U.S. carriers hammer out upcoming policies, initiatives

Dallas, Tex. — The 200 worst traffic jams in the United States lead to about 240 million hours of delay and drain the American economy of approximately $7.8 billion.

This, according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), ought to raise enough of an alarm that Congress should address congestion as a high priority next year. And ATA lobbyists will work to have that priority set.

Gridlock plaguing North American highways
is an issue ATA plans to focus on next year

But it’s not the only thing the ATA feels needs attention. Congestion was just one of many issues unveiled by a survey conducted by The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) designed to help ATA brass decide policies to pursue next year.

ATRI researchers asked more than 4,000 trucking execs to name the top-10 most critical issues facing their industry; and — to nobody’s surprise — numero-uno was the driver shortage, followed by the cost of diesel.

The survey results were unveiled at the 2006 American Trucking Associations (ATA) annual conference in Dallas this week.

Officials with the ATA said that these results would help them decide what sorts of policies to address in the coming year. In addition to congestion, drivers and fuel, the seven other issues were:

Driver retention, hours-of-service, government regulations, highway infrastructure, tort reform, tolls/highway funding, and environmental issues.

ATRI is also working on a study that examines the effects on truck safety of the new HOS rules. Results of that research are due early in the New Year,

“I have long advocated for the industry to better prepare itself to deal with change,” says ATA chairman Pat Quinn, “and one way to do so is to better anticipate the challenges ahead. The ATRI survey results are invaluable in telling us what is important to motor carriers and which strategies ATA should pursue on their behalf.”