Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger issued an emergency declaration on Sept. 16 that includes a waiver to expedite hay deliveries.
“I proclaim a state of emergency due to the prolonged and severe drought conditions across the Commonwealth that constitute a disaster based on the significant impact to agribusiness operations and the imminent risk to livestock health and production,” Spanberger’s declaration states.
“Across the Commonwealth of Virginia, prolonged drought conditions have increasingly strained agribusiness operations, resulting in significant challenges for farms, livestock producers, and agricultural suppliers. These conditions have led to reduced pasture and forage quality, hay quality and volume, and urgent needs for supplemental resources essential to sustaining livestock health and production.”
The emergency declaration orders the waiver of “non-safety regulation” requirements related to hay movement. The requirements being waived include application procedures and fees for over-width loads as well as hours-of-service requirements.
The Virginia State Police Motor Carrier Safety Unit confirmed waivers of the 10- and 14-hour restrictions in the hours-of-service regs. The emergency declaration still limits the size of loads of hay to no more than 12 feet wide and 14 feet high.
The emergency declaration is good for 45 days; however, the relief for truck drivers will be limited to Oct. 1 through Oct. 30.
Trucker Path adds parking spots
Trucker Path, providers of a mobile app for North American truckers, recently announced that Safe Truck Parking has joined their Reserved Parking Network, adding more than 5,750 spaces across 25 locations, including two new locations opening this month.
The latest expansion of the Trucker Path Reserved Parking Network adds to the more than 70,000 reservable truck parking spots in the Trucker Path app. In addition to reservable parking at Safe Truck Parking and other locations, users can continue to access free parking availability throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Parking availability information is provided using crowdsourced data from app users and through predictive analytics based on historical utilization and time-of-day patterns.
Safe Truck Parking, a Dallas-based company, provides daily, short- and long-term parking in assigned spots. The company's truck parking locations feature gated access with license plate readers, surveillance cameras, secure fencing and lighting, restrooms, and on-site staff and regular patrols.
Alcohol-free booze aimed at truckers
Scottish drinks producer Spirits of Virtue has launched Mother Truckers, a new alcohol-free drinks brand created specifically for America’s truck-stop, travel-centre and convenience-store market.
The new beverages target professional drivers and consumers on the road who want something more interesting than another coffee, energy drink or soda, according to the producers,
Mother Truckers include non-alcoholic flavors include bourbon, tequila and gin.
“Truckers have the strictest drink-drive rules in the country and the worst choice of anything to drink at two in the morning," said Roddy Nicoll, managing director and co-founder of Spirits of Virtue. "Every travel center already sells coffee and soda. We've just given them something worth putting in it, and this is the version that doesn't end your career at the weigh station.”
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