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Parents of a teenage driver killed when his car went under the side of a semitrailer were awarded $400,000 by a Texas jury, which found the manufacturer negligent for not having side underride guards on its trailer.

In an effort to get more options for their customers, the nation’s freight brokers — in conjunction with the railroads — are trying to cajole non-traditional rail shippers into using intermodal transportation.

The trucking industry needs to reach into its pockets and come up with the money to pay for more parking spaces for big rigs, Natso Inc., the national trade association representing the truck stop and travel plaza industry, said last week.

Along with all the attention focused on choosing the next president on Nov. 7 came the less dramatic task of voting on the public referendums found on 42 state ballots. In at least eight states, those initiative included issues of importance to trucking and transportation.

State trucking associations were still gauging the effect of changes at the legislative level last week, following the Nov. 7 general election.

Following federal training guidelines could leave a company with employees who are unprepared for the rigors of transporting hazardous materials, according to two experts on the subject.

Fuel prices have been trickling downward, and are now off seven cents over the past five weeks. But that is a pittance compared with the skyrocketing increases of months gone by. The national average retail price for diesel is still more than $1.60 a gallon.

More than 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials move through the United States daily. Many of these materials are products of chemistry that are transformed into the medicines, agricultural products, fuels, construction materials, clothing, shampoo, make-up, laundry detergent and other goods and services that make people’s lives better, healthier and safer.

What would Thanksgiving be without turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and beer? Beer? you ask.