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The head of the Maine Department of Transportation told truckers that falling speed limits caused by development along the state’s major highways were threatening the productivity of the industry.

Pressure is building for increased trucking productivity, especially in the West, according to participants at the Western Highway Institute’s annual meeting.

The chairman of American Trucking Associations took some heat from association members on the issues of a 65 mph speed limit for commercial motor vehicles and installing electronic data recorders on trucks.

No previous attempts to string together a national network of local same-day package delivery companies have been truly successful, but two more companies are ready to give it a shot.

Professional Transportation Group’s chief executive and majority shareholder, Dennis A. Bakal, is selling his stock to a Kentucky-based company that owns controlling interest in U.S. Trucking of Charleston, S.C.

Insurance coverage and rates are once again big news in trucking circles, as underwriters raise their rates for liability and cargo insurance and threaten to stop writing policies in some regions or for trucking operations with poor claims records.

For the past four years, my colleagues and I have watched the “good times roll,” both for large and small trucking companies: a booming economy, low insurance premiums, low interest rates, low fuel prices, reduced workers’ compensation costs — and until about a year and a half ago, minimal problems attracting quality drivers.

A report by the University of Michigan provides additional evidence that automobile drivers are four times more likely to be at fault when cars and heavy-duty trucks collide.

In the news this morning: Hertz ends talks to buy Ford truck leasing unit; FTC withdraws trucker's subpoena; and Liberty Mutual study finds many trucker injuries caused by jumping from rig.

Truck drivers and other transportation workers will find it harder to cheat on drug and alcohol tests if a new Department of Transportation proposal takes effect.