Upcoming Events:
- April 2nd, 2025 – Southern Utah Trucking Association Charitable Golf Tournament
- April 14th – 18th, 2025 – CSS/CDS Fleet Safety Certification Courses
- April 18th, 2025 – Spring WarmUp Sporting Clay Tournament
- April 23rd, 2025 – Hours of Service / Logbook Seminar
- April 28th – 29th, 2025 – ZERO FATALITIES SAFETY SUMMIT
- May 7th – 9th, 2025 – Utah Trucking Association Management Conference & Trucking Expo
- June 6th – 7th, 2025 – Utah Trucking Association Truck Driving Championship
Announcements
Project impacts on I-84
East and Westbound I-84 lane closure starting a couple miles before the Morgan exit for about one mile (between mile markers 90.70 to 91.16) while crews are staging for upcoming bridge work. The closure will be in affect from Tuesday, 4/1, through Friday, 4/4, from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. One lane open at all times. Questions may be directed to the project hotline at 801.838.8361 or email at i84weberriverbridge@utah.gov.
Events:
19th Annual SUTA Charity Golf Tournament (April 2nd, 2025)
2025 NATMI CSS/CDS Fleet Safety Certification Courses (April 14th – 18th, 2025)
HOS/Logbook Seminar April 23rd, 2025
Utah Trucking Association / North American Trailer 2025 Spring WarmUp Sporting Clay Tournament ( April 18th, 2025)
2025 Management Conference & Trucking Expo (May 7th – 9th, 2025)
2025 Utah Trucking Association Truck Driving Championship (June 6th – 7th, 2025)
ZERO FATALITIES SAFETY SUMMIT
You’re invited to join traffic safety officials and advocates for the 2025 Zero Fatalities Safety Summit, April 28-29, at the Mountain America Exposition Center in Sandy, Utah. The summit will include presentations and sessions on topics that are related to traffic safety, pedestrian and bike safety, enforcement, engineering, driver education, child passenger safety, occupant
protection, trucking, DEI, and other topics related to reaching our goal of Zero Fatalities.
The 2025 Safety Summit is an opportunity for traffic safety officials and advocates to share experiences, opportunities, and successes to improve safety in our communities.
Register before March 7 for early bird pricing.
Resources:
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Utah Trucking Association 401K
Boost Your Retirement Savings with Increased 401k Catch-Up Contributions
Exciting news! Starting in 2025, you’ll have the opportunity to increase your retirement savings. The SECURE Act 2.0 introduces a new catch-up contribution rule that allows those turning age 60-63 in 2025 to contribute an additional $11,250 per year to their 401(k) accounts.
For detailed information about this valuable opportunity, please review the attached document. We have included a link to schedule a financial planning meeting with our 401k advisors at OneDigital. Please note, these planning meetings are offered at no charge to our 401k participants.
News:
ATA spoke. EPA listened
| By Chris Spear President & CEO |
| We spoke, they listened: EPA announced the Trump Administration is reopening Phase 3 Greenhouse Gas emissions standards and reviewing the federal NOx standard. ATA spent months laying groundwork for the administration to make this significant decision. Last summer, we met with President Trump and his advisors at Trump National Doral in Miami to reopen a dialogue on trucking concerns. We armed President Trump and his staff with facts and data, backed by industry-leading research from ATRI and the personal testimonies and real-world experiences of you, our member companies, and our partners throughout the Clean Freight Coalition. We testified on Capitol Hill, putting the industry’s leading technical experts in front of the nation’s top lawmakers to explain why unfunded, one-size-fits-all technology mandates on an industry as complex and dynamic as trucking is the wrong approach and only slows environmental progress. And when the ATA Executive Committee convened at our headquarters in February, we welcomed two top officials from EPA for an in-depth discussion to explain the correct path forward. They heard us loud and clear. Last week, ATA commended President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin for demonstrating bold leadership and restoring common sense to our nation’s environmental laws. After years of pushing back against destructive regulatory overreach, a reopening of this rulemaking puts us on offense to set sensible policies that are achievable in the short run and sustainable over the long haul. By working with EPA to reset realistic national emissions standards, and by partnering with our congressional champions to curtail California’s future waiver authority, we’re taking the keys away from unelected bureaucrats at the California Air Resources Board and restoring the federal leadership that our industry needs and deserves on this issue. Amid these positive developments, ATA’s event season has kicked into high gear. Last week, TMC shattered an attendance record by bringing nearly 5,400 members of the trucking industry together in Nashville for the 2025 Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition. It was a timely reminder, given the news out of EPA, why the ATA Federation is the place where industry-leading standards are set. The technical expertise in those halls and throughout our companies is precisely why the nation’s top decisionmakers turn to us for guidance when writing the nation’s rules. Hundreds of leaders from ATA’s Moving & Storage Conference also convened in Nashville for their annual meeting. Through a variety of educational sessions and panel discussions, independent moving companies, van lines, agents, state moving associations, and suppliers charted the industry’s future. I hope to see you at one of our upcoming events. Check out ATA’s full 2025 events schedule. |
Scholarships for High School Seniors, from TMC
Dear State Trucking Associations:
TMC has 11 scholarships available for high school seniors looking to begin, or continue, their medium/heavy truck training. Please help to support the future of the industry by making your members aware of these scholarships. The applications can be found at https://tmc.trucking.org/scholarships. The application deadline is 4/15/25.
Thank you for spreading the word.
Erin Brennan
TMC Future Technician Scholarship Committee Chair
Despite the Noise, Well-positioned Carriers Should Be Optimistic About Freight in 2025
Tariffs are creating uncertainty for carriers that have weathered a prolonged freight recession. As capacity shrinks and demand rises, the surviving fleets will ’start to feel better,’ ATA’s Costello tells truckload carriers.
Lawyer Shares Insight Into Nuclear Verdicts Escalation, Rising Jury Bias
As plaintiffs are securing large jury awards against trucking companies, proactive defense strategies are crucial for fleets’ protection. Trucking companies are facing an unprecedented legal threat as plaintiff attorneys secure record-breaking“nuclear” and “thermonuclear” verdicts in the U.S. Between 2013 and 2022, there were 1,288 trucking verdicts with verdicts exceeding $10 million (all figures USD), and average verdict increased 967% in that time, reaching $22.3 million.
ATA: Revisiting GHG 3, Automatic Emergency Braking Under Trump 2.0
ATA: Revisiting GHG 3, Automatic Emergency Braking Under Trump 2.0 The American Trucking Associations has already been talking to the administration about addressing unrealistic greenhouse gas rules – but there also are new rules the association will be pushing for, such as automatic emergency braking.
Truck Tonnage Bounces Back with Stronger February
Trucking activity in the United States surged 3% in February, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) reported Tuesday in its For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index. The jump marks the largest sequential increase in several years following a slight decline in January.
EPA Aims to Roll Back Emissions Regulations
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Wednesday the environmental authority is “reconsidering” notorious heavy-duty truck emissions standards—as well as EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases altogether. “The American auto industry has been hamstrung by the crushing regulatory regime of the last administration. As we reconsider nearly one trillion dollars of regulatory costs, we will abide by the rule of law to protect consumer choice and the environment,” Zeldin said.
How Bad is the Driver Shortage? Really.
Hiring and retaining drivers is uniquely difficult among for-hire, long-haul, truckload carriers. Often dubbed “the driver shortage,” the issue could worsen as freight demand rises.
Trump Taps Derek Barrs for FMCSA Head Amid Turmoil
The Trump administration has moved to install permanent leadership at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, nominating Derek Barrs after Adrienne Camire’s brief and unexplained disappearance from the agency’s top post. The nomination of Barrs, a former Florida Highway Patrol chief with more than three decades in public safety, follows a string of leadership changes at the agency.
What Truckers Want DOGE to Tackle
Overdrive recently asked its readers a question, too: Do you have insights into unsafe, abusive, fraudulent or wasteful practices within the government or industry? After taking suggestions from a variety of operators, the areas earmarked in the chart rose to the fore.
Know Your Truck, and Inspection Rules
Drivers must be familiar with the vehicle inspection rules. Being bullied into driving an unsafe vehicle could cost you your license, or your life.
ASCE Gives US Highway Conditions a D+ Grade
A comprehensive evaluation of the nation’s infrastructure networks determined the conditions of the country’s highways are at a near-failing grade. In its quadrennial infrastructure report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers issued a D+ grade for the country’s intricate network of roadways, the principal arena for the trucking industry’s operations.
How Shipping Costs Will Change in Upcoming LTL Classification Shift
Most shippers’ top concern about the LTL trucking classification overhaul coming this summer is how it will affect their costs. The National Motor Freight Code overhaul will focus on density, so heavier shipments will become cheaper and lighter ones will become more expensive.
Court Reduces Nuclear Judgement in Wabash Trailer Underride Case
A U.S. Circuit Court has reduced the financial penalty levied against Wabash last year in a fatal 2019 motor vehicle accident in which a passenger vehicle struck the back of a nearly stopped 2004 Wabash trailer. St. Louis jury last September reached a $462 million verdict against trailer manufacturer Wabash National in a case stemming from a May 2019 fatal crash in which a passenger vehicle hit the rear of a 2004 Wabash trailer being pulled by now-defunct Akron, Ohio-based GDS Express. A Circuit Court last week ordered the punitive damages award reduced to $108 million with the compensatory damages award remaining at $11.5 million.
