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Workforce equipment, technology, regulations and demographics continue to change, but truck driving has and will always be more than a job — it’s a lifestyle. Perhaps nothing illustrates this more today than watching drivers use smart phones and tablets.

The trucking industry is addicted to hauling air. Trailers that ideally should be rolling down the road filled to capacity are burning precious fuel just to carry a couple of skids 1,000 miles.

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This Opinion piece appears in the Jan. 13 print edition of Transport Topics.

This Opinion piece appears in the Jan. 6 print edition of Transport Topics.

This Opinion piece appears in the Dec. 23 & 30 print edition of Transport Topics.

This Opinion piece appears in the Dec. 16 print edition of Transport Topics.

It’s that time of the year again. The roads are filled with people hurrying to their holiday travel destinations and parties and trying to get gifts purchased.

The United States wants to do business with truck fleets that are more fuel-efficient, better for the environment and cheaper to operate.

For 25 years or longer, operating ratio (the ratio of operating expenses to operating revenue) has been a common measure of profitability and efficiency in the truckload transportation industry.

At No. 21 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, Prime Inc. is a major trucking industry player. The company has more than 5,000 drivers, most of them trained by Prime’s safety director, Don Lacy. Many, however, have had additional coaching in weight control and exercise by fellow driver Siphiwe Baleka.