Warehouse on wheels.

Virginia highway officials designed Interstate 81--it's the main highway through the Shenandoah Valley--to accommodate traffic that is 15 percent trucks. Trucks are now 40 percent of the traffic, reports USA Today's Fred Bayles, who adds that "over the past two decades, the number of long-haul trucks has doubled" and "is expected to double again" by 2020. The reason for the increase is that "just about every company is using the highway system as a rolling warehouse." Wise-guy MBAs tell businesses that to maximize profits, they must minimize inventory. This also causes pressure to be put on drivers to speed and short-change sleep in order to meet delivery deadlines.

Wouldn't it be better if the companies built more warehouses instead of using more trucks and requiring drivers to risk their lives as well as those of the rest of us? That's the Peters solution. Another, perhaps more realistic, approach is to make some traffic lanes trucks-only and others cars-only. At least then, you wouldn't experience the terror of being surrounded by those behemoths.