Channel 19: Page 135

Driving while smoking: the cutting edge of in-cab distractions

Not only did one truck driver in Ontario this weekend likely enter the history books as the first hauler ticketed for smoking in his cab in contravention of a provincial piece of legislation-turned-law called the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, he may well stand at the vanguard of the recent hyper-attention to in-cab distractions provided by the […]

October 13, 2009

Channel 19

October Trucker of the Month live at Convoy for a Cure USA

In all the effort spent to get to the reality of one particular independent owner-operator’s business and life as a musician, I somehow missed one important detail: Overdrive October Trucker of the Month Howard Salmon, whom you’ll remember from this post from last week, is performing live at the Convoy for a Cure for breast […]

October 11, 2009

Channel 19

‘Trucker’ released in theaters Oct. 9

Friday, Oct. 9, is the release date for “Trucker,” a so-called “small indie film” that thus will see a limited release, but perhaps it’s in your area. The press for the movie, at least as run with in many outlets, traffics in some stereotyping — “Michelle Monaghan is transformed from a hard-drinking, hard-living trucker” into […]

October 8, 2009

Channel 19

Texting re-redux — new consumer survey on DWT

That’s right: it’s just a hash mark away from DWI, and according to DOT, reaction times are roughly equivalent to those of a driver at the 0.08 alcohol limit. A study by the online electronics retailer and product-review site Retrevo puts the share of automobile drivers who frequently “text, use Facebook, or Twitter” while behind […]

October 7, 2009

Channel 19

Going back to Cali

A little California dreaming today, folks. A new story in the Riverside-based Press-Enterprise details the low volumes of pre-holiday freight coming through the L.A./Long Beach ports this year, but that’s just one of the state’s many trucking-related problems. The reefer unit and port-serving trucks emissions rules come online at the end of the year, and […]

October 6, 2009

Channel 19

Trucker appreciation at Johnson’s Corner Truckstop

Apologies to haulers who passed through Denver yesterday for not catching this earlier — I was undoubtedly distracted by other things on my computer. In any case, the Loveland, Colo., truckstop Johnson’s Corner celebrated their driver-appreciation day by offering various entertainment through the day and, most significantly, doling out free dogs, burgers and soft drinks […]

October 1, 2009

Channel 19

Getting out of hand?

When I wrote Friday about the media ramp-up to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s so-called “distracted driving summit,” which begins today, noting the broad definition of on-board technology in some safety groups’ analyses of in-cab distraction, little did I know that the New York Times would follow with a more supposedly in-depth look at the […]

September 30, 2009

Channel 19

Prominent coverage of truckstop chaplain

Chaplain Joe Hunter’s Truckstop Ministries, Inc., organization just got a bump in attention — at least from people outside the trucking community. CNN ran a story about Hunter and his ministry on their site, part of their “Road Warriors: Traveling Tactics” series of special reports. Read it here; it’s an interesting piece about an exuberant […]

September 29, 2009

Channel 19

Ohio owner-operator drives away with sweepstakes rig

It was quite the scene at Randally-Reilly Publishing headquarters in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Friday. The publishers of Custom Rigs magazine — whose parent mag is Overdrive — flew in the winner of its first-ever sweepstakes, John Lacusky of Ohio, to pick up the Chrome Shop Mafia-detailed Sequel, a 1998-model International 9400 he won when his name […]

September 28, 2009

Channel 19

Commercial driver texting ban gets media legs

In advance of U.S. DOT’s finally scheduled “distracted driving summit” next week, it might come as no surprise that the alliance of safety groups known as Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (saferoads.org) held a press conference and announced their petition to DOT to restrict or outright prohibit the use of electronic devices while running […]

September 25, 2009

Channel 19

Meet TruckerDesiree

The subject of my “Exit Only” column in this month’s Truckers News was one among many lights of a new cadre of social-media-savvy advocates in the trucking community. Desiree Wood (pictured) is her name, and though she sometimes (somewhat — but only somewhat — facetiously) calls herself a renegade, she’s got her own and other […]

September 24, 2009

Channel 19

Truckers pitch in to foil suicide attempt

In Overdrive‘s home base of Tuscaloosa, Ala., yesterday, several truckers pitched in to help police foil a suicide attempt on the I-20/59 bridge over MacFarland Blvd. A nice gallery of pictures from the scene show, among other choice images, police unrolling an inflatable catch device atop two dry vans parked under the overpass. Picture here […]

September 23, 2009

Channel 19

Lighthouse comes to N.C. truckstop

If the shine on the stainless in their new chrome shop wasn’t enough to get your attention, the Kenly 95 TA Truckstop in Kenly, N.C., has unveiled a 65-ft. lighthouse to send a beacon to all haulers traversing the highly trafficked I-85 corridor in the Southeast. Part of the Iowa 80 Group, Kenly 95 continues […]

September 22, 2009

Channel 19

Changing Channels

A not-so-modest proposal from licensed ham operator and truck driver for breaking the Channel 19 cacophony Delaware-based Metro…

September 22, 2009

Channel 19

‘Horsepower’ host tries hand at diesels

Navistar’s Maxxforce engines and their 2010 emissions technologies might be the only heavy-duty diesels to have ever had their own television show — the new Maxxforce TV website debuted in the last couple weeks and features Qamp;As with drivers around the country in quiz-show style, complete with cash and prizes.In the first episode, one Illinois […]

September 21, 2009

Channel 19

And you thought CA was tough on diesels

With all the fire on owner-operators of diesels coming out of the Golden State, one wouldn’t be unjustified in feeling a little picked on (the skinny on upcoming California deadlines for reefers and trucks serving ports you can find here). But perhaps you can take heart (or bile, depending on how charitable you’re feeling today) […]

September 18, 2009

Channel 19

‘Truckin’ Life’ magazine founder remembered

Truckin’ Life is Australia’s premiere trucking magazine for owner-operators: in certain ways, it shares with its American counterpart in Overdrive a defining mission, clear from the tagline that adorns its cover, “The voice of the Australian trucker.” Truckin’ Life‘s founder, Malcolm B. Johnson (pictured, courtesy Truckin’ Life), suffered a heart attack July 31 and passed […]

September 16, 2009

Channel 19

Blind driving just around the next corner?

Today’s topic of note calls for a modification of the last line of novelist Ralph Ellison’s 1950s book Invisible Man, which concludes with the book’s protagonist a little closer to visibility perhaps than when he started setting down his story. In this case, a technology may well make the revised sentiment a possibility, which has […]

September 15, 2009

Page 135 of 151

White Pine Paving's 'Change Order' 2000 W900L, revisited

From impressive airbrush work and laser cutouts of equipment often hauled behind the rig to a unique lighting package and extra-tall shifter, Maryland-based White Pine Paving's 2000 Kenworth W900L day cab brings style to local work.

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JBL Live Beam 3 - Slim, sleek, and impossibly modern earbuds and Smart Charging Case - Audio Evolution You Can See and Hear

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