How The Truck Driver Shortage Affects Everyone On the Road

Wyoming Truck Accident Attorney Explains the Situation

Video Transcript: 

Grant Lawson: 

Right now, truck drivers are facing more pressure than they ever have been because of the supply crisis.

Tom Mustin: 

With supply chains backed up all over the world, the vital role the trucking industry plays has received increased attention. Are the drivers being pushed beyond safety limits, and if so, who's doing the pushing? We're gonna talk to attorney Grant Lawson about that on today's episode of Ask the Lawyer. Grant, thanks for joining us today.

Grant Lawson: 

Yes, thanks for having me.

Tom Mustin: 

Great to have you. On the John Oliver Show a few weeks ago, he really broke down the issues with the trucking industry and why there are shortages of drivers here in the US. What effect is this having on traffic safety?

Grant Lawson: 

Well, number one, it's like we're seeing with inflation in all parts of our daily lives, truck drivers are being pushed to their limits, there's not enough of them, and the ones that are available have more work than they could possibly do, and there's just increased pressure from everything from the top of the manufacturers, all the way down to the distributors, sellers of products A through Z that need to be transported from our coasts, from the places of manufacture here in the country to their various destinations. And so it's a really difficult time, it's a good time, it's a lucrative time for truck drivers, but there's also increased pressure on those drivers to make sure that they're getting their loads delivered as quickly as possible, and then moving on to the next one.

Tom Mustin: 

And Grant, a lot of times, drivers are paid by the miles and not by the hours, tell us why that can be so dangerous, not only to the drivers, but to the public as well?

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah, the incentive is to go on as many trips in as quick amount of time as you can as a driver, and not hourly, the adverse is true. It's how quickly, how fast you can make the trip without any delays or extra time, and getting the load transported from point A to B, and then moving on to the next delivery that needs to be picked up and take it to wherever it needs to go, and so that's... The incentive is, is get as many miles as you can in as quick... Or short of a period of time as you can. And that's the name of the game.

Tom Mustin: 

And another common complaint, Grant, is that drivers are saying they're being told to continue to drive even when they say they're tired, and that could be dangerous on the road. Have you found that to be true as well?

Grant Lawson: 

Well, unfortunately, we're seeing that in some respects, and of course, there's tens of, if not hundreds of thousands of drivers out there, and the vast majority of those drivers are great drivers who follow the rules, who are acting safely and doing the safe thing, but sometimes even good drivers are being pushed to their limits because at the end of the day, it's the motor carrier who has the power, who brokers the load or is able to get this load secured for delivery, and they've gotta make their customers happy, and that means quick turnaround, timely deliveries, no delays. And so, like I said, most of the drivers out there are trying to do their best and are doing their best, but there's a lot of pressure, and so it may cause a driver who's maybe tired, maybe fatigued, maybe needs a break to feel that pressure to keep pushing through when it might turn to be dangerous, that they shouldn't be on the road, that they should be taking more time to get rest, and so right now, truck drivers are facing more pressure than they ever have been because of the supply crisis.

Tom Mustin: 

And as an experienced trucking attorney Grant, what changes do you think need to be made to protect not only the truck drivers, but also keep the supply chains open and keep the public safe as well?

Grant Lawson: 

Well, it starts with safety, starts with the culture of these trucking companies, and not just the major ones, the major ones are getting the most scrutiny because they're big and they have thousands of drivers, but they're also taking big steps because they see this day-to-day and there's new technology that's available, things that are helping drivers, helping the company be more streamlined, be quicker with their deliveries in terms of route planning and weather avoidance and things along those lines. But what we see, unfortunately, is a lot of the mom and pop shops as they call them, which is kind of a generic term for the smaller motor carriers that maybe don't have the resources or necessarily the pressure to follow all the federal motor carrier safety regulations and maybe the state laws and regulations that apply as well. And so with that, the drivers are... It's the fate of where they're at in the time of their career and who they're working for, and really it's gotta start with the big companies are making the changes, they're implementing the safety culture and these protocols, and that has to be followed by all size of carriers, from hundreds of trucks down to just a handful of trucks.

Grant Lawson: 

And so basically, we have a couple of options, we try to, as a society, we try to push our federal government to put more money and resources into the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for governance, for regulation, for making sure these companies are being regulated and watched over, and the ones that are not complying and are out of service or other things along those lines, are being penalized and either being taken out of service and being shut down, or remedial steps being made to make sure that these companies are being safe. There's also some... A trend towards what's called chameleon carriers, where a company could be in trouble, they can be in violation of numerous safety violations and receive a poor grade, so to speak, with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and then fold up shop, which basically just means they're shutting down the name of the company and re-open as some other company, some new name to try and avoid all of their past bad actions so they can...

Grant Lawson: 

There's a line of just repetitive behavior that they're allowed to get away with, and so I think there's steps being taken at a national level to address this, and hopefully we're gonna see better governance of that type of conduct to prevent it in the future. And it also... It just starts with the drivers themselves being willing to stand up and say, "You know what, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna put my life at risk, I'm not gonna put lives of everybody else on the highway at risk." And right now, it's also a good market for drivers to say, "You know what, I'm in a high demand role that I can go out and I can get a better job by an employer who's gonna respect my safety, the safety of others, and promote that safety culture."

Tom Mustin: 

That's so important. Well a lot of great insight, Grant, we really appreciate you joining us today, thank you.

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah, absolutely, thank you and for all those watching, stay safe out there on the roads and we wish you the best.

Tom Mustin: 

Alright, we'll see you soon. And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest has been Grant Lawson. If you wanna ask Grant a question about your situation, call the number on your screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Tom Mustin for Ask the Lawyers.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.