Driver Shortage Tops ATRI’s Critical Industry Issues List
ORLANDO – For the first time since 2006, the driver shortage is number one on the American Transportation Research Institute’s annual top industry issues report, surging six spots higher, followed by two concerns closely related to drivers: ELDs and hours of service.
In fact, the top five on the list are all related to drivers.
The not-for-profit research institute, an arm of ATA, released the report during the 2017 American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition.
Dropping one position from its top ranking last year, the upcoming electronic logging device mandate ranked second on the overall list – was number one among commercial driver respondents to the survey.
In an overview for reporters, ATRI President Rebecca Brewster noted that among drivers, “there are concerns about what full ELD implementation will mean, but they often point to the number three issue, which is hours of service.”
Hours of service was at the top of the list for three years in a row, thanks to the more restrictive 34-hour restart provisions. Since FMCSA’s issuance of a final ruling earlier this year to remove that, it did drop somewhat, but carriers and drivers are looking for increased flexibility in the rules.
“We had hours of service at the top of list three years in a row,” Brewster said. “We have a top research priority this year focused on looking at the potential to deal with some of the nation’s worst traffic bottlenecks if drivers could select when they would go through those chokepoints [with some hours of service flexibility]. So I tie a lot of the ELD concerns with the hours of service concerns.”
The lack of available truck parking held its fourth place overall but moved up to the number two issue for commercial drivers – again, something closely related to hours of service and ELDs. In recent …Read the rest of this story
