What's been on the minds of America's truckers for the last seven years?
The answer is pretty simple:
- What they'll get paid for driving
- Where they will park when the driving day is done
Since 2019, those two issues have been at the top of the list of drivers' concerns as reported by the annual surveys of Critical Issues in Trucking from the American Transportation Research Institute. The most recent such survey, which was unveiled recently at the American trucking Associations' Management Conference and Exhibition, found compensation was drivers' number one concern. Parking was number two.
In fact, that mirrors what's happened for the past seven years. It's been (and note the pattern):
2919
- Driver compensation
- Parking
2020
- Parking
- Driver compensation
2021
- Driver compensation
- Parking
2022
- Parking
- Driver compensation
2023
- Driver compensation
- Parking
2024
- Parking
- Driver compensation
2025
- Driver compensation
- Parking
And, parking has been a top tier issue for each of the last 10 years, according to data compiled for TruckersNews.com by ATRI.
In 2016, while the new electronic logging device mandate was an especially hot topic for truckers, parking was ranked third by drivers. In 2027, ELDs occupied the top spot again and parking was second ... again. Then in 2018, hours of service topped the survey, and parking was second on the list.
In none of those three years did driver compensation even show up in the surveys' top 10 issues as chosen by truckers.
Interestingly, truck parking -- or more accurately, the lack of it -- has been among the top five issues of the ATRI Critical Issues' overall ranking, which includes carriers, truckers, and other stakeholders. In 2016, parking was ranked fourth in the overall results. In 2017, it was fifth; 2018 fifth; 2019 third; 2020 third; 2021 fifth; 2022 third; 2023 second; 2024 second; and 2025, fourth.
Driver compensation did not crack the list's top 10 until 2019. It has remained in the overall ranking since. Worthy of note is that in2021, while the country -- and its trucking industry -- struggled through the COVID-19 epidemic -- driver compensation was ranked third behind the number one issue of a driver shortage, and driver retention, which was second.
But parking and pay are not the only issues on the minds of America's truckers. Far from it. ATRI's data shows truckers frequently ranked regulatory, safety and driver welfare in their top 10 lists.
Regulatory issues occupy plenty of spaces on the list year over year.
Electronic Logging Devices have made the list every year since 2016, when it was drivers' number one concern. Granted, they have slipped lower on the list since 2020 when they were tenth.
- 2025, ninth ; 2024, seventh; 2023, ninth; 2022, eighth; 2021, sixth; 2020, tenth; 2019, fourth; 2018, third; 2017, first; 2016, first
Hours of Service have been on the top 10 list for seven of the last 10 years. They have not made the list since 2022 when they were in the seventh slot.
- 2022, seventh; 2021, fifth; 2020, fourth; 2019, second; 2018, first; 2017, third; 2016, second
Speed Limiters have long been a contentious issue fr drivers, but only made the Critical Issues top 10 four times. This could very well be because of the "on again off again" nature of proposed federal legislation, which appears to have died ... for now. Their ranking could also be attributed to the vast majority of driver respondents are company drivers who may be used to having their trucks' speed limited by their employers.
- 2022, fifth; 2021, ninth; 2020, ninth; 2019, sixth.
Compliance, Safety, Accountability is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's rating and safety enforcement program for carriers and drivers. It has been a source of controversy for several years as critics claim there is no correlation between some violations and crash risks, and the accuracy of crash data and driver employment has also been questioned.
- 2021, tenth; 2020, seventh; 2018, 2017, and 2016, sixth
Issues that intrude on drivers' performance have also made the list for the last 10 years. These are annoyances that primarily eat into the time truckers have each day to drive, which translate to lost income.
Detention and Delays to loa and unload is one of the chief annoyances of truckers. Tjhe longer they sit idle, the less time they have to drive and earn. And, a delay at one shipper's loading docks often means a missed appointment at another. Some carriers compensate drivers for these interruptions; many don't.
- 2025, fifth; 2024, fourth; 2023, fifth; 2022, fourth; 2021, second; 2020, third; 2019, fifth
Congestion and Infrastructure issues and twin plagues for truckers. Like detention and delays, they gobble up the precious time truckers have on their daily allotments of hours. An annual ATRI study of the nation's leading trucking bottlenecks estimates congestion costs the trucking industry $109 billion and wastes more than 6.4 billion gallons of fuel.
- 2022, tenth; 2021, eighth; 2019, ninth; 2018, eighth; 2016, ninth
ATRI's Critical Issues survey also identified issues that cut to heart of what it means to be a safe and successful driver now and in the future. The survey has found for the last 10 years that drivers are concerned about the level of training thier fellow truckers receive and if their jobs will be eventually eliminated by truck technology.
Driver Training Standards have been on the study's top 10 list for the last seven years. Driver concerns most most likely raised by federal mandates for entry-level driver training, and possibly by the lack of skills they contend they see in others on the road.
- 2025, seventh; 2024, 10th; 2023, sixth; 2022, ninth; 2021, fourth; 2020, fifth; 2019, seventh
Autonomous Trucks have gone from being not feasilbe "in our lifetimes" to now regularly -- and successfully -- delivering freight on routes in Texas and the Southwest. With the supply of new drivers uncertain, the fact that many in the driving corps are approaching retirement, and the purge of foreign drivers makes self-driving trucks seem more reality than technological pipe dreams.
- 2025, eighth; 2024, ninth; 2023, eighth; 2020, sixth; 2019, tenth; 2018, tenth; 2017, tenth
Other unrelated issues have also been occupying the minds of America's truckers.
The Economy has been an issue of concern for truckers for five of the last 10 year. Surprisingly, economic conditions are absent from this year's list of driver concerns. However, national and industry economics have once again topped the list of respondents who are carriers or other stakeholders.
- 2024, third; 2023, seventh; 2022, sixth; 2017 and 2016, fourth
Driver Health and Wellness have also been on the list for some years, and absent from it in others. This probably comes as little surprise by many in the industry because the driving life is not an easy one, and is not often conducive to easily maintaining healthy eating habits and exercise routines.
- 2020, eighth; 2018, seventh; 2017, seventh; 2016, tenth
Fuel Prices make up a major portion of the cost of running a trucking company. However, diesel prices appear on drivers' top 10 lists just three.
- 2024, eighth; 2023, third; 2021, third
Driver Retention and the industry's preoccupation with a Driver Shortage hardly show up on the list of concerns for drivers.
- Driver Retention: 2017, eighth
- Driver Shortage: 2018, ninth
Surprisingly absent from this years list are the three-year-long freight recession, the mounting number of layoffs, and the numerous bankruptcy filings and sales of trucking companies.
In all, drivers accounted for 30% of the 4,600 respondents to the survey.
