While preparing for a recent panel discussion, an industry colleague reached out to STC to ask what we saw as current and future safety trends in trucking. We thought we’d share these observations, bucketed in 3 categories:
- Positive Safety Trends in Trucking
- Increased industry awareness of the importance of safety culture (based on recent research and trade press coverage)
- Greater adoption of advanced safety technologies (including video event recorders and advanced driver assist systems)
- Growing use of alternative drug testing technologies (mainly hair testing)
- Other “Not-So-Positive” Safety Trends
- Increased driver use of marijuana and CBD oil (based on growing societal acceptance and new state laws)
- Continued upswing in distracted driving by all drivers (more smartphones, greater use of tablets in the industry, texting, etc.) along with insufficient enforcement
- An increasing number of truck-involved crashes (likely due, in large part, to driver distraction)
- Current and Future Regulatory & Compliance Trends
- Higher rates of HOS compliance (as a result of the ELD mandate)
- Accurate, accessible drug and alcohol screening of drivers (as a result of Clearinghouse to be implemented January 2020)
- More involved FMCSA oversight of non-compliant drivers and carriers (through increased use of more efficient off-site/remote compliance audits and CSA program improvements in the future)
- Flexible HOS rules (as proposed in Aug 2019 and likely to be finalized in 2020)
- Greater acceptance and use of younger CMV drivers — 18-20 year-olds — operating in interstate commerce (based on FMCSA’s Under-21 military pilot program)
You will likely notice other safety and compliance-related trends in our industry. Share them with us at dosiecki@scopelitisconsulting.com.