Andy McCormick, 52, Henderson, KY
Professional driving experience: 31 years

“The pay’s going to have to come up and you’re going to have to make it less stressful on the drivers in order to turn things around. That means we’re going to have to build more roads to take care of the traffic. You're going to have to make it easier on the drivers.”

Edward Bosket, 56, Lake City, FL
Professional driving experience: 35 years

“Well, I thought we’ve been on a downturn for years and we still seem to be surviving, so I think it will take care of itself. We’ll find a way to deal with the problems we have today. We always have.”

Rich Forshey, 49, Wheeling, WV
Professional driving experience: 33 years.

“No. The price of fuel is high. You’re over-regulated, especially if you’re an American truck driver. They control every aspect of your life. They decide when you eat, when you sleep, how fast you go, what kind of equipment you run. They have people out inspecting your truck who don’t know anything about trucks. They have people in government telling you how to run your business that have never run a business. It doesn’t look good to me.”

Woody Miller, 64, Speedwell, TN
Professional driving experience: 40 years

“I think so. We certainly have better equipment than we did when I started. The question now is, do the guys get enough rest or are they pushing too hard?”

Leonard Martin, 41, San Antonio, TX
Professional driving experience: 20 years

“The industry has been taking steps backward for the last 15 years. As someone who used to teach at driving schools, I know we’re just putting ‘meat in the seat’ as we say. We’re not doing a good job of training, and there’s not a high quality of drivers like we used to have. In my opinion, a lot of the driving schools that are getting government kickbacks are just pushing students through. They’re not being properly trained, and that reflects poorly on the industry as a whole.”