Trucking safety: Problems and progress

There is no question that ensuring safety in the truck driving industry is a challenge. Unlike most job sites where supervisors interact with employees on a regular basis, it is difficult to oversee truckers who spend so much time alone on the road.

With jobs that can last a few hours to a few weeks, little to no supervision and most truck drivers' desire to turn over shipments quickly, it is no wonder that safety is often overlooked. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, truck drivers average 141,100 lost workdays each year due to injuries or illness. This is more than one and a half times higher than the next highest industry, nonconstruction laborers.

A study of trucking accident claims conducted by St. Paul, Minnesotabased Northland Insurance (now part of Travelers Insurance in Hartford, Connecticut) found almost thirty-five hundred claims that cost in excess of $25,000 over the last three years, resulting in a cumulative total of more than $280 million. The study also reports that very few of these accidents were caused by factors outside of the driver's control, For example, darkness, fog, glare and precipitation were involved in less than 20 percent of the accidents, and in most of these cases these were only secondary causes. Equipment and mechanical factors were a factor in only 7 percent of accidents.,