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The national average price of regular gasoline continued to climb, gaining 17 cents in the past two weeks to $2.66 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations released Sunday.

Since 1978, when I started operations, I have watched the trucking industry continually tear itself down. There will always be another fool with enough money to buy a cheap truck, charge below-profit rates and go out of business, while the next fool is in line to take his or her place.

An emphasis on driver behavior runs through an 18-point plan developed by American Trucking Associations to reduce crashes involving cars and trucks. Chilling statistics illuminate why this kind of focus is essential.

A House cap-and-trade energy bill would “add another layer of volatility” to the already erratic price of diesel fuel that could jeopardize the economic viability of trucking companies, Tommy Hodges, first vice chairman of American Trucking Associations, said last week.

A coalition of industry groups including American Trucking Associations petitioned congressional leaders to pass legislation to rein in “excessive speculation and opaque trading activity” in oil markets.

The Teamsters union, which already has agreed to pay cuts for workers it represents at YRC Worldwide Inc., said it is considering whether to reopen its labor contract to help the less-than-truckload carrier conserve cash.

WASHINGTON — American Trucking Associations has called on Congress and the Department of Transportation to back an 18-point plan to reduce truck-involved crashes, with a particular emphasis on driver behavior.

Federal funds to stimulate highway projects are moving in fits and starts through the bureaucratic funding pipeline, delivering new work for some fleets while others get no benefit from the $26.7 billion economic recovery effort.

Truck and engine manufacturer Navistar Inc. last week leveled new allegations against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accusing the federal regulator of privately and illegally giving its competitors the green light to deploy a selective catalyst reduction emission control technology that could be implemented only with an “illegal relaxation” of EPA’s 2010 nitrogen oxide emission standard.

Trucking industry groups closed ranks in support of Anne Ferro to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, after the Teamsters union and a handful of advocacy groups said they opposed her nomination.