Blogs

June 13, 2013

Ultracapacitor engine starting systems represent a sea-change in how we view a truck's electrical systems. The only thing standing in the way of this apparently game-changing technology is our inherently conservative nature regarding new technology.

Tags: Maxwell Technologies, Ultracapacitor, Electrical, Batteries

June 12, 2013

Household goods movers haul not just furniture, but sometimes automobiles owned by the people making the move. This of course enhances truckers’ revenue.

Tags: Trailers

June 10, 2013

HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge recently wrote an editorial about why the trucking industry needs more women. She then got taken to task for making the assumption that you needed automatic transmissions to attract women drivers -- but as she says in her most recent blog post, maybe she should have focused on pet policies instead.

Tags: Drivers, Recruiting, Women in Trucking, Arrow Truck Sales

June 5, 2013

While you're getting dragged backwards through various knotholes in this year's RoadCheck 2013 event, take heart that a few local cops are patrolling the dumps and the Home Depot and Loews store parking lots looking cars with tons of gravel in their trunks or lifts of plywood on the roof.

Tags: Roadcheck, , Load Securement

June 4, 2013

The forthcoming "Transformers 4" movie will give viewers a sneak peak at the latest Western Star truck in development. Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge has more in her "All That's Trucking" blog.

Tags: Western Star, In the Media

June 3, 2013

Senior Editor Tom Berg offers some personal insight into trailer underride guards and why they're so important in his "Trailer Talk" blog.

Tags: IIHS, Safety, Trailers, Underride

May 29, 2013

Trucks hit bridges every day. Why did the Skagit River Bridge fold up like a house of cards after a minor strike, and who's ultimately to blame? Jim Park wonders about the role of the pilot car driver in his "On the Road" blog.

Tags: Skagit River Bridge, Mullen Trucking, Aging infrastructure

May 28, 2013

One reader takes exception to the notion that we have to spec automated or automatic transmissions to attract women drivers. Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge responds in her "All That's Trucking" blog.

Tags: Drivers, Driver Shortage, Transmissions, Women in Trucking

May 24, 2013

This financial advisor walks into a meeting of people who advise the federal government when it comes to safety policy involving trucks and says he's in favor of speed limiters... This may sound like the beginning of a joke, however, it's anything but funny.

Tags: FMCSA, MCSAC, Road Safe America

May 17, 2013

They've tried flashing lights, neon signs, low-impact barriers, but sometimes nothing seem to keep oversize trucks from squeezing into tunnels. Jim Park has more in his latest "On the Road" blog.

Tags: Safety

May 8, 2013

Maybe you saw it in March at the Louisville truck show – that transparent trailer in Ancra International’s booth. I spotted it earlier in the month, at the TMC’s annual meeting and expo in Nashville. Story-wise, the why of it is obvious: It’s a rolling stage on which Ancra displays a number of its freight handling and tie-down products.

Tags: Trailers, Ancra

May 7, 2013

There's a good reason we don't have enough parking spaces in this country, says Jim Park in his "On the Road" blog: Truckstop operators can't make any money with 10 acres under asphalt because trucking won't pay for it.

Tags: Truckstops, Driver Shortage, Drivers, Fuel and Oil, Truck Parking

April 29, 2013

Heavy-haul equipment has always fascinated me, ever since I was a little boy watching “steam shovels” dig basements in our then-expanding neighborhood in post-World War II Milwaukee. The shovels (which were actually gasoline- and maybe diesel-powered) were carried to job sites on low-slung pull trailers. The trailers were pulled by dump trucks which, after parking the trailers on the street, also carried away some of the dirt from the new holes.

Tags: Trailers, MATS, Talbert, MATS 2013