Blog Archives




 

  • Asset management take-aways
    By - Monday March 15, 2010
    In researching the article, “Vehicle Acquisition and Disposal” - the cover story for the March issue of Fleet Maintenance Magazine, I had some communications with two recent graduates of the Certified Automotive Fleet Manager (CAFM) program from the NAFA Fleet Management Association.   There were: Larry Anstee, fleet management, facilities development and operations department, Palm Beach County, FL, and Charles W. Stang, state fleet administrator, department of administrative services, general services division, for the state of Ohio.   The CAFM program covers the essential core competencies of fleet management. Asset management is but one of the eight disciplines that comprise the program.   The others disciplines...

  • Snow top problems
    By - Friday February 19, 2010
    Here in Maryland, we recently had back-to-back blizzards. In the area where I live, we had 50+ inches of snow, not counting drifts.   That means lots of snow and ice on truck and trailer roofs.   Usually, if there’s not a lot of snow, the tendency of drivers is to just truck on down the road and have the snow blow off. That becomes a little more dangerous if the snow has hardened into ice, as slabs of snow will fly off the roof.   What do you do when there are mounds of snow on the tops of trucks and trailers and there are no snow scraping systems? I mean aside from having people climb on top of the vehicles and shovel the snow off.   Anyone care to share their methods or ideas for removing snow from truck and trailer roofs?

  • What's that I smell on the road?
    By - Thursday February 11, 2010
    The problem of vehicle corrosion and rust damage always intensifies in the winter. To make winter roads passable, highway personnel typically apply harsh chemical de-icers to melt ice and snow to provide traction.   The problem has been accelerating as local, state and transportation departments have begun using more aggressive chemicals, such as calcium chloride and magnesium chloride.   However, there are new measures being taken to reduce vehicle corrosion and rust damage from “road salt.”   This winter, a number of states, including Maryland, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Virginia, have been using of sugar beet molasses to treat snowy and icy roads. Actually, the sugar beet molasses is mixed with salt brine to...

  • Racing up the hill
    By - Monday February 1, 2010
    I had a chance to visit with big rig racer and stunt truck driver Mike Ryan of Ryan Motor Sports. He had his championship Freightliner Century Class S/T super truck on display at the Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week event that took place in Las Vegas last month.   It was most interesting to see his race truck up close - a finely-tuned, powerful, customized truck, and to visit with Mike - a most interesting individual.   A Hollywood stunt driver and stunt coordinator, he has more than 500 feature films, television shows and commercials to his credit. But, he is probably best known for his stunt work with rigs, and for his record-setting runs at the Annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado Springs, CO.   Mike told me...

  • Fewer truck-involved fatalities
    By - Friday January 22, 2010
    Heard the good news? According to truck Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) figures just released by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and previously released National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) data on crashes, the trucking industry is safer than ever. The truck-involved fatality rate in 2008 declined 12.3 percent to 1.86 per 100 million miles from 2.12 per 100 million miles in 2007. This decline marks the largest year-to-year drop ever and the fifth consecutive year the fatality rate has improved. Since new Hours-of-Service regulations took effect in 2005, the truck-involved fatality rate has come down more than 20 percent and is at its lowest since the U.S. Department of Transportation began keeping...

  • And the best out-of-service state is . . .
    By - Monday January 11, 2010
    Throughout each year, motor carrier safety officials carry out inspections on interstate trucks and drivers. Vehicles can be placed “out of service” when, by reason of its mechanical condition or loading, they would likely cause an accident or breakdown. Drivers can be placed out of service for violating the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Hours-Of-Service regulations. These place specific limits on the amount of time a driver can drive a commercial motor vehicle, and how many total hours a driver can work each day and each week. The top 10 states with the highest out-of-service rates for interstate trucks last year were, in order: - Nebraska - Connecticut - Utah - Colorado - Missouri - Arizona - Idaho...

  • Here's to another new year
    By - Monday December 28, 2009
    I’ve never been a big fan of New Years. I don’t like to see another year end and a new one start, and this seems to happen faster as I grow older.   Nevertheless, for each and every New Year, I make resolutions. Why? Because many years ago my Dad explained to me that the end of a year in is neither an end nor a beginning. Rather, it is a going on with the wisdom and intelligence that comes from experience.   Making resolutions each year is a good thing, research shows. Making promises to yourself means you’re thinking about reaching an objective.   People who make explicit resolutions and write them down are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t.   But as we all know so well, thinking about doing...

  • Christmas Eve at the shop
    By - Thursday December 17, 2009
    Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the shop, Not a creature was stirring, not even Farbish and his mop.   The stockings were hung by the entrance with care, In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.   The technicians were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of 2010 engines and bonuses danced in their heads.   When out in front of the shop there arose such a clatter, The 24/7 shop manager sprang from his desk to see what was the matter.   The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.   When what to the manager's eyes did appear on the street below, But a massive new tractor trailer with its chicken lights all aglow.   He spotted a big...

  • No windshield, no matter
    By - Thursday December 10, 2009
    While surfing the web earlier today, I came across a story "broken" in North America by Today’s Trucking Magazine. The story was about a strong-willed, but not too common-sensed trucker in Shandong, China. This trucker was so determined to deliver his load on time that he drove his rig with a piece of cardboard where his windshield was supposed to be. He got about 400 miles before the police stopped him. The driver explained that he had been in an accident in Hubei province a few days earlier, but was under such time constraints that he didn’t have time to do a proper repair job. According to the China News Network, the trucker was almost blue from cold when they pulled him over. He told the police he had to stick his head out the...

  • The matter of floor mat movement
    By - Monday November 30, 2009
    I'm hoping someone can help me understand this issue with Toyota and floor mats. It seems that driver-side floor mats on certain Toyota models could get stuck on the accelerator, which could cause unintended acceleration, which could cause an accident. This “situation” has led to the sixth-largest recall ever in the U.S., and the largest recall in the U.S. for Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota plans to replace the gas pedals on four million vehicles in the U.S. because of the potential problem. The car manufacturer’s dealers will offer to shorten the length of the gas pedals by three-fourths of an inch beginning next month as a stopgap measure while the company develops replacement pedals. Is all that really necessary? What in...

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