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Road Dog Trucking Radio offers top 5 tips for staying safe in truck stops

Transportation/cargo security expert and TSA consultant Erik Hoffer of Rig Secure Inc. appeared on SIRIUS XM’s Freewheelin’ with Meredith Ochs and Chris T. on Road Dog Trucking Radio and offered listeners valuable tips to stay safe at truck stops:

Choose your routes carefully and don’t always take the same roads.  Drivers who take the same roads and always go to the same truck stops are more likely to be followed by thieves. Be aware of your surroundings. Don’t leave your truck unattended if you can help it.  Dinner time is when the highest rate of theft occurs — everyone is inside eating and away from their trucks. If you're a team driver, one member of your team should stay in the cab during eating breaks. Physical barriers will help secure cargo, air break locks will keep theft down — if they can't drive off, thieves won't be able to move the trailer. Use king pin locks if trailer and load are separated. Installing a locking bar across trailer will help. Don’t brag loudly in the truck stop, on the radio, or anywhere else, about what you are hauling, especially high-target loads like pharmaceuticals, electronics and hazmat. Let people know where you are: your dispatcher, spouse, friends, co-workers etc. Have an emergency contact and check in with them often.  Someone will look for you if they haven’t heard from you.
Hoffer is an inventor, entrepreneur, recognized expert and thought leader in the field of transportation and cargo security, according to a Road Dog Trucking Radio news release. He began his career in cargo security while serving in the U.S. military, receiving training and experience while conducting port and logistics operations in Viet Nam. Today, he remains active in the field of military logistics security as a member of the U.S. Navy’s Lock and Seal engineering group, developing new approaches and technologies to enhance cargo security devices and handling operations. In this role, he maintains an active security clearance with the U.S. Department of Defense, and consults regularly with the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the U.S. Department of State, and public and private sector clients on a variety of air, sea and truck transportation security issues.

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