Archive for January, 2009

I was getting divorced and had two children to take care of. At the time I drove a school bus, and my soon-to-be-ex husband used to say that if I could drive a bus I could handle a truck. So I called up a training academy to learn how to drive a truck. I even held myself back an extra week before graduating because I didn’t feel completely confident with my skills yet. I met an owner-operator when I had just completed training, and hired on to share his runs between Maryland and Delaware t…

There are three fundamental factors that affect a vehicle’s fuel consumption: the vehicle, driving conditions — which are outside the control of driver and vehicle — and driver operation. Believing myself to be a fuel-conscious driver, I was excited by the opportunity to participate in an Isuzu Motors Ecology and Economy Drive program at the manufacturer’s Wacom proving grounds in Hokkaido, Japan. The event was designed to demonstrate that focusing on specific, key driv…