Jim Park
Jim Park was a CDL driver and owner-operator from 1978 until 1998, when he began his second career as a trucking journalist. During that career transition, he hosted an overnight radio show on a Hamilton, Ontario radio station and later went on to anchor the trucking news in SiriusXM's Road Dog Trucking channel. Jim is a regular contributor to Today's Trucking and Trucknews.com, and produces Focus On and On the Spot test drive videos.
Photo gallery: Classics come to life in Athens
ATHENS, Ont. -- For the third year in a row, the truck show that just might be the best kept secret in Canada, brought the eastern Ontario town of Athens to life. The local fair grounds was crammed with trucks, new and old, with some dating back the earliest years of the 20th century.
Is your Truck Putting You to Sleep?
A ground-breaking bit of research from Australia has shown that low-frequency vibrations can make drivers drowsy. If this is true and the research is proven conclusive, it will call into question just about all we assume about truck crashes where the driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel. Those drivers may in fact have been very drowsy but may not have been "fatigued" in an hours-of-service (HOS) context, the way that term is typically applied to "tired drivers."
Switchin’ to Glide: Registering glider kits could be a problem
TORONTO, Ont. -- There are hundreds if not thousands of trucks rumbling across this land that aren't really trucks at all. They are legally defined as "an assemblage of parts" that someone has bolted together and turned into a truck. Otherwise known as glider kits, these vehicles create headaches for regulators -- and some may soon cause their owners a little grief as well.
Will in-cab cameras survive privacy challenges?
TORONTO, Ont. -- Canada has a lot of workplace privacy legislation on the books, some of which can be applied to driver-facing cameras. Some jurisdictions seem favorably disposed to the video monitoring of operators (drivers) in safety-sensitive positions, while others suggest cameras might be OK, as long as no other reasonable mechanism exists to achieve the same results.
Driving Force: Axles are at the heart of an electric revolution
TORONTO, Ont. -- We're at the dawn of a new era in the propulsion of heavy trucks. Electric powertrains are opening new packaging and integration possibilities, including driven axles. Traditional transmissions, driveshafts, power dividers or differentials are no longer required.
