Contributors – Dan Kinsman

Dan Kinsman was introduced to the transportation industry at 7 years old, when he climbed into the cab of a setback axle Freightliner FLB, and 11 years later Dan would climb out of a truck, eventually joining the Marine Corps. Following four years of service, he returned to the industry, thinking it would only be for a short time.

Dan specifically chose to pursue flatbed, as it was extremely complex and something that would physically and mentally challenge him, as the amount to consider with securing every load was a challenge he looked forward to facing. Dan received expert training in 2012 at TMC, had even more knowledge poured into him by Big Mike at Hunt Transportation, and then all that knowledge was put to the test at AIM Integrated, doing local LTL flatbed, where a normal load would be 20,000 pounds, require 14 chains and a handful of straps to keep it all on the trailer.

Dan spent a lot of time further growing his knowledge of the rules and regulations to do his job better. In 2018 Dan moved from that account to driving a heavy haul truck for AIM, grossing 102,000 on a light 5 axle flatbed with multiple coils, he had to become an expert at weight management and securement, coils are unforgiving, and load securement has no room for error.

In 2021 Dan got married, and following some encouragement from my wife, in 2022 he chose to return to OTR, going to Miller Transfer, and further growing his knowledge and skill set. Over the years, Dan has been fortunate to assist in designing a specialty trailer for the transport of carbon black, pull a set of C-doubles, and pull kingpin steered trailers, grossing over 350,000 pounds over my driving career.

In 2022 Dan was pulled onto a scale in Hubbard, OH, they asked if he would be able to help do spot training of a driver, as he had no idea what he was doing, and this scale knew Dan was a trainer for my employer (AIM). Dan walked away from that and immediately looked for anywhere on social media where there might be people that would help this driver, and found Flatbed Safety and Securement Group. Dan found a group that was looking to mentor and train new drivers, something was is passionate about, as all his former students would still reach out to him at times for advice or help. Dan’s new job taught him even more, lessons which he shared with others, it also exposed him to how many drivers receive little to no training to pull flatbed, and that did not sit well with Dan. After some discussion with the group’s founder, they started to look at possibly moving it into being a business and service for the industry, with our eventual goal being to see a day when the only times a load leaves a trailer is when it is unloaded.

One fateful call resulted in meeting Ron Slee and Learning Without Scars, and they started moving from a dream to a plan.