What I tell drivers to put in the cab

A 4-watt, 28-channel mobile CB with a noise limiter and public-address hookup.

Your phone needs a tower, your GPS needs satellites, and your app needs data. None of those are guaranteed on a mountain pass at 2 a.m. Radio frequency doesn't care about cell coverage. A CB is the tool that still works when nothing else does.

A centre-load fibreglass antenna, a bracket that clears your cab rail, and a properly tuned coax run.

A radio sitting on the dash with a rubber stub is a paperweight. The lesson says every professional driver should have one mounted and working before they leave the yard — that means a real antenna, mounted high, and a mount that clears the rail.

One camera facing the road, one facing the cab, with loop recording and a parking mode.

The road markings lesson says it plain: you'll be in someone's dashcam by sundown. Make sure the footage that settles the argument is yours and not a stranger's. Cab-facing coverage also settles the claim you didn't make.

Size-matched ladder-pattern chains and a set of rubber tensioners, practised on a clean lot before the storm.

Bridges freeze first, shaded curves freeze second. When the spray stops coming off the tires of the trucks around you, the road is already ice — and that's not the hour to be reading a chain manual for the first time.

An electronic logging device that's on the FMCSA registered list, with a support line that answers.

The four numbers — 11, 14, 30, 70 — are the frame the whole week hangs on. A good ELD keeps the clock honest and keeps the paperwork off your plate; a bad one becomes a roadside problem you didn't cause.

Trucking-specific apps for load boards, mileage, fuel tax, and parking spot finding.

In a winter storm every stop within 200 miles is gone by mid-afternoon, and knowing your axle weights before you reach the scale is what separates a professional from a rookie. The right app is a second set of eyes for the boring parts of the job.

Lighting, mirrors, mud flaps, steps, tie-downs and the hardware that keeps a rig legal and working.

Pre-trip your rig before you pull forward, not after. Most of what a pre-trip catches is a light, a mirror, or a strap — and the drivers who look professional are the ones who fix those before anyone asks them to.