Did Federal Government Impede Truck Driver Workforce Growth?

Knowledgeable people within the trucking industry point to wide-reaching factors that led to the current need to add upwards of 80,000 CDL professionals to the workforce. Some highlight working conditions and the industry-wide sentiment truck drivers salaries were not always as appealing as they are today. But one of the causes that too often flies under the radar involves the federal government’s role.

The well-intentioned Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 established national standards regarding operating tractor-trailers, among others heavy-duty trucks. Few disagree with the basic idea that skills and knowledge criteria needed to be created to ensure public safety.

“Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 – Requires the Secretary of Transportation (the Secretary) to promulgate regulations establishing minimum Federal standards for the licensing, testing, qualifications and classifications of commercial motor vehicle operators, and additional regulations for such operators who transport hazardous materials. Sets guidelines for such standards. Establishes guidelines for civil and criminal penalties to be imposed by the States for violations of such standards,” the law reportedly states.

Before the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act was signed into law, states generally required heavy-duty truck drivers to simply have a valid passenger vehicle license. But like so many federal government undertakings, restrictions entered the mix that likely discouraged young adults from entering a career as an OTR trucker. Age restrictions rank among the key reasons the average age of an OTR trucker hovers around 46 years old and the average person entering the field runs around 36 years old. It was the shift to federal regulations that initially impeded younger workers from hauling freight across state lines.

• The impetus for the feds to maintain the 21-year-old minimum standard has largely been driven by scare tactics and misleading statistics. The National Safety Council submitted a report to Congress supporting the age restriction and employed a creative use of the following statistics to amp up fears.
• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds.
• 4,333 people were killed in crashes involving teen drivers in 2013.
• Nearly 12 people die daily in crashes involving 15 to 20 year olds
• Teens lack the skills, knowledge, experience, maturity, and understanding of their environment to drive safely
• 97 percent of the fatalities in two-vehicle crashes involving large trucks were passenger vehicle occupants.

Truth be told, there were a reported 3,616 deaths involving heavy-duty vehicles in 2013. That year was the fifth in seven consecutive that truck-involved fatalities were below 4,000.

It’s also important to look at how a heavy-handed federal government exacerbates truck drivers’ ability to earn a reasonably solid living. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) fails to come to a consistent conclusion about hours-of-service regulations. Often motivated by media hype about dangerous truck accidents, the FMCSA has tweaked hours-of-service regulations and off-duty hours multiple times. The most recent changes create overly complicated limits, downtime, required breaks, sleeper birth provisions, and a variety of exceptions. Creating confusion and then circling back to dole out fines to truckers proves frustrating and makes the occupation look less attractive.

That being said, the federal government has also failed to address legitimate concerns raised by truckers. One of the leading issues professional CDL holders voice involves detention time. Truckers routinely suffer financial losses when they cannot unload and load on time. Yet, the federal government has remained relatively hands-off regarding the financial hardship truckers sometimes suffer. Does the federal government bear some responsibility for the need to add another 80,000 truckers? You betcha.

Sources: nsc.com, wkow.com