Opinion: ATA, Trucking Trending in the Right Direction
By Bill Graves
President & CEO
American Trucking Associations
And this year, as we gather in the City of Brotherly Love, I still believe that’s the case. Even as our federation and industry are roiled by some discontent and disharmony, things are still positive and trending in the right direction.
What direction is that? It is the policy, regulatory and legal direction set by ATA’s members over these past years. The direction is set by our members through our policy committees, the board of directors and now through our newly formed Strategic Action Committee.
It is a direction that has guided us in our dealings on Capitol Hill — a direction that has brought us closer than we’ve been in a long time to a multiyear highway bill that addresses our failing infrastructure; to legislation that would allow carriers to use hair testing to screen drivers for drug use; to take the first steps toward a graduated licensing program for truck drivers; to stronger, data-supported hours-of-service relief; and to the first increase in truck productivity since 1982.
This direction was not taken at random. It was not decided upon by our dedicated professional staff. It wasn’t put forward by me. It was laid out by the members of ATA.
One of the great privileges of leading ATA is getting to work with such a diverse industry — truckload, less-than-truckload, tank, flatbed, regional, national, unionized, nonunion, rural, urban, small and large. There are literally hundreds of ways our industry divides itself up, but there is one place where we historically have come together — and that’s as being part of ATA.
The biggest, most important job the president of ATA has is building consensus. That consensus isn’t among staff or among policymakers; it’s among our members. Letting our members discuss and dissect and debate the issues, and guiding them toward a position that is best for the industry, if not their individual companies, is a key responsibility I have — and it is not one I take lightly.
In my time at ATA, the members have gone from opposing a fuel-tax hike to supporting one and from opposing any changes in federal size and weight limits to supporting a whole host of productivity increases. The members of ATA once vigorously opposed the mandating of electronic logging devices, and now getting that mandate published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is one of our highest regulatory priorities.
All of that is a long way to say that the actions ATA takes on its members’ behalf are truly on behalf of the members who set our policies and establish our priorities. To be even more direct: Decisions are made by those who show up.
Now, perhaps more than ever, it is important for you to be at the table, to be involved in all that ATA does. With passage of a highway bill hopefully imminent and ATA’s ongoing strategic planning initiatives, we soon will be setting policies and priorities on the next round of important issues facing trucking. Safety regulations, emerging safety technologies, autonomous vehicles, alternative fuels and emissions rules are all things on which our members will be debating, discussing and charting a course to achievement.
The question this industry’s leaders need to ask themselves is simple: Am I in a better position to shape the future of trucking from the sidelines or sitting at the table? To me, and to the thousands of members of ATA, the answer is clear.
Even setting aside the issue of what gets attention and traction, there are myriad reasons that ATA still is as strong as ever.
The bonds our federation has forged are as sturdy as they’ve been in some time. This year, 33 states have come to Washington to meet with ATA staff and their members of Congress to press for action on the issues on which ATA’s members are looking for action.
Whether it is our leadership of the Trucking Moves America Forward campaign, the continuing work of our Share the Road program and America’s Road Team drivers who preach the message of safety across the country or the annual celebration of safety that is the National Truck Driving Championships, our efforts to burnish the image of our industry continue to make a difference on our roads and in the halls of Congress.
In my time at ATA, now more than 12 years, this industry has survived and ultimately thrived through the Great Recession, a number of regulatory missteps and an infrastructure that continues to literally crumble beneath us. And I believe the road ahead will continue to treat our association and our industry well.
Reading the headlines in Transport Topics, that road is leading to a brave new world, and the decisions and policies that shape that world will be made by those who show up. That means there has never been a more critical time to be here, with us, at the table setting the direction for ATA and the industry.
American Trucking Associations, the largest national trade federation for the trucking industry, has headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and affiliated associations in every state. ATA owns Transport Topics.
