete.This gem of a 1980s Ford LTL9000 flat top may one day end up as Bardsley’s part-time hauler if and when he puts another driver in his Pete.