Commercial Motor's innovative webcast show reports, first seen at the NEC earlier this year, went international last week at the IAA Show in Hanover. Not only were reports available in English before the halls had closed on the first two days, but versions tranlated into Polish and Dutch were also available shortly afterwards.

If you speak either of these languages, or just want a cheap laugh at our expense, take a look. Just look for the IAA logo.

My two previous entries combined to remind me of my journey to Hanover last week. With some bulky video kit to get to the show, I volunteered to drive there from Sussex in the latest Ford Transit, partly to celebrate its success as International Van of the Year. You can read the full story in Commercial Motor on October 12, but a key part of the 1,100 mile round trip was the ability to travel on parts of the German autobahn system as fast as was safely possible.

Considerable distances were driven at around 100mph and, guess what, the world didn't stop and nobody died. In fact the standard of driving, in particular lane discipline and generally higher levels of awareness, were so far ahead of the UK that it felt safer than driving around the M25 at half the speed. And the vans's reserves of performance, handling and braking, together with its newly standardised ESP, added to the security.

By coincidence, the road accident figures published today reveal that inattention is a far greater cause of accidents than speed. Austria is currently trialling 160km/h on suitable bits of its motorway network, but I'm just afraid that the decades of 70mph since the days of the Ford Anglia have deskilled UK drivers so far that we can never safely increase our limits.

The UK road transport industry will be breathing a collective sigh of relief with the news the Amsterdam truck show has retained its international status in the OICA (Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs Automobiles) rankings. The biennial jamboree has always been a magnet for UK truck operators, often at the invitation of a certain Dutch truck builder, who are tempted by the vast halls of trucks on display and the other activities available in the Dutch capital.

There had been some rumours cirulating that the RAI show, as it is known, had lost its international status and would become little more than a domestic show for the Benelux market. The organisers have moved to scotch such rumours with the following announcement:

The Yorkshire town of Harrogate will see the return of tipper trucks next May when a new tipper exhibition is launched at the town's conference centre.

The RHA TipCon, now part of the CV Show in Birmingham, was a regular standing dish in Harrogate during the 70s, 80s and 90s and the organisers of the new Tip-Ex tipper show are looking to rekindle the spirit of the annual tipper industry get together.

The show will take place in Harrogate from 3rd to 5th May in 2007 and the organisers claim the exhibition space is selling out fast. Dave Tallent, former sales director at Fruehauf, is one of the organisers of the event.

There was a time when people, seeking unison and consequence, would meet in a common place, say the pub or at work, and conversed forming attachments based on common ground, ambition or sheer stimulation.
Perhaps it’s sad the motor industry has gone the way of youth culture, not to mention the singleton generation who believe live starts at 40, and staged a bypass to all that flannel and rubbish that people do when seeking said ‘unison and consequence’.
Yes, my friends, speed dating has arrived. This time it was the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders acting as the dating agency, manufacturers taking the role of single ladies looking for a suitable match, and the journalists as sad, desperate men trying to take any short cut they can to get…‘unison and consequence’.
All sounds a bit sceptical? Don’t you believe it; one day spent talking to the industry saved this journalist endless calls, surfing and research trying to put together a hastily commissioned CV Show preview.

Hino had a huge presence at the CV Show again, this time with no less than 27 trucks and a brand new 7.5 tonner.
While it has certainly done enough to grab some all-important headlines and fill plenty of column inches in the commercial vehicle press, I was wondering whether it has also done enough to excite truck buyers. So, I spent an hour or so lingering near its massive stand in Hall 5, grabbing poor unsuspecting operators as they climbed out of its tipper cab, and asking then for their thoughts.
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The relationship between Renault, Volvo Trucks, Nissan Diesel, Renault Trucks, Volvo and Nissan is a complicated one. Now I think I'm right in saying that Volvo Trucks own Renault Trucks and Nissan Diesel, while Renault owns Nissan - but I could be wrong. I think I'm also right in believing that Volvo Trucks sells Nissan Interstar and Cabstar vans in various European countries (including the UK now) and both the Renault Maxity and Mascott vans in Sweden. Meanwhile sister company Renault Trucks, which doesn't have anything to do with the car division (other than the fact that they both have diamonds on the grille) sells Renault vans. Still with me here?
So, when it comes to choosing a panel van to put on its stand at the CV Show to publicise Volvo Action Service (Volvo's 24-hour roadside assistance service) you would think it would opt for either the Renault Master or Nissan Interstar right? Wrong! It chose a Ford Transit instead. Then again Ford does use Volvo trucks to deliver its parts in the UK.

Great private number plate - although presumably the gap between the '24' and the '7' will be closed when it's on the road.

The first day of the 2007 SED construction show at Rockingham Raceway, Corby, passed without any of last year's traffic entry problems. The worst incident reported was a nasty case of sunburn on the CM editor's bald spot! This shot just after opening yesterday shows the scale of the site.

The Moscow Motor Show is a real blast from the past, a throwback to the 1970s both in terms of vehicle technology and use of glamorous women to sell cars and trucks.
Almost every manufacturer had brought along a team of long-legged half-naked women - many sprawled over the bonnets of the cars that should have been confined to the history books decades ago. Then again it’s easy to understand why so many of the manufacturers choose to go down this route, after all, how else do you get anonymous cars like these noticed?

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Marketplace headlines: Fuel price hike slows vehicle purchase, whole vehicle type approval and CV Show
In next weeks used vehicle section in Commercial Motor we assess the effect of the fuel price hike to operators.
As well as hitting them in the pocket for running costs it also forcing them to think twice before purchasing, reports Steve Banner.

I’ve just retuned from a few days in sunny California, where I attended the 23rd International Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS23). I thought I’d share some of the other weird and occasionally wonderful exhibits with you.

Smith took the opportunity to launch its Newton in the USA, and announced plans to build 10,000 zero emission commercial vehicles in North America by 2010. Kevin Harkin, sales director for Smith Electric Vehicles, is confident that the US electric market will eventually climb to 200,000 units per annum. To find out more about Smith’s ambitious plans for the US you can read my news story.

Click below to see the full report