John G Smith

Blitz results revealed by CVSA

GREENBELT, MD - Inspectors issued 59,193 warnings and citations in Canada and the U.S. during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA's) Operation Safe Driver Week, which ran from October 15 to 21. And passenger vehicle drivers were more likely than their commercial counterparts to be caught speeding. State and local moving violations represented 84.2% of the 38,878 warnings and citations for commercial vehicle drivers, with speeding (7.4%), failing to use a seat belt (2.6%), failing to obey a traffic control device (2.5%), and using a handheld phone (0.8%) rounding out the top five. Among passenger vehicle drivers, the 20,315 citations and warnings involved speeding (43.5%), state and local moving violations (36.2%), failing to use a seat belt (9.4%), failing to obey a traffic control device (2.3%), and improper lane changes (1.5%). Less than 1% of the warnings and citations were for following too closely.

Hart named GM at TBEI Lake Crystal

LAKE CRYSTAL, MN -- Truck Bodies and Equipment International (TBEI) has named Brett Hart the general manager of TBEI Lake Crystal - a company that manufactures dump bodies, hoists, and dump body accessories.

Rear discs for Model 579

Rear disc brakes are now standard on Peterbilt Model 579 trucks, building on the stopping power of front disc brakes introduced to the model in 2012.

Mullen sets $40 million capital budget

OKTOKS, AB - Mullen Group has established a $40 million capital budget for 2018, setting aside $30 million of that to replace trucks, trailers, and specialized equipment in the trucking and logistics segment.

Westcan takes two in Alberta honors

BANFF, AB - Westcan Bulk Transport secured two leading honors presented this year at the Alberta Motor Transport Association's annual convention, which also recognized everyone from an association chairman to a retiring philanthropist and entrepreneur.

Atlantic association hands out honors

DIEPPE, NB - The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association has handed out a series of awards during festivities at the Delta Beauséjour in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Canadians among those honored by Freightliner

PORTLAND, OR – Several Canadians have been honored as some of the top dealer sales representatives at Freightliner Trucks. Forty-four sales professionals and seven managers were honored overall.  “Our Leland…

LED headlamp for medium-duty

Truck-Lite's Roadmax LED headlight system is now available as a factory option on new Freightliner M2 Model 106 and 112 trucks, and the Thomas Built C2 bus - and can be retrofitted on previous generations.

Sleeper mattress series

Lippert Components has unveiled the somnum Sleeper Series mattresses for heavy trucks.

Smart Capacity integrates with PowerBroker

Trucker Tools has integrated its Smart Capacity platform with PowerBroker, McLeod software’s freight brokerage management system. Smart Capacity is a cloud-based freight matching platform used by Third-Party Logistics (3PL)…

Severe-service Toyo tire

Toyo's M588 heavy-duty on/off-road drive tire has been designed for severe service applications including oil, gas, mining, and logging operations.

Heil maintenance videos

Heil - a maker of refuse collection bodies - has introduced the Service Shack video series, featuring step-by-step maintenance instructions in English, Spanish, and French.

Upgraded Group 31 battery

EnerSys has upgraded Odyssey Performance Series Group 31 batteries to 925 cold cranking amps, up from an original rating of 800 cca.

Tight equipment supply at Edmonton auction

EDMONTON, AB - Ritchie Bros.' Edmonton auction house sold $553 million in equipment this year, dropping the hammer last week on the sixth and final sale of 2017. "Online and onsite bidders were eager to snatch up equipment for winter work, resulting in strong pricing both days of the auction last week," said Trent Vandenberghe, sales director. "We continue to see relatively tight equipment supply as many companies are hanging on to surplus equipment in anticipation of upcoming projects. This continues to result in higher demand at our auctions and an uptick in pricing across many equipment categories." More than 4,500 pieces of equipment and trucks were sold for $66 million at the most recent auction, which attracted more than 7,850 bidders. About 5,850 of the bidders were online, and secured 71% of the available equipment.

ELD waiver for short-term U.S. rentals

WASHINGTON, DC -- A 90-day waiver from the Electronic Logging Device mandate will soon be issued for carriers operating short-term rental trucks (defined as 30 days or less) by the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).