Interesting Facts About the Trucking Industry Continued..

For those of you who didn't get enough from our post last week, we continue with.....

Strange & Interesting Facts About the Trucking Industry:

6.  Are you Articulate?

Semi trucks are called by many different names depending on the region of the world they're located in...  In the Americas you'll hear "tractor trailers", "big-rigs", "18 wheelers", or "semis".  In Canada you could hear a "transport truck".  Australians may refer to them as "singles" and in Britain & Ireland they are called "articulated lorries" or "artic" for short.  

7.  Who's Afraid of the Big (Bad) Rig?

Semi trucks have been featured in many movies as the "villain" character.  Stephen Spielberg's 1971 feature, Duel, has a Peterbilt tanker truck as the villain of the film.  Stephen King's 1986 feature, Maximum Overdrive, also has big-rigs as primary villainous characters.  John Dahl's 2001 film, Joy Ride, featuring the late Paul Walker also has a faceless villain driving a semi truck that chases down the protagonists of the film. 

8.  Planning on Accidents

Commercial Trucks are involved in accidents much less frequently than people may believe.  In fact statistically trucks are 3 times less likely to be involved in an accident than a regular motor vehicle.  In addition, only 16% of all truck driving accidents are due to the fault of the truck driver!

9.  Uncle Sam Loves Truckers

Over 33 billion dollars a year is paid by commercial trucks in federal and state highway user taxes.  That's a lot of dough that goes into the upkeep of our roads and interstate highways benefiting not only truck drivers but the average passenger vehicle driver as well. 

10.  Got Your Rubber?

With an estimated 3 million Class 8 trucks registered in the US, and 18 wheels per truck we're looking at a grand total of 54 million truck tires on the road.  That's 5 billion, 400 million pounds of rubber!

As a truck dealer in Fontana, Prime Time Equipment works hard to get you the right heavy duty equipment at the right price.  From trailers in Fontana to used semi trucks, we are here to help you, providing exceptional service and making sure you can safely hit the roads with equipment you can trust.

Interesting Facts About the Trucking Industry

We've been scouring the web for Interesting Facts about the Trucking Industry and have compiled quite a few here for you.  A lot of this info you can find on such sites as Wikipedia and other blogs or websites.

We love this unique and crazy industry we call Trucking and love to spread the cheer that it brings into the lives of those who may not even realize it.  So, without further ado, your...

Top 10 Strange & Interesting Facts 

About the Trucking Industry:

1.  The First Operating Trucks In the US Were Used for ................

  The Military!  World War I saw the first major use of trucks to haul equipment over long distances.

2.  "If You Bought It, A Truck Brought It" ......................................

From retail stores to our hospitals and schools, gas stations, grocery chains and even water supplies, almost everything you can put your hands on is dependent upon trucks.  In fact over 80% of all communities in the US rely exclusively on truck deliveries for all of their consumer goods.

As wikipedia mentions, "Even before a product reaches store shelves, the raw materials and other stages of production materials that go into manufacturing any given product are moved by trucks."

3.  To the Moon and Back Again (... and Again ... and Again) ............

According to statistics, semi trucks in the United States drive approximately 140 billion miles each year.  This is the equivalent of driving to the moon and back to Earth 293,000 times!

4.  How Many Stars are on that Flag Again?

Over one-third of the operating heavy duty trucks in the US are registered in only 3 states -- California, Texas and Florida.  Used Semi Trucks in California can be found for a great price at Prime Time Equipment, a Fontana Truck Dealership.

5.  Unemployed?  No such thing!

The trucking industry employs an estimated 10 million people in jobs relating directly to trucking.  With an estimated 300 million population in the US, 3 out of every 100 people owe their fiscal earnings to the Trucking Industry.

Can't get enough of these Strange and Interesting Facts?  We'll continue our list in our next blog post...