Trucking Search Offers Interesting Stats

While digging through every bit of information we could possibly lay our hands on regarding the trucking industry for this issue, we came across some intriguing statistics.

When we discovered the current price of gasoline is a full dollar cheaper than it was in 1981, when adjusted for inflation, no one in our office did cartwheels.

Analysts said the Midwest had the highest price increase, followed by states out west. These regions fared the worst because of the reformulated gasoline they rely on to limit pollution.

The price differential was almost 60 cents from Chicago to Atlanta for unleaded gasoline. Chicago went over the $2 per gallon mark in March.

As if the price of gas was not enough to keep you at home this summer, consider that the average person spends 36 hours per year sitting in traffic. According to a report by the Texas Transportation Institute, the same person spent only 11 hours in traffic in 1982. And residents of Los Angeles spent an average of 56 hours per year in the boiling hot, bumper-to-bumper traffic.

The report estimated such congestion costs an estimated $78 billion a year in wasted time and burned gasoline. We can only guess that the bulk of that must involve the intersection of U.S. Highway 412 and Thompson Street in Springdale.