OOIDA member wins Firestone tractor at MATS

OOIDA Member Brad Peterson in his 2013 Firestone Edition Class 8 truck.
(Photo courtesy of Firestone)

OOIDA Member Brad Peterson of Wellington, Colo., was announced as the grand prize winner of the Drive a Firestone Sweepstakes. Peterson won a 2013 Firestone Edition Class 8 tractor. Additionally, Peterson won an all-expenses paid trip for two to the 2014 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, assistance to help defray taxes, and up to a five-year supply of Firestone tires.

“This is the first contest I’ve ever won in my life,” said Brad Peterson, OOIDA member since January 2011. “I gave a big hug and kiss to my wife. I knew I had a 20 percent chance of winning. I’m retiring my current truck and using the new truck to haul equipment.”

Bridgestone Commercial Solutions announced the prize at the 2014 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky. The grand prize win concludes the Firestone Drives America Tour, which was launched last July. The tractor features special highly customized interior and exterior appointments to turn it into a Firestone-brand truck.

Many more prizes were awarded during the sweepstakes, including all-expenses paid trips for two to a baseball championship series game, all-expenses paid trips for two to attend the college football national championship game, and $500 gift cards and Firestone-branded apparel.

Peterson was one of five finalists selected at random. Each finalist received a key, and it was Peterson’s key that started the engine. All five finalists received an all-expenses paid trip for two to the 2014 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race and the Mid-America Trucking Show where the grand prize was awarded.

The Drive a Firestone sweepstakes was open to drivers with a valid U.S. commercial driver’s license (Class 8) and who own or operate a Class 7 or 8 vehicle.

Bendix looks forward

They may not have a crystal ball, but the folks at Bendix are confident the administration will issue a final rule on electronic stability control systems on trucks and buses by the end of 2014. And that's not all. The company says another potential mandate, this one known as forward collision avoidance, is just around the corner.

Fred Andersky, director of government and industry affairs and fleet marketing for Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, briefed members of the press Wednesday morning at MATS about electronic stability control, or ESC, and forward collision avoidance.

Andersky says the ESC proposal, which was introduced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in May 2012, could happen as early as October.

"We do expect a final rule to be published this year," Andersky said.

NHTSA estimates that the systems would add $1,160 to the price of new trucks and would prevent up to 2,300 crashes per year.

OOIDA has challenged those figures in comments filed to the official docket, saying the administration has overstated the benefits and understated the costs.

Turning to forward collision avoidance, Andersky says NHTSA is considering a 2015 to 2016 time frame to make a proposal, with a possible final rule in 2019.

Fred Andersky, director of government affairs for Bendix

Andersky is the face of Bendix in Washington, D.C., where he meets with lawmakers and regulators on issues such as stability control and collision avoidance for trucks and buses.

Preventing crashes is the stated mission of NHTSA, the FMCSA and other administrative departments in D.C.

"Things have changed a bit. NHTSA is doing a lot more reaching out," Andersky says.

He says Bendix is not in the business of pushing for mandates, but rather is providing guidance and research to federal agencies to make the right choices.

The example Andersky provides is the preference for ESC, as opposed to RSC, which is rollover stability control. With ESC, it's a more comprehensive technology that expands beyond rollover prevention.

"These systems are not going to make a bad driver a good driver, but they can help a good driver avoid having a bad day," Andersky said.

Keep an eye out for more information on the ESC proposal, and a future proposal for forward collision avoidance.