I work in the transport industry in Australia and we are seeking an image just like the one on this page (semi-trucks.jpg) for use in a brochure that promotes modal shift from road to sea in terms of transport of goods. I am hopeful that you may have this image in a high res format (minimum 1MB file size) and would be willing to grant permission for us to use it in our brochure (circulated only in Australia to MPs and parliamentarians).

Would greatly appreciate any assistance you can offer.

Cheers, Robyn

The equivalent of all the oil imported by the USA (70% of the total oil budget) goes out the tailpipes of the US motor vehicle fleet. Seventy-five percent of all goods are shipped by motor truck. Rail is–all things considered–the cheapest, most efficient, safest, and fastest means of transporting people and goods. Since 1910, automobile road crashes have killed 60 million people and injured/disabled over 800 million worldwide. Every year 1.2 million die in road crashes and 40 million are injured/disabled. In the USA, 43 million perish annually and 3.5 million are injured/disabled. If the automobile were invented today, this death machine would not be allowed on any public road.

Though weight increases for tractor trailers is not the answer to the problem neither is increasing the volume of freight by railroad. Shippers and Receivers operate in a Just In Time, JIT, freight structure. This means that they ship and receive the inventory that they have instead of stock piling it to ship or use at a later date. This cuts down on labor and storage expenses. Trains can not transpose freight across the country in a timely manner. Trains also idle at over 25 gals of diesel per hour where a tractor trailer idles at only 1 gal of diesel per hour….and with the addition of APU’s, some tractor trailers idle at less than 2 gals of diesel per 8 to 12 hours. With society demanding a Burger King, MY WAY RIGHT AWAY, lifestyle, transporting freight by tractor trailer is still the most efficient means of transportation. Until Shippers & Receivers as well as society changes their attitude, Trucking will remain the most logical choice of freight distribution for many years to come.

Believe me, you do not want to share the road with them.
Scary – dangerous – threatening – intimidating. Enough said?

They do damage the roads disproportionately, but to increase tolls would increase shipping charges and that would lead to higher prices for YOU and the things you buy. Trains are more efficient, but they can’t get things to your local store like trucks can.

Longer trucks might not be as safe, but they would reduce congestion and reduce fuel consumption. They could hurt job security for truckers though.

I’m an environmentalist, but having worked at a truck manufacturer, I have a good understanding of what’s behind the industry. There is a lot of opportunity to save more fuel and some companies are doing their part, but it will take more education for owner operators and some trucking companies to get to where we need to be. The even higher price of diesel fuel (relative to gasoline), will make this happen very soon.

For reference, trucks are very efficient. 80,000 lbs at 6.5 mpg is like getting 150 mpg with a 3,500 lb car in terms of lbs transported per gallon of fuel. (That’s why they accelerate so slowly though).

Expand the passenger rail system and the number of cars will similarly fall. I have no problem telling you, I’d rather spend my commute reading a book/the paper on a train or even a bus than staring at the road in front of me.

The more we reduce the amount of fuel needed to do everything we do now (via better transportation options and higher efficiency), the easier it will be to replace the oil we use with other energy sources- electric vehicles and/or synthetic (not necessarily bio) fuels.

I’d like to see more happen with rail.