This is not quite true. What's happened recently is a combination of more effective enforcement on the regulatory side, combined with a ruthless pursuit of efficiency on the industry side. This combination of factors has increased the number of trucking jobs beyond what was historically necessary. (That's right. Ironically, all of the automation being added in the trucking industry has actually increased the number of drivers necessary substantially.)
Think what would happen if tomorrow the government said from now on every doctor can see no more than 2 patients per day. (Oh, and by the way, we're installing cameras in every hospital, urgent care, clinic, and private practice office to verify that no one exceeds that limit.) Now imagine that at the same time hospitals said they would no longer work with off site providers of any sort because it increases efficiency to have all of their physicians on site full time. Well, all of a sudden you would need about 6 to 8 times the number of doctors you have today. (At a minimum.)
This is somewhat of a simplification, and it doesn't get across the full depth and implications of the changes, but it gives you a good idea of what's happened to the trucking industry over the past few years.
>Think what would happen if tomorrow the government said from now on every doctor can see no more than 2 patients per day.
Well, if doctors were killing patients at the rate truckers were killing other drivers then, yea, hopefully we would. (Honestly tired doctors kill a lot in the US as it is, medical mistakes are the 3rd leading cause of death).
Well, I was just trying to put changes to trucking regulations into an easy to understand form. I wasn't passing judgement on whether or not we need lower doctor/patient ratios. I don't really know enough to give a meaningful yea or nay on questions like that.
Automation here prevents underreporting and other abuses - it's regulatory automation, so an alternative would be to hire more regulators to review documents. Automating this unsatisfying work increases the amount of law applied for the same cost.
Think what would happen if tomorrow the government said from now on every doctor can see no more than 2 patients per day. (Oh, and by the way, we're installing cameras in every hospital, urgent care, clinic, and private practice office to verify that no one exceeds that limit.) Now imagine that at the same time hospitals said they would no longer work with off site providers of any sort because it increases efficiency to have all of their physicians on site full time. Well, all of a sudden you would need about 6 to 8 times the number of doctors you have today. (At a minimum.)
This is somewhat of a simplification, and it doesn't get across the full depth and implications of the changes, but it gives you a good idea of what's happened to the trucking industry over the past few years.