You may know that our country could not operate without truckers.
Our food, fuel, mail, building supplies and just about anything you can think of is transported by trucks.
Essentially, our country would stop running if truckers stopped trucking.
Below are some other facts you may or may not know about trucking:
There are approximately 5.6 million semi trailers registered in the U.S., which is about three times the number of semi trucks.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, the average number of miles for long distance trucks is 100,000 miles a year. And even though semi’s make up only 15% of commercial trucks, they log 42% of all miles traveled yearly by CMV‘s!
Freightliner is the top selling semi truck followed by Navistar International, Peterbilt and Kenworth. Last is Volvo, the guys who also own the “Mack” truck.
The max weight for a U.S. semi is 80,000 pounds, with a full trailer. But in Australia, they can have “road trains” consisting of up to four trailers, weighing more than 300,000 pounds! Whew!
Fuel mileage in semis range from 4 to 8 mpg’s but when going up a steep hill, it can drop as low as 2.9 mpg. This year, new industry standards will require new trucks to get an average of 7.2 mpg’s on a level road.
Jack-knife accidents, where the truck’s rear wheels lock and the trailer swings around to meet the truck at an angle, are not as common as they used to be because of the required anti lock braking systems they’ve had since 1997. But rollover accidents do still occur. Rollovers happen when the driver encounters a loose surface like gravel and over corrects in an attempt to get back onto the pavement.
The cult classic trucking movie, Convoy, was based off a country song of the same title by C.W. McCall.
“It was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June in a Kenworth pullin’ logs, a cab-over Pete with a reefer on, and a Jimmy haulin’ hogs. We’s headin’ for bear on I-one-O ’bout a mile outta Shakeytown, I says ‘Pigpen, this here’s Rubber Duck, and I’m about to put the hammer down.'”
Translation: If you don’t understand those words, then you’re not a trucker!
