Three birds, one stone

Finding quick and effective solutions to problems is not one of our government’s strengths. That’s especially true when it comes to trucking.

Let’s use a few of the industry’s hot topics as examples: Detention time, driver turnover and speeding.

Detention time

Detention time – the time truckers are forced to wait at loading and unloading facilities – is a massive problem that harms individual drivers and the overall supply chain.

According to a recent study from the American Transportation Research Institute, individual truck drivers lose as much as $19,000 annually to detention time. Industrywide, ATRI estimates a yearly loss of about $11.5 billion.

Detention time is in no way a new problem. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has called out the issue for decades.

However, the latest action deployed by the government to tackle the problem is yet another study. As part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress required the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to conduct a study titled, “Impact of Driver Detention Time on Safety and Operations.”

FMCSA finally began the process this past February and is still in the early data-collection phases. So, the results likely are going to take a while. And even after they arrive, don’t be surprised if FMCSA includes a line about not having the authority to regulate shippers and receivers.

Driver turnover

As you’re well aware, large fleets can’t keep long-haul drivers in the seat. In 2021, FMCSA said that turnover rates for large long-haul carriers are more than 90%. There have been many instances of large carriers with turnover rates exceeding 100%.

The American Trucking Associations and its large-carrier members try to spin this as a driver shortage problem. By doing so, they’ve ignored the real issue of drivers leaving due to low pay and poor working conditions.

Unfortunately, the spin has worked well enough to convince some lawmakers that they need to lower the interstate driving age so that these mega carriers can find more truck drivers to filter through the leaky bucket.

In 2021, Congress passed a provision to create an apprenticeship pilot program for under-21 drivers. Meanwhile, the real problem hasn’t been addressed.

Speeding

The U.S. Department of Transportation has identified speeding as a leading contributor to fatality crashes.

I don’t disagree, but truckers “are not the droids you’re looking for.” When I travel to and from work on Interstate 70, I encounter vehicles driving in excess of 90 mph almost daily. News flash: It’s always a passenger vehicle.

But for the sake of compromise, we can all agree that we don’t want cars or trucks driving at reckless speeds.

Of course, the government has focused only on commercial motor vehicles by attempting to mandate speed-limiting devices on heavy-duty trucks. For decades, agencies have received pushback due to the obvious safety concerns that would be caused by forcing certain vehicles to operate far slower than the general flow of traffic.

Also, making trucks incapable of going any faster than 65 mph doesn’t stop speeding. Actually, forcing paid-by-the-mile truckers to go slower than the speed limit in 75 mph zones encourages them to go faster in 45 and 55 mph zones.

Common thread

Believe it or not, all three of these issues are related. And great strides could be made toward fixing all three simply by valuing a driver’s time.

The GOT Truckers Act, or HR6359, would go a long way toward valuing all of a truck driver’s hours. The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require that drivers receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. Although the bill would apply only to company drivers, forcing shippers and receivers to value a trucker’s time would create change throughout the industry – including to detention time, driver turnover and speeding.

If a truck driver is receiving overtime pay for the hours he or she is waiting to be unloaded, the detention time problem will lessen. Same goes for driver turnover: Pay drivers for all their time on the job, and trucking suddenly becomes a more desirable profession. Additionally, the incentive to go 5 mph faster is reduced for drivers being compensated for all the hours they work.

See, it’s not that hard. Instead of spending years on studies, pilot programs and rulemakings, there’s a quick and easy solution to be found in HR6359. Go to FightingForTruckers.com and tell your lawmakers to support the GOT Truckers Act. LL