LAS VEGAS — "A trucker has to be an optimist or else he wouldn’t be trucking."

That line — quoted from the oft-quoted comedian and commentator Will Rogers by American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves this morning — set the tone for the ATA’s 2009 management conference in Las Vegas.

After honoring participants in the ATA’s Share the Road program and America’s Road Team (similar to the OTA Road Knights here in Canada), Graves took the stage to update carriers on the state of the trucking industry and offered a roadmap of the future.

Off the bat, he half-joked that Las Vegas was the site of choice so to be "as far away from Washington as possible …

"Without actually being in California."

Sticking with the Vegas theme, Graves explained how, like trucking, Sin City has transformed itself over the years. He said trucking is learning to adapt to new flat earth market realities — "the world economy has become personal; for every job over here there’s someone on the other side of the world competing for it" — and closer to home, the industry has a myriad of challenges to overcome.

Just a few questions to ponder: How will trucking move more freight across more miles and maintain safety levels and reduce its environmental footprint? And how to attract professional drivers to the industry when they’re subjected to more scrutiny than ever?

"It’s up to the trucking industry to proactively answer those questions because if we don’t someone else will — someone less knowledgeable on trucking and more likely to get it wrong," Graves said to a packed theatre of member carriers and suppliers.

On this front, Graves said plainly that the Obama administration certainly has an appetite for regulatory intervention and the trucking industry seems to be an early target for the growing "alphabet soup" of government agencies.

"The regulatory winds are not blowing in our favor …

"The question is how you are able to deal with a myriad of mandates and still find enjoyment in running your business."

He cited Washington’s determination to pass climate change legislation and possible restrictions on in-cab communication technology as just two policy proposals that could negatively impact the trucking industry. 

On the latter issue, Graves is hoping cooler heads will lead to a pragmatic approach to the problem of distracted drivers, but warns that many government decision makers — including, perhaps, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood — are eying a "broader, more aggressive approach." 

Whatever the outcome, Graves predicted the policy that gets approved will "affect in-cab (operations) for years to come."

Graves, however, still had enough criticism left in the tank for Republicans in Congress, who have no reasonable response to bad ideas except to "just say no."

It’ll therefore be carriers and suppliers’ job to step up and offer fair solutions, by "leading with our chin."