Headlights Again: Now digital

by Rolf Lockwood

A few months ago I wrote a couple of times about headlights, complaining that the standard lamps offered in most vehicles -- from cars to heavy trucks -- are insufficient. Meaning, it's too easy to over-drive your lights at what are pretty ordinary speeds nowadays. The light just isn't thrown far enough down the road, reducing the ability of a driver to see far enough ahead to avoid an obstruction and maybe a catastrophic accident.

• Transportation

Still the best job in the world

by Harry Rudolfs

I spent over a month digesting a New York Times article on trucking lifestyles: “Truckers Feel like Throwaway People” The sub-heading was: “Truck driving, once a road to the middle…

• Transportation

Need and want

by Ray Haight

I heard a phrase the other day and it set my mind to digging deeper into the thought. The individual I was with was talking about his wife’s shopping addiction…

• Transportation

The spec’ing process has evolved, and you must too

by James Menzies

If you’re still spec’ing trucks the way you used to do it 10 years ago, chances are, you’re doing it all wrong. Powertrains have advanced substantially, especially over the last…

Volvo Pushes Forward

by Rolf Lockwood

Volvo has been mighty busy of late. Back in late April it chose our very own Expocam truck show in Montreal to unveil its new and long overdue VNR regional tractor. Promoted as the "shape of trucks to come," it was joined this week by another much updated truck, the long-haul VNL, replete with all manner of safety technology as standard equipment.

• Transportation

The continuing struggle over energy in North America

by Roger McKnight

If you want to make a blurry TV picture less blurry, you just have to adjust the contrast. But if you try messing with the colours, then you’ll forget…

• Transportation

Will Uber take control of the market for freight matching services?

by Dan Goodwill

Freight matching services or “freight exchanges” have become one of the hottest topics in Freight Transportation over the past few years. Venture capital funds, private investors and others have poured…

• Health & Safety

Are we taking the advice of health professionals to heart?

by Derek Clouthier

Do we just smile and nod when our health professionals tell us that we need to cut some cholesterol out of our diet, or perhaps sodium, or sugar? Maybe we…

Uber Struggle: Uber disrupted taxis, but trucking will be harder

by John G Smith

The role of a road warrior on the Today's Trucking editorial team takes me across North America, and at times these stops don't include a personal car. If I want to keep moving, the options have been limited to the kindness of companies I visit, shoe leather, or taxis. Until I uploaded the Uber app on my phone.

• Transportation

Fifty ways to leave your lover – or NAFTA

by Roger McKnight

Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover is the title of a song that I found tedious, so I gave up at number seven. If there were another 43 options, then…

• Business Management

Managing an aging workforce

by Isabelle Hétu

It’s a fact: Canada’s trucking and logistics workforce is aging at a higher rate than other industries. Take, for example, the truck driver occupation. Based on the Canadian Trucking Alliance’s…

All Together Now: Manufacturers have growing say in vehicle spec’s

by John G Smith

It is impossible to talk about engine oils without tapping into the benefits that have emerged with new CK4 and fuel-efficient FA4 formulas. The story was no different when Total invited members of our editorial team to visit a blending facility in Montreal, where the world's fourth-largest oil company prepares and bottles lubricants for a wide variety of industries and applications.

Turn Complaints Around: When things go wrong, listen to your customer

by Rolf Lockwood

Had a lesson in customer service the other day. Nothing to do with trucking, but an extraordinary example of how to respond to complaints.

• Transportation

Trucking: The industry that gives

by James Menzies

It’s summer time, and that means it’s the season of truck shows, convoys, and fundraising barbecues. It also means trucking is front and center when it comes to raising money…

• Transportation

Is our world a little cuckoo?

by Roger McKnight

I am of the belief that we are living in a world of movie sequels, or better put — sometimes it seems that the future of our world is being…