Posted on 07/02/2021 10:54:10 AM PDT by blam
The number of U.S. truck drivers sidelined due to substance abuse violations has surpassed 60,000 and continues to climb by roughly 2,000-3,000 per month, according to federal data. The latest monthly report by the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, administered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration since January 2020, revealed that 60,299 CDL holders have a drug or alcohol violation recorded in the clearinghouse as of June 1, up from 57,510 as of May 1 and up from 18,860 recorded in the clearinghouse as of May 1, 2020.
Drivers with at least one substance abuse violation are barred from operating a commercial truck until they complete a return-to-duty process, which includes providing a negative follow-up test result. The percentage of drivers who are completing the RTD process has steadily increased over the past year, however, from 5.2% as of May 1, 2020, to 22.1% as of May 1, 2021.
Marijuana consistently tops the list of substances identified in positive drug tests, far outpacing cocaine and methamphetamine, the second- and third-highest drug violations, respectively, among CDL holders.
The number of violations now recorded in the clearinghouse stands out for another reason: It’s coincidentally just a few hundred shy of an estimated number of drivers needed to fill a shortfall of commercial drivers to keep pace with freight demand.
“According to a recent estimate, the trucking industry needs an additional 60,800 truck drivers immediately — a deficit that is expected to grow to more than 160,000 by 2028,” testified American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear at a Capitol Hill hearing on freight mobility in May.
“In fact, when anticipated driver retirement numbers are combined with the expected growth in capacity, the trucking industry will need to hire roughly 1.1 million new drivers over the next decade, or an average of nearly 110,000 per year.”
Scopelitis Consulting Co-Director Sean Garney pointed out that the growing number of prohibited drivers is not a bad thing from a safety standpoint.
“The database is doing what it’s supposed to do, which is identify those who should not be driving,” Garney told FreightWaves. “Losing drivers due to positive drug tests may not necessarily be a good thing for truck capacity, but I think what many others in this industry also care about is safety.”
Been that way a while now.
Remember when they were called "Knights of the Road"?
Wife at home to Truck Driver Husband: "Get off the freeway. Some trucker is totally crazy and driving in the wrong direction. Watch out!"
Trucker: "One trucker? I been seeing about a dozen of them heading toward me, all shouting at me. They're nuts out here."
Price of gasoline also due driver shortage.
Peoples should just be minding their own business.
Trucker Mans just trying to make some money.
Nobody got a right to tell a man when he can drink or drug and when he can’t drink or drug.
That’s crazy talk.
Oh these are well known in the industry as Towel/Rag head drivers. Just about everyone of those are from India or the middle east and the scourge of the profession. Start watching the trucking company names, or check them out as they go by.
“All over the road” is their normal driving mode. You can spot them from a mile away. The real drivers hate them because of their extremely dangerous driving habits. And they drive like this completely sober...
Meh... The usual suspects are screaming about a shortage, how is today different that any day in that last 30 years?
I think there is a true shortage brewing, but it is not due to drug testing. Due to the pandemic the DMV effectively shut down for a couple of months, and has been running at a reduced capacity ever since. Look at how long it takes to schedule a test to get your CDL. Maybe some of the mega carriers will have to start treating their new recruits better, close to minimum wage to drive a truck for 6 days straight only getting home once a quarter, does not cut it for many people.
“Or maybe it’s just a habit they brought with them into the job, until they crash into something.”
It IS a habit they bring with them.
I saw that when I was driving. As the older generation retired the youngsters they brought in were a whole different class of people and it wasn’t a better class. Most of the kids didn’t last 3 months past their training period.
The number of new hires failing the drug tests, DURING ORIENTATION, got to be mind blowing. I saw, in an orientation class of 21, 8 failed the drug test and 2 were redlined for blood pressure problems. Eight idiots who couldn’t stay clean long enough to pass one drug test.
A whole nother world.
I’ve been warped by the rain
Driven by the snow
I’m drunk and dirty
But don’t you know I’m willin’
Out on the road late at night
I seen my pretty Alice in every headlight
Alice, Dallas Alice
And I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonopah
Driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn’t get weighed
And if you give me
Weed whites and wine
And show me a sign
I’ll be willin’
To be movin’
I’ve been kicked by the wind,robbed by the sleet
Had my head stove in, but I’m still on my feet
And I’m still willin’
Willin’ Lowel George Little Feat
Start watching the trucking company names
Swift
Start watching the trucking company names
Swift
lol, that is one of them. CRST hires a lot too. But most of those guys who are all over the road are owner operators and have Hindu or Arabic company names.
Thanks. Poetic song.
My knights of columbus brother is a truck driver. Refused to go out of state even when dangled TRIPLE his rate during the china virus 2020 hysteria. Rather keep his current rate (which is really good) than be attacked by BLM assholes.
I’m a trucker. Been working for a medium-sized Midwest grocery chain since October 2019. We pay drivers decently, and we’re systematic. It’s the best complete package of driver conditions I’ve ever seen. Therefore we pull veteran drivers with superior safety records. We don’t have to deal with drug or booze issues, safety nightmares, or cranking the turnover mill. Regarding the article, I’d be more enlightened by knowing the percentage of total CDL-holders sidelined due to substance abuse versus just the number.
The COVID-19 shutdown affected the driver supply locally in a way that I’m sure happened all over the country: it shut down the truck driver training school at the community college for a long time. I had been an instructor there—until fall, 2019.
They tried to keep it going at first, but every adjustment they had to make really choked things down. First a complete 2-month shutdown. Then they came back with the initial classroom portion switched to online, which washed out many ESL students. They still had to furnish and document full road and range time for the students who were still in. Previously it was three students per truck with an instructor riding shotgun. Pull over along the training routes and hot-swap students behind the wheel to minimize down time and keep the other two watching from the sleeper. In the pandemic, it was one student at a time with student and instructor wearing biohazard gear: gowns, gloves, and masks or face shields.
The senior full-time instructors who carried the program were 60+ years old. One of them and the program director caught covid and were hospitalized for ten days. One retired. The other two said “Screw this” and went back to driving full time. Most of the part-time instructors were well into retirement and of an age to be vulnerable. I heard about it all after I left. It was a mess. For a long time. If I heard that they graduated a third of the numbers in 2020 that everybody was counting on, I’d be shocked. Multiply that by the driving schools in most states and you’re talking about a LOT of people deflected from filling the ranks last year.
And yeah, the rules and the demographics of the driving school recruits have changed significantly since I started in the early 1990s.
Drug users driving 80,000lb trucks on our roads....
This is want happens when you legalize drugs.
“This is want happens when you legalize drugs.”
Nonsense - jurisdictions with legal marijuana haven’t quadrupled in a year: ‘The percentage of drivers who are completing the RTD process has steadily increased over the past year, however, from 5.2% as of May 1, 2020, to 22.1% as of May 1, 2021.’
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