Teens To Solve the Truck Driving Shortage?
by Jana Ritter - Published: 7/10/2015While some would even debate whether the truck driving shortage really exists, the crisis been an on-going topic of headline news and has ignited many debates over what the best possible solution is to fill the number of truck driving jobs available across the US. Although most truck drivers have made it clear that more money is the most likely cure all, Congress is now proposing a bill that would reduce the age requirement for interstate CDLs from 21 to 18.
January 05, 2018 - Trucker Faces 20 Years After Pleading Guilty To Smuggling Alien Found Dead In Locked Toolbox
January 02, 2018 - Police Identify 2 Oregon Truck Drivers Killed In Fiery Head-On Crash
December 27, 2017 - Iowa First Of Eight States To Debut New Truck Parking Information System
While Federal regulations currently require commercial drivers to be at least 21 to drive commercial trucks across state lines, this week Republican senators introduced a bill that would allow contiguous states that join together in "compacts" to drop the age to 18 for interstate trips and said there would be no limit on the number of states that could join the compacts. They also said that after four years, the Transportation secretary would report to Congress on whether teens have "an equivalent level of safety" in comparison with older truckers.
Jackie Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, says no way. Any parent already knows how worrisome it is to hand a teenager the keys to the family car and this bill would basically be allowing mere teens to drive big rigs weighing as much as 80,000 pounds across the nation’s interstates. Not to mention that they’d be working as many as 82 hours a week, the standard hours already permitted in the trucking industry. “It’s a catastrophe waiting to happen. The combination of inexperience, high-risk driving and large trucks can cause unbelievable devastation," Gillan said.
According to findings from the Transportation Department's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, she may very well have good reason for concern. In 2013, regular drivers ages 18-20 had a 66 percent higher fatal crash involvement rate than drivers who were age 21 years or older.
However, statistics from the American Trucking Association itself has been prompting the industry to scramble for solutions to address the shortage of truck drivers. The ATA estimates that the current shortage of drivers is roughly 35,000 to 40,000, and the number of retirements and individuals leaving the industry will soon require trucking companies to recruit up to 100,000 new truck drivers a year over the next decade.
Dave Osiecki, chief of advocacy for trucking associations, also points out that many states already allow teens to drive commercial trucks within state lines and it doesn’t make sense that we would allow a teen to drive hundreds of miles from one end of the state to the other but restrict that same driver from driving the same distance into another state. "We absolutely support lowering the age limit. It would be good for our industry, it would be good for commerce, it would be good for the economy."
What do you think?Are younger truck drivers going to fill the available truck driving jobs AND be good for the industry overall?
You want drivers start paying better bottom line, there's a lot of good drivers out there that quit driving cause the pay is crap overall. To many people have there hand in the transportation industry and the driver gets the leftovers
I agree
I was otr not one wreck no violations gave a 110% I loved going to different cities n states But when a crack head at McDonald's driving nicer car than me I parked truck now I drive local You give all you got for shit pay n respect
Pay the drivers what they are actually worth, and the shortage of drivers vanishes. The companies just refuse to do the right thing with regards to pay.
Bad idea, truck driving is serious business. How about dispatchers and companies that don't abuse drivers. That will solve your problem. Pay is not even the issue. How about fair pay for not fudging hours, logs etc. Bringing in younger and dumber drivers will not solve anything. It will create more death.
Been driving class a and b since I was 18, till this day 0 accidents 0 violations. I wish I could have been doing OTR since then.
And God bless you. When I was 19 I worked at a place where they handed out diet pills like candy. I was INTRAstate at the time and was in the yard everyday. As fast as we would pull in, they would send you right back out. Be safe.
Learned how to drive on my X-box. Hoowee baby ,cant wait to get out there and mow down some 4 wheelers. I think its about time to hang it up. 34years and now this BS.
Yup i got half that and your said it .getting stupid out here.
i hear ya man. just school boy drivers giving us pros a bad name
Agreed
I'm surprised insurance companies are agreeing to this new compromise in highway safety. Another blackeye.
It's all they got to work with....all the old veteran drivers are bowing out because all the stupid shit and low pay.....you can't even park at a truck stop any more with out gettin your mirrors taken off by some idiot can't back a truck...
I got 20 years in an i feel some 18 year old farm kids would be more responsible than so petiphile
Great.... More instant truck driver s
The fix to the trucking shortage is many diffrent things. 1..stop all the regulations 2..better pay and benefits 3..hours of service changes. 4..train new truckers by EXPERENCE trucks not book smart guys. Can't teach experience.
You can't teach the desire to be good at it either. Better work with the guys that have the driving skills, then pay them accordingly.
Good point Aaron...
That is something I learned while Active Duty Navy. There are portions of the population that are good for absolutely nothing except keeping cops and paramedics employed. I sure don't want any of them driving a truck. It would have an extremely poor outcome.
When is someone gonna wKe up and realize we have a shortage because nobody wants to work an 80hr week away from home for shit pay? Maybe they should raise the rates and make diesel fuel fucking cheaper! People will be beating down doors to get a trucking job!
How about easing up on the BS regulations? That is half the problem right there.
No they only want u to make 200.00 dollars a week so you can depend on your government haha
They can't drive cars because of lack of basic skills. Folks want to give them an 18 wheeler to drive? Just the cell phone thing should disqualify normal teens. Texting and driving all the time.
I want to see the data on the shortage of drivers. every big company I worked for always had a shortage of freight
Not legally old enough to make safe drinking decisions until 21, but you'll do fine in a big truck at 18. Uhmmmm..... I just can't get on bored with this, not in this day and age. Heck, even the 20 something's scare the crap out of me with the mindset most "youngin's" have now a days. They're usually making bad decisions and the selfishness they seem to have, isn't helping them in making even the simplest judgement calls, such as merging and lane changes!
What a closed minded ignorant comment. They can join the USMC but you don't want them to drive. SMH
Ma'am, there's much better guidance and training in our service. Trucking in this day and age has become a horrible, money grabbing, free for all. CDL schools are just as bad as puppy mills. Cheap seat freight companies will replace a warm body with another faster than the blink of an eye. I'd be all for the 18 thing.... IF AND ONLY IF training of these young minds was better than we've seen in the last 20 years! I'm hopeful, but not holding my breath. And just for the record, I've been driving since I was 14. It was an entirely different world and my dad was an amazing and calm teacher.
Jerome, I found one of the articles. As you can tell, I weighed in on this too!
Its crazy! No way in hell should they be allowed to
I just can't see any good come from it either.
Its the same thing when these big companies went to automatic just so they could hire more ppl who really not qualified
EXACTLY!!!
Well, if these.....ahhh....pups, are the answer, God help us!!
One week warriors man .. !!!
If they do that they need to start them out at 15 on closed tracks. Get 3 years of experience on closed tracks with good instructors. I am only 23 but grew up on a farm so I've been driving since I was 15. OTR is a huge difference but having those years driving around the farm and short drives helped me out sooo much.
been around them since i was old enough to walk. grew up in one
I agree with you 100%!
Farm hands still make the best drivers.
O wait haha. Anyone see what California is doing? Yea illegal immigrants class A.
To many hot heads behind the wheel now. We need good trainers. People that will stay up with students until they know the student understands what they must do on the road to be safe. I have heard horror stories about trainers that would scare the crap out of anyone. I lucked out and had a good one.
My opinion some might work out.But overall its not the answer.Trucking companys are going to have to pay more period.Been doing this 18 years a lot has changed since I have been driving.
The roads will be littered with the cars of my enemy's!
Hasn't the government made enough horrible decisions when it comes to trucking? This may be their crowning jewel of bad decisions
This article states your allowed to drive 82 hours in a week? Really? Driving 25 years, that's news to me!
Lol yeah I'm looking at the group of kids in the picture and I'm not seeing it. Bad thing is that I am the new generation, but I've got an old soul. Been driving 4 years and own my own truck now. You have to come into the job with a maturity level no one seems to posess anymore. Yeah the industry is horrible now, but I couldn't imagine doing anything else. It's what I was born to do.
Old enough to die for our country old enough to drive a truck as far as I'm concerned. As I see it in every skilled trade you get what you pay for.
Even if, most insurance companies won't touch someone until their 23. And it's not just money, take away alot of these ridiculous laws and rules alot of the old drivers would come back.
Oh yeah,that's it put more inexperienced drivers on the road. More accidents,more fuel for D.O.T. to implement more stupid rule changes.
Most of us who have some sort of clue started young anyway.
Bunch of over reacting.
Better pay and ease up on the regulations. If we're considered as professional drivers then we should be paid that way. My question would be; Why do we have to almost work 70 hours just to get by?
More money would be nice but what we need is a 24 hour restart and more running time. If we can run more then we make more money and haul more loads but when u have to sit as a shipper for 5 and 10 hours at a time that just screwed up ur day and we need better trip planner so this don't happen and the shipper and costumer need to be held accountable for all the waiting time
As if the insurance rates aren't high enough!...
Well get ready for more crashes and deaths on the roads.. lawyers are sitting waiting with huge smiles on their faces cause they know they got tons of money coming from all the law suits that's gonna happen. How about stop treating us drivers like criminals. Allow us to carry protection. Crappy pay, screwed up regulations and the growing number of attacked and killed drivers is what's driving people out of it.
But need swift an the big companies to stop hauling all this cheap freight so that the freight charge will go up or make bottom line flat rates across the board.
Yep,just what we need!!
Not to mention home time blows put 2 to 3 week's. With how big some of these companies are should get a driver home every week. But since the cost of living has gone way up an the pay hasn't changed in years probably a lot of drivers don't an can't afford a home go to..
all we have to do is take them out for a summer intern ship and se how many realy want to do it. The ones that will are going to be from trucking family
Part of the reason rates ARE so low is because the bottom feeders WILL work for nothing and live in the truck for weeks at a time. In a sense I respect that they are willing to do that, but it's a sweatshop on wheels. There needs to be some minimum wage for drivers. There's no bottom and it gets worse every damn year. Everything else goes up and pay stays the same or drops.
The reason there is a driver shortage is PISS POOR PAY! It's not worth the time away from home, and they keep finding bottom feeders with no other choices that will take peanut pay and live in the truck. You get what you pay for and these sweatpants wearing fools are far from professional grade.
Let them SOLVE the problem and not BE the problem....TRUCKERS AGAINST TEEN TRUCK DRIVERS 2015....vote for it!!!!!
OK, then vote against teens in the military.
No... But I have seen how teens drive big trucks...and they are too aggressive...its down right despicable a teen take my life...from my family because he can't maintain his temperament..
Bad idea!
Honestly, my son, 19 years old could out drive a lot of the 21 yrs and above driver out there. He is a responsible, respectable guy, been riding along with me since s toddler, I see guys out there doing things everyday that is childish, immature, irresponsible, downright dangerous. Foreign drivers whom speak or read very little English. Maybe they could start with neighboring states only the their home state.
LOL at all the dumbass comment here. Teenagers are in the fucking military yet you ignorant assholes think they shouldn't drive. Just because you raised your kids to be dumbass losers doesn't mean they all are that stupid.
Why not let them do the military first then come out and drive?
The new Physical rules for CDL holders i s putting a lot of seasoned drivers out
Simple. Pay more.
Funny that's the same pic from another article the other day about a trucker who has been teaching teens about driving around big trucks for safety and has helped that town accident with teens driver's involved go down.
Wright!what drivers shortage?you can't find parking space at nights anymore at truck stops, unless you get there before 8pm
That's why I drive over night. By the time I get ready to shut down, all the solar powered drivers are out of my way.
Thats because most drivers dont understand its safer to move freight at night when there is less four wheelers on the road
Like an 18 year old is going to tolerate sitting in a traffic jam. or even have half a brain how to climb a mountain. or how to prepare for winter driving.
Hell anybody can drive a automatic truck , but i have a good time watching them back a automatic truck ..... Lol no thankyou ill keep my 13 speed ....
I'm Surprised Whom Or Which Company Would Insure Such Inexperienced Teenaged Drivers like Most Companies Are Looking For An Age Of 21yrs Old & Plus But Then Here Is The Stupid Questioned Ever Asked Too Drivers By Companies Is This Question Do You Have 5yrs Over The Road Experienced I Realize That A Person Needs Too Start Somewhere But I Really Think This Is A Big Mistake For The Industry & Was The Same Mistake Bringing In Foreign Drivers From Other Countries Too Work For Cheap Their Really Wouldn't Be A Shortage If The Rate Of Pay Was Much Higher Then It Is & I Still See Same Pay Rates From Back In The Late 80's & 90's Out Here Through A lot Of Companies That Is Paying Out In Wages No Wonder Theirs A Shortage In Driver Clientele Rate Of Pay Should Be Much Higher Starting At $0.60 & Plus For What Some Of These Trucking Companies & Dispatchers Put Us Drivers Through Out Here Being Away For Long Periods At A Time & From Family/Friends/ & A Life ... Remember If It Wasn't For Trucks & The Drivers In Them You'd Have A lot Of Nothing...
I guess these big companies should stop trying to hog all the action and stop trying to run owner operators out of buisness no one wants to work for those big companies there a joke as is trucking anymore
Wouldn't be a shortage if pay was better .
Hell no that's the worst idea I have ever heard
Kody Punches as long as they are good driver's. There are driver's and then there are steering wheel holds
Yes. Steering wheel holders have no clue what they're driving or how it works real drivers can tell you exactly what they got how it runs what gear to hold pulling hills and don't use the clutch like a sally when they're grabbing gears lol
There is ni shortage of drivers. The issue is that big trucking companies want to push smaller out of business. So they make this story about driver shortage so that congress can allow them to hire inexperienced young driver with low pay. This way they increase number of trucks on the road and drive freight pay down and force small companies and owner operators who depend on expedited freight out of business.
Let me get this straight...... You crack down on drivers to raise the standard then lower it for unqualified kids to take the wheel? We all knew that Safety talk was just to get into our pockets and you just proved it. I'm happy where I'm at because my dispatch is straight with me, my pay isn't screwed up and getting home is better than a 50/50 chance. I went through 6 companies to find a Good one. That's the reason for your driver shortage.
When did they raise hours too 82. I thought it was 70 hrs
I like this!
There is no shortage
Another government solution!! I'm sure it will work like every other great idea!! Lol :(
After teenagers what will it be ? Geriatrics in an old folks home ? Between the shippers receivers cops general public And so-called industry leaders the sooner we have an industry-wide major shortage the better...
No way! If they get behind the wheel they will cause havoc to the industry and kill people!
This is crazy! They will do anything not to pay drivers more money. Even put kids behind a wheel. Fuckin ridiculous......
The ONLY way I think an 18 year old kid should be allowed to drive a truck is if they were in one on a farm or ranch before they were out of diapers.. 18 year olds only want to party, race cars & do the girl thing.. They aren't responsible enough at 18 to have that much responsibility.... Go to school & OWN that trucking company, or go work on them...
Oh hell no wrecks would go through the roof!
This is going to be funny they won't stay
Just what we need out here a bunch of mama's boys punks the younger
Years ago this would have been ok but not in this day and time !
I'm glad I'm not out on the road with these idiots!....hell they can't get good quality drivers because the pay sucs
This is just stupid. Its going to pass so that way the accidents involving big trucks go up and they force more restrictions down our throats because of their fuck up in allowing an 18 year old to drive a big truck!!
Looks like they'll fit right in with the rest of the new breeds!
Here is an idea have the docks unload you instead of making you wait for 6 fucking hours not making any money
Don't know about y'all but just imagine an 18 yr old behind you rolling down donners pass or cabbage I'm good on that I know what I did at 18 and its not a good idea
We don't get enough period!
Right great Idea
That will be safe not dumb A$$
Not a good idea to put 18-year-old kids behind the wheel of a big truck May be one in 100 could handle it
I tell you what they just keep making it easier and easier to just want to give up trucking all together.
Bad idea these companies need to learn how to treat a driver and get them home and pay them good then people may stay driveing
It's taking us over!! We will be out the door before you know it..
If companies can afford to insure teenagers to drive. They can damn sure afford a pay raise to real drivers.
There ain't no shortage,it's a live
if so were in trouble.
Reduce the age all you want insurance companies won't cover 18 years old
Teens to come out and make it all screwed up even more than it already is. From all of the other want a bee's?
They haven't even figured out their Honda accords yet!! LORD HELP US!!
this is crazy..they simply need to increase pay, and home time while getting shippers/ receivers to reduce dock time..this would bring back experienced drivers!
and relax the bs regulations like letting us sleep when we're tired and not forcing us to run with in an alloted time or lose out
Heck no
I say yea give a good 18 year old driver a handshake and send him out if he is capable and stop giving these idiots a license who don't have brains enough to be a Walmart greeter expecting them to take control of the shortage We have a shortage simply because morons who think $400 a week is big money for 80 hours but they can't figure out why they get wet pissing into the wind If they can't back up a trailer tell them to look into another career, instead of playing the "fair" game
No way, not enough experience. Pay better wages.
As an owner op, I'd like to see the fuel go down some more and the rate get better. And hours shit come to a hault.
18 yrs old first truck second week lol
Such a BAD IDEA. They lack the Maturity to make good decisions. Period.
Oh yeah, and the avg pay for a dispatcher has gone from $30,000 a yr to $50,000...go figure
25yrs in the business! I've retired from driving OTR because 25yrs ago I averaged $45,000 a year. I had more home time then and ran 3400-3700mi a week with an average 1700mi run. I Ran coast to coast and was less fatigued. Now the average length haul is 415mi per load and 2200mi per week. The average yearly salary is $42,000 a year. Hmm. Avg pay for today's driver should be no less than $65,000 a year and that's the low end coming straight outta school and after 5yrs of exp should avg no less than $85,000 a yr. These companies can afford this and they know they can. If they cannot, then they have no business being in the business and they can drive their own trucks...don't get me started! Just saying...
We have enough no driving steering wheel holders out don't need anymore
I think they should raise the age to 25 and raise the pay
Start paying there won't be a shortage. Greedy ass companies need to come off the money. Then you will retain safe dedicated drivers who won't leave. What happens when you treat someone like shit. Think a teen can handle a adult world job. Lmao. Thays funny. Its a lifestyle not a job.
No Money in Trucking ...... Unless you want to work for Peanuts !
Big mistake
Absolutely. Perhaps they could speak English.
The only thing i see coming to the shortage is trucks..cuz they eill be wreckin them..
There u go Troy Guffey Sr., ur company is in the front.
22 years and wow. Teenagers nursing school here I come..
Stacy Starnes
Jeremy Danner