Trucking industry in the United States
The trucking industry serves the American economy by transporting large quantities of raw materials, works in process, and finished goods over land—typically from manufacturing plants to retail distribution centers.
The FMCSA is a division of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), which governs all transportation-related industries such as trucking, shipping, railroads, and airlines.
Public safety concerns made it necessary to implement various government regulations (such as the 1965 hours of service rule, later revised with a compliance date of July 1, 2012) of how long drivers were allowed to work and drive each day/week.
[8] The particulate matter of diesel exhaust has been linked to (among other health effects) lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, and aggravated asthma; it has also been identified as a greenhouse gas.
[13] ULSD, together with new air pollution control technologies required in trucks (starting with model year 2007), will reduce harmful emissions by 90%.
[12] By the time the action is fully implemented, the EPA estimates that 2.6 million tons of smog-causing nitrogen oxide emissions will be eliminated each year.
[15] This unnecessary idling can be remedied with shore power (which is a term and idea borrowed from the shipping industry), or Truck Stop Electrification.
[16] When ships are docked in a port, they connect to a land-based power supply to provide electricity and eliminate the need to idle their engines.
[19] Some drivers are also experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells, which provide clean and silent power for appliances when trucks are not running.
[25] Given the limitations on truck weight and size, increased productivity in the industry comes from two sources: fewer empty miles and less time waiting between loads.
[31] Drivers may input the information from a bill of lading into a simple text-only dot matrix display screen (commonly called a "Qualcomm", for its ubiquitous OmniTRACS system).
Drivers are no longer required to find the nearest public phone in order to relay information regarding their load status, it can be done without leaving the truck cab.
"[7][41] Retail stores, hospitals, gas stations, garbage disposal, construction sites, banks, and even a clean water supply depends entirely upon trucks to distribute vital cargo.
[7] Recent implementation of "just in time" strategies have resulted in the increased use of trucks to help satisfy businesses' fluid inventory needs.
Using this strategy, businesses gain the ability to reduce the costs associated with excess inventory and larger warehousing facilities by requiring more frequent deliveries.
[45][46][47] According to an industry group, many retail, commercial, and government services require daily or weekly deliveries to keep supplies or merchandise on hand.
According to the measurable share of the economy that trucking represents, the industry directly contributes about 5 percent to the gross domestic product annually.
[52] A division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulates nearly all aspects of the trucking industry.
Distinct regulations exist for passenger carrying drivers as well as vehicles designed specifically for oilfield operations as well as construction related activities.
[needs update] This new mandate requires that drivers utilize specifically designed electronic logging equipment which records driving time based upon a direct communication link with a vehicles engine.
Truck drivers are responsible for checking bridge height clearances (usually indicated by a warning sign) before passing underneath an overpass or entering a tunnel.
One big upside to Hotshot trucking is a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) is not required by law, so long as the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) does not exceed 26,000 total pounds (13 tons).
Driving is relatively dangerous work, as truck drivers account for 12% and the highest total number of all work-related deaths, and are five times more likely to die on the job than the average worker.
[75] Drivers lead generally risk-prone lifestyles due to smoking, lack of exercise, unhealthy eating and work-related injuries.
In the 4th quarter of 2005, turnover for the largest carriers in the industry reached a record 136%,[82] which means that for every 100 new employees hired, 136 quit their jobs.
This results in a "revolving door" within most long-haul trucking companies, as drivers are constantly switching jobs or leaving the industry.
In the short-haul and less-than-truckload (LTL) sectors, driver turnover is only around 15%,[83] mainly due to the better working conditions, higher pay, and unionized workers.
One study suggests that larger companies with irregular routes, longer average haul, and older equipment experience much higher rates of driver turnover.
Investigators speculate that the easy access to potential victims, mobility, and lack of supervision enjoyed by long-haul truck drivers have contributed to this phenomenon.
In 2004, the FBI began investigating a string of murders in which the victims were found along the Interstate 40 corridor in Oklahoma and several other states, which sparked the creation of the Highway Serial Killings Initiative.
