Survey: ELDs, driver shortage top industry issues

A new survey by a trucking industry research group lists the most pressing issues facing the American trucking industry today.

Adequate truck parking was listed as the fourth most pressing problem overall, but was ranked second by drivers and ninth by carriers.

But, what the most important issues in trucking are depends on your place within the industry. For drivers, it’s the mandated use of electronic logging devices. For carriers, it’s the driver shortage.

Both are included in the findings of a new survey Critical Issues In The Trucking Industry – 2017 released earlier this week by the American Transportation Research Institute. It’s ranking, which used a formula to assign quantitative values to each issue, found this year’s top 10 overall issues included:

1. Driver shortage
2. Electronic logging device mandate
3. Hours of service
4. Truck parking
5. Driver retention
6. Compliance, Safety, Accountability
7. Cumulative economic impacts of trucking regulations on the industry
8. Driver distraction
9. Transportation infrastructure, congestion, funding
10. Driver health and wellness

ATRI explained it ranking process: “An issue that is ranked by a respondent as most important receives three points, while an issue ranked second receives two points and an issue ranked third receives one point. Issues that were not ranked by respondents do not receive any points. The total number of points is then added together to generate a prioritized list of industry concerns.”

However, the survey’s findings also showed a difference of opinion between drivers and trucking companies. When separated, those rankings showed:

Drivers Top 10 Issues

1. Electronic logging device mandate
2. Truck parking
3. Hours of service
4. Cumulative economic impacts of trucking regulations on the industry
5. Driver distraction
6. Compliance, Safety, Accountability
7. Driver health and wellness
8. Driver retention
9. Transportation infrastructure, congestion, funding
10. Autonomous vehicles

Carriers Top 10 Issues

1. Driver shortage
2. Electronic logging device mandate
3. Driver retention
4. Compliance, Safety, Accountability
5. Hours of service
6. Cumulative economic impacts of trucking regulations on the industry
7. Transportation infrastructure, congestion, funding
8. Driver retention
9. Truck parking
10. Tort reform