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U.S. consumer confidence rose this month for the fourth consecutive time, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Since 1978, when I started operations, I have watched the trucking industry continually tear itself down. There will always be another fool with enough money to buy a cheap truck, charge below-profit rates and go out of business, while the next fool is in line to take his or her place.

An emphasis on driver behavior runs through an 18-point plan developed by American Trucking Associations to reduce crashes involving cars and trucks. Chilling statistics illuminate why this kind of focus is essential.

A coalition of industry groups including American Trucking Associations petitioned congressional leaders to pass legislation to rein in “excessive speculation and opaque trading activity” in oil markets.

The Teamsters union, which already has agreed to pay cuts for workers it represents at YRC Worldwide Inc., said it is considering whether to reopen its labor contract to help the less-than-truckload carrier conserve cash.

A House cap-and-trade energy bill would “add another layer of volatility” to the already erratic price of diesel fuel that could jeopardize the economic viability of trucking companies, Tommy Hodges, first vice chairman of American Trucking Associations, said last week.

Trucking industry groups closed ranks in support of Anne Ferro to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, after the Teamsters union and a handful of advocacy groups said they opposed her nomination.

Federal funds to stimulate highway projects are moving in fits and starts through the bureaucratic funding pipeline, delivering new work for some fleets while others get no benefit from the $26.7 billion economic recovery effort.