Truckload Driver Turnover Rate Reaches New Record High

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ust as trucking executives were warning that new drivers’ workday hours regulations that took effect Jan. 4 could cause truckload carriers to need many more drivers, a study by American Trucking Associations showed that truckload driver turnover rose sharply in the third quarter of 2003.

Bob Costello, ATA’s chief economist, said the annual truckload turnover rate hit 119% during that period, the highest since ATA began tracking that data.

Costello said he found the statistic “more than a little disconcerting” for what it showed about the pressures facing that trucking segment to obtain and keep drivers as the economy offers them more job options.

“Unfortunately, if we’re already there in the third quarter, with hours-of-service regulations coming in the first quarter . . . I think all bets are off,” Costello said.

This article appears in the Jan. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.

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