Want to amaze your friends and influence people? Then master the lessons in this handy title: The 2015 Pocket Guide to Transportation by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Well, maybe if you were Tom Brady people wouldn’t be totally annoyed by your spouting off trivia about the U.S. transportation system – so that “amazing and influential” part is a slight exaggeration.
Still, there’s fun to be had with factoids gleaned from the slim 64-page volume. Along with the statistics, it’s chock full o’ charts and graphs about all things planes, trains, and automobiles – and trucks, of course, and ships and pipelines.
Why should you care? If you’re reading American Trucker, you very likely have a vested interest in the condition of the nation’s roads and bridges, for starters.
And if you make your living driving a truck, chances are good that, on occasion, you’re sitting around waiting on a load and tired of playing Angry Birds or Bejeweled on your phone. Maybe you could stand to learn something, or at least have something to talk about other than, you know, Tom Brady.
But maybe you’re already a know-it-all. Let’s find out.
Take the First-Ever American Trucker Transportation Trivia Quiz (FEATTTQ), brought to you by the fine folks at your USDOT-BTS.
- How many miles of public roads are there in the US? a) 2 million b) 4 million c) 10 million
- What percentage of the pavement in the National Highway System is in “not acceptable” condition? a) 7% b) 27% c) 47%
- What state has the most structurally deficient bridges? a) Pennsylvania b) Iowa c) South Dakota
- As a percentage of GDP, transportation is a larger part of the U.S. economy than a) education b) food c) health care
- As a percentage of household expenses, Americans spend more on transportation than a) food b) health care c) clothing
- How many Americans typically drive to work alone, compared to carpooling, transit, walking, etc.? a) 66% b) 76% c) 86%
- What’s the most congested urban area in the U.S., in terms of annual hours of delay per commute? a) Washington, DC-VA-MD b) Los Angeles, CA c) San Francisco, CA
- The busiest U.S. land port of entry is San Ysidro, CA. How many more people make incoming crossings from Mexico through there compared to Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY, the busiest incoming location for crossings from Canada? a) twice as many b) five times c) 11 times
- Which border has the most incoming truck crossings a) Mexico b) Canada c) Cuba
- What’s the busiest truck port of entry? a) Laredo, TX b) Detroit, MI c) Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY
- Trucking hauls what percentage of freight within the U.S., by value? a) 53% b) 63% c) 73%
- And finally, as a reminder to be safe out there: How many heavy-truck occupants were injured in accidents in 2012, the most recent data cited? a) 5,000 b) 15,000 c) 25,000
That was easy – or no? The answers are here.
