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Trucking Industry Safety Issues: Drivers working long hours for little pay
Knight-ridder ^ | 12/27/01 | Judy L. Thomas

Posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:30 AM PST by MoJoWork_n

Keith Stanley gulped some fresh coffee and leaned forward at the table, his bloodshot eyes narrowing. "Sweatshop is a good description," the longtime trucker and father of five said as he tried to pump some life into his weary body at a truck stop in Fort Stockton, Texas.

"But I've got to do it. I'll probably kill myself putting my kids through college. But there's no way I'm ever going to let them drive a truck."

In the last two decades, trucking has become the lifeblood of the American economy, transporting 8 billion tons of freight annually - almost two-thirds of the total tonnage shipped. Yet as trucking moves the economy, truckers aren't reaping what they've helped sow. They drive hard, putting in long hours day and night, often for not much more than minimum wage. And they have to drive tired, pushing mile after mile on a few hours of sleep, sometimes just to break even. That makes the nation's highways treacherous for both cars and trucks - more truckers die in accidents each year than workers in any other profession. Congress, the trucking industry and safety advocates have debated for years how to get tired truckers off the road.

But the bedrock problem isn't the law that tells truckers how long they can drive. It's an economic system that pushes them to drive past exhaustion, no matter what the law says. Although some companies strictly enforce federal regulations and pay their drivers well, many don't, and independent drivers confront the hard truths of deregulation. "Until you change the economics of trucking, nothing will happen," said Bob McEvoy, former director of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Maine office.

"The Kansas City Star" spent nine months examining the trucking industry. As part of the project, a reporter drove an 18-wheeler for 6,000 miles to witness the pressures faced by truckers as they try to make a living. All along the way, "The Star" found zombie-like drivers putting in long hours for low pay. They were spending weeks away from home and family, living out of duffel bags at crowded truck stops, showering in seedy stalls the size of broom closets and waking in the middle of the night with prostitutes banging on their truck's door. Some drivers said they were running so hard that they hadn't been home in two months. Some were on their third and fourth marriages - a driver drinking coffee at a Texas truck stop had just been divorced for the fifth time.

At the Dixie Truckers Home in McLean, Ill., one Missouri driver said his wife had just told him that if he didn't get home that weekend, she was leaving. "There's no way I'm going to get there," he said. "They've got me headed in the opposite direction." A trucker sitting next to him said he could relate: "The only thing I've got left is four cats and a truck."

Scott Voyles was bleary as he finally finished dinner about 9 p.m. Driving 130,000 miles a year has let him take home about $36,000, he said, but then he has had to pay for his own repairs.

It all goes back to deregulation. In 1980, Congress loosened restrictions on the trucking industry, making it easier for companies to start up and haul freight from coast to coast. Deregulation, which many believed would create equal opportunities, became unbridled competition as the number of trucking companies grew from 30,000 to more than half a million. Freight rates fell, bankruptcies skyrocketed and wages stagnated. "If a guy can get a bank loan and a truck, he can go out and start a company," said Dave Brinkman, an owner-operator from Indiana. "And to get a load, he's got to cut the rate. And the cheap truck always runs." The average trucker works more than 3,000 hours a year - roughly 60 hours a week - and makes between $30,000 and $45,000, said Julie Anna Cirillo, the government's head truck-safety officer.

"Most blue-collar Americans work about 2,000 hours a year," she said. "So they're working 50 percent more for not much more pay, if any more pay." Jerry Stricker, a trucker from Illinois who has driven for 44 years, said he had never seen things so bad. "I made more in the '60s than I do now," said Stricker, who had stopped for lunch at a truck stop in Denton, Texas. "I'd take home more and be home more. Now, it's all cutthroat."

Stricker drives 3,000 miles a week, working an average of 60 hours. His take-home pay is about $500 a week - or less than $8.50 an hour. Gary Rosenberger of Kirkwood, N.Y., who has been driving a truck since he was 16, also logs about 3,000 miles a week and makes $500. He tries to stay on the road a month at a time to make more money. When you add in time spent waiting to load or unload, he said, "there's days out there a trucker don't even make minimum wage." Last year, Brinkman drove 130,000 miles and grossed $149,000 with his truck. His taxable income: $18,000. This year, helped by lower fuel costs, he's clearing about $3,000 a month before taxes. Brinkman said he was paid about the same money per mile in 1972 but fuel then cost only 27 cents a gallon.

Still, Brinkman figures he's in better shape than most truckers because he has a shop and can do his own repairs. But he worries about some of his friends. "I've got guys I run with, they have to cut costs because they're broke," he said. "And a man out here going broke, he's going to run as hard as he can."

Most truckers must drive long and hard to make money because they're paid by the mile - not by the hour. And unlike almost all other industries, trucking is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the law that established a 40-hour workweek. That means truckers don't have to be paid minimum wage - $5.15 an hour - or overtime unless they're in a union. Union drivers often are paid by the hour, but fewer than one-fourth of truckers belong. As a result, truckers routinely work more than the 60 hours a week and 10 hours at a stretch that federal law allows.

In a 1997 survey conducted by the University of Michigan Trucking Industry Program, 10% of the drivers reported working more than 95 hours in the past week, with the average non-union driver working 66 hours. To drive that hard, truckers sometimes take extreme measures - even answering the call of nature without stopping. In fact, Oregon passed a law in 1999 making it a crime to toss containers of urine onto roadsides. A state transportation official blamed the growing problem on harried truckers. North Dakota transportation officials want a similar law. They've put shields on maintenance tractors because mowing crews have been getting splattered up to 40 times a year when they run over urine-filled containers.

At 1 a.m. in Waco, Texas, a truck crept into the Flying J Travel Plaza. The driver backed his rig into one of the few open parking spots, then crawled directly into his sleeper berth in the back of the cab, so exhausted that he forgot to shut off his left-turn signal. Inside the truck stop, several haggard drivers stood in line at the fuel desk, duffels in tow, waiting to get a coupon for a shower. In the trucker's lounge nearby, one driver stared blankly at the TV screen while another was sprawled across two seats, out like a light.

Over in the restaurant, two truckers filled their plates with pancakes and home-fried potatoes at the breakfast buffet, then shuffled back to their tables to eat in silence, their circadian rhythms in chaos. Two hours later, the red turn signal was still blinking on the truck out in the parking lot.

Robert Flint can see truckers' exhaustion at weigh stations, too. Trucks sometimes get backed up at the scales, said Flint, a state trooper in Maine. As inspectors walk down the line, they find drivers asleep at the wheel after waiting only 15 or 20 minutes. "That's pretty scary," Flint said. Flint said the truckers were not solely to blame for driving too hard. "They're just trying to make a living." The bigger problem, Flint said, is the companies. "They push these people," he said. "When these trucks park and are not moving, they're not making any money." Sometimes, Flint said, the truckers point out faulty brakes or bad tires to the troopers. "I've stopped truckers before and had them say: 'You didn't hear this from me, trooper. But I want you to issue a summons to the company. I've been telling them to fix this problem for three months, and they keep blowing me off,' " he said.

"Have I heard that? You bet," said Dave Osiecki, the American Trucking Association's vice president of safety and operations. "It's probably the exception rather than the rule, but I'm certain that's occurring out there, because there are some companies that don't take maintenance as seriously as they should."

In May 1999, the owners of C&J Trucking Co. in Londonderry, N.H., were sentenced to four months in federal prison and the company was fined $25,000 after the owners admitted they permitted truckers to violate hours-of-service rules. The company paid drivers "off the books" for illegal driving time. An investigation was triggered after a company driver rear-ended a car on I-93 in August 1995. The crash killed four people.

Shippers, too, have created a system that pushes truckers to drive farther and faster. In recent years, manufacturers and retailers began stocking smaller inventories to decrease warehouse costs, so when they need an item, they need it fast. It's called "just-in-time" delivery. Shippers now demand precise delivery times, sometimes penalizing drivers for being late - which can happen if truckers run into delays from road construction, heavy traffic or bad weather. And once they get to the dock to load or unload, truckers often must wait. While they do, they don't make any money, and the hours count against their allowable driving time. "We show up on time, and we sit and sit and sit," said Dave Morgan, a driver for Werner Enterprises. Recent studies have found that truckers spend 30 to 40 hours a week waiting at the mercy of the shippers and receivers. Many truckers don't log those hours because they would cut into the driving time they're allowed.

James Thurman, sitting at the breakfast counter at a Virginia truck stop, said that the week before, he had gotten to the dock of a home improvement store at 4 a.m. after driving all night. He got out of there at nearly 3 the next afternoon. "It was a whole day wasted," he said. "With any other job, the law says you're to be paid for the work you do. But we don't get paid for that."

For many truckers, the job isn't worth it. Industry experts say annual driver turnover at many companies runs from 60% to 120%. That has created a shortage of 80,000 to 100,000 drivers, according to the American Trucking Association. To find more drivers, the Truckload Carriers Association is asking the Motor Carrier Safety Administration to authorize a test project putting 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds in big rigs. Current law requires interstate truckers to be at least 21. Although critics say the move would be deadly, the trucking association says the young drivers would be required to undergo lengthy training and close supervision until they turn 21.

Want ads for drivers fill the numerous trucking publications. Companies also are searching for drivers in non-traditional places. In California, prison outreach programs are placing parolees in trucking jobs. Some seasoned drivers don't like the newcomers. "It's like they scraped the bottom of the barrel and put 'em all in trucks," Bill Rushing said as he sat at the horseshoe-shaped counter in a truck stop in Toms Brook, Va., eating fried potatoes and a sausage omelet. "You can't trust them," said the trucker from Baton Rouge, La., who has been driving off and on for 25 years. "Now you see guys running across the country, falling asleep, crashing and killing somebody." Maine trucker Guy Bourrie said he, too, had seen a change in the new drivers. They travel at speeds well over the posted limit," Bourrie said. "They weave in and out of traffic and follow less than a car length behind autos, using intimidation in hopes that the small vehicle will move. They cheat on their logbooks, drive when overtired and fill the CB airwaves with language that would cause a barroom dog to drop its bone."

Almost everyone agrees that highway safety won't improve until the trying conditions of the trucking industry are addressed. The first thing that needs to be done, safety advocates say, is to start paying truckers by the hour and not by the mile. "The pay-by-the-mile system is the root cause of driver fatigue," said Daphne Izer, a founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers. "Until truck drivers are paid for all time worked - including loading, unloading, waiting and driving - the highway truck crash rates have little chance of decreasing." Izer, of Lisbon Falls, Maine, formed her group after her 17-year-old son and three friends, ages 14, 15 and 16, were killed by a tired trucker in October 1993 while on their way to a hayride.

They're putting in so many illegal hours, one study said, that carriers would have to hire 130,000 more drivers at a cost of between $2 billion and $7 billion to get legal. But studies also indicate the public is willing to pay for safer trucks. A 1998 Lou Harris poll conducted for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety found that 71% said they would pay more for goods to get tougher truck safety standards.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: transportationlist
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As a motorist/driver, I found this interesting. Maybe because I was wondering whatever happened to the Upton Sinclair/muckracking/crusading-journalists of the world. The writer's slant on the subject is pretty obvious. (Spend more money for safer trucks and driving conditions.) Generally speaking, it sounds like a call to at least partially re-regulate the industry.)

Interested to know what opinions other people have, in or out of the business. Under NAFTA rules, the cream of the Mexican trucking industry is going to be free to migrate North, to compete under the same conditions, pretty darned soon. Are there going to be cross-border (and/or state-to-state) overlapping regulations/safety codes?

1 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:30 AM PST by MoJoWork_n
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To: MoJoWork_n
I believe that Knight-Ridder discriminates against the Boy Scouts of America. Therefore, I refuse to read this article.
2 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:31 AM PST by PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
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To: MoJoWork_n
This writer is utterly bogus. Fatigue and hours of service are huge industry issues, but safety is NOT a pay problem. There are people on the railroad who work unbelievable hours to make $100K, instead of settling for $65K. So raise the pay, and many will still push the limits to earn more.

Don't get me wrong, I think enforcement of current rest regulations should be stepped up, along with a few more regs, but tied to research on circadian rhythms, not union opportunists.

3 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:31 AM PST by Diddle E. Squat
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To: MoJoWork_n
What.. the teamsters not doing thier job? Do we need to get Hoffa back on the road here? I only know one trucker, and he was doing better than me. He put in long hours sometimes, but he also got a lot of time off... HIS job seemed to pay off. I'm speaking in past tense because he started getting DWI's and now doesn't do it anymore. Maybe he had to much time off.
4 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:33 AM PST by Alpenkatze
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To: Alpenkatze
You took the words right out of my mouth!

Where is Jimmy Hoffa when you need him?

5 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:33 AM PST by Nitro
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To: Nitro
This would also create more jobs in the baseball bat industry... worked for Lenin... er.. a.. well Hoffa I mean... godda get on the right comi program here...
6 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:36 AM PST by Alpenkatze
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To: Alpenkatze
So, I got anothet Louisville Slugger, heh?

I was never a Teamster, you can have it!!

7 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:42 AM PST by Nitro
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To: MoJoWork_n
I read this "expose" in the KC Star (my home town paper, blech). What I came away with was truckers who pushed themselves needlessly to get a load delivered early so they could have time off.

To stay within current regulations they would log a weeks worth of travel while doing it in 4 days to take 3 days off. While I cannot say this is true, this is what the story conveyed to me, and that was what one truck driver in the story said in a round about way (you have to read the entire expose).

8 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:15 AM PST by cidrasm
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To: MoJoWork_n
I am a truck driver. The article speaks the truth. Some of the smart remarks made by some of the people shows just how little the general public knows about the trucking industry. All most of the four-wheelers know is what they are told by the media or shown by Hollywood or see on the boob tube. The life of a truck drive is not pretty. We do spend a lot of time not getting paid. We do have to drive over the speed limit and over our log books to make time through no fault of our own. We do endure the hatred of the general public. We do put up with the four wheelers cutting us off, slowing us down, and deliberately harassing us. We do all this and still get our loads there on time. All that just for a paycheck. I have been driving for about ten years. My friends and family all say that I have aged a lot more than that. You become old fast doing this type of work. The long hours, low pay, and sleepless nights take a great toll on a drivers body.

As far as the pay is concerned, the article is also accurate. I am out about 150 hours a week. That is six days on the road a week. That includes the driving, unloading, loading and sleeping times. On a good week I make $1000. On a bad week, I make $300 to $500. So you might say that is a lot of money. Well, lets put it into perspective. An average person making $12 an hour working 40 hours a week will make about $480 a week. Now have that same person work the same hours as a truck driver. I can drive a maximum of 70 hours a week. Plus the loading and unloading time that I log as sleeping time. Together, I am actually working about 110 hours a week. That is the number of hours I am awake and doing something that makes my company money. So If the average person out there making $12 an hour were to work the same number of hours that I do, they would make about $1320 a week. Now you see that we don’t really make that much money. As I was saying before, the driver is responsible for the equipment and freight the whole time he is out. So If you figure that is worth something, then you see that over the 150 hours a driver is away from home, he is only making $6 an hour. Pretty sad paycheck for what we are doing.

Now consider the fact that we have road expenses. We buy two to three meals a day if we are lucky. We have to keep a home away from home in the truck. The company does not cover the cost of the our living expenses. Sometimes we have to pay up to $10 for a simple shower. The food in truckstops is way overpriced and god forbid we have to buy anything from the store at the truckstop. Most things are marked up 3 to 5 hundred percent. I can usually get by on one meal a day and try to shower only when I can get a free coupon. Most things I bring from home and if I need something else, I try to do without. Even doing this, I still end up spending about $100 a week on the road just to get by. That is lost money. It would be like anyone else having to give up a portion of their paycheck just for the privilege of working.

Just remember, the next time you four-wheelers are tempted to cut us off, speed up when we try to pass, or are just being a total pain in the butt, we are tired and just want to be left alone to do our job. Please read the article. It is very true. Those of you that have smart remarks to make, all I can say is your ignorance is showing.

9 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:20 AM PST by poorman
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To: Nitro
Certainly you've heard of Omaha Steaks haven't you?
10 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:21 AM PST by CARTOUCHE
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To: CARTOUCHE
You mean that a little butter and a dash of Soy Sauce killed Jimmy Hoffa?
11 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:22 AM PST by Nitro
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Right now we are stopped and checked at scales, rest areas, and along roads. Our logs and paperwork are reviewed constantly. We are constantly monitered by satilite positioning systems, computers and every branch of the police force. We can be searched withour probable cause, we can be stopped just for the hell of it. If we stop to take a nap, the cops will bang on our trucks and demand to see our logbooks or inspect our trucks. So how much more enforcement are you talking about? The only thing that is left is to have our own personal policeman riding along with us.
12 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:24 AM PST by poorman
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To: poorman
Hey, thanks a lot for the reply. I was impressed by the fact that the writer of the article had taken a whole lot of time to log many, many hours and miles on the road, actually driving a big rig, before word one made it to the first page. If only there were more writers who took the time to do that kind of extensive, personal research, on other topics.

I took a drive out of town a few weeks ago and when I pitted at a truck stop passed time with a couple of truckers, for a minute. Both of them seemed wiped-out and kind of groggy. When I read the article this morning, it rang a bell.

13 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:24 AM PST by MoJoWork_n
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To: PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
...Knight-ridder discriminates against the Boy Scouts. Therefore, I refuse to read this article

Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone here's replied without reading the article. I don't think you're breaking any rules.

14 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:25 AM PST by MoJoWork_n
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To: MoJoWork_n
I can see by the other replies that most people, even when they are given the facts, still don't really care. As long as their food, clothing, cars, and toys are delivered, why should they worry. Just think what would happen if the entire trucking industry decided to take a month off. I bet they would then start taking this a little more seriously.

I don't mean to get all excited, but this really hits me in a sore spot. If it were not for us, this country would come to a stand still. But we are treated like second hand garabage. Figure that one out.

15 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:26 AM PST by poorman
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To: poorman
So nothing personal, but quit driving trucks. Regulations don't change the marketplace. Apparently, there are plenty of people willing to put up with the "abuses" you cite to drive trucks. When the supply of truck drivers willing to work for these wages decreases, their pay will increase.
16 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:28 AM PST by Jesse
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To: poorman
Thanks for your 2 cents' worth. Get some sleep! We've got a busy weekend ahead! J
17 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:28 AM PST by petuniasevan
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To: poorman
I am also a trucker and I read the original article in my hometown paper here in Kansas City. I drive regionally for a major non-union company whose pay and benefits package is top in the non-union sector. I am tracked by satellite and counseled when and if I drive more than ten hours at a stretch. However, there are many more companies in this industry that tell their drivers "just get it there" which is a not so subtle way of saying be there or else. Safety at my company isn't just lip service. The insurance company has as much say in the operation of the trucks as do the drivers. The insurance companies tell the company how fast the trucks may run, in our case, 62 mph. I sit from time to time at shipper's docks for several hours while the product is coming off the line or while some other snafu is worked-out. I am paid for this time if it exceeds two hours but the compensation doesn't make up for the time I could have been driving those hours. The culprit in all of this is how most of us non-union guys and gals are paid. We get a mileage rate of pay rather than hourly pay. If we all were receiving our pay on the clock I guarantee that trucking companies and shippers would have all of the problems worked-out rather quickly. Many shippers would rather get free labor out of the driver than hire someone to perform the labor of loading and unloading the trailers. The union workforce continues to shrink and that's not a problem as I see it. Yeah, I'm a scab trucker. (I always love seeing that graffiti "scab". It's an odd way of evangelizing.) I determine my own destiny, not some Teamster thug in Chicago, Detroit or Kansas City and I like it that way. If I am delayed by shipper's or by the weather or whatever, I simply tell my travel agent I am tired and he makes arrangements to cover the load by rescheduling the delivery appointment or finding another driver that can switch loads with me. Unfortunately there are many small companies that don't have the luxury of depth of freight or a large enough driver pool to make it happen. Slowly those companies are disappearing as the industry consolidates into fewer but ever larger more efficient companies. And finally, there are quite a few guys out here that would rather drive chrome and fancy paint at 20-25 cents per mile than drive a plain company truck for one of the majors at 34-41 cents per mile. Those fellows are the ones who's judgement you need to worry about.
18 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:29 AM PST by CARTOUCHE
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To: poorman
I am a truck driver. The article speaks the truth.

Am I the only person who thinks that the 10/8 rule is absurd [for every 10 hours driven, you need to log eight consecutive hours of rest; any r&r during the day which is not part of continuous eight-hour stretch counts for naught]? The way the rule is set up, the only way to drive more than 10 hours every 24 is to have a 'rotating' schedule where you drive different hours every day. It would seem much more reasonable to work a daily routine with two 6-hour shifts with one or two hours in-between and 8 or more hours of rest after two such shifts. This would allow 12 hours per 24 without having to live 20-hour "days".

19 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:29 AM PST by supercat
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To: Jesse
Poorman says the industry ALREADY is chronically short of drivers;
this makes no difference in the pay scale or the conditions.

And yes, he'd love to get out of driving. We're working on that now.

20 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:29 AM PST by petuniasevan
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