
A recent piece by The Washington Post shows just how out of touch the mainstream media is with the reality of the trucking industry.
Two weeks ago, the White House announced what’s likely that last large new emissions law of the Obama Administration. To sum it up, the EPA will require all heavy-duty trucks to increase fuel economy by 25% by the year 2028, and will also require trailers to be significantly lighter. In total, the estimated up-front costs will be an additional $14,000 for trucks, and another $14,000 for new trailers.
Shortly after the new regulations were announced, the Washington Post published an article praising the changes and making some bold claims.
It was titled, “You don’t have to drive a big rig to benefit from new fuel standards.”
In the article, Journalist Fredrick Kunkle says despite the $14,000 increased cost for new trucks, the industry “welcomed” the new standards.
“Even though the new fuel standards could add an estimated $14,000 to the cost of new trucks, the industry welcomed the standards because of the anticipated savings on fuel.”
How did he get to this conclusion and who was his industry source? None other than the ATA. The American Trucking Association (or the Anti-Trucking Association, depending on who you ask).
That’s right — the same organization that lobbied for mandated E-logs, pushed for speed limiters in trucks, and countless other new regulations.
Many of these regulations caused small-to-mid size trucking companies to fold due to mounting financial constraints, allowing the mega-carriers to gobble up market share and prosper.
The end result is stagnating or dropping incomes for individual truck drivers and owner operators, and increased profits for shareholders of the largest trucking companies.
In order to counter the claims of the Washington Post, we wanted to find out how real drivers actually feel about the new regulations. Here’s what LiveTrucking readers had to say.
The last time the government said cleaner engines would cost us $3,500 per trk in wound up being $25,000 per trk. It also gave us lower fuel mileage and higher maintenance costs. As to lighter trailers??? That just means shippers will put more tonnage on trailers. I really don’t think we can afford for the government to save us any more money.
This is b*llshit!!! More regulations for big trucks every freaking day it seems, what about the airlines! What about the big cities, what about 4 wheelers! They pick on us cause they can, and we as Truckers are just talking shit bout standing up for ourselves instead of organizing ourselves and standing our ground! They need us as bad as we need our jobs, but damn how long we going to keep bending over and taking it up the tailpipe!!?????
They already have us so over regulated, over taxed tolls are astronomical. EPA emissions regulations are destroying the engines in the trucks. And consumers wonder why the goods in the stores keep going up and trucking companies can’t find drivers because no one wants this headache anymore. I’ve been driving 26 years. I used to love it but now I wish I never started. Like everything else the government screws up everything it touches
While not everyone shared this sentiment, an overwhelming majority of readers did.
The point is, if anyone wants to know what the trucking industry really thinks about a new piece of legislation the best bet is to go to the people who keep the industry moving — the professional truck drivers, not the suits in corner offices.
Individual drivers can allow themselves to be heard by continuing to support organizations that have valiantly battled these crippling regulations (like the OOIDA) and to continue to comment and share their opinions publicly.
What do you think? Continue this discussion in the comments below and on Facebook — we want to hear your thoughts.