ATRI Releases the "Top Ten" List of Trucking Concerns
by Jana Ritter - Published: 10/24/2013The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released its top ten list of trucking industry concerns this week. The 2013 survey, which was commissioned by the American Trucking Associations (ATA), had a 41 percent increase in responses compared to 2012: A total of 1,327 respondents, from both the U.S. and Canada, completed the survey.
Federal rules governing commercial driver Hours-of-Service (HOS) claimed the top position in 2013 after ranking second in 2012 and 2011. Many in the industry believe that these new HOS rules will have a negative impact on productivity and there are also concerns that the safety benefits that FMCSA expects these changes to generate will not materialize.
CSA is the next significant concern ATRI said, and is ranked first, second or third by 42 percent of respondents. "Two of the most significant areas of concern surrounding CSA are the lack of crash accountability in CSA scoring and the inability of CSA scores to accurately predict carrier safety performance.
ATRI said that at the height of the last period of economic expansion, the driver shortage ranked highly among the top industry issues. "Once the recession began to intensify in 2008, the driver shortage dropped in importance and did not make the top ten list in 2009. However, when the Driver Shortage issue returned in 2010, it climbed quickly in significance.
The economy finally dropped to third after taking the top spot for three years straight (2009-2011), and is now in fourth place on the 2013 top ten list. "The economic recovery, even with the more recent slowdown, has reduced this issue's significance relative to more pressing concerns," ATRI said.
At number five, the Electronic Logging Device Mandate (ELD) mandate is the highest rank of any issue related to onboard truck technology in the nine-year history of the survey. "In 2011, FMCSA was forced to vacate a proposed ELD rule due to a court decision regarding concerns over driver harassment. FMCSA is expected to release a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) in the next several months that will address ELD performance standards, requirements for the use of ELDs, requirements related to HOS supporting documents, and assurances that ELD mandates will not result in driver harassment," ATRI explained.
Truck Parking made its debut in 2012 and has climbed two spots to the sixth position in 2013. The reason? The new HOS requirement for drivers to take a 30-minute break before continuing to drive after 8 hours on-duty went into effect, plus the 34-hour restart, demand for truck parking has increased.
Driver Retention is another big issue on the list. "There is increased competition among motor carriers for qualified drivers due in large part to the increased scrutiny of drivers and carriers under CSA," the reports authors noted.
Fuel Supply and Fuel Prices is the lowest ranking since the survey began in 2005. "Unfortunately for the trucking industry, the lower ranking appears to have more to do with less price volatility than lower prices: the 2012 average weekly diesel prices were the highest in the history of the survey and have remained high through 2013.
Issues involving transportation infrastructure or funding have been in the top ten list since the inception of the survey. "While a new two-year highway authorization bill was passed in July 2012, several high-profile infrastructure failures have brought the issue of infrastructure quality into the national consciousness. The latest highway authorization bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), expires in September 2014, which means that the debate over how to adequately fund transportation infrastructure will be a major topic over the next 12 months."
This is the second year in a row for driver health and wellness to make the top ten. More than one in ten respondents (11%) feel this issue is important enough to rank it first, second or third, ATRI said. That's even higher among driver respondents, ranking.
"Given the concerns over driver retention and the driver shortage, as well as potential health issues related to truck driver lifestyle challenges, there has been a concerted effort to make the trucking industry healthier. In addition to obvious lifestyle benefits, an improvement in driver health may also have positive implications for industry safety as research has found a positive correlation between driver health and driver safety," ATRI explained.