Panelists Say Safety Technology Will Help With Driver Recruitment

John Sommers II for Transport Topics

PHILADELPHIA — Technological advancements could be useful in the recruitment of younger drivers, said Brian Kinsey, president and CEO of Brown Logistics.

“As we try to attract newer and younger people, I think if we can make operating a truck like playing on an iPad, it would be great. We would have no problem attracting people. [Operating a truck] does require a different skill set that young people have; you just have to make the job more attractive,” Kinsey said during a panel moderated by Transport Topics at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition here Oct. 20.

At Brown Logistics, truck drivers are now referred to as "commercial vehicle operators," Kinsey said, reflecting a broader definition of the work they do.

While improvements in safety technology have helped reduce accidents, Rob Penner, president at Bison Transport, and Greg Pawelski, senior director of safety at Con-way Freight, stressed that drivers remain the key players in freight safety. Thus, proper training of new technologies needs to be a top priority for fleets, they said during the panel. Transport Topics Technology Editor Seth Clevenger moderated the event.

“It’s all about the driver. It’s about building a culture within your organization that safety is first,” Pawelski said.

SKILES: Lessons learned apply to any industry

Capt. Jeff Skiles, first officer on US Airways Flight 1549, said technological advances have propelled drivers to the role of system managers, similar to the ways commercial pilots operate. Skiles recounted to the panel his experience aboard the troubled flight six years ago that became known as the "Miracle on the Hudson."

He said the event was not a miraculous achievement, rather the result of a change in the airline’s culture that provided for the training, preparation and procedures for the teamwork that proved critical in saving all 155 people onboard when the Airbus A320 landed in the frigid river on Jan. 15, 2009.