Editorial

The voters have spoken, and analysts and pundits are busily trying to explain the shifts in the political landscape that will result from the overwhelming Republican victory.   But one immediate potential gain that emerged from the cacophony of chatter in the wake of the election is a chance to move transportation and infrastructure improvement programs along quickly.

After months of anticipation and concern, the trucking industry finally got a look last week at the federal government’s first proposal to regulate the fuel-efficiency and carbon-dioxide output of commercial trucks.

The top “take-aways” from the 2010 Management Conference & Exhibition last week seemed to be: Things are better than they were; things are not as good as they could be; and things are going to get even better.

As the trucking industry gathers in Phoenix for American Trucking Associations’ annual meeting, the national economic climate is much improved from the gloom that surrounded last October’s meeting in Las Vegas.

As trucking’s most important get-together of the year nears, the industry finds itself waiting for a number of decisions from the Obama administration that will have a major influence on fleet operations for years to come.

The latest economic reports continue to show steady growth in the domestic economy, and fleets are buying more tractors and ordering more trailers as freight levels now have exceeded year-ago levels for nine consecutive months.

Once a year — and it should be far more often — we pause in our busy lives to take notice of and show our appreciation for the everyday heroes who move our freight: the 3.4 million professional truck drivers who deliver the goods.

The trucking industry seems to operate primarily in a boom or bust cycle. Rarely, it seems, are things stable for very long.

The trucking industry received some of the best news possible last week, when the federal government announced that the number of fatalities in truck-involved crashes nosedived 20% during 2009.

Anyone who relies too much on the stock market for advice on where the economy is headed these days is bound to get seasick.