Truck drivers play an essential role in the world economy, but life isn’t easy for them. Drivers face a wide variety of issues and challenges that affect both them and the industry as a whole. For example, trucker issues contributed to the driver shortage, as qualified drivers leave the industry because of low pay and difficult working conditions. Other truck driver challenges include issues related to health and wellness. Truckers must deal with a lack of exercise, poor diet, extended periods without bathroom breaks, eye strain, cramped conditions, poor sleep — not to mention the mental toll of being away from home and family for days at a time. Though many drivers earn good wages, the physical and mental stress isn’t always worth it to them.
Check back here for the latest news and insights on driver issues, or visit our Trucking Industry News archive to find additional information.
Quarterly earnings at stand-alone brokerage RXO were healthy compared to the performance of most companies in the freight sector.
Uber Freight suffered along with the general freight market downturn and saw its first-quarter EBITDA sink yet again.
Trucking industry representatives and others have been tasked with evaluating unfair leasing practices by carriers against owner-operators.
Ryder’s brokerage segment has rolled out a new loyalty program that gives its most active carriers reductions on the price of used vehicles.
Carriers and drivers will not be able to take advantage of a new drug testing rule due to a lack of certified testing facilities.
Triumph Financial felt the soft freight market like everybody else, but its network of the future did show signs of improvement.
Federal regulators have told Congress that assessing the safety impacts of ELDs has become a challenge.
In the latest bid to block the AB5 independent contractor law from implementation in California’s trucking sector, two key groups are quoting the author of the law.
The final panel at the TIA annual meeting echoed a theme of the whole meeting: Double brokering and fraud are surging.
TravelCenters of America brings up failed deal in argument for BP purchase.
A company with just under a 5% holding in TravelCenters of America wants the board to speak with Arko, whose bid for the company has been rejected so far.
Shippers are in a strong market position. At TIA, they talked about what they want from the brokers who serve them.
TA expects to be bought by BP next month, but spurned suitor Arko is continuing to hone its offer for the truck stop giant.
Pilot is replacing its CEO and CFO, and TA says a key date has passed in its pending sale to BP.
Striking Sysco drivers in Louisville, Kentucky, reached agreement on a contract, the first since the union was voted in last August.
The truck transportation sector increased jobs in March, reversing a one-month decline in February.
Truckers Integral to our Economy starts with handful of members but very clear target.
A trucking group’s assertion that Washington violated its First Amendment rights following the painting of the city’s “Black Lives Matter” street mural did not hold up in appeals court.
Teamsters representing workers at Sysco are on strike, while separately, the union was voted out of a warehouse in Wisconsin.
The White House is reviewing a proposal setting mandatory hair-test guidelines that would be used to screen truck drivers for illegal drugs.
TravelCenters of America has again rejected a takeover bid by convenience store operator Arko and plans to sell itself to BP.
The EPA granted California a waiver to implement its Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which puts zero-emission-vehicle mandates on OEMs.
The suit by the California Trucking Association and OOIDA against California’s AB5 independent contractor law will add an argument that succeeded elsewhere.
In the latest back-and-forth between Arko and TA, Arko cites a specific financing amount it can obtain, arguing its bid to acquire the truck stop operator is superior to BP’s.
A bicameral effort to expand parking for truckers builds on progress made in the previous session of Congress.
The California Air Resources Board is welcoming comments on its proposed Advanced Clean Fleet rule, which would move up the ZEV mandate from 2040 to 2036.
Trucking’s top safety enforcer is considering changes to work rule recording devices with the goal of making them easier to use.
TravelCenters of America has again rejected a bid by convenience store operator Arko, which revealed itself as the late bidder competing with BP.
Convenience store chain Arko has been identified as the previously unknown bidder for TravelCenters of America.
Directors of TravelCenters are recommending that shareholders reject a new acquisition bid made by an unidentified company.
App-based companies fighting AB5 in California got a second court win last week as a three-judge panel cited statements by AB5’s author in its ruling.
Motor carriers can anticipate a registration fee increase in 2025 as the collection agency adjusts how it reconciles with mandated entitlements.
Hyzon has some clouds on the near horizon, but at CERAWeek, its CEO detailed the growth the company hopes to achieve.
A CloudTrucks survey of 1,000 respondents revealed truck parking issues should be addressed and resources should be found to deal with them.
A three-judge panel has reversed a lower court ruling that California’s Proposition 22 was unconstitutional.
The truck transportation sector in February suffered its biggest drop in employment since the pandemic began.
A Bloomberg report says Uber Freight may be a candidate for a spinoff or an IPO.
Knight-Swift’s David Jackson and fellow trucking executives sound off on regulations and the economy at TCA’s annual meeting.
The long-planned acquisition of a bigger stake in Pilot by Berkshire Hathaway has been completed, and new data is expected to emerge as a result.
Driverless truck-tech companies say their equipment is as safe — or safer — than traditional devices used to warn the public of trucks stopped on the highway.
The annual WorkHound survey of drivers and other logistics workers got more praise and more comments overall.
FreightWaves’ “State of Freight” webinar for February had little good news for carriers hoping for higher rates sometime soon.
Quarterly figures for BMO, a major trucking lender, reveal some weakening of financial performance but not at a huge rate.
The California Air Resources Board’s update on the Advanced Clean Fleets rule has only minor variations, and the journey to new regulations next year is well on its way.
The annual OOIDA survey on driver compensation has findings on use of digital brokerages that don’t appear to line up, but definitions may be the issue.
Michigan truck owner has not provided enough safety evidence in his hours-of-service request to federal regulators.
When asked to select statements that applied to them, 35% of self-identified owner-operators checked, “If the market does not rebound materially by the end of 2023, I will leave the industry.”
BP is buying Travel Centers of America at a good price per outlet and stands to get environmental benefits that can be measured in dollars.
Seven people have been sentenced this month in the Louisiana truck collision scam.
The American Transportation Research Institute is again investigating the safety and other impacts on the trucking industry of state-level marijuana legalization — as well as additional questions the issue raises.
TravelCenters of America is being bought by oil giant BP.
This week: St. Christopher brings its benefit concert to a live audience; Lytx awards its customers’ drivers and coaches for top safety records; and XPO Logistics pledges another year of trafficking awareness training for employees.
The TIA, the leading industry association representing brokers, is ramping up its fight against fraudulent double brokering.
Lawmakers are invoking the Congressional Review Act to overturn an EPA rule they say is too costly for truckers — but chances for success are slim.
Weak freight markets led to a fourth-quarter downturn at Uber Freight.
The annual revision to the BLS employment model showed a lot more workers in truck transportation last year than originally estimated.
Regulators are asking the public to comment on how much more federal oversight will be needed before Level 4 and 5 automation can be safely deployed.
A program launched by Walmart to recruit drivers internally has been vastly expanded.
Triumph Financial hit a significant milestone in the business it built from the acquisition of HubTran, but TriumphPay’s EBITDA worsened.
A survey of nearly 1,000 drivers found that carriers generally allow them to return home whenever they want, or not to return home at all.
Bipartisan legislation would provide new funding for truck drivers and truck parking while exempting ag haulers from hours-of-service rules.
Uber Freight is cutting about 3% of its workforce, all of the jobs coming out of its digital brokerage activities.
Three defendants who pleaded guilty in the Louisiana staged accident scam will get probation, not jail time.
Walmart’s hiring initiative, which began with recruiting supply chain workers, is broadened to include all associates within a 50-mile radius of hiring offices.
The California Trucking Association is making its pitch for another injunction to keep AB5 out of the state’s trucking sector.
Nearly 1,400 delivery drivers will split $5.6 million following an eight-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, which found that Parts Authority Arizona LLC and Diligent Delivery Systems misclassified its employee drivers as independent contractors.
A new book raises doubts about whether the ELD mandate has boosted truck safety.
The number of truck transportation jobs rose in December, but following revisions of the earlier months, the fourth-quarter gain was minimal.
Uber Freight’s Frank McGuigan, who played a key role in selling Transplace to the digital brokerage company, is leaving at the end of the month.
Regulators are modifying financial requirements and penalties for brokers, freight forwarders and surety bond issuers.
Bestpass and Drivewyze have come together in a collaboration aimed at an expansion of using tolling data to aid drivers.
Liability concerns for drivers who are deaf or hard of hearing are unfounded, according to federal regulators.
Congress and the Biden administration will aim to advance trucking policy despite the potential gridlock of divided government.
The nation’s top truck safety regulator argues her hands are tied when it comes to approving a drug-test exemption.
California’s ABC test was a key reason why a decade-long misclassification case against Hub Group settled.
The EPA’s new tailpipe emissions standard raises implementation concerns from engine makers — and cost concerns from truckers.
An appellate court that will determine whether the Prop 22 gig worker vote in California is constitutional recently heard arguments.
U.S. lawmakers are proposing a requirement that restrooms at commercial buildings and ports be available to truck drivers.
The constitutionality of California’s Prop 22, which barred AB5 from being implemented against gig drivers, gets another court hearing Tuesday.
As 2022 comes to an end, it is time for trucking carriers to evaluate their driver drug and alcohol testing programs and make necessary improvements for 2023.
Federal regulators are considering changes to a 30-year rule that would affect the type of relief that drivers and carriers receive during highway emergencies.
A Teamsters local chapter in San Jose, California, that represents drivers at a Home Depot subsidiary has voted to decertify being represented by the union.
While safety is top of mind for fleet operators, addressing negative driver behaviors remains unpopular.
Netradyne’s Barrett Young explains why most fleet safety initiatives are counterproductive.
After months of quiet, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Louisiana extracted two more guilty pleas in the Louisiana staged accident scam.
It wasn’t a large gain, but truck transportation jobs in November continued an almost unbroke upward trend of gains since the worst of the pandemic.
Senate lawmakers have introduced a companion bill to a House measure that sets aside grant money to expand truck parking at new and existing facilities.
Federal regulators say livestock drivers have not shown they can maintain safety if given an hours-of-service exemption.
A North Carolina trucking company owner said he wanted to buy a used truck but is now in a long legal battle to get back cash confiscated by police who thought it was part of a drug deal.
Family-owned Mid Continent Trucking of Denison, Iowa, notified drivers and employees recently that after 24 years, the refrigerated carrier was ceasing operations two days after Thanksgiving because of worsening economic conditions and tumbling freight rates.
A judge has halted the start of work on tearing down an Interstate 81 viaduct, a project that would reroute trucks around Syracuse, New York.
FMCSA’s unique ID proposal for trucks has safety group support but overwhelming opposition from the rest of the trucking industry.
Former employees of United Furniture Industries say they were caught unaware overnight after receiving word they were not to report to work Tuesday because their jobs were being immediately terminated “due to unforeseen business circumstances.”
Truck driver safety is an ongoing process that involves engagement, awareness and targeted training.
Golden State, often a trendsetter in regulation, lags behind on ELD requirement for trucks that stay within state borders; comment period open.
Brake Safety Week in the United States checked out a lot more trucks, but the out-of-service orders stayed flat percentage-wise.
Resonea Inc. and CPAPSupplies will integrate sleep apnea screening and testing services for commercial truck drivers.
Corrective action training may not prevent an incident but it will reduce the likelihood of one reoccurring.
Interstate Health Systems hopes to open 40 to 60 locations catering to the health care needs of truck drivers, motorists and communities over the next two years.
The Department of Labor is seeking comments on its proposed independent contractor rule, and the trucking world is stepping up.
