ST. LOUIS — One positive stemming from COVID-19 is that over the past year and a half, the trucking industry regained the essential status it once had in the eyes of the public. Over the course of the pandemic, professional commercial drivers were lauded for keeping shelves stocked and delivering essential medical supplies, including the COVID-19 vaccine. Now, the industry is tasked with upholding that image.
The public’s perception of the commercial trucking industry was a common theme that permeated discussion on the industry’s outlook on safety during the first general session of the Truckload Carriers Association’s (TCA) 2021 Safety & Security Meeting in St. Louis. The conference is one of the first in-person industry events since COVID-19 hit the U.S. last March.
During the session, Jim Ward, president of D.M. Bowman Inc. and this year’s TCA chairman, stressed the importance of the work the industry has done throughout the pandemic.
“There is absolutely no way that the U.S. or Canada could have continued to function or survive without us doing what we did,” Ward told more than 200 attendees on June 6. “Having been in the industry for a while, I remember the days when our drivers were the knights on the road—when we, as an industry, were highly respected. And to be able to see that come back from a national perspective that we, as an industry, are being recognized for what we do best and taking care of the communities in which we all live and serve, it’s just pretty incredible.”
The challenge moving forward, however, will be maintaining that momentum.
“Remember, public perception drives public policy,” Ward emphasized. “And if we want to continue to have an impact, we need to make sure that we continue to keep this image that we have today and capitalize on it nationally with the general public.”
Don Christenson, president and CEO of Christenson Transportation, and a fourth-generation truck driver, echoed Ward, adding that social media helped drive the content of that positive industry recognition.
“I follow a lot of the carriers on social media, and I think we did a really good job of telling our story during that time,” Christenson said. “But we’ve got to find a way to keep that momentum and display what we do for the economy on an everyday basis.”
'Public perception drives policy'
As Ward pointed out, public perception carries over into so many aspects of the industry—from driver capacity and retention issues, minimum liability insurance requirements, and overcoming predatory measures like nuclear verdicts and litigation tactics.
Although driver capacity has been a long widespread industry issue, Christenson pointed out that it’s important that commercial motor carriers first work to solve the driver capacity problem for their specific companies, which will create a ripple effect throughout the rest of the industry.
“If you put in good training programs and you’re training young people and retraining drivers instead of terminating drivers, then you build that right type of culture that creates good drivers for the industry,” he explained. “That’s when we’ll start to have more good drivers go around for the industry.”
When it comes to changing the stereotypes that the general public has about the industry and truck drivers, Ward emphasized the importance of showing the public how sophisticated the job and how technologically advanced the equipment have become.
“We’ve got to start to change the stereotype,” he said. “If we change the mindset of the general public, it will give the job more traction.”
Ward also emphasized the importance of “re-marketing” the industry for the next generation of tech-savvy workers.
Safety investments in a litigious environment
With the rise of nuclear verdicts in the industry and predatory behavior from plaintiffs’ attorneys, having safety technology in place could be a matter of success or demise for some commercial truck fleets.
“If you’re going to go into a jury of your peers in today’s environment, if you don’t have the technology on your equipment that is available to you, I don’t think you’re going to shed as good a light as someone that does,” Ward explained. “We all know that’s a challenge nowadays.”
A few years back, Christenson Transportation began spec’ing its fleet with collision mitigation, forward-facing cameras, inward and outward-facing cameras, and other various safety technologies. The carrier has also doubled down on its investment in safety with rear-facing cameras on the sides of trucks.
Initially there was a little pushback from drivers regarding the inward-facing camera; however, Christenson emphasized the importance of debunking driver concerns ahead of time.
“I’ve never had a driver that has walked out due to a safety feature on a vehicle, and I do think that it will help them extend their driving careers and take some of the anxiety out of their day,” Christenson advised.
John Lyboldt, TCA president and session moderator, then pivoted the conversation to how a federal legalization of recreational marijuana usage might impact the industry and driver turnover.
Since the federal Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse was implemented last year, trucking has seen just shy of 60,000 drivers that have disqualified out of the industry. According to clearinghouse data, of those who disqualified, roughly 47,000 haven’t begun the process to be reinstated. When looking at the disqualifications based on the data every month, the biggest disqualifier is marijuana, Ward pointed out.
“We need to think about what the industry will look like with it being legalized because it’s coming,” Ward said. “If you think we have a driver challenge today, it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better anytime soon.”
Ward also emphasized the importance of making sure commercial trucking has a seat at the table with federal legislators on the issue.
Panelists also discussed the importance of having a voice with policymakers regarding highway reauthorization and increasing industry-wide minimum insurance requirements.
“The government has the opportunity to improve safety but without putting it on the backs of our industry,” Christenson said.
“Our industry has done a phenomenal job but if you go out and talk to the public, they still think that we are the death vehicle of the highway, and most of that is driven by these billboards and advertisements that they see at night on TV,” he added. “We’ve got to get the message that you’re less likely to be involved in an accident passing a semi than you are any other vehicle on the highway. We’ve got to tell our story to our neighbors, in our churches and in our local organizations because it’s not being told by us; it’s currently being told by somebody else.”
Regarding a proposed bill that would tie truck owners to a substantial increase in minimal liability insurance requirements, Ward said the industry cannot afford to take a backseat to the conversation.
“We need to arm ourselves with the appropriate information and data to share,” he stressed. “All our businesses are different. We have to continue to provide education about our business, and what makes sense for one business doesn’t necessarily make sense for another.”
During the Q&A session of the discussion, attendee Chris Woody, safety coordinator from M&W Transportation in Nashville, explained that public perception dominates his thoughts every day and is the motivating reason for him joining this year’s conference.
“We all agree that this is a thing, yet plaintiffs’ attorneys and 12 jurors at a time have outpaced us on the message about whether we’re the good guys or the bad guys,” Woody explained, noting that even with the work being done by trucking associations, the industry hasn’t been successful in delivering its message. “How do we do that? What are we missing? How do we keep losing to those guys?”
Christenson said it started by educating everyone who works within a trucking company with the data of how safe the industry actually is and the services that the industry provides to the public.
“I think it’s a grassroots effort to get that message out and we have to hold our companies accountable,” he explained. “It starts with me and goes all the way down to that entry-level person coming into my business no matter what that job is. They have to have a voice where they go out in their community and they say, ‘That’s not accurate, let me tell you the real story.’”
Ward added that until the industry is able to remove those predatory actions from courtrooms, those challenging one-off verdicts will remain. However, he pointed to the opportunity the industry has and some of the progress being made in certain states when it comes to tort reform.
“I challenge you one jurisdiction, one state at a time. Let’s take advantage of the voice of the industry. Let’s move into some of these areas and explain the simple fact that we want to be fair and want to treat families correctly and appropriately, but we don’t want to be taken advantage of,” Ward noted.
“Back to the point about public perception drives public policy, we are seen in a better light today than we have been seen since I have been around in the industry,” he added. “We need to seize the moment and take advantage of it. If we don’t, then shame on us, because we don’t get this opportunity very often.”
