The trucking industry: - employs 7.6 million people, including 2.7 million drivers.
- includes approximately 265,000 companies, of which 54 percent operate six or fewer trucks.- has issued more than 6.3 million commercial driver's licenses.
Mileage and tonnage:
- Commercial trucks logged more than 283 billion miles in 1991, equivalent to 1.2 million trips from the Earth to the moon. They logged more than 13 percent of the total motor vehicle miles driven.
- The industry transports 42 percent of the total tonnage shipped by all modes; it hauls 2.7 billion tons of freight annually.
- The average length of haul is 391 miles.
- The average combination unit travels 60,000 miles per year, the equivalent of driving almost 21/2 times around the world.
- Trucks haul 72.3 percent of all manufactured goods.
- Approximately $20 billion is paid annually by truckers in federal and state highway-user taxes.
Safety:
- Between 1981 and 1991, medium and heavy truck vehicle miles of travel increased 38.7 percent, yet the fatal accident rate dropped by 40 percent.
- In 1991, more people died from falling in their own home than from fatal accidents involving medium and heavy trucks.