Recent revisions to the Department of Transportation’s physical examination process failed to completely close the gate on medically unqualified truck drivers, according to several physicians who work in the transportation field.

Online training is winning converts bit by bit. Wider adoption depends in part on the industry’s ability to invest in technology to implement it.

Schneider National now requires contract drivers to have specific communications equipment in their cabs so they can be included in the same dispatch and communications procedures as Schneider’s company drivers.

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.Back before the turn of the century when freight was strong, fuel and insurance were less expensive than they are now and owner-operators were making 97 cents on a loaded mile, it was easier to justify buying a rig and going into business for yourself.

This year has witnessed the emergence of new fuel management options — including Internet-enabled tools. In the past, fuel optimization systems have carried price tags from $70,000 into the six-digit field, tending to put them out of reach of many smaller carriers.

Dispatchers, truckers and travelers have been better able to avoid construction, congestion and accident scenes on Houston freeways for the past several years, with help from a web site developed by Houston TranStar’s traffic management experts in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Transportation Institute.

Scott Parker, a company driver for Contract Freighters Inc., runs a paperless office from his cab with supplemental services like TripPak Express and Internet access available at the truck stops he frequents.

Fred Kirschner, a Petro franchisee in Bordentown, N.J., has been in the truck stop business long enough to know that some good ideas are not as good as they sound — and sometimes new services for truckers take time to be profitable.

As the professional drivers of the Baby Boomer generation move into the last years of their careers, new drivers are training to take their seats. And with this changing of the guard come new expectations and a new attitude.

The Canadian trucking community is watching closely as the United States struggles with domestic opposition to opening the southwestern border to companies and trucks from Mexico hauling international cargo, as stipulated by the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to the president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance.