Nothing like a railroader badmouthing the trucking industry

One of the main reasons I started this blog was to educate people on what it takes to be truck driver and the issues these men and women deal with everyday. So when we settled in to read our morning paper and this attached letter to the editor got our blood boiling. I knew I needed to share this example of yet another misconception regarding truckers. The letter's author, who is associated with the railroad, claims trucks don't pay for road repairs, etc.  Well with out boring you with too many statistics let me tell you that according to the USDOT Commercial Motor Vehicle Facts sheet published in December 2010 there were:

• 9,006,738 registered large trucks in 2008
• that traveled 227,458,000 miles

From those statistics let me add that a:

• highway usage tax is paid annually in the amount $550 for each registered vehicle  
• federal fuel tax of .24 is paid on every gallon of fuel purchased 
• fuel tax is also levied by states for every gallon - Ohio's is .28

So using that information you can see that Owner Operators and trucking companies paid:

• 4.9+ billion dollars under the FHUT in 2008 (9 B x $550)
• 9.2 + billion in federal fuel tax (using average mpg of 6 per truck gives us 4.9+ billion / 6)
• a portion of the 1.82 billion in motor fuel tax collected by Ohio in 2006 (best stats I could find) (Also found that in 2006 Ohio was fourth highest in motor fuel tax in 2006 behind PA,RI and NC.)

Let me also add that over the last four years Vince as an Owner Operator has paid an average of $1718 annually in tolls to states all over the country.  Remember when you pay $2-$10 for a toll he is pays anywhere from $10-$50 for the same miles covered and those tolls are also suppose to go to maintaining the roads.

I think it is clear that truckers aren't getting a free ride on the roads and are paying a fair share considering there were over 255,917,664 registered vehicles on the roads in 2008 who didn't pay the additional FHUT or extra for tolls. (Doing additional math also shows that large trucks made up only 3.52 percent of the total number of vehicle on the road in 2008).  There were also misleading statements in the letter like the trucks weighing 100,000 lbs, (average is under 80,000 lbs and over 80,000 are usually wide loads, that yes pay additional costs for permits) that I would like to address but I have other things to do today.

So I will just say I really wish that all these negative Nellies would PLEASE QUIT SAYING THAT THE TRUCKS ARE TAKING OVER AND RUINING THE ROADS!  Especially since they, like everyone else, enjoy eating, being clothed, having vehicles to drive (how do they think cars get to dealerships with no miles) etc. What the federal and state governments choose to do with the money collected is up to the politicians and government officials. If they aren't maintaining the roads it is up to people like this author to hold them accountable, not blame the truck drivers while not so subtly trying to promote the railroads.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2011/02/26/bigger-heavier-trucks-wrecking-our-roads-not-paying-fair-share.html?sid=101