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
Ray
Yeah, I drove for Swift when I first started driving 16 years ago. Looks like things haven’t changed much.
Jim Finan
Slow down. Slow down. And, slow down cowboy.
Holly
Well said..❤
Joe2boltz
If you need to chain up to keep moving it’s time to park.
Ive been out here since 1977. Never put a set of chains on.
That’s why we have cellular phones and television and DVD and refrigerator’s in the trucks today. Back in the 70’s you’d read or write . Now days you can wait it out in luxury.
Ha ha ha. O j kill me!
Damon Jacobs
Drove for Southern Refrigerated and Werner always used my own judgement not the companies when driving in rough weather.I miss it at times the accidents I’ve seen in the news, the other accounts of current and former drivers along with my own personal experiences has made me reconsider going back. Now that I work for the postal service making what I would pretty much make weekly driving makes it more of an afterthought.
Dennis
I doing this for a very long time now. And I drive Knight and I won’t drive if the roads are really bad. The driver manager should be told when he was being trained. If the driver manager needs to be trained tell him come over to Knight and I will train him really quick.
John L.
I totally agree. I became disabled 3 yrs ago after doing it for 40 yrs and I am now glad I quit when I did. It dont pay now what it did years ago. They jave to ship them in from other countries cause nobody here is dumb enough to do it for what they are paying nowadays.
40YRS EXP OLD SCHOOL
TRUCKING HAS BEEN A SCUMBAG JOB FOR A WHILE NOW. YOU HAVE ILLEGALS AND OTHERS WHO CAN’T, READ, WRITE, OR SPEAK THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
*** DID YOU KNOW, IT IS A FEDERAL.! YES FEDERAL REQUIREMENT TO OBTAIN AND HOLD A CDL A LICENSE,….***
I COULD GO INTO SO MANY DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF COMPANY DRIVER/ OWNER OPERATOR DRIVER, BUT NO BODY GIVES A FLYING !@$@$%^$@@!,… THE FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ALLOWING BROKERS AND COMPANY’S TO RIP US OFF FOR YEARS NOW, PAY SCALE, WORKING HOURS, BEING ABUSED BY MANAGERS/DISPATCHERS, NOT BEING PAID DEAD HEAD MILES, ABUSED AT PICK UP & DROP LOCATIONS, NO FEDERAL OR STATE DISCOUNTS FOR FUEL, TIRES, COMPANY’S RIPPING US OFF ON FUEL SURCHARGES, DETENTION, ACCESORIALS,… ETC… ETC… ETC… I COULD GO ON FOR 5 HOURS STRAIGHT…!!
***PRESIDENT TRUMP REALLY NEEDS TO ADDRESS THESE PROBLEMS THAT HAVE PLAGUED THIS INDUSTRY FOR OVER 30 YRS NOW,..!! ***
WHEN MY DAD DROVE IN THE 1960’S AND 70’S EARLY 80’S ( I CAUGHT TAIL END ) THEY WERE RESPECTED, MADE MONEY, HAD NICE RIGS, IT WAS A PRESTIGIOUS JOB, WERE ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF THERE FAMILYS AND THE ENVY OF OTHER FATHERS AND SON’S WHO DID NOT DRIVE…. THEY WERE KNOWN AS THE,
” KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD ”
NOW THEY CRAP ON EACH OTHER AND WILL CUT YOUR THROAT FOR A LOAD OR ROB YOU BEHIND A TRAILER DOING A PRE-TRIP,…. NO THANK YOU. IT TURNED INTO A NASTY PEDOPHILE, LOT LIZZARD, DRUG INFESTED, ILLEGAL CRIME DRIVEN, UKRANIAN/RUSSIAN/RAG HEAD SCUMBAG NASTY JOB. THEY WILL ROB YOU BLIND, YOU USE TO BE ABLE TO LEAVE YOUR TOOLS OUT WHILE WORKING, NOW YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET CLUBED WITH THE SAME TOOL WHEN YOUR BACK IS TURNED,..!! NO THANK YOU,..!! A TOTAL THANKLESS SCUMBAG JOB,…!!!
I STILL HOLD MY CDL A LICENSE / N endorsement ” SINCE 1979 “,
CURRENT MEDICAL CARD, SPOTLESS DRIVING RRCORD, AND WHEN I DROVE YOU COULD EAT OFF THE FLOOR OF MY TRUCK, LITTERALLY,… IF YOU DROPPED SOMETHING BLOW IT OFF AND KEEP EATING,..
THESE DAYS YOU WOULD CONTRACT HEPITITIS…. IT WOULD TAKE A MIRACLE TO GET ME TO DRIVE AGAIN,…
Holly
Well said..❤
Angela Nance
Yeah speaking the truth. Don’t forget these naive drivers were not around then . Pay now is 37.5% less than 1970’s cause of Carter and deregulation. You guys are working for free. Criminals and greed that despise having to pay their slaves anything at all is what trucking became.