Some truck drivers for Swift Transportation, a unit of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KNX), said they received messages via their onboard computer messaging systems around 7 a.m. Dec. 2 instructing them to chain up and drive in inclement weather to get their loads delivered on time.
“We cannot afford to have you down or the load to be days late due to weather,” said the message, sent by a Swift driver leader and posted by Swift drivers on the Twisted Truckers Facebook page. “If we can drive, we will — whether it be 5 mph or an appropriate speed as long as we are safe.”
The social media post received more than 3,700 comments from truckers responding to the message. Some said they would park until conditions improved while others stated that driving in harsh weather conditions is just part of the job.
Winter weather alerts disrupted much of the Northeast on Dec. 2 after a storm dumped snow, freezing rain and sleet across a large portion of the mid-Atlantic and New England regions. Severe weather was also reported in portions of the Sierra Nevadas and the Cascades in southern Oregon to the mountains of northern Nevada and southern Idaho.
A follow-up message was sent approximately four hours later by the same driver leader to Swift drivers clarifying that he did not recommend drivers be on the road “if the weather won’t allow it or you do not feel comfortable.”
Kevin Quast, chief operating officer of Swift, confirmed the message was sent by one of its “newer driver leaders,” but said the statement didn’t accurately convey the company’s position on safety.
“This was not a company-wide statement,” Quast told FreightWaves. “A newer driver leader with us was a little overzealous with what he was trying to do. We’ve coached him and helped him to understand really what he was communicating and we made sure we are all approaching it the same way.”
A post on Swift Transportation’s Facebook page on Dec. 3, a day after the original message was posted, clarified the mega-carrier’s position on its chain usage stance.
“Chains should be used to get a driver out of trouble and to find the first safe/legal place to park,” Swift’s post stated. “They [chains] are not to be used to make a delivery on time or to get through bad weather.”
Dave Berry, vice president of Swift, said he wasn’t aware of the social media posts concerning the Swift driver leader’s message sent via OmniTracs, formerly Qualcomm.
“Loads can be late, but the priority is the people on the highway and the people behind the wheel of the truck,” Berry told FreightWaves.
Since the merger with Knight Transportation in 2017, Swift is becoming significantly safer than it’s been in decades, Quast said.
“We take safety very seriously and are continuing to improve and work hard to become even safer,” he said.
FreightWaves’ Stephen Oatley contributed to this report
Tin Buick 2
Swift is slave driving company out for their selves some the CEO can get his 8 figure bonus of the driver getting paid slave wages
Angela Nance
Yep.
Eli
Laugh my tooch off my legs!
Company back peddling their words.
Anyways! Driving in winter conditions is what truckers do as part of our jobs.
Chaining up is part of our job.
It is done in order to have control of our vehicle, of course that doesn’t mean the posted speed ( for you dumasses out there that need to be spoken that way)
It doesn’t surprise me that swift has drivers that use the safety card.,
In order to,not do the hard work! But they are not the only ones.
All that being said, I’ll be F…..king dammed if I’m going to have some f… person tell me chain up and roll!
However, if my drivers can’t do the task I hire them to do on their own,
WELL, we have cut backs in order to be profitable and guess who’s first on that list!!
Learn to do your job and do it well all the time, even if it’s for peanuts, because peanuts is what you accepted when you got hired on.
Then move on to better place that will pay you to keep that freaking freight moving on time!!!!!!
Fredrick Haynes
I knew from start this couldn’t have been a message for the whole entire fleet.. and had to come from one individual ..I’ve dealt with swift over 12 years ..if nothing else ..1. they respect their Drivers , . They will NOT make you drive in unsafe weather and to confirm when the weather is bad we get fleet alert about the current area and advise to shutdown if unsafe to drive….I know swift have a bad reputation for some Reason I’ve never understood other than they are a very large training company and it seem like they are the only ones having accidents why because they are huge like a military of course you will see them and it’s not the company it’s the drivers but I most definitely promise you it is not nearly as bad as people make it..and honestly believe it was a New Driver leader this is not normal for swift as a whole
Angela Nance
You speak with forked tongue Tonto. Put down the speed or are you speeding.
Cecil way
That not even what they talking about the dispatcher over loaded his ass and got in trouble and should of lost his job. Swift you need to let him go he is not for your safety he is a bully get ready of him it will happen again I have seen people like that before the hell with that load there life is more important than that freight I know I drove for 20 years and had one accident when it was dri
Philip Marcella
I totally agree it’s not just swift it’s alot of companies.Drivers dont do it and if u do and get in a accident you will be on the first flight home,i drove for a long time its not a easy decision for new drivers if its not safe dont do it,you risk your cdl drivers are a dime a dozen companies dont care.
Miguel
As a fellow driver the dispatcher or fleet manager cannot force a driver to drive if he/she feels it is too dangerous to do so. Putting chains on is pointless unless you are stuck. You cannot drive fast enough with chains on to make a difference. Your better off stopping in a safe location and wait out the storm.
Leonard Thomas
Chains are safe to use under nearly ALL bad snow conditions. If Swift directs their drivers to use chains to reach a safe place to park they are getting beat in the process. If Swift wants their drivers to park every time there is a dark snow cloud in sight even though they use chains they are using a defective driver policy. They know they have NOT hired capable interstate drivers. They know this for sure. Swift has always had this problem of hiring substandard drivers and by this article they are still doing it. They want cheap inexperienced drivers and this article confirms it. Swift has some bad news in their karma and their green drivers need to wear a dress and a wig so that everybody will know to get out of their way.
Frisco
What a twat answer. What are you? Some kind of super trucker? Chains are NOT “SAFE IN ALL CONDITIONS” as your dim witted reply suggests.
There isn’t a load on the planet worth a driver, or whomever he may take with him dying over.
You…are an.idiot.
Carl
Got that right. After 50 years on the road I see all the stupid things some dispatcher behind the desk where it’s warm dry and light tells someone how to operate the truck and they have never been behind the wheel and if they have they couldn’t handle it. That’s why there behind a desk making Absolutely the most STUPID decisions for drivers. The policy’s at swift should have been training first for the dispatcher. A dumb ass email like that one should have NEVER happened
Stephen Almanza
I like to see swift transportation go under I worked 10 years for them and they are very racist and unfair look at the color of people in charge they only have token minority in any position of authority they park closest to the building go home every nite and can care less of its employees they just are peasant workers if you make it as a driver you pretty much teach yourself so yea swift drivers arnt very good as begainers
Tin Buick 2
Swift is slave driving company out for their selves some the CEO can get his 8 figure bonus of the driver getting paid slave wages