TL Executives Support Firmer Safety Program

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Almost half of truckload carrier executives surveyed by Transport Topics during the Truckload Carriers Association’s annual meeting in Las Vegas think federal and state truck safety laws need significant improvement.

On the other hand, a solid majority of trucking managers acknowledge that motor carrier inspectors are doing a good job.

Two out of three say the government isn’t doing enough to get bad drivers and carriers off the road.

These findings suggest that trucking company owners and managers want more, not less, attention paid to safety issues, and they agree changes are needed to make the system more effective.

Most respondents support creation of a separate federal agency for trucking. Only one in five said transferring the Motor Carrier and Highway Safety business unit (formerly the Office of Motor Carriers) to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would improve highway safety.

About one-third of those surveyed said such a move would have no impact on safety and about 20% had no opinion on the issue.

Roadside inspections were considered effective in eliminating unsafe drivers and equipment by roughly 80% of the carrier executives.

While a majority of respondents think the current level of drug and alcohol testing should be continued, a significant percentage (38.8%) disagreed.

A sharper difference of opinion emerges on the issue of increasing fines on truck drivers for speeding and other traffic violations. Most (47.8%) supported the idea, 38.8% opposed it and 9% had no opinion.

Finally, carrier executives were asked to rate the quality of entry-level training for truck drivers. About 80% answered “fair,” “needs improvement” or “poor.”

The survey was conducted during the TCA board meeting March 17 at the Bellagio Resort, and the results were based on 67 responses. Of the fleets that responded, 41% had 100 to 500 trucks, 26% had 51 to 100 trucks, 16.4% had more than 500 trucks and 11.5% had 11 to 50 trucks.

A copy of the TT fleet safety survey is available on the Web at www.ttnews.com/survey.html.

eaders are invited to submit their response to the questionnaire.

For the full story, see the April 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.