Greg Fulton: Truck drivers are frustrated, and for good reason

There have been rumblings about a trucker convoy similar to that in Canada traveling across the U.S. in the next few weeks. In Canada the convoy began out of anger over a mandate that all truck drivers be vaccinated. No similar mandate for truck drivers exists in the U.S. as the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s proposal for large employers.

The concept of a trucker convoy in the U.S. appears to be one borne out of frustration over a number of matters that have been left unaddressed for years. Truck drivers feel that elected officials and the public haven’t listened to them and they feel powerless to get their attention. Some believe that a truck convoy may be a means to garner attention to those causes.

While I don’t condone the convoy because of its impact on the economy and a concern that it could hurt rather than help the cause of truck drivers in the eyes of the public, I do understand their frustration.

Over the last couple of years, much has been made on how essential truck drivers are to our country and economy. People have appreciated that these drivers were out there daily to ensure that the rest of us had food, fuel, medical supplies and other critical goods. Further, the public became aware during that time of the fragile nature of our supply chain and how integral truck drivers are to it as well as how the driver shortage has affected it.

To the public, the truck driver shortage appears to be a new problem. In reality, it already existed and has been growing for years as older drivers began to retire and the trucking industry was unable to attract enough younger people not only to replace them, but also to meet the additional freight demands of the country. The pandemic exacerbated this problem as a great number of older drivers chose to retire or leave the industry early.

In looking at the driver shortage, many have fixated on driver pay as the reason for the shortage, yet even as wages have substantially increased, the industry continues to struggle to attract and keep drivers. The reality is that while pay is an important consideration, money is only one of the factors that determine job satisfaction. Unfortunately, other factors, which have been a source of frustration for truck drivers for years, continue to exist.

One major frustration is a feeling of how little control drivers have over their work environment. How they do their job and even their ability to do it has increasingly been affected by the actions of government. Truck drivers are subject to a myriad of laws and regulations which seem to be constantly changing in their eyes. They face varying fees, taxes and rules in the different states. Just traveling into a state like California even for a few days to pick up a load requires compliance with that state’s standards.

This changing landscape for regulation really hit home during covid, when almost overnight truck drivers found themselves subject to new ordinances, rules or mandates on various matters. These rules in many cases differed from one state or community to another, creating a confusing patchwork.

Another source of irritation has been the lack of action on providing adequate parking for drivers where they can safely take their mandatory 10-hour rest period. While federal and state officials have promised to address this problem for many years and even allocated funds for this purpose, there is probably less parking today than five years ago. Truck drivers now may spend up to an hour every evening just trying to find a place to take their rest period.

Along with truck parking, the failure to invest in our highways and bridges is a sore spot for truck drivers. They now travel on many highways riddled with potholes which, if hit, can turn into a costly repair bill. Because of deficient bridges associated with age or decay that are weight restricted, truck drivers are forced to take long detours around them.

Drivers face more and more bottlenecks on their routes because of a combination of inaction by states to make critical improvements, as well as increased traffic. Speeds at times on some of these corridors are slightly greater than a walking pace. While the federal government finally passed a measure to fund highway and bridge improvements, it will take years for many of those projects to be completed and make a difference.

While truck drivers are critical to moving goods for shippers, one would not know it by how many people treat truck drivers today. Drivers feel that many shippers show little respect or concern for them. Some will not even allow drivers to use their restrooms. Further, some shippers appear to have little appreciation for a driver’s time, as they force them to wait for hours to be loaded or unloaded or receive signed paperwork. If a driver is almost out of driving hours, most shippers will not allow those drivers even to take their mandatory rest break on the premises, forcing them to find a location off-site.

As we seek to address our nation’s truck driver shortage, industry and government must work together on those issues that affect a truck driver’s perception of his/her job, including truck parking, lost time at shippers, congested and deteriorated highways, confusing and overlapping regulation, and, more than anything else, according them greater respect. We call truck drivers essential workers; it’s about time we start treating them like as such.

Greg Fulton, a New Castle native living in Denver, is president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association.