Archive: April 2024

The American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council has always been a source of important insights into the health and confidence of trucking in North America. But as TMC’s 2024 Annual Meeting wrapped up in New Orleans, I drove away from the Big Easy with a sense that the industry is nowhere near ready for new emissions regulations that start kicking in for the 2027 model year.

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The number of positive drug tests for marijuana and nearly all other substances identified among truck drivers declined in calendar year 2023 compared with 2022, according to year-end numbers recorded in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse. The number of annually recorded marijuana positive tests and 13 other positive-tested substances decreased to 61,443 in 2023 from 68,639 in 2022 — a more than 10% decline.

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A rare astronomical event next week may cause problems for trucking in some areas. A complete solar eclipse — when the moon will pass in front of the sun — will occur over the middle portion of the United States on Monday, April 8. Portions of 14 states and part of Canada will be plunged into total darkness during daylight hours. The maximum duration of “totality,” as the phenomenon is known, will only last for about four and a half minutes at the most.

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Often, reasons for leaving that drivers identify as pay may have more to do with disruptions and uncertainty and confusion that affect pay, rather than the pay package itself. So it makes to ask how things look from their point of view on the operational side of your business. What is that experience like for drivers? Are they facing headaches such as long wait times at shippers and receivers or too much downtime for maintenance that end up affecting their paycheck?

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The Environmental Protection Agency’s Phase 3 emissions final rule has been met with widespread opposition by key players in the trucking industry. The final rule, announced March 29, requires a range of electric vehicle or other nontraditional sales, depending on the type of vehicle and use. For example, 30% of “heavy-heavy-duty vocational” trucks would need to be zero-emission by 2032, EPA said, while 40% of shorthaul day cabs would need to be zero-emission battery-electric or hydrogen vehicles.

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