Editorial

Another week has brought with it more signs that trucking is growing. Specifically, IHS Automotive reported that the U.S. heavy-duty truck fleet grew to its largest size on record during the first quarter, and ACT Research Co. said new trailer orders rose 20.2% in April from a year earlier.

Studying the issues, analyzing them, knowing your own mind and then working earnestly to convince others is a worthwhile pursuit. At the same time, it’s also necessary to do those things within the context of a sound understanding of broad political reality.

During a very busy week on Capitol Hill, trucking and other freight transportation executives told legislators about the nation’s desperate need for investment in infrastructure.

The recent death of former Rep. James Oberstar, paired with last month’s retirement announcement from Rep. Tom Petri, leaves us casting about for heroes in transportation who would work in the manner of the late Minnesota Democrat and the departing Wisconsin Republican.

For years, trucking has been pleading for government officials to take seriously the need for a well-funded, long-term surface transportation plan, not because it is convenient for the industry but because it is a demonstrated necessity for the nation’s long-term economic health.

A memo from the American Transportation Research Institute last week questioning the government’s perceived safety benefits of the hours-of-service rule change likely did not surprise many in trucking.

We have watched coverage of the April 10 deadly crash involving a truck and bus with a great deal of sadness. The personal stories of the young students killed have been nothing short of heartbreaking.

A pair of events reported on the front page in this edition of Transport Topics underscores the dramatic growth of the economic phenomenon known as globalization and its effect on trucking.

The value of an event such as the Mid-America Trucking Show is that it brings together a large piece of the entire trucking industry to one location.

The national economy is chugging along, plowing through rough waters whipped up by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the Federal Reserve’s observation that interest rates close to zero can’t last forever.