The World is a struggling place right now. We are struggling to keep up with inflation, to find good jobs, and be paid appropriately. People are being targeted because of their race and road safety is being compromised by drivers that don’t care about their lives or ours. We all need to do our part.
When you talk with carriers they often will talk about their culture and safety programs. Many are doing a good job and their Commercial Vehicle Operators Records show this as this document shows the real numbers. However road safety is still climbing in the wrong direction so what do we need to do?
We all need to do our part. As I wrote last month drivers have many more issues to worry about than in the past. Trucking used to be fun and a place that people wanted to work within. We made good money, drove good equipment, and had enough individualization to feel unique in a large industry. We had passion for the industry and the professionalism in it. Many think the past was the Wild West but for many those days seemed more professional. We went from the days of uniforms to track pants and flip flops.
It’s funny when the small details such as driver dress and respect for the road start to decline that road safety starts to decline as well. We are seeing the same thing in today’s industry with things like Driver Inc where carriers that are trying to save on paying taxes by misclassifying drivers also have questionable safety records. How do we turn this industry around?
For the bad carriers the only thing that will work is enforcement from the tax departments and road safety partners to take them out of business. For good carriers there is a bigger role here that many have been talking about and that is educating their drivers and refusing to lower standards to meet the standards of carriers that don’t care about the industry.
As for drivers of course doing your job to the best of your ability is the first line of defence to making our industry better. When applying for positions drivers need to do their homework. We just saw on a television clip where drivers were protesting because they haven’t been paid for past wages. They don’t realize that by signing up as a driver under a Driver Inc program leaves them no protection. Not understanding the business structure and how incorporation works not only leaves them vulnerable to being charged for things that they shouldn’t have to pay for but they end up working for free. We have seen these types of protests more and more in the last year or so.
We of course as a media business will continue to promote the positive of our industry as that has been our mandate since day one. How will we do that? We showcase the professional drivers of our industry like Treana Moniz and Kirt McDougall two award winning drivers with Bison Transport that were in our podcast in November. We will continue to showcase the trucks of our industry where drivers have put countless hours to make them standout from the others put together with duct tape. There are many trolls out their with social media and we all have to do our part to lower their voice and raise the voice of those trying to make our industry better.
About the Author
Bruce Outridge is the host and producer of Leda Pedal Media which includes The Lead Pedal Podcast, and Lead Pedal Radio. He was a driver for over 25 years, fleet supervisor, and has been in the trucking industry for over 40 years. You can learn more about Bruce and his work through the various platforms.
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