Mixed Opinion On Trucking Safety
For example, drivers have a much higher opinion than their bosses of state and federal safety laws. About 40% of the truck drivers who responded to a questionnaire rated regulations as good to excellent. However, that thinking dropped to 25% among the executives who replied.
The survey revealed a sharp difference in views about roadside inspectors. Both groups considered the examiners to be doing an adequate job, but almost three times as many truckers thought room for improvement exists in the performance of inspectors — 26% vs. 9%.
When asked about transferring the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety from the Federal Highway Administration to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one-third of the executives and almost half of the drivers said it would have no impact on safety.
The survey attempted to gauge the attitudes of people in trucking on several issues. Questionnaires were handed out during the Truckload Carriers Association’s annual meeting in March, and a copy was later posted on the publication’s Web site.
The informal poll drew 121 responses between March 17 and June 1, with TCA members accounting for 67 and Internet answers for 54.
Respondents were invited to offer their thoughts on how to improve safety enforcement.
“A state trooper on every mile of Interstate in the U.S.,” wrote Jack B. Adams, an owner-operator.
Others proposed more feasible approaches.
“Undercover agents need to pose as truckers and start catching companies that operate illegally,” said driver Erik Royce.
Some expressed disdain for government officials, considering them disconnected from the realities of the industry.
“We need to implement programs run by individuals with hands-on trucking experience, not bureaucrats. In my opinion, there is nobody in Washington, D.C., that has a clue about what is going on on America’s highways,” wrote Bert Nicholas, another driver.
Two-thirds of drivers and executives said oversight authorities were not doing enough to get bad drivers and carriers off the road.
While a significant number of drivers want improvements in the performance of inspectors, more than 80% of both drivers and executives believe roadside inspections are effective.
A majority of executives (60%) and drivers (71%) agree that the current level of drug and alcohol testing should be continued.
One thing that would improve safety is increased education and training, according to those surveyed. More than half of the executives and almost three-quarters of the drivers rated entry-level training for drivers as either poor or needing improvement.
In addition to lack of training, truck drivers believe that hours of service, fatigue, lack of rest areas, speeding and falsification of log books are major safety issues. Fatigue, hours of service and lack of training were major concerns of executives as well.
Although speeding is a major concern, 70% of the drivers who responded to the survey oppose increasing fines for traffic violations. Half of the executives supported increasing fines.
Truck drivers offered several suggestions to improve safety, including increasing inspections, eliminating split speed limits, increasing education for truckers and motorists, and implementing paperless log books.
