If there was one thing that Americans gained a greater appreciation of during the pandemic, it was recognizing the myriad hands that keep our society functioning. Amid the chaos, there was an outpouring of gratitude for our nation’s truck drivers, who persevered through adversity to keep stores stocked and hospitals supplied. This acknowledgment was well-deserved, but the true meaning of “essential” extends far beyond the urgency of the moment.
“Essential” extends into perpetuity. It means “indispensable,” and the statistics of the trucking industry bear this out:
11.46 billion tons of goods are transported by trucks each year.
80 percent of U.S. communities rely exclusively on trucks to receive their goods.
Nearly 14 million trucks are in operation.
327.48 billion miles are traveled annually by trucks.
8.4 million people were employed in trucking-related jobs in 2022,…
