Editorial

Yes, it’s still impossible to pay your bills with “cautious optimism.” But that state of mind is a lot better than what we were hearing just a few months ago when we asked any gathering of truckers about the outlook for their businesses.

Welcome aboard Anne Ferro as the fourth-ever administrator of trucking’s chief U.S. regulator, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Consistent with the notion that every cloud has a silver lining, achievers in the logistics business are finding opportunities in difficult times.

For the past three years under federal hours-of-service regulations, fatal crashes involving heavy trucks have declined, last year reaching the lowest level since the U.S. Department of Transportation began keeping the records.

The settlement that American Trucking Associations negotiated with the Port of Long Beach last week is the kind of compromise that is so difficult to accomplish: Both sides got most of what they wanted.

There was further evidence last week of the growing link between fuel prices and Wall Street, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 10,000 for the first time in a year, and the price of crude oil exceeded $75 a barrel for the first time since September 2008.

“That which does not kill you makes you stronger.” That would have been an appropriate theme for the 2009 American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition.

Twice in recent days, the New York Times has uncharacteristically turned its attention to the trucking industry, and twice it has tried to give trucking a black eye, strongly implying that the industry is unsafe and has little interest in getting safer.

The Department of Transportation will host a two-day summit this week on problems surrounding distracted driving and solutions to combat what has become a national epidemic.

If you’re in the trucking business, you need to be at American Trucking Associations’ annual Management Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas on Oct. 4.