Perspective

This Opinion piece appears in the July 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

In the aftermath of the 2013 broker bond increase, some questions remain, such as whether the increase had the intended effect of “fighting fraud” and whether the bad brokers really were chased out of the industry.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has spent millions of dollars on naturalistic driving studies of commercial driver fatigue.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will begin issuing final rules for the Food Safety Modernization Act in August, but the act will not fully impact the freight transportation industry until early next year, when the Federal Register publishes its most relevant section: Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food.

Every day, thousands of the nation’s commercial truck dealerships — from the ordering process to delivery — meet customers’ needs and provide service after the sale.

There’s an effort underway to quantify not only the duration of new-entrant driving training but also the measurement metric that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will use to craft a rulemaking.

Too often, owners and top executives develop strategic plans that excel in detail yet fail in execution.

Industry insiders say the remainder of the year may continue to be tough for small carriers. The good news is that trucking continues to be America’s most important transportation mode, thanks to its flexibility and efficiency. As the economy grows, truck tonnage and available freight continue to increase, which presents many opportunities for trucking firms, large and small, to be successful.

Last month, I was privileged enough to have the opportunity to talk to Congress on behalf of the trucking industry and American Trucking Associations about our industry’s impressive safety record.

For light- and heavy-duty truck operators evaluating a switch to natural gas from diesel, the recent oil-price collapse represents the most significant “bump in the road” in several years.