The Onspot Blog

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Days away from home: 25 
Km Driven: 14896
US States visited since Jan. 4th 2017: IA, IL, IN, KY, TN, GA, NC, AR, OK, TX, NM, AZ, CA, NV, UT

Nothing is a direct route in trucking and we had to attend a recertification class in January. We carry a lot of hazardous materials, hazmat for short. As a result, we are required to attend classes every two years, have a background check, provide fingerprints, and take a hazmat test to keep our commercial driver’s licenses compliant.  This year we had to attend the class which was held in my birthplace of Tucson, Arizona.  We had to be in class on January 13th and our route was anything but straight. 

Whether driving a small go-kart or a heavy hauler, you must have traction to move forward. Actually, you can’t even walk without it. Traction is a commonly used word and many believe it’s just another word for friction. But is it really? Let’s have a closer look at friction and traction – what it is and why it’s so fundamental to safe driving.

We all know the feeling when tyres lose grip and the vehicle starts skidding. Controlled skidding in a go-kart could be fun, but a heavy vehicle unexpectedly skidding on a road could cause a very dangerous situation. The skidding is due to the vehicle losing road grip and obviously, this has to do with tyres and road surface.