• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Trucking Industry Has Done Admirable Job of Policing Itself and Improving Safety

Trucking Industry Has Done Admirable Job of Policing Itself and Improving Safety

October 20, 2010
Tom Sanderson, CEO, Transplace

Congratulations to the trucking industry for dramatically reducing highway fatalities and fatal accidents. Are Washington politicians and bureaucrats paying attention to what the free market is accomplishing on its own? Or are they too busy concocting burdensome new regulations (CSA 2010, hours of service changes) that may or may not improve safety but will surely increase transportation costs and harm the economy?

Highway crash deaths involving large trucks plummeted 20 percent in 2009 to 3,380, a new all-time low. This data is courtesy of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which began tracking fatal accidents in 1950. Nobody would deny that 3,380 deaths are a tragedy or that we should strive to reduce that number every year, but the fact of the matter is that our everyday tasks of driving, crossing the street, riding a bike, etc., all involve some element of deadly risk that we assume every day in the pursuit of happily living our lives. Despite the recession, all highway miles increased in 2009 although truck highway miles have yet to be determined for 2009. The recession can't be credited for the improvement.

The data shows that fatalities and the rate of fatalities were rising prior to trucking industry deregulation in 1980, but since then absolute fatalities have trended down while truck miles driven have increased substantially, driving the fatality rate from over 5.5 per 100 million miles driven to less than 2.

Bill Graves, president of the American Trucking Associations, rightly states, "These latest figures illustrate the trucking industry's deep commitment to improving highway safety." The decline in both the number of accidents and the accident rate per mile is quite noticeable since the 2005 revision to the hours of service (HOS) regulation. Graves points to the 2005 HOS changes as a positive factor in improving the work-rest cycle. HOS rules are currently under attack with proposals to reduce driving hours from 11 to 10. There is no data to suggest that this would have any positive impact on safety for existing drivers, but if adopted the change would cut truck utilization meaning more trucks and more drivers on the road which would almost certainly increase accidents and would also increase costs.

Our heartfelt thanks and congratulations to the trucking industry and to professional truck drivers for a stellar result. To the popular press, we encourage you to stop bashing the trucking industry with your distorted reporting on "killer" trucks. Do your homework and stop using isolated bad apples to paint the industry as dangerous. To the Washington crowd, we implore you to trust the free-market system to deliver better and faster results at a lower cost than you can deliver through legislation and regulation. The 30-year history of safety improvements following 1980 trucking industry deregulation should be all the proof you need

To subscribe to Tom Sanderson's blog, visit  http://blog.transplace.com/default.aspx.

Source: Transplace 

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics LTL/Truckload Services Transportation & Distribution Global Supply Chain Management Regulation & Compliance Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt
KEYWORDS Global Supply Chain Management Logistics LTL/Truckload Services Regulation & Compliance SC Security & Risk Mgmt Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting Transportation & Distribution
  • Related Articles

    NTSB Report Confirms Necessity of Safety Reforms, Trucking Group Says

    Trucking Advocacy Group Critical of Government's Compliance, Safety, Accountability Program

Tom Sanderson, CEO, Transplace

Trends in Transportation, 2015

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • How Mindnumbing Office Tasks Made One Man $360M

    Stop Using Spreadsheets to Manage Your Global Supply Chain

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • Three Steps to Managing Bonded Inventory Through Brexit Disruptions

    Why Warehouse Managers Need to Keep a Keen Ear for Workers’ Everyday Problems

    Last Mile Delivery
  • Taiwan Helping Tech Firms That Choose Southeast Asia Over China

    Apple Asks Suppliers in Taiwan to Label Products as Made in China

    Global Logistics
  • Fastest Electric Car Chargers Waiting for Batteries to Catch Up

    Podcast | Why Automakers Won’t Meet EV Production Targets

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • Germany Is Re-Engineering Europe’s Most Important River

    Rhine River Withers to Crisis Level as Europe Craves Energy

    Transportation & Distribution

Digital Edition

Scb august 2022 sm

100 Great Supply Chain Partners of 2022

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • Returns Management SaaS Saves Retail Giant $4 Million Monthly

  • 3PL Doubles Productivity With Robots to Fulfill Medical Supply Orders

  • E-Commerce Company Cuts Order Fulfillment Time by 40%

  • Fashion Retailer Halves Fulfillment Time With Omichannel Automation

  • Distributor Scales Business by Integrating Warehouse Automaton Software

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming Alithya Barcoding
Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics CoEnterprise
Data Capture E2open Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Inmar Keelvar Kinaxis
Korber Liberty SBF Locus Robotics
Logility Lucas Systems Nvidia
Old Dominion ORTEC Parsyl
PMMI QIMA Redwood Logistics
Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated
Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD Shipwell
Tecsys TGW Systems Thomson Reuters
Tive Trailer Bridge Vecna Robotics
Verity Verusen  
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2022 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing