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On June 1, two of the biggest players in the railroad industry will each grab one side of a wishbone that joins somewhere around Cleveland and make a wish.

Although Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater declined an invitation to speak at the Truckload Carriers Association Safety Council’s annual meeting, more than 200 safety managers were ready to deliver a message to him: More regulation and tougher enforcement will not produce safer highways unless trucking management is fully committed to safety.

State, provincial and federal officials are spreading out across the continent, looking for unsafe trucks and truckers, and at the same time carrying the message that the vast majority of professional drivers are safe — and very much appreciated.

The United States and Canada have a plan in the works to slash border crossing times for truck drivers.

The owners of Knight Transportation, one of the most successful truckload carriers in the country, are backing a new logistics company headed by three former Schneider Logistics executives.

The pump price of diesel slid to an eight-week low last week, with a national average of $1.066 a gallon, just before the summer travel season began.

Step by step, inch by inch, Congress is moving closer to consensus on how best to improve truck safety. One big step came last week when Rep. Frank Wolf signaled his willingness to consider creating a separate motor carrier administration and expressed his commitment to getting the job done this year.

In politics, it often seems there are no new ideas, only new leaders advocating the same themes, repackaged for a new generation of voters. Remember 1988 and the television commercials showing toxic waste pouring into Boston Harbor? As the 2000 election season heats up, expect to see commercials talking about the horrors of suburban sprawl and smog.

Keeping in step with their parent organizations, several foundations affiliated with trucking trade groups are changing their emphasis.