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Most have heard the outcome of MAP-21, the current highway funding law, for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which has said repeatedly that MAP-21 requires it to complete 29 new safety regulations within 27 months.

With the dust settling from last month’s elections — and the voters returning to Washington a still-divided government — it is going to be incumbent upon our leaders to find areas of broad agreement to build upon if we are going to move forward as a nation.

The recent $21 million jury verdict against a leading beverage manufacturer whose employee struck a woman pedestrian while driving a company vehicle sent shock waves through the trucking and fleet industries regarding the potential financial consequences of distracted driving.

We live in an age of electronic information. Computers, the Internet, iPhones, iPads, GPS . . . all these technological wonders work to make our lives easier, reduce paperwork and give us all more time to do other things.

Carriers have many reasons for maintaining good scores on the new Compliance, Safety, Accountability program introduced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

When the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration finally launched its Pre-Employment Screening Program in May 2010, it represented a huge leap forward for improving the safety of America’s highways.

Large and small carriers increasingly find themselves on opposite sides of a widening gulf when the topic is electronic logging devices — particularly when the issue is whether or not ELDs should be required by government mandate.

The country’s recent economic climate certainly illustrates how essential and strong the transportation component is to our way of life, but trucking has needed to navigate regulatory challenges as well.

Loss of event data recorder — or “black box” — information is one of the biggest problems in trucking accident litigation. While the market for EDR monitoring software has exploded in recent years, accident experts and attorneys are finding that much of this technology is incorrectly downloaded, analyzed and stored, creating legal and financial risks that can threaten the very existence of the company that makes use of it.

Safety is contagious — it benefits everyone. By sponsoring the national championships, American Trucking Associations gives thousands of drivers the opportunity to show the nation how safe truck drivers can be on the road.