A recent letter from an owner/operator's association criticizing our report on the Ontario Trucking Association's poll showing most Ontarians support speed limiting for trucks has left me wondering why the speed limiter debate has turned so nasty of late.

The owner/operator's association took a swipe at our editorial integrity and I would like to address that first before getting on to the larger issue of the speed limiter debate.

The poll, conducted by IntelliPulse, on behalf of the OTA, found that 71% of respondents were in favor of the speed limiting proposal and that 79% felt that highway safety would be improved if the policy to limit all trucks to 105 kmh were to become law.

The criticism was that our report on the poll, which appeared on trucknews.com, did not include comments from other parties. Of course, I agree that fair journalism requires comment from other parties, particularly on controversial issues. On the surface, if we look at this story in isolation, it would seem we were not doing our job. But that's a picture way out of whack with reality.

The reality is that we have devoted tons of ink in previous months to ensuring that all sides in the speed limiter debate have been clearly heard. The Ontario Trucking Association has run columns in Truck News, obviously in favor of speed limiting. But so has the Private Motor Truck Council, a fleet organization, with its opposition to speed limiting. Our sister publication, Motortruck has spoken with truckers in Australia and Europe who have been using speed limiting for some time. We didn't take the OTA's word that speed limiting works in the countries that are using it; we made our own enquiries.

And we made sure owner/operator associations were given ample opportunity to share the reasons behind their opposition to the policy. OBAC, for example, has written several times about the issue in its monthly column in Truck News. The comments of OBAC and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers' Association (OOIDA) have also been included in several news stories about speed limiting in recent months. Our February issue included not only a front-page story about the controversial policy, which included ample comments from OBAC and OOIDA, but also page after page of letters to the editor from drivers and owner/operators. Almost all of the letters were against the OTA's position.

We have committed so much ink to this issue that I doubt anyone can point to a competing publication that has a done a better job of presenting all sides of this issue.

The "poll" story that we ran on trucknews.com simply advanced our coverage of the issue. If another organization was to come up with a credible poll that showed a different result, we would be happy to publish that as well. To insinuate we are purposely trying to suppress other points of view on this controversial subject is a great distortion of reality.

What it does leave me wondering is if certain industry stakeholders have become so wrapped up in their positions on this issue that they've lost their sense of perspective

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Well, the weather in Florida is gradually becoming more Florida-like and I think we’ve finally hit the 70s. The news here has also gotten hotter. Two significant announcements have come out of TMC thus far.

Firstly, Volvo announced it will cost about US$7,500 more for a Class 8 tractor in 2007. I had the chance to sit down with Mack president and CEO Paul Vikner yesterday morning and he agreed that the number Volvo threw out there is reasonable. It’s important to remember that it’s not only the cost of the engine that is reflected in that increased purchase price, but also the changes that must be made to the chassis to accommodate the new engines. The good news is – the engines should be fuel-neutral. Of course, much of that depends on application, and more information about that will be available in the April issue of Truck News.

The other major news announced at TMC is that the American Trucking Associations is launching its own speed limiter campaign – one that would see truck speeds mechanically limited to 109 km/h (68 mph) right across the U.S.

There were plenty of critics – myself included – that suggested U.S. carriers would never comply with the OTA’s plan to mechanically limit truck speeds in Ontario. Now, with the ATA launching a similar initiative, things are about to get very interesting.

Having said that, a report down here in the U.S. suggests that American carriers serving Ontario are concerned about the OTA’s proposal to limit truck speeds.

Bill Joyce, president of the New York State Motor Truck Association, told Transport Topics that U.S carriers serving Ontario “will have to pay a repair shop to have the (governor) microchip recalibrated to comply with the rule and have the chip recalibrated again when they cross back into the United States so they can drive the allowed speed limit on roads here.”

I’m not sure that’s true, as I saw a Cummins rep demonstrate how to adjust the governor first-hand and it was a pretty simple process. It took less time than it would take to order a coffee and all he needed was a handheld palm-pilot. But I’m confused as to why the ATA and OTA wouldn’t come up with a common proposal and launch it in unison? Why 105km/h versus 109 km/h and why November versus February? Harmonizing these two policies would have gone a long way towards bringing government onside – but then again, from what most of you are saying, it’s just as well it didn’t happen that way. It will be very interesting to see what driver reaction is from south of the border. Those of you who drive down there can respond to this blog entry and let us know what you think.

The ATA announcement certainly adds a new dynamic to the debate and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.

A full report about these latest developments will be available in the April issue of Truck News – and we fully expect to have a decision from the Ontario MoT by that time as well.

See ya at the next stop,
James

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Welcome to the Truck News blog! The addition of the blog to trucknews.com not only makes the Web site more interactive, but it will also provide you with a look behind the scenes of Canada's largest trucking newspaper.

In addition to providing thought-provoking industry commentary, we will also share some of our own stories about our experiences covering the industry and a look at the lighter side of the job we do.

I am writing my first blog entry from St. Petersburg, Florida...but you wouldn't know it by the weather. I am here to cover the ATA's Technology and Maintenance Council meetings. If you've never been to TMC, it's quite a show. In fact, technical editor John G. Smith will be accompanying me on the trip to ensure we can properly cover all this show has to offer.

I must admit, I was pleased to hear the show was taking place in Florida. It is February after all, and although there's little time to relax here, the prospect of soaking up a few rays definitely appealed to me. But when the plane landed and they opened the doors a gale-force wind swept through the aircraft. I feared I had mistakenly boarded a flight to Winnipeg. It is cold and miserable outside, but alas, I'm here to work anyways.

There's a lot going on at TMC this year. Many of the industry's top suppliers are hosting press conferences over the next few days. I'm a bit surprised, considering the Mid-America Trucking Show (the industry's favourite venue to debut new products) is just around the corner. I take it as a sign of a healthy industry. Check for updates all week on www.trucknews.com to find out what's new and what's coming up down the road.

As I await the first of these press conferences, the waves are crashing against the shore outside my hotel room. The taxi driver who drove me here said not everyone is upset about the weather. "You should have brought your wet suit," he said. "Surf's up!" Maybe next time I'll check the weather report. One final note about this unseasonable weather we're experiencing here. The same gale-force winds that swept through the plane when the doors were opened made for a hairy landing. A poor kid two rows ahead of me proceeded to fill not one - but two air sickness bags on our descent. It's the first time I've seen one of those things used. I felt bad for the kid, but worse for the poor old codger who happened to be seated next to him.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you check back regularly for updates from the Truck News editorial staff. Despite the weather, this promises to be an exciting week for the industry with plenty of new product announcements expected. In addition, technical guru John G. Smith will be scribbling furiously in his notepad during the technical sessions. The April issue of Truck News and Truck West will carry a full report from him.

See ya at the next stop,
James

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I took a drive from my North York apartment to visit a friend on the West side late last week and decided to forgo my usual highway route in favour of an in-town trip. It was about 5 p.m. when I headed out – peak traffic time for the city. Normally I hate hitting the core at that time of day, but I was in no hurry, so I putted along at an easy pace and just went with the flow.

After about 10 minutes of reasonable traffic conditions, I was forced to slam on my brakes when a van that was appeared parked by the curb decided to lurch unannounced back into traffic. People in the city tend to be aggressive drivers as a rule, so I initially ignored it, until I realized the driver had been on his cell phone. Further down the road, traffic slowed again when a woman unloading her luggage from a taxi left a bag sitting halfway into the centre lane. Cars creeped and squeezed their way around her as she squared up with the cab driver, clueless to the annoyance she was causing.

By the end of the 25-minute trip I had seen no less than seven cars or pick-up trucks sitting in the right-hand lane – most either dropping people off or talking on their cell phones and all of which slowed traffic to a crawl.
I saw but one truck during the drive: a cube van hugging the right-hand curb while making a delivery. My fellow commuters and I passed around the truck with relative ease compared to those other seven cars we’d already passed. For one, at least we could see that the truck was stopped from further away simply because the truck was much taller than your average Honda Civic. The trucks’ four-ways were also flashing and the orange pylons had been placed behind the truck to allow motorists more space when maneuvering around it. In all, I felt much less hostility toward that truck driver than I did towards those other seven motorists.

Toronto Councillor Michael Walker's proposed ban would remove these trucks from the city’s downtown core during peak rush hour times, but who will remove these careless four-wheelers? How can we expect both truckers and their customers to put their lives and their businesses on hold while cars continue to block those same lanes – and in much greater numbers?

Walker’s proposal seems to be a quick-fix solution for a problem that extends way beyond trucks slowing traffic. It’s more of a general distaste for trucking. Walker’s ban would only serve to tarnish the public’s already shaky view of the industry. The feeling that “trucks are big and slow and they get in my way” is the same egocentric view that causes drivers in Toronto to be so thoughtless in the first place.

If Walker’s ban goes through, it will impede the flow of goods and services in a way that the public just doesn’t understand. Without trucks delivering four-wheelers’ cell phones and luggage, how will they be able to block traffic?

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by Julia Kuzeljevich

It often comes up in casual conversation with friends and acquaintances, “What do you do for a living?” and when I tell people I’m a journalist, and more specifically, an editor and writer for a transportation trade publication, the response is always, with some variance,

“So do you, like, write about trucks?”

Well, I say, I do and I don’t.

I don’t profess to be an engineer, mechanic or maintenance manager, and I prefer, when researching a technical story, to consult the experts and relay the information to the readers as accurately as possible.

But I have made attempts in my career as a transportation journalist (now in my 7th year) to gain a better knowledge of trucks and how they operate.

I even took, at one point, an admittedly accelerated truck driving course. I passed the air brakes exam with flying colours, and with no surprise-it involved studying an actual book and listening to the instructor, and then responding in concise, organized sentences to exam questions.

I’m a whiz at that.

But I failed rather miserably at the driving exam.

Sure, I could drive smoothly down some of Ontario’s secondary highways while actually shifting gears in the truck without much grinding. (I credit this with having first learned to drive on a standard transmission.)

But on the actual day of the driving exam, a blustery, overcast December day, I did not succeed in backing up my trailer properly. Instant failure.

Of course I blamed it on the female examiner being extra tough on me, and later, on the fact that I was pregnant at the time and didn’t know it, a condition that surely must have affected my already-limited spatial judgement!

And technically, I had only accumulated about half the required driving hours, so I really was wasting the Ministry’s time trying to make a go of the exam.

But I was secretly relieved, because the exam taught me many things.

First of all it, that someone is doing something right by not letting me loose on small city streets to clog up traffic with my wide left-hand turns that put the cab on the curb.

It also taught me that I’m a real Girly Girl who likes uninterrupted sleep, doesn’t like doing circle checks in the frigid cold, or getting grease on my hands, and who is unwilling to part with the high heeled boots that actually would have allowed my 5’2 height to reach the pedals in those multi-tonned machines.

Sitting in the Ministry’s waiting room with some of the other candidates, however, I was ashamed of myself because so many of these guys were relying on a successful test to permit them a chance at a new career when their current ones in manufacturing and farming, to cite two examples, were coming to a premature close due to circumstances well beyond their control.

I was there because someone thought it a good idea for a trucking magazine editor to actually get in a truck for a change, and indeed, it was a good idea.

I’ve gained a whole new perspective, appreciation and respect for what drivers do, day in, day out, night in, night out.

You have a damned difficult job, and it’s time you earned some more credit for doing it.

So the next time people ask me, do I, like, write about trucks, I won’t worry about their eyes glazing over when I launch into all the varied aspects of the transportation industry.

I won’t wish I was writing an article about “10 different things to do to brighten your day” in one of those grocery-store magazines.

I’ll simply say yes.

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