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.

Jim Park
Roadcheck Begins: Don’t be sidelined by your tires preview image Roadcheck Begins: Don't be sidelined by your tires article image

Roadcheck Begins: Don’t be sidelined by your tires

Roadcheck 2016 begins at 12:01 am Eastern time on Tuesday, June 7. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced in April that inspectors will be paying close attention to tires. They will be measuring tire tread depth, checking tire pressure, checking to make sure that no items are lodged between dual tires, and examining the overall condition of the tire to make sure that no deep cuts or bulges exist in the sidewalls of the tire.
The Productive Shop preview image The Productive Shop article image

The Productive Shop

Downtime costs money. Nobody wants to keep a truck in the shop any longer than necessary. So here's a question to consider: is your shop as productive and efficient as it could be? Some things you just can't change; for example, you can't suck oil out of an engine any faster than it wants to flow, but could you be doing something else to the truck while it's in the oil change bay, like topping up its tire inflation pressure or checking its alignment? So much of what used to require manual hands-on labour can now be automated, and many tasks that once had designated areas in a shop or even needed dedicated personnel can now be done simultaneously, thus reducing the time the truck is unavailable. Here's a look at a few technologies that can help refine the service process and save some real time on basic maintenance procedures.
Discs or Drums? Brake System Specs Can Go Either Way preview image Discs or Drums? Brake System Specs Can Go Either Way article image

Discs or Drums? Brake System Specs Can Go Either Way

There are few ways of comparing air disc brakes to drum brakes that discs don't come out on top. Still, fleet adoption rates in North America hover around 10 percent. That begs the question, are discs too good for their own good? Drum brakes get the job done, so is there any pressing need to look beyond our traditional and proven way of stopping trucks? The short answer to that question would be no-in most cases. The thing with brakes is you never really know how valuable they are until you really, really need them. And brakes never fail in any way that's less than spectacular. So, if no great need has ever arisen, you can't be blamed for dismissing the arguably more costly and heavier air disc brake systems as an expensive luxury.
Paris Convoy Pulls in $52,000 for Special Olympics preview image Paris Convoy Pulls in $52,000 for Special Olympics article image

Paris Convoy Pulls in $52,000 for Special Olympics

PARIS, ON -- The Southern Ontario chapter of the World's Largest Truck Convoy for Special Olympics ran in Paris, ON the weekend of Oct. 17 when a total of 69 trucks made the 100 km loop from Paris to Ingersoll and back, raising $52,000 through pledges and sponsorships. On-site raffle drawings, contests and promotions brought a few thousand more into the coffers. This was the Paris Convoy's 11th year. Total donations to Special Olympics from this one source topped $580,000 with this year's tally. Each year a few dozen such events take place in cities across North America, including five in Canada, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid Special Olympics athletes in their quest for self-fulfillment and maybe even a few medals at sporting events. The Paris Convoy ran a month late this year due to some organizing challenges. In fact, the event almost didn't happen, but some heroic last minute efforts pulled everything together in less than a month.
New U.S. Truck Emissions Rules May Be Tougher Than Expected preview image New U.S. Truck Emissions Rules May Be Tougher Than Expected article image

New U.S. Truck Emissions Rules May Be Tougher Than Expected

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The trucking industry is finally hearing some frank discussion about Phase 2 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction proposal that Canada is expected to adopt in one form or another. At the FTR Conference in Indianapolis Wednesday, a Daimler Trucks North America regulatory expert told attendees the standards are likely to be much more difficult to meet than originally believed. Amy Kopin, regulatory and compliance program manager, said because of the variations that are inherent in some of the testing procedures, and the lack of reasonable compliance margins, truck and engine makers may need to design products to exceed the rule's requirements just to come in under the compliance margins. "There are all kinds of technical provisions and problems with compliance that EPA has built into Phase 2 that make the rule almost twice as stringent as it should be," Kopin said. "They have made incorrect assumptions with many of their baselines, and they have over-estimated the rate of customer uptake on many technologies as well. These all affect the way equipment makers earn their credits, and because of that, we will have to compensate for those shortfalls in other ways."

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