Motor Vehicle Highway System Overview

The percentage of trucks subjected to roadside inspection and subsequently taken out of service dropped for the third straight year, reaching 22.3 percent in 2007 (Table 3-2-3: Roadside Truck Inspections).

The median age of trucks on our nation’s highways has shown a slight increase over the past 4 years, reaching 7.3 years in 2007. The median age of cars has been increasing since the mid-1990s, reaching 9.2 years in 2007 (Table 3-2-1: Median Age of Automobiles and Trucks in Op eration in the United States).

In 2007, the total cost of operating an automobile over the highway system increased to 54 cents per mile from 52 cents per mile in 2006 (Table 3-2-2: Average Cost per Mile of Owning and Operating an Automobile).