Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/675319
LEARN MORE. MAKE MORE. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT WEBINAR SERIES REGISTER FOR OUR FREE WEBINARS TRUCKSTOP.COM/ EVENTS T he trucking industry has been called the driving force behind the political and economic history of the United States. But, before the invention of the modern trucks, most freight was moved by train and wagons pulled by oxen or horses. With the increased construction of paved roads, trucking began to achieve a significant foothold and soon became subject to various government regulations. During the late 1950s and 1960s, trucking was accelerated by the construction of the Interstate Highway System, which links major cities across the country. e Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) was established within the Department of Transportation on January 1, 2000, pursuant to the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999. e FMCSA's primary mission is to prevent commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries. In the last 60 years we have gone from hardly any trucks on the roads to a point where it is impossible to know exactly how many semi- trucks are on the road in the U.S. at any given time, however, it is estimated that there could be as many as 13 million. In that same period we have seen the number of passenger cars explode to almost 19 million on the road at any given moment. e sheer numbers involved here give illustration to the problems that can and do exist. People's lives have shied into high gear as both husband and wife are racing down the highway to meet their daily challenges distracted by their cellphones, or at least 660,000 drivers at any given daylight hour. Distracted driving is a serious and deadly epidemic on America's roadways. Road Rage has become an everyday occurrence. e FMCSA has regulated the trucking industry to the point of choking the air out of it in an attempt to carry out its primary task of reducing fatalities and injuries. e nation's highway system is valued at $3 trillion, with 75 percent of goods transported on roads by truck. e private-sector auto industry has implemented substantial technological improvement in terms of performance, safety and comfort, whereas technological improvements on highways have been meager. e nation's road system is vital to the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, the arteries are clogged: the benefits that commuters, families, truckers, and shippers receive from the nation's road system have been increasingly compromised. Despite frustratingly frequent lane closures for road repairs, federal and state highway agencies expenditures cannot seem to outpace the rate of road-infrastructure deterioration. As much as one third of the nation's highways may be in poor condition, and one-quarter of the nation's bridges may be functionally obsolete or structurally deficient. Driving on damaged roads has been shown to damage trucks and increase their operating costs. Finally, although highway safety has improved during the past few decades, because of technological improvements in vehicle safety, and other factors, traffic fatalities are still one of the leading causes of non-disease deaths in the United States. Economics of Transportation that increase efficiency have taken on renewed importance in today's economy. Unfortunately, political and institutional impediments apply to implementing new technology on public highways and they are unlikely to be overcome in the near future. Beneficial policies that could be facilitated by existing technologies that the government could and should implement are hitting road blocks. Political forces have kept many of these technologies from being implemented. However, the private sector is developing new technological innovations, especially the driverless car, which will eventually leapfrog the technology that the public highway authorities could and should implement today, thus providing road users with most of the potential benefits from technological advances in highway travel. Conclusion: there is no easy fix. Technology can help, but we will always need to improve driver behavior, maintain our equipment, and repair the infrastructure. PAT DICKARD KNOWS TRENDS IN SAFETY BY PAT DICKARD, CORPORATE TRAINER