Tag: overdrive: Page 47

Channel 19

Driver hours changes: Bummer of a proposal?

Expectation among many haulers leading into FMCSA’s Dec. 23 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to change drivers’ hours of service regulations was that at least some larger degree of sleeper berth flexibility would be reintroduced in order that, as so many have put it to me over the past year’s worth of debating the issue, “truck […]

December 28, 2010

Channel 19

Former long-hauler makes N.Y.C. Met opera debut

Carl Tanner (pictured) worked as a long-haul driver before making moves toward pursuing a career in what New York Times writer David Belcher painted as his calling in a piece published in the Times yesterday, available online here. Tanner, by the terms of his contract as stand-by in the role of Dick Johnson in Puccini’s […]

December 27, 2010

Channel 19

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas — truckstop edition

“The only real difference between you and me — I do it in one night; you do it constantly.” –Santa Claus at the truckstop, to a fellow hauler in the fuel line Merry Christmas, all. Here’s a little vid from the folks at driver training outfit Driver Solutions to give you a little holiday chuckle. […]

December 24, 2010

Channel 19

Texas technicians rope Rush rodeo grand prizes — vids and more from the event

Sorting though the rich experience that was Rush Truck Centers’ Tech Skills Rodeo, held last week in San Antonio, is I’ve found a task best approached over weeks rather than days. If you missed the results, read on, or see my story from last week here. It’s impossible to get it all into the space […]

December 22, 2010

Channel 19

Auto-texting, safety-minded app available for Android, Blackberry

On the heels of the Department of Transportation’s proposed rule to ban handheld cell phone use by commercial drivers, I’ve been hearing from haulers who object to being singled out on the issue, as seems to be the modus operandi of this department when it comes to driving behavior of late. Given the predominance of […]

December 21, 2010

Channel 19

Three weeks: FOIA turnaround for PSP information

On November 23, I made note of an avenue toward gaining access to crash and inspection information contained on drivers’ Pre-Employment Screening Program reports. Working through the official FMCSA contractor, the fee to obtain a copy of the report to guarantee quality of the information is $10, but in my November 23 “Save $10 on CSA […]

December 20, 2010

Channel 19

Truck stop operators Sapp Bros. pen autobiography

Sapp Bros. Travel Centers’ Bill and Lee Sapp have penned their collective autobiography, out now from Addicus. The book follows from their youth among seven Sapp children in southeastern Nebraska to the near-present, with the Sapp Bros. name a veritable legend among longtime haulers, particularly in the Upper Midwest. In the year 1971, Bill and Lee, […]

December 17, 2010

Channel 19

Positives in trucking dog days in Truckers News — and more

Since I blogged about musician Susanne Spirit’s weekly shows at the TA East in Ontario, Calif., back in March, Spirit has continued to make great strides in combining her trucking-music act with her concern for the welfare of abandoned dogs in kill shelters. Her “Musical Truckin’ Dog Adoption Program,” conducted in concert with the Ramona […]

December 16, 2010

Business

Compression Repair

The Compression Repair with Ring Seal petroleum additive was developed for high-mileage engines hampered by decreased or uneven compression.

December 15, 2010

Channel 19

Scenes from the 2010 Rush Tech Skills Rodeo

I’m in San Antonio, Texas, this morning at the site of Rush Truck Centers’ fifth annual Tech Skills Rodeo, which pits 65 (out of more than 700 entering) of the truck dealer/service center network’s best diesel technicians against each other and a set of bugged vehicles. On the heavy-duty side of the competition, 15 techs […]

December 14, 2010

Channel 19

Top road-trip songs at Custom Rigs, from Pioneer

Overdrive custom Class 8 dedicated magazine Custom Rigs recently reported news of Pioneer Electronics’ first-ever poll of its customers that asked for the best “Road Trip” song. Willie Nelson’s “On the road again” took top billing, while Pioneer reported, the guys were more likely to choose the the no. 2 track, “Born to be wild,” […]

December 13, 2010

Channel 19

‘Who’s inefficient?’ Four wheels or 18?

So asks New Cumberland, Pa., resident and owner-operator Tom Bowers in a letter to the editor published in the Harrisburg, Pa., Patriot-News, in response to a letter from another area resident heaping the bulk of energy inefficiencies in the transportation arena on the back of the big rigs of the trucking industry. Bowers’ argument for […]

December 10, 2010