Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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PRODUCT REVIEWS, OEM & SUPPLIER NEWS AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TRENDS BY JACK ROBERTS terstate twice – pulling the smartphones out and trying to navigate the backroads around the congestion. And we almost saw a sixth wreck happen right before our eyes south of Birmingham when an 18-wheeler (I'll spare mentioning the fleet) suddenly swerved violently, left his lane and almost clipped a passenger car in the far right lane before panic-recovering – almost toppling the rig in the process. The driver was on his cell phone when we passed by. It was more than 9 hours before we finally made it back to Tuscaloosa – exhausted, with our nerves shot. And this is the kind of madness your drivers have to deal with every single day. How they cope, I'll never know. The general consensus these days among trucking industry professionals is that federally-mandated safety systems such as active cruise control, lane departure warning systems and blind-spot radar detection systems are just a matter of time. But while everyone wants to be safer, there's the real issue of cost: New truck prices are skyrocketing, and that's becoming a big concern for fleets nationwide. However, the bulk of the craziness my colleagues and I witnessed on our drive home from Kentucky was the fault of passenger car drivers. We passed three of the five accidents on the highway that day, and no trucks were involved; since we bypassed the other two accidents, I can't speak for those. But the whole experience left me with a vivid impression: We need better, more comprehensive and nationally integrated driver training in this country. Each year, our roads grow more and more congested, with more cars traveling closely together at higher rates of speed. But most driver education programs are stuck solidly in the 1960s or '70s. My own high school showed us driver education films made in the 1950s – 30 years out of date by the time we were viewing them. Each year, more and more demands are made on our industry to improve safety – often exacting a hard hit on fleets' bottom lines. But when is the rest of the country going to join trucking in putting more competent – and safer – drivers on the road? It needs to happen soon. Because it's a jungle out there. And your poor drivers have to deal with it every single day. JACK ROBERTS is Executive Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jroberts@ccjmagazine.com or call (205) 248-1358. Volvo adds two XE drivetrain packages drivetrain packages featuring the 16-liter Volvo D16 engine to its Class 8 powertrain offerings: a heavy-spec XE16 package rated for combination weights up to 143,000 pounds, and a package designed to improve fuel efficiency and performance for five- axle tractor-semitrailer combinations up to 80,000 pounds. Ed Saxman, Volvo Trucks drivetrain V product manager, explains that the XE16 packages "downspeed" the engine at cruis- ing speeds by 200 rpm or more than tra- ditional specs. Each package utilizes a new D16 engine rating of 500 horsepower and 2,050 lb.-ft. of torque, Volvo I-Shift auto- mated mechanical transmission, specialized axle ratios, specific tire sizes and software to facilitate seamless communication among Volvo's integrated powertrain components. Venchurs announces Ford CNG demo fleet A fter debuting its latest com- pressed natural gas and bi-fuel pickup programs at the Work Truck Show in Indianapolis, Venchurs Vehicle Systems has launched a nationwide demonstration fleet program where work truck fleet managers and buyers can put the new technology to the test. Fleets that are interested in add- ing CNG Ford F-250s or F-350s to their work force will have the opportunity to apply for Venchurs' short-term loaner program. Terry Karges, vice president of sales and marketing for Venchurs, says the bi-fuel sys- tem allows for seamless "on-the-fly" switching between CNG and gasoline, offering a total fuel range of up to 650 miles. The system uses Ford's direct-injection technology and com- puter management to achieve nearly equal performance in power or towing capacity. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JUNE 2012 31 olvo Trucks is adding two XE "Exceptional Efficiency"