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Trucking Industry Changes
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Two important changes affecting truckers should be noted:
First, The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (National Registry) with requirements that all medical examiners who conduct physical examinations for interstate Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) drivers meet the following criteria: Complete certain training concerning FMCSA's physical qualification standards, pass a test to verify an understanding of those standards, and maintain and demonstrate competence through periodic training and testing. Following establishment of the National Registry and a transition period, FMCSA will require that motor carriers and drivers use only those medical examiners on the Agency's National Registry and will only accept as valid medical examiner's certificates issued by medical examiners listed on the National Registry. FMCSA is developing the National Registry program to improve highway safety and driver health by requiring that medical examiners be trained and certified so they can determine effectively whether a CMV driver's medical fitness for duty meets FMCSA's standards.
This Final Rule was effective on
May 21, 2012. If a motor carrier or driver gets a physical examination after May 21st from a medical examiner not on the approved list, it will not be valid and they can be taken out of service if stopped and inspected. This violation would add points to your CSA score.
For more information and to determine if doctors in your area are on the approved list, click
Second, as of January 30, 2014, all drivers' commercial drivers licenses are required to furnish to the respective state they hold their license in, a certification of either inter or intrastate licensing, as well as a copy of a current medical card. This information is now required to be shown on the driver's Motor Vehicle Report (MVR) provided the state is currently enforcing this. A driver who is stopped and checked who does not have this information on their MVR may be taken out of service and points could be added to your CSA scores.
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Kinney Pike Awarded 2013 Best Practices Agency for 18 Straight Years!
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Kinney Pike Insurance once again has been chosen as a 2013 Best Practices Agency, ranking among top performers nationally and continues to maintain this premier standing as the ONLY VERMONT AGENCY with this status.
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Home/Renters + Auto Policy in St. J Region = $10 donation to Local Food Shelf
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If you live in the St. Johnsbury area, here's a great way to try to save money on insurance AND help out your community at the same time!
Add a new homeowners or renters + auto policy, and Kinney Pike will donate $10 to the Northeast Kingdom Community Action Food Shelf!
It's a smart idea! Often times, you are able to save money by combining your homeowners/renters and auto insurance.
Hurry! This opportunity won't last forever!
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The LONG winter is almost over and we're excited about getting out in the community again in the coming months! Watch for us at the Rutland March of Dimes Walk, and the Quechee Balloon Festival. Kinney Pike will be giving out free water at FIVE Relay for Life events in VT this year as well!
Congratulations to our 1st Quarter raffle/prize winners!
* Hildy Jones of Randolph won a $50 gift certificate to Black Krim Tavern and Rachel Irish of Bethel won a bird bath at the Bethel Business Show.
* Katrina Porch of Rutland won a $50 gift certificate to Table 24 at the Rutland Business Show.
* Tammy Farmer of Randolph Center was our quarterly drawing winner of a $25 gas card for adding a new policy to her account.
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Safety Seminars for Business Clients
Kinney Pike will be offering two seminars on 4/10/14 in our Rutland Office for our Business and Benefits clients.
* Reasonable Suspicion Training - Learn whether Reasonable Suspicion exists to require drug and/or alcohol testing for your employees. (8 - 10 am)
* Global Harmonization System - This course is an overview of the Global Harmonization System which takes effect in 2016. OSHA mandated all businesses train their employees as of 12/1/13 on classification and labeling of chemicals. We will provide you with the overview of topics to use in teaching your employees. (11 - 12 noon)
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Why? Because texting and driving kills people ... the numbers don't lie.
Texting While Driving Causes:
1. 1,600,000 accidents per year - National Safety Council
2. 330,000 injuries per year - Harvard Center for Risk Analysis
Study
3. 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY - Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety Fatality Facts
4. Nearly 25% of ALL car accidents
Texting While Driving Is:
1. About 6 times more likely to cause an accident than driving
intoxicated
2. The same as driving after 4 beers - National Highway
Transportation Safety Admin.
3. The #1 driving distraction reported by teen drivers
Texting While Driving:
1. Makes you 23 times more likely to crash - National Highway
Transportation Safety Admin.
2. Is the same as driving blind for 5 seconds at a time - VATech
Transportation Institute
3. Takes place by 800,000 drivers at any given time across the
country
4. Slows your brake reaction speed by 18% - HumanFactors &
Ergonomics Society
5. Leads to a 400% increase with eyes off the road
Vermont's Penalties for Texting While Driving
First offense:
- $156 fine (includes surcharges)
- Two points on license
- If under age 18, $156 fine, two points on license and 30-day
recall of license/permit
Second/subsequent offense in 2-year period:
- $329 fine (includes surcharges)
- Five points on license
- If under age 18, $329 fine, five points on license and 30-day
recall of license/permit
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FAST FACT
If you are driving 70 mph, you're traveling 100 feet per second. While writing just a 3-second text message, you can go the length of a football field without looking at the road!
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Benefits Clients: Check out our website for important Benefits updates!
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Kinney Pike's website will be undergoing a "facelift" in the near future. Meanwhile, we invite our Benefits clients to look past the "blemishes" and find some helpful Benefits Compliance Updates in a secure section of our Benefits page. And check back periodically for more updates!
Benefits clients also have access to ThinkHR, an advanced HR tool providing access to:
- HR Hotline: Phone access to HR certified professionals with national and regional expertise - Available anytime Monday - Friday, 9 am - 8 pm EST
- Thousands of forms, documents tools and templates for every HR Department
- 200+ on-demand courses for management and employees
To visit our Benefits page, click here. If you need to be reminded of your passwords to the secure area of our website or to ThinkHR, email Ann.
Please contact our Employee Benefits Division if we can help you with any of your health care reform or other Benefits needs.
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It's Here! We've Launched Our
Customer Referral Program!
We value our clients and would like to reward you for your referrals, while thanking you for your loyalty and support!
Here's how our Referral Program works:
- Kinney Pike will reward you with a $10 gas card for every qualified referral that we quote on.
- We will reward you with an ADDITIONAL $10 gas card for each qualified referral that becomes a new client!
- The reward is for new personal, commercial or group benefits coverage for a NEW Kinney Pike client
- A "qualified" referral is a prospect looking for the following types of coverage:
* Home/condo/renter + auto insurance
* Business insurance
* Life insurance
* Any combination of the above
Thank you to all of our great clients who refer their friends/family to us. We truly appreciate it, and are happy to be able to reward you with a gas card.
Questions? Please email us, and we'll get right back to you!
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Client Feature
Dan & Whit's General Store
Norwich, Vermont
Dan & Whit's is a third-generation, family-owned and operated general store in the heart of downtown Norwich, selling a little bit of everything to suit everyone's wants and needs. Their motto is, "if we don't have it, you don't need it." You will find groceries, produce, meats, deli, beer and wine, VT syrup, cheese, books, magazines, cut flowers, clothing, shoes, boots and gasoline. They cut glass and plexi-glass, copy keys, mix paint, rent carpet cleaners, lawn rollers and cut fencing. They still have the original hardwood floors, sell nails by the pound and have more hardware than you could imagine - nuts, bolts, plumbing, rope, chain, fishing supplies, automotive, stove pipe, grain, sugaring supplies, garden supplies (mulch, compost, dirt, plant pots, hoses, garden tools), barbeque grills and supplies, camping accessories, sleds, coolers, kiddy pools, pet food and supplies. They take great pride in delivering personal customer service.
Dan & Whit's is the community center of Norwich. They are often used as the point of reference for directions ("go 5 miles past Dan & Whit's"), and are the location to meet a friend, socialize and catch up on the latest events in town. Dan & Whit's has been written up in publications including the Upper Valley Magazine, Here in Hanover, Vermont Life, People Magazine, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Yankee Magazine, and have been included in many TV documentaries on WNNE, WCAX, Channel 9 News out of Boston, VT and NH Chronicles. In 2013, The Fraser Family of Dan & Whit's was selected as Citizens of the Year by The Norwich Women's Club, and later that same year, The Hanover Chamber of Commerce selected Dan & Whit's as Small Business Innovator of the Year.
Dan & Whit's enthusiastically supports the causes, teams and events that their customers are involved in. They believe that a strong, healthy community is important and everyone plays a critical role in making that happen. When customers support them by shopping locally, they return the favor and support the non-profits and organizations their customers are involved in. They support many of the local sports teams, schools, theaters/plays/musical events. Dan & Whit's established "The 19 Days of Norwich, 1% for the Haven" in December 2013, and with the help of other businesses and residents, over $27,000 and 6 tons of food was raised for the Haven in 19 days. In 2010, Dan & Whit's started monthly wine tastings, supporting local non-profits. In a little over 3 years, $18,341 has been raised. They are committed to supporting the organizations that strengthen the quality of life in the Upper Valley, and are able to do so because of dedicated customers who shop there before going elsewhere. They are grateful and honored to have such devoted lifelong customers. At Dan & Whit's, you are a customer who shortly becomes a friend.
Dan & Whit's is open 365 days a year from 7am to 9pm, (Thanksgiving and Christmas Day we close at noon), so stop by to check out what is new, as well as all your old favorites.
www.danandwhits.com
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