Low Down

AAA: Fuel, Tire Costs Increase

AAA’s annual “Your Driving Costs” study showed a 1.9-percent rise in the yearly costs to own and operate a sedan in the U.S.

The cost of fuel had the largest percentage increase from 2011 to 2012, rising 14.8 percent. The average cost of regular grade fuel rose 16.6 percent, from $2.880 to $3.357 per gallon. The cost of tires ranks second highest among the factors, increasing by 4.2 percent. The rise in cost can be attributed to higher costs for natural rubber, and the increased cost of oil used in tire production and transportation from factory to distributors across the country.

“The average driving cost for 2012 is up due to relatively large increases in fuel and tire costs, and more moderate increases in other areas, ” said John Nielsen, AAA. To assist consumers in determining their individual driving costs, the AAA “Your Driving Costs” brochure contains a worksheet that can be personalized for a specific area, driver and vehicle.

AAA has published “Your Driving Costs” since 1950.

Tower Tips Police in Fatal Accident

A wrecker driver in Galveston, Texas, led police to arrest a man accused of fatally striking a bicyclist. The driver tipped police about a vehicle he towed that appeared to have been involved in an automobile-pedestrian accident.

The suspect was arrested on a third-degree felony charge of an accident involving injury or death, stemming from an accident that killed cyclist Edwin Proctor. Proctor was struck the night before the tow.

Source: galvestondailynews.com

Penske Racing Chooses Hybrid Transport

Penske Racing

“ greened’ its transport fleet with this Freightliner M2 106 chassis that includes Eaton ’ s Hybrid Electric System.

Penske Racing has added a hybridbased carrier to help “green” its fleet. The unit is a Century Right Approach carrier built on Freightliner’s M2 106 chassis, powered by the Cummins ISB 6.7L diesel engine paired with Eaton’s Hybrid Electric System.

The Eaton Hybrid Electric System uses a Fuller automated transmission withaparallelhybridsystemthatincorporates an electric motor/generator. The system recovers and stores energy from braking into batteries. When electric torque is blended with engine torque, the stored energy is used to improve fuel economy or operate with electricpoweronlyforengine-offwork.

Chris Yoder, Penske’s Transportation Coordinator, said that inside the shop they like the ability to shut off the dieselengineandrunthecarrierbedon the battery.Yoder likes to have progressiveequipmentandtheideaofthegreen technology to align with green initiatives by NASCAR. He said they chose the Century Right Approach carrier in order to be able to load the cars and not damage the front nose and splitter.

Air Cushion

Class Set for August

Matjack scheduled factory training on the basics of airbags and cushions is set forAug. 1112 at Big Red Towing in Syracuse, N.Y. Howard Eagan and Jeff Martin are the main instructors, along with Jamie Dougherty and Matt Bartlett. This class sold out quickly in the past.

Contact Matjack at 800-827-3755 or 317-3593078 for details.