Below are the steps for connecting your phone to the Bluetooth in your truck:
First, when you turn on your truck, make sure your radio is also turned on by holding the “power” button and that your Bluetooth is turned on within your smart phone.
Next, hold down the “Bluetooth” button found in the top left corner and it will say “Add Phone”
Then press on the “Volume Knob” to activate the Bluetooth (it will search for your device)
In your phone’s Bluetooth settings, select your vehicle from the list of options.
Confirm the pin code shown on the phone matches the code on the truck radio.
Then you should be paired and ready to roll handsfree.
This information can also be found in the Resource Library whenever you may need it. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.
Did you know that harsh braking has other effects than just damaging your brakes?
Harsh braking occurs when a driver uses more force than necessary to stop a vehicle. This action can indicate distracted or aggressive driving which leads to increased tire wear, a variety of maintenance issues, and sometimes, costly insurance claims.
Harsh braking is a common result of drivers not maintaining a safe following distance, increasing their risk of rear-end collisions. It can also happen when a driver is distracted and not driving mindfully or defensively when another vehicle, person, or object appears on the road ahead unexpectedly.
Effects of harsh braking:
Wear & tear on brakes: Those who find themselves hard braking often may notice significant wear and tear on the brakes. It can also cause them to overheat. While the heat won’t spread, it can damage and warp the braking system and rotors, which will lead to expensive repairs down the line.
Reduces the lifespan of the braking system: Average lifespan on brakes: about 250,000 miles. Hard braking all the time reduces the brake’s lifespan by half.
Wear & tear on tires: The strain on your tires from quickly braking can cause the treads to wear out more rapidly than usual.
Can necessitate vehicle downtime
Contributes to fuel spend and wastage
How Harsh Braking is Measured in the BlueTree Scorecard:
Harsh Braking: Deceleration of 7 mph per second
For example, traveling at 40 mph and suddenly slowing down by 7 mph to 33 mph in one second will trigger a harsh braking event.
Financial Case for Better Braking
Safety is the primary reason to eliminate harsh braking, however, there are financial benefits that cannot be ignored.
Fewer crashes lead to less money spent on insurance claims and equipment repairs.
Better fuel economy – Each act of aggressive braking and acceleration increases fuel consumption by as much as a half-gallon.
Lower operation and maintenance cost – A new set of brakes can cost anywhere from $540 – $900.
Better MK PRO Formance Scores lead to more MK PRO Points awarded to the driver.
Safer Braking
According to industry studies, hard braking was one of the most predictive behaviors for the likelihood of future crashes. Most rear-end collisions and hard-braking incidents are caused by tailgating.
Key 4 – Leave Yourself An Out
The safest position in traffic is with few or no vehicles around you.
Build and maintain a space cushion around your vehicle.
If you lose part of the cushion, work to keep at least the front and one side open.
Anticipate the actions of others around you.
In some cases, harsh braking and acceleration are the results of driver frustration, developing appropriate coping skills needed to ease that frustration can keep a driver safer behind the wheel.
Reporting detention has never been easier! Now you’re able to send in a detention notice to your Driver Manager right from your phone on the Drive MK App.
Follow the steps below to report detention notices:
1. Once your in the Drive MK app, go to the “Stops” page and click “Send a Detention Notice”
2. Once clicked, you will see the option to pick a stop and add any comments to explain your detention reasoning.
3. When you’re finished, click submit and it will notify your DM by sending an email and a chat in the Drive MK app.
In regards of this new app feature, we would like to reiterate the following policies for detainment:
From the Drive MK App, inform your DM if you have been checked in at a shipper/receiver for an hour. This lets us know that you’re being delayed.
If a broker is involved, you must also notify them of detention. They must be told beforehand, or there will be no compensation.
Once you have done this, keep us posted on your progress. (In a door, unloading, empty, etc.)
All Bill of Ladings must have in/out times on them, whether or not you were detained. This is our only way to get detention, and our only way to verify what we have in the system.
We want to help reduce your time in a dock, but we cannot improve this process without your help. The more information we have, the better the process will get! If you have any questions, please ask your DM.
Mars – Mattoon, IL new truck entrance is now open. Drivers will pull up in the middle lane and follow instructions to contact the shipping office. We also have new signs placed by the road to help direct traffic.
If you have any questions, please contact your driver manager!
Did you know having good anticipation skills can reduce your chance of getting into an accident?
Anticipation is all about reading your surroundings and remaining aware by being alert. Becoming more aware of the road activity ahead will help you have more reaction time and additional space for safety.
How is Anticipation Measured in BlueTree Scorecard:
Anticipation: time between acceleration and braking – the goal is 1.5 seconds or more.
Anticipation measures the time taken before the brake is pressed after a driver lifts their foot off the accelerator. Large numbers of events of short duration (e.g. less than one second) show that the driver has to react too rapidly to events instead of the opposite, a controlled braking event.
In other words, slamming on the brakes would be given a high anticipation score and, if this happens repeatedly, could be a sign of unsafe driving or poor awareness of the road. However, easing off the acceleration and waiting for a period of time before braking afterward shows that the driver is coasting to a stop and is in complete control.
This driver is demonstrating poor anticipation behavior. The image suggests the driver spends a lot of time moving quickly between brake and accelerator and is reacting to the road ahead.This driver is demonstrating excellent anticipation skills. They are managing their braking activity well in respect of the road ahead.
What Poor Anticipation Behavior Can Cause:
Wear and tear on brakes & tires: Not only does this impact driver safety but it can also negatively impact equipment longevity, increasing operational costs.
Poor fuel efficiency: When drivers are aggressively braking, it’s often because they don’t have enough time to ease off the acceleration and coast to a natural stop without wasting fuel. While improving road awareness can help to improve reaction time, Anticipation scores can show which drivers need to prioritize fuel economy.
Potential accidents: With long days, drivers are bound to lose focus from time to time. Anticipation is a way to assist drivers in identifying the habits that could be risky so they can work on changing them before an accident occurs.
Tips to improve anticipation behavior:
Key 1 Aim High In Steering
Look ahead to where you will be at least 15 seconds (or more) into your future.
A 15 second eye lead time provides advance warning and gives you an additional margin for safety.
Use improved eye lead time for more efficient and economical driving.
Key 2 Get The Big Picture
Position your vehicle in the lane of least resistance.
Stay alert to the relevant information that can assist you in making well-informed decisions.
Eliminate vision barriers by establishing proper following distance.
Stay far enough behind other vehicles to obtain the visibility necessary to make your own decisions.
A new maintenance campaign means an opportunity to learn and earn Pro-Points! This campaign focuses on the importance of Pre & Post Trip Inspections from a maintenance and safety standpoint.
Those who complete the campaign activities by June 30th, 2023, will receive 200 Pro-Points!
We would like to recognize the following drivers for going above and beyond in helping us out! We appreciate you going the extra mile!
First, we would like to shout out, Allen Fitzgerald. He saw another Marvin Keller driver, Dave Ward, at a Walmart DC and noticed his headlight was out. Allen had some extra bulbs in his truck and helped Dave get his replaced. Thank you for setting such a great example for the rest of our drivers!
Shout out to Wade Owns for paying off his Lease Purchase truck – your dedication is leading you to success!
Thank you to Frank Rich. He located an old BOL that helped us bill a customer for an old shipment. It is very appreciated!
Shout out to Kerri Doss & Brian Doughty did a Meet & Greet to make sure we made on-time delivery. Thank you for keeping our Customers happy!
Kerri
Brian
Lastly, thank you to Wes Ryden, Dalton Medley, Dustin Carey, Mike Manion, Shaquille Eleazer, Eric Doney, and Jacob Mercer, who all worked extra days recently to help us make Customer deliveries. Thank you for the extra time and effort.
Did you know that cruise control can help you maintain a safe speed, follow distance, and avoid collisions?
The strength of cruise control is that it eliminates the systematic acceleration and deceleration drivers are prone to when traveling down an interstate or an empty country highway.
Safety features of cruise control:
Active brake assist
Lane departure warning
Automatically sets a following distance
These advanced safety features can help you maintain a safe following distance and avoid collisions.
Benefits of using cruise control:
Fuel-saving: Maintaining a constant speed over great distances is more fuel efficient.
Reduces stress: Constantly matching and releasing the accelerator pedal can stress the muscles excessively. But cruise control relieves truck drivers of that stress, allowing them to get some stretches in without losing time.
Cruise Can Help Control Traffic: By setting your cruise control just under the posted speed limit, you will create a natural buffer around your truck.
Speed: maintain a safe speed
BlueTree Scorecard:
Within the Driver Scorecard, cruise control impacts your performance score. It’s measured by the percentage of time spent traveling over 55 mph while engaging the cruise control. Thus, the more you use it, the better your score.
Cruise control is an impressive piece of technology that helps to save fuel and drive efficiently. But before you engage the cruise control in your truck, remember only to use it during favorable weather conditions and at reasonably low speeds.
Did you know the higher the RPM, the more fuel is burned? If you enjoy revving hard and taking off at speed, you may not realize its effect on your fuel mileage.
First, what is over-revving?
Over-revving occurs when the driver revs the engine beyond its recommended RPM range. RPM or Rotations Per Minute deals with how fast the engine operates.
Effects of Over Revving:
Nowadays, most truck engines are designed to be protected from over-revving. Though, this doesn’t mean there aren’t any effects from doing it.
One notable effect of over-revving is poor fuel efficiency. The faster an engine spins, the more fuel it uses, so allowing your truck to reach excessively high revs in any gear causes poor fuel efficiency. Trucks running at 1400 RPM will achieve the best fuel mileage.
How is Over Revving Measured in BT Scorecard?
BlueTree Metric Definition: Over Revving – Accelerated RPM
In the BlueTree Performance Scorecard, over-revving is measured by the percentage of time spent over the RPM target.
3% of the time: Good (Green)
6% of the time: Okay (Yellow)
12% of the time: Bad (Red)
RPM Target
Anything lower than 1700 RPM – Green
Anything higher than 1700 RPM- Yellow
Reaching or higher than 1900 RPM – Red
How can I improve in the over-revving category?
If you notice that you place yellow or red in the over-revving category, here are some tips to help you achieve green:
Avoid aggressive acceleration
If driving a manual transmission car and realizing that you have under-shifted, that best way to avoid over-revving is to jam the clutch pedal in. When your clutch is depressed in a manual car it prevents the wheels from being connected to the engine. Make sure when you’re shifting gears your in the correct gear.
Proper use of engine break – for Owner Operators only
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We were lucky enough to receive these delicious cupcakes from Owner Operator, Mark McKinley’s daughter. They were magically delicious! Thank you so much to the McKinley Family.
We wish you good luck, blessings, and happiness for today and every day.
