On the Road

Jim Park
Former HDT Equipment Editor
Straight talk on trucking from a driver turned award-winning journalist.

Jim Park
Former HDT Equipment Editor
Straight talk on trucking from a driver turned award-winning journalist.
It's easy to get excited and stay excited about fuel economy when you can see positive change coming from your efforts. When I saw the numbers creeping up into the 10s on a recent test drive in a Peterbilt 579 EPIQ, I started pushing for 11. And it worked.
Read More →Each day, thousands of truck drivers in places like western Pennsylvania and California and Montana and West Virginia manage to get their trucks down similarly dangerous mountain grades. What went so horribly wrong in Lakewood? HDT's Jim Park, who was a driver for 20 years, digs into the possibilities in his On the Road blog.
Read More →A tragic collision involving a bus with a junior hockey team and a tractor trailer took 16 lives. The contrite driver pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing – but should he shoulder all of the blame? Blog commentary by Equipment Editor Jim Park.
Read More →This year hasn't yet faded from the rear-view mirror, and HDT's Jim Park is already looking forward to 2019. The technology advances we have been watching over the past few years look finally to be coming to fruition, and some of those new bits will be hitting the street in 2019, some within the first few months of the New Year.
Read More →Rarely do editors get to evaluate fuel economy on test drives. On a recent three-day "Performance Tour" trip in a Mack Anthem, Equipment Editor Jim Park turned in a trip average of 9.5 mpg, with a high of 10.4 on the second leg of the trip. Read how Mack's new engine technology made that possible.
Read More →A fatal accident in New Mexico is a sobering reminder that proper reaction and proven driving techniques are key to ensuring that a truck remains under the driver's control in the event of a tire blowout — even a steer tire failure.
Read More →