American Trucking Association Releases Driver Shortage Study

The American Trucking Association (ATA) recently released findings on the current truck driver shortage in America. The analysis found that the trucking industry shortage was 60,800 drivers in 2018, up nearly 20 percent from 2017. The study reports that at the current rate, the shortage of drivers could grow to as much as 160,000 by 2028. Click here to view the findings from the ATA study.

In May, Rep. Crawford (R-AR), along with several other GOP lawmakers, sent a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to consider additional changes to hours of service modifications designed to increase driver availability and scheduling efficiency for petroleum marketers. Specifically, Crawford’s letter urged FMCSA to extend the 100-mile radius short haul driver exception to 150 miles to reflect the maximum distance most CDL drivers in the petroleum industry travel to load supply. Extending the short haul exception would also exempt CDL drivers from the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate if they stay within 150 air miles. PMAA fully supported Rep. Crawford’s letter and made this an important issue during PMAA’s DC Conference and “Day on the Hill.” Click here to read the letter.

Furthermore, PMAA supports a bill that was introduced earlier this year that would allow drivers under 21 years old to operate interstate. Federal law currently restricts interstate trucking to CDL holders 21 years and older. However, most states allow drivers 18 or 19 and older to operate intrastate. The DRIVE-safe Act, reintroduced by Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN) as well as Sens. John Tester (D-MT) and Todd Young (R-IN), would allow drivers 18 and older to operate across state lines, if they meet rigorous training requirements — at least 400 hours of on-duty time with 240 hours of driving time, with an experienced driver training them. Training would also be restricted to trucks equipped with active braking systems, video monitoring systems and speed limiters set to 65 mph or slower.