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I just read the great news in your well-written article in Transport Topics, headlined “Truck Deaths Plunge 20%; NHTSA Says 2009 Was Safest Year on Record.”

About the two May 17 “rate setting” letters: It’s important for trucking companies to understand that we are the ones who set the rates.

Reading the May 24 “Opinion” column on how hard it would be for the smaller freight brokers to exist with a higher bond, my heart goes out to them, but my sympathies run with the trucking companies that use these brokers, small or large.

Review of the 2007 generation of diesel engines has been a very hot topic this year. At the annual American Trucking Associations Technology & Maintenance Council meeting, I was one of the panelists asked to score the performance of the 2007 engines based on TransAm’s experiences.

I recently had the opportunity to make an informal survey on in-cab distractions. I have been restoring an old Willys Utility Wagon, and I wanted to see if I could find a couple of leather bucket seats for it. I went to a local junkyard, and they told me to walk around and look in the vehicles and see if I could find a pair that I liked.

Iowa’s trucking industry lost a dear friend and valued leader this past week. John Ruan was one of the three founders of the Iowa Motor Truck Association.

The letter from [an official] of Road Safe America that appeared in the Feb. 1 edition contained a number of misstatements and misunderstandings.