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As many as three of every four crashes involving cars and heavy trucks are caused by automobile “driver factors” such as speeding or failure to stay in a lane, according to a report released last week by American Trucking Associations.

Trucking fleets wasted some $27 billion on fuel and wages as their vehicles sat in traffic jams around the country during 2011, according to a new report from Texas A&M University’s Transportation Institute.

Spurred by the demands of newer diesel engines, changing emissions technology and escalating competition, truck-stop operators say they have begun placing more fuels and other products where drivers can find them fast and buy them with a single swipe of a credit card.

Used Class 8 truck sales declined in December from a year earlier as vehicle prices increased and average mileage trickled lower, according to ACT Research.

Sales of Class 8 used trucks and orders for new trailers fell in November from the previous month, according to ACT Research.

While the attention of the nation was focused for much of the year on the costly and protracted presidential election campaign, trucking probably will look back on 2012 as a turning point for the adoption of natural gas as a viable alternative fuel for heavy-duty fleets.

Truck-involved highway fatalities inched up 1.9% to 3,757 in 2011 from 3,686 the year before, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported last week.

I just heard about the impending pilot shortage and the new regulatory requirement for 1,500 hours to qualify — five times the existing requirement.