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In this issue we celebrate trucking’s first century with a look back at the industry’s early days, including front pages of issues of Transport Topics that carried momentous news. And we review the highlights, and some “lowlights,” of events that affected trucking during 1999.

In September 1998, the Nebraska State Patrol Carrier Enforcement Division staged surprise truck inspections in Norfolk, Neb. Some truckers were indeed surprised. There were a total of 527 violations that cost $7,760 in fines. The local media picked up the story and ran with it, to the dismay of Nebraska trucking members. Surprise inspections in Grand Island and Hastings in 1998 and 1999 yielded similar numbers of violations and a higher fine total.

The track left by diesel prices in 1999 offered a wild ride, from the lowest level of a decade to the highest point seen in years, with several ups and downs along the way.

The year’s hot debate over which government agency should regulate trucking safety – be it the Federal Highway Administration or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – was resolved in a way that left the question moot and the motor carrier industry delighted.

Congress made little headway on trucking-related issues in 1999 aside from creating the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Reform of the 65-year-old rules governing how long interstate truckers can drive has been the subject of heated discussion for years — among regulators, lawmakers, safety advocates and industry officials — but it wasn’t until 1999 that there was significant movement on the issue.

The last year of the 20th century was a period of rebuilding for American Trucking Associations, which began a top-to-bottom restructuring in 1998.

A booming economy generated strong demand for freight hauling, but rising costs for fuel, equipment, insurance and driver wages took a toll on many fleets in 1999.

United Parcel Service’s decision to go public provided the biggest spark in an otherwise quiet year for trucking stocks.

Trucking labor historians will look back on 1999 and note that it was the year a second Hoffa took over the helm at the Teamsters union and frustrations with port operations on both coasts came to a head.