My dad retired from truck driving right before the covid lockdowns (2020). The regulations were a massive painpoint. During the Obama's last term they passed in strict time tracking regulations and forced everyone to have GPS trackers on their trucks to enforce the time tracking.

Due to this my dad had to drive a higher average speed of ~65-70mph to cover the distances required and not use up his available hours.

Before he'd drive slower 55-65 ave mph for longer hours and take frequent breaks.

Regulations are fine, but when you make them too strict it makes it difficult for new drivers to join and usually it's easier to be part of a corperation than an owner-operator (my dad).

This is some relatively neutral contemporary coverage of the Obama regulations:

https://www.ttnews.com/articles/teamsters-call-obama-move-fo...

The effect you describe of pushing independent drivers into (union?) corporate jobs seems like it was intentional.

You are drawing a picture of where individual decisions are ineffective in a deregulated environment. Either collective action through a union, or state action through regulation, are needed to induce a safe and sustainable work environment.