Truck Driver Shortage May Near 100,000 with New FMCSA Law - Copy

For years the trucking industry has struggled with retaining drivers. And the new Hours of Service (HOS) federal regulation may mean the problem is going to get a lot worse in a hurry. With the new rules set to go into effect at the beginning of July, there very well may be a huge truck driver shortage across the country.

 

The new law from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reduces the maximum amount of time a truck driver can work from 82 hours to 70 hours in a seven day work period. This presents trucking companies with a 15 percent loss of existing man hours that they must immediately find a way to replace.

 

To compound the issue, companies in the United States were already dealing with an estimated 30,000 shortage of truck drivers before the new guidelines. With the reduced hours, the trucking industry now must find a way to create 100,000 new jobs to address the issue.

 

Trucking companies have hired nearly 40,000 workers in the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But this comes at the cost of the 98 percent turnover rate of large truckload drivers and 82 percent turnover rate of small smaller truckload fleets in 2012, according to the American Trucking Associations’ Trucking Activity Report. The high turnover has left companies scrambling to fill void of drivers leaving the industry.

 

Despite the truck driver shortage, the new law is coming into effect as a way to create a safer environment for long-haul truckers. By reducing the amount of hours drivers are on the road in a given day and week, the FMSCA is aiming to reduce accidents caused by driver fatigue and to look after the long-term health of truckers.

 

 

 

Teletrac’s software comes fully integrated with electronic driver logbooks that provide complete compliance with the FMCSA and Department of Transportation regulations. The software captures, correlates and archives all of the required HOS information can easily meet all of the new compliance requirements.

 

 

This software in turn helps a company retain its drivers by eliminating repetitive tasks and making a trucker’s job much easier. Canned messages allow for automatic communication with dispatch, while GPS landmarks and geo-fences help drivers avoid constant location updates. Along with this, electronic driver logs and vehicle inspection reports eliminate paper logs and management. This helpful technology from Teletrac makes a trucker’s day-to-day life much simpler and directly improves a company’s driver retention.