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While the nation's best truckers converge in New Orleans to see who's best behind the wheel, truck inspectors from the United States, Canada and Mexico will be competing to see who's best at finding everything from an expired CDL to a loose lug nut.

Truckers who will be on the road on election day Nov. 7 may still vote through the help of a Web site developed by the owner of a popular New Jersey truck stop.

Long hours, low pay and older men. That’s the profile of Canadian truck drivers and their work patterns, according to Statistics Canada.

Getting sick is unpleasant in the best of circumstances, but being sick on the road far from home can be especially grueling.

In the news this morning: Firestone will recall SUV tires; Conoco to supply fuel for American Petroleum Exchange; Maine trucking company fined, shut down for falsified driver logs.

This afternoon's headlines: Oil prices break $30 mark amid conflicting inventory reports; Western wildfires hamper freight moves; truck accidents kill three this week in Tennessee; and more.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will hold three roundtable discussions in the Washington, D.C., area on the proposed hours-of-service rules, but safety and other groups greeted the news with some skepticism.

Today's technology headlines: FedEx upgrades its online logistics offering; Verizon purchase plan complicates talks with strikers; shippers, carriers urged to use e-commerce; and more.

Less-than-truckload carrier American Freightways announced Tuesday a rate increase of 5.5%, effective Sept. 1.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration wants to open informal discussions on its proposed hours-of-service reforms in hope of resolving some touchy issues, but the agency doesn't consider negotiated rulemaking an option.