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Rh Limited decline of truck traffic

Truck traffic, as well as passenger-car traffic, declined during the war, but to a much less extent. Further, the decline was confined largely to the lighter types of vehicles. Table 5 shows the vehicle-miles of travel by trucks and truck combinations on main rural roads from 1941 to 1948, and ratios to 1941 travel of the traffic of subsequent years.

The decline in truck vehicle-mileage on main rural roads from 1941 to 1943 was 28 percent, compared to the 42-percent decline for motor vehicles of all kinds shown in table 3. For single-unit trucks the decline was 34 percent but for truck combinations, which are the heavier vehicles, the decline in vehicle-mileage was only 9 percent.

“Empty” trucks used to carry passengers

In view of the efforts made during the war to haul over the highways the maximum possible tonnage in relation to gasoline usage, it is somewhat surprising to find that a higher percentage of the vehicle-mileage was by empty vehicles in the war years than in the prewar years. Table 6 shows the travel by empty vehicles as a percentage of total truck travel, in each year from 1941 to 1947, inclusive. The percentage of empty-vehicle travel increased from 1941 on through the war, and it was not until 1947 that there was a reversal in this trend. Vehicles carrying passengers only were classed as empty, and