Will Safety of Tractor Trailer Drivers be Affected by Increasing Demand?
The demand for drivers of semi trucks, tractor trailers and 18 wheelers, as they are often called, in Florida and throughout the United States has been increasing, and will continue to increase, according to a recent article at USAToday.com. The article notes that using these big trucks to transport cargo across the United States is expected to increase by 31% between 2005 and 2017. However, the trucking industry is not seeing a corresponding increase in qualified drivers to fill their driving jobs. As a result, trucking companies are experiencing delays in shipping their loads and often have loads sitting around with no driver to take them
This is not a scenario that trucking companies will likely allow to remain as they make money by shipping loads and lose money when loads are sitting at their facility. According to the article, the trucking companies are looking for new ways to find truck drivers. This may be a troubling development from a safety standpoint as there are certain safety and training requirements that must be met before a trucking company can put a driver out on the roads. For instance, trucking companies are not permitted to put a truck driver on the road unless he or she is specifically qualified to drive a tractor trailer, is physically fit to drive a tractor trailer and has an understanding of the rules governing tractor trailer drivers such as the rule limiting the number of hours a tractor trailer driver can drive and be on duty before he or she needs to go off-duty.
The trucking industry already experiences a high turnover rate with its drivers. Trucking company executives in litigation often admit how difficult it is to find and keep qualified and safe drivers. They often admit this during a lawsuit involving a truck driver who caused an injury accident but was in no way qualified to be hired as a tractor trailer driver. If some of the trucking companies were having a difficult time hiring and keeping safe, responsible and qualified drivers when the demand for truck shipments was not as high as it is now and will be in the future, one wonders whether the standards for hiring safe and qualified drivers may be lowered to meet the increasing demand. Maybe that will not be the case, but it is something to keep an eye on.
