This week is National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, where the men and women who keep the big rigs and semis and tractor trailer trucks moving cargo across this country get some well-deserved attention for a hard job that is all too often taken for granted. Being a commercial truck driver in the United States today is tough work for true professionals and everyone at the law firm of Kenneth J. Allen & Associates salutes each and every driver out there.
Consider this (stats from TruckInfo unless otherwise noted):
- There are around 3,500,000 men and women working as commercial truck drivers in America today. One in nine of these drivers are independent; the other 8/9 work for trucking companies.
- These truckers drive various kinds of vehicles; however, 2,000,000 of these trucks are the big, heavy tractor trailers.
- An 18-wheeler weighs on average 80,000 pounds.
- They drive billions of miles each year.
- They deliver the majority of the cargo freight in the country (over 70%).
- There are around half a million trucking companies in the U.S.A. Almost all of them (96%) operate 28 rigs or less – which means that there are only a few of the really big trucking companies operating today.
We salute the men and women who drive these big commercial trucks – Hats off to you on National Truck Driver Appreciation Week.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
