Roemer Report – September 2008

EASY DOES IT: Are Americans ready to return to a lower national speed limit? Senator John Warner of Virginia thinks so. The moderate Republican recently called for Congress to start a serious discussion on the matter. Warner points out that U.S. drivers saved 167,000 barrels of petroleum a day when the 55-mph speed limit was in place in the 1970s. And because there are twice as many cars on the road today, such a limit would save even more now. Meanwhile, the American Trucking Associations has called on Congress to set a national highway speed limit of 65 mph. Reducing speed from 75 to 65 mph would lower fuel consumption by as much as 27 percent. But thousands of truckers aren’t waiting for a government-mandated slowdown; they’re setting their own limits. In March, Con-Way Freight reduced speeds on its 8,400 trucks from 65 to 62 mph, cutting its fuel bill by $1.2 million a month. Schneider National expects to save 3.8 million gallons a year by reducing speed from 63 to 60 mph on its 10,800 trucks. Despite the benefits in fuel savings, the American Automobile Association opposes lower speed limits, contending that drivers need to find their own safe speeds based on traffic and road conditions. One North Carolina traffic engineer says that many drivers ignore the posted speed limit anyway. He’d like to see drivers obey current speed limits because that alone would save fuel and lives.

MEXICO GETS GREEN LIGHT: Last month, John H. Hill, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, announced that the Bush administration’s cross-border pilot program with Mexico would be extended for two years. The program allows Mexican trucks to travel into the U.S. interior, and participating U.S. trucks are permitted to travel deep into Mexico. Hill said some U.S. trucking companies have not participated in the pilot program due to uncertainties concerning the project’s longevity. “We intend this extension to reassure trucking companies that they will have sufficient time to realize a return on their investment, and we anticipate additional participation with this extra time,” Hill said. But U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio said the Department of Transportation needs to consider how much the program has cost and what impact it’s had on highway safety. DeFazio maintains that the administration “has failed to show they can adequately inspect Mexican carriers while also maintaining a robust U.S. safety inspection program.” Hill, however, says that Mexican and U.S. trucks can cross borders “in compliance with applicable laws and with no compromise to public safety or security.” He added that Mexican trucks and drivers have compliance rates “equal to or better to those of U.S. trucks and drivers.” Still, the Teamsters and environmentalists alike believe that extending the program will compromise highway safety and threaten U.S. jobs.

JUST ONE WORD—PLASTIC: In an effort to increase fuel mileage for truckers, one company says it’s found a solution: lighten the load with plastic shipping pallets. Florida-based iGPS says that most tractor-trailers carry heavy wooden pallets, which add weight to every trip, thereby lowering fuel economy and increasing harmful emissions. Replacing the wooden pallets with longer-lasting and lighter plastic pallets could save money across the board, according to iGPS. An independent study by Environmental Resource Management finds that plastic pallets have several advantages over their wooden counterparts: they last longer, weigh less, and don’t require paint or chemical treatments. Plus, you don’t have to chop down trees to make plastic pallets. One study found that 40 percent of all U.S. hardwood harvest goes to producing wooden pallets. Plastic pallets can easily last for 100 trips, compared to two trips for wooden pallets. The iGPS web site lets carriers calculate how much fuel they’d save by switching to plastic pallets. The downside, of course, is the plastic itself. The top-of-the-line pallets use virgin plastic, according to the Wall Street Journal, which is not environmentally friendly. Pallet makers, however, have launched greener versions that use between 15 percent and 100 percent recycled plastic.

THIEVES AT THE PUMP: As if high fuel prices aren’t enough, drivers now have to contend with thieves who install hard-to-detect electronic devices at truck stops and gas stations to steal credit and debit card information. The thieves glue skimming devices—plastic sleeves with covered wires that capture data—over the pump’s card reader, according to USA Today. Because the devices are small and made to match the machine, they are difficult to detect. Skimming devices have been used for years at ATM machines, but now thieves are targeting pumps because it’s a cheap and easy way for them to steal credit and debit card data. Investigators have found such devices in California, Washington, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Delaware and point out that the problem is not epidemic but is becoming more widespread. “Card fraud at gas pumps is a significant problem, and that’s because of the unintended nature of the checkout devices,” says one expert on identity theft. “Essentially, every gas pump is an electronic cash register.” In Washington State, thieves installed a skimming device, which wasn’t detected until 11 months later. The thieves then cleaned out the bank accounts of at least 120 victims over the Fourth of July weekend. In California, thieves placed a skimming device at a gas station and stole more than $200,000 from about 180 victims. In all, somewhere between $1 million and $3.5 million has been stolen from hundreds of victims. Anti-theft experts advise truck stops and gas stations to place sticker seals on pumps, which employees can check daily.

A FRESH LOOK AT TRAFFIC: If it’s any consolation, traffic congestion has always been a problem. The traffic in ancient Rome was so bad that Caeser banned daytime use of most carts and chariots. Author Tom Vanderbilt offers these tidbits and others in his new book, Traffic. Vanderbilt notes that 12.7 percent of the traffic slowdown after a crash is due to drivers trying to see the accident site. Some highway officials have tried erecting screens around accidents to prevent rubbernecking, but the screens themselves become objects of fascination, and drivers continue to gawk, putting themselves and others at risk. In fact, 80 percent of crashes involve drivers who don’t pay attention for three or fewer seconds, according to Vanderbilt. The places that seem most dangerous—narrow roads and hairpin turns—tend to have fewer accidents. “Most crashes,” Vanderbilt writes, “happen on dry roads, on clear, sunny days, to sober drivers.” In other words, feeling safe makes drivers lazy. A case in point: most Americans believe that roundabouts are more dangerous than intersections with traffic lights. The fact is that roundabouts require drivers to pay attention while they adjust their speed and merge; at intersections, drivers are passive and so they may not notice the pedestrian or the red-light runner. The author contends that the best solution to traffic congestion is congestion pricing. Adding more lanes or roads is a temporary fix because it only lures drivers from other roads and soon the road is worse than before.

TRYING TO CUT PATIENT COSTS: A variety of pilot programs are under way across the country, all with the premise that if you pay doctors more, patients will get better care, and, ultimately, patients and insurers will save thousands of dollars on unnecessary tests, visits to specialists, and trips to the hospital. Patients can e-mail or phone in readings to their doctors. A 60-year-old stroke patient said, “I can get better directions at the very moment I need them.” The doctor gets his usual fee of $64 for each office visit. But the five-doctor group will receive an additional $200,000 to $300,000 this year to keep better track of their 8,400 patients through e-mail and telephone care. In emergencies, patients can show up at the doctor’s office on short notice. In addition, extra staff helps monitor patients’ treatment and follow-up and sends out reminders when patients are due for preventive tests like mammograms and colon exams. Proponents of this type of primary care refer to it as a “medical home,” a base where “doctors, staff and patients pull together as one big health-care family,” according to the New York Times. Medicaid and Medicare are watching the pilot programs with great interest. In North Carolina, a similar experiment saved the state Medicaid program about $162 million in 2006.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS: The next generation of leaders expects to be constantly entertained and engaged. The traditional methods of training won’t cut it. Sitting through lectures and “information dumps” and being required to memorize content will leave the younger generation bored and unmotivated. This generation expects information in short, quick doses. That means that trainers need to make changes that will enhance learning for the next generation. Jean M. Twenge, author of Generation Me, cautions, “Young people learn best by doing. Raised with the Internet and collaborate learning in the classrooms, they’re not used to long, boring lectures. Training seminars will put them to sleep.” With that in mind, consider these tips to keep learners interested: (1) Use interactive training techniques and activities that get people out from behind the desk. Try role-playing and hands-on programs so they can practice new skills. (2) Make sure trainers provide guidance but are not the preeminent source of knowledge. If they speak more than 25 percent of the time, consider it a red flag. (3) Use trainers who view themselves as facilitators, not instructors, and who understand that participants can learn as much from peers in the class as they can from the teacher.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight—it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower