A Look Into CVSA’s New Fatigue Management Program

January 5, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The North American Fatigue Management Program is now in place within the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance in an effort to reduce driver fatigue and the dangerous incidents that can come along with it.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration initially urged CVSA to create and manage the program, which would operate as a training initiative to educate and prevent overall risks in relation to driver fatigue. FMCSA and Transport Canada are now collaborating with CVSA to bring the program to full force.

Throughout a four-phase, years-long process, medical scientists and sleep analysts within the United States and Canada have worked to implement the North American Fatigue Management Program, which has a variety of methods in place to help finally bring an end to driver fatigue and fatigue-involved crash incidents.

These methods include techniques to identify and treat various sleep disorders, ways to utilize driver fatigue management technology innovations, and support in easily-accessible fatigue prevention training taking place online. Additionally, it includes fatigue prevention education for everyone involved in the transportation process–everyone from driver managers, driver families and spouses, safety managers, and the commercial motor vehicle drivers themselves, to motor carrier executives, motor carrier managers, driver managers, and freight shippers and receivers.

“For the past several years, Canadian and American regulators, carriers, and researchers have worked on the development of a comprehensive approach for managing fatigue,” said NAFMP on its website. “This work has been led by a consortium of government and industry agencies with an interest in developing a more effective means of dealing with professional driver fatigue. The NAFMP Steering Committee agreed to develop a comprehensive FMP that would enhance a carrier’s ability to effectively deal with the challenge of fatigue in a highly competitive, widely dispersed, and rapidly changing industry.”

Additionally, CVSA will work to boost the program and its outreach by offering program information sessions at CVSA conferences and events, hosting steering committee and program meetings to relay program initiatives and improvements, hosting live and pre-recorded question and answer sessions, moderating forums allowing users to ask questions and offer feedback, hosting fatigue management-related webinars and discussions, and offering English, Spanish, and French content to make this information as accessible as possible.

“The multi-year collaborative research to develop, test, and evaluate components of a fatigue management program for commercial vehicle operators has resulted in a thorough understanding of the issues, opportunities, and challenges inherent in managing operator fatigue in a 24/7 motor carrier environment,” explained NAFMP. “The NAFMP was developed through four distinct research, development, and testing phases.”

During phase one, focus groups and motor carriers worked to help in the design of the initiative, with researchers identifying specific fatigue management requirements and creating an effective method of reaching drivers, managers, and dispatchers, with six drivers undergoing initial beta testing.

During phase two, field testing allowed for training and educational materials to be easily assessed and developed, with treatment and screening for sleep apnea being implemented in the program. Six fleets and 38 drivers in Canada began evaluation, followed by eight additional Texas drivers.

Next, 77 commercial vehicle drivers in California, Quebec, and Alberta participated in operational field testing during phase three with findings including positive correlations between reduced critical events and sleep duration and sleep efficiency.

These trends included less fatigue reported in drivers, with improved reported sleep quality on duty days, longer sleep on duty days, a reduction in the proportion of drivers reporting critical events, a significant reduction in critical events per kilometers driven, and duty day improvement regarding sleep duration and sleep efficiency on those days as compared to duration and efficiency in sleep during rest days.

The reduction in drivers reporting critical events had dropped from 46% to 29% during this period, with a 40% overall reduction in critical incidents per kilometer driven.

Finally, phase four involved the creation of the Implementation Manual, training materials, NAFMP website development, and recommended guideline implementation based on all findings from the previous three phases.

Consumerism Rages On Despite Pandemic Setbacks, New Statistics Show

January 1, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

2021 has been a year of consumer demand unlike any other–the coronavirus pandemic brought with it stay-at-home orders and folks rushing to online shops to have their home and personal care goods delivered quickly, a culture of modern shopping habits that is likely here to stay.

America’s truck drivers stepped up to the plate to keep the economy moving forward and to get products to store shelves and front doors efficiently, working harder than ever to keep customers happy and shops stocked. Because of this, the country’s shopping methods have changed drastically, with online purchases becoming a part of daily life for most people.

Now, American consumer confidence has risen significantly even as prices continue to rise and the virus’ latest variant makes its way across the world. In fact, although U.S. consumers admit their perception of overall conditions has dropped, their outlook into 2022 is a positive one–a perspective that is suprising consumerism experts.

Last week, business research organization, the Conference Board, noted that its consumer confidence index rose from 111.9 in November to 115.8 in December–it’s highest index number since July of this year. The consumer confidence index factors in current consumer perspectives regarding the present consumer conditions at hand, as well as public outlook for consumerism in the near future.

Apparently, although prices have been increasing lately at the fastest year-over-year rate since 1982, consumer inflation expectations are looking much more positive in December 2o21. Experts attribute these assessments to the falling gasoline prices that have been seen at gas stations across the country over the last month or so.

“Despite high inflation and the rising omicron wave, consumers are bullish on 2022,” said Navy Federal Credit Union economist, Robert Frick. “This reflects growing economic momentum, as job openings remain high and prices are dropping at the pump.”

These outlooks show overall positive changes on the horizon for consumerism in the coming months, and for this aspect of the economy in general, Frick noted.

“This is further evidence that consumer spending will keep rising and be the main factor fueling the expansion,” he said.

In regards to the alleviation of ongoing port bottlenecks and other factors in relation to price hikes and product shortages, President Joe Biden recently met with his supply chain disruptions task force to discuss the group’s ongoing, progressive efforts to bring lasting solutions to these issues. He noted that product availability on store shelves across the country has reached 91%–near its pre-pandemic numbers, and that inventory within various retailers has risen 3% from 2020.

This is a particularly positive sign, as most will remember the shock of seeing so many empty shelves in stores nationwide at the height of the pandemic, when opportunities to purchase sanitizing and clearing products, toilet paper, and even many kinds of foods were few and far-between.

“Packages are moving,” said Biden during his late-December task force meeting. “Gifts are being delivered. Shelves are not empty.”

These latest consumer numbers, collected for the first time since the coronavirus’ omicron variant appeared, shows a strong recovery in the country’s overall economy following the challenges of the recession brought about by the pandemic in 2020. Still, this latest variant may indeed threaten this newly-obtained economic strength, experts say.

Additionally, a recent Commerce Department report shows that American consumer spending decreased between October and November of this year, although holiday season shopping ramped these numbers back up quickly–regardless of any significant product shortages or higher-than-normal prices.

The sales report from November has not yet shown any consumer impact in relation to the omicron variant, however, and the additional uncertainty may bring about further consumer behavior changes.

Still, after making it through 2020 and 2021, these kinds of challenges are now to be expected.

“Looking ahead to 2022, both confidence and consumer spending will continue to face headwinds from rising prices and an expected winter surge of the pandemic,” said the Conference Board’s senior director of economic indicators, Lynn Franco.

Future of Trucking Looks Bright Following 2021’s Wins, Industry Leaders Say

December 31, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“We’re now seeing the government wake up and understand the implications not just on an industry that hauls 72% of the domestic freight tonnage in this county, but on the larger-scale economy and supply chain itself,” said president of American Trucking Associations, Chris Spear in a look back on the accomplishments of the trucking industry throughout 2021.

Truckers have stepped up to the front lines during this coronavirus era to keep the nation’s economy steady while also helping consumers receive the goods they need in such an unprecedented time of high demand. Workforce development and infrastructure boosts also saw major positive changes, according to ATA leaders,

“In five years in this role, we have never witnessed a better year for advocacy than 2021,” noted Spear. “You take two tier-one victories–infrastructure and the DRIVE Safe Act–and you begin to understand the impact that five years of work has finally delivered for our members and industry.”

Spear noted that along with a group of other industry leaders, he has testified over two dozen times before Congress regarding new infrastructure legislation, which came into effect this year through President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This new law will offer highway and road improvement funding as well as bridge rebuilding funding over the next five years through the $100 billion dedicated specifically to efforts meant to update bridges and roads throughout the nation. The bipartisan bill will also bring about overall improved transportation options and congestion reduction for all drivers.

“It’s a very exciting announcement by the administration, and a recognition that this problem exists and that we’re actually going to take tangible steps to address this,” Spear explained, noting that this bill shows that both trucking and passenger vehicles will be able to lower carbon emissions, and that the industry is working toward improved business development and job opportunities.

“If you’re pro-job growth, this is a tremendous step forward,” Spear said. “If you’re pro-highway safety, if you’re pro-environment, this bill delivers on every single interest there is.”

Particularly, the legislation’s DRIVE Safe Act will bring significant industry-wide job growth, as it will offer opportunities for commercial driving candidates under the age of 21 to enroll in a training and apprenticeship program, allowing them to become able to operate CMVs within interstate commerce.

This initiative comes as the industry continues to face the largest truck driver shortage to date, which has been further exacerbated by the e-commerce demands brought about by the pandemic.

“You can make good wages–especially for all those that live in, say, the South or the Midwest–with excellent benefits,” saide Bob Costello, Chief Economist of ATA. “These folks are getting 401(k) [plans], paid time off, [and] health insurance. We’ve got good benefits. We have good blue-collar jobs”

Regarding further upcoming changes, independent contractors are also likely to become more commonly reclassified as employees through California’s Assembly Bill 5–which ATA claims would diminish driver freedom, disallowing drivers to create their own schedules and operate business as they’d like through the current owner-operator business layout as it stands.

“This is our tier-one effort to stand up our legal capabilities to not just fight in the halls of Congress or a regulatory agency, but in every state and every courthouse in the country,” said Spear. “And I think that is exactly what our members expect of this association–to leverage every opportunity to represent their needs and interests.”

An additional collaborative effort between the transportation industry and the White House will work to boost trucking recruiting efforts through initiatives that will focus on bringing in former military members and on guiding candidates through apprenticeship programs. Further recruitment incentives include driver pay and benefit boosts, which will likely continue far into 2022 as demand is expected to stay high, and the need for qualified drivers remains severe.

“Households continue to spend money,” said Costello. “They’re spending it more on goods than they traditionally have, versus services. We have a growing economy.”

Supply Chain Demand Made Worse by Holiday Shopping; Safety Must Still be Top Priority

December 30, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Online shopping during Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still prevalent, but the rush to get those online deals is fading in significance as the major e-commerce boom rages on—one of many impacts brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

For example, between November 1st and November 28th of this year, online spending throughout the United States rose by nearly 14% as compared to the same time period in 2020–reaching a total of $99.1 billion for that month, with November and December’s combined spending expected to reach around $207 billion–a 10% boost from the end of 2020. However, Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales incentives have been dwindling due to supply chain strains.

Additionally, overall discounts for these once-major-sale dates have been diminishing; Adobe noted that average electronic discounts on these days only reached about 12%, as compared to an average of 27% the year prior. Jams in the supply logs and shipping processes of carriers are further exacerbating the issue. Between November of 2019 and November 2021, company out-of-stock messages increased by 258%.

“This is a make-or-break season for aggregators, and whoever has inventory is going to win,” said Goja CEO Walter Gonzales, whose company sells a variety of goods directly on Amazon.

For other Amazon sellers, getting inventory brought into the states efficiently and quickly is as imperative as ever, with Amazon sales increasing by around 50% as compared to last year (particularly for giftable products that are usually in stock).

“Kitchen products are doing very well,” said Pierre Poignant, co-founder and CEO of Branded Group, which sells various home and personal care goods on Amazon’s platform and is selling nearly 50% more products this year than last. “We made investments to make sure we had sufficient inventory for the holidays.”

Although many stores ramped up efforts for the usual holiday shopping rush, the pandemic has made clear that most people prefer to make their purchases–especially for gifts–conveniently online, a trend that’s likely here to stay.

“Physical Black Friday had this aura of craziness because people fought in stores and camped outside,” said Juozas Kaziukėnas, Marketplace Pulse’s founder and CEO. “Now that so much has shifted online, it’s lost its excitement.”

Many brick-and-mortar stores are now turning to increased online options, deals, and shopping incentives to keep up with these demand changes and trends, hitting cyberspace hard in a search for more customers during the holiday season.

“We’re giving away e-gift cards for $5,000, $1,000, and $500!” said Kohl’s in a holiday season tweet. “Follow @kohls, retweet this post, and include #KohlsCyberMondaySweepstakes for a chance to win.”

With online retailers turning to the trucking industry to bring in their needed inventory on time, as well as to ship and deliver their orders, many safety advocates have pointed to the already-challenging shipping bottlenecks that have been taking place during this new era of e-commerce, on top of a long-running and severe truck driver shortage that is making carriers take drastic measures to meet demands.

For instance, some carriers may be willing to bring in younger, inexperienced drivers with much less training in order to have more hands on deck during the holiday season, and truckers may also be feeling so much added pressure to meet their deadlines that they forgo certain safety protocols or drive longer hours with less sleep.

Keeping drivers behaving as safely as possible and ensuring that they are always well-versed in best practices while on the road is of the utmost importance, especially during high-demand seasons in the midst of an already-heavy trend of online shopping continuing throughout the country.

“It goes back to training,” noted Levinson and Stefani’s Ken Levinson. “Just because everyone’s in a rush to get things done, it’s not an excuse to let safety go to the wayside.”

It’s also unfair of carriers to put the pressures of holiday demands on the shoulders of their truckers, he added.

“Often, unsafe trucking companies have unrealistic expectations based on their truckers’ pay and delivery times that it creates a huge incentive to be unsafe, and we can’t have that,” Levinson added.

Millions in New Grant Funding Finally Given to Highway Safety Initiatives

December 28, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Long-awaited infrastructure boosts throughout highways across the country are finally underway as federal programs working to bring about these safety improvements will, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, receive ample new funding.

For safety grants across American highways, NHTSA will offer $260 million as part of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This funding comes as an effort to bring vast improvements through certain traffic and roadway safety initiatives, and will work to bring financial aid to various U.S. territories, state-level transportation agencies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and to Washington, D.C. agencies, as well.

“Traffic crashes take the lives of too many Americans, but these tragedies are not inevitable, and we will not accept them as part of everyday life,” said Pete Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary, in a recent statement. “Bolstered by additional funding from President [Joe] Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, these grants will save lives by improving safety on America’s roadways.”

The legislation also depicts the intention to raise overall funding by around 30% for a plethora of safety initiatives, infrastructure programs, and reconstruction efforts.

“The variety of funds available allows each state to target its specific challenges,” said Steven Cliff, Deputy Administrator for NHTSA. “Traffic safety may be a national problem, but the solutions are regional and local.”

$133.3 million of the total funding will be allocated strictly to data-driven traffic programs at the state level for highway safety; some of these programs, according to the United States Department of Transportation, involve programs centering around the enforcement of seat belt laws and safety law education, awareness boosting in regards to dangerous driving risks, and campaigns for high-visibility enforcement.

Funds will also be dedicated to improving parent and caregiver inspection stations to determine whether or not child safety seats have been properly and safely installed, as well as to boosting overall efficiency of traffic records themselves.

“This historic legislation increases NHTSA’s budget by 50%,” said Cliff in front of a U.S. Senate committee during his nomination hearing, noting that this budget makes it “the largest investment in motor vehicle and highway safety since NHTSA was established more than 50 years ago.” Cliff, who was nominated by President Biden to lead NHTSA, made a point to explain the new legislation’s likely positive effects on the overarching safety of American roadways.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was set forth by President Biden in mid-November of this year, with supporters of the new $1 trillion infrastructure legislation ensuring that the coming road improvements and overall safety benefits will far outweigh the costs.

“This funding will improve our understanding of where and how crashes happen by improving data quality,” NHTSA’s Cliff continued.

In the first half of this year, the number of deaths in roadway crashes rose by 18.4% as compared to the same period in 2020–the highest number of roadway deaths since 2006, according to an NHTSA report from October.

“This is a crisis,” said Buttigieg following the release of the report. “More than 20,000 people died on U.S. roads in the first six months of 2021, leaving countless loved ones behind. We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America.”

Although NHTSA’s report did not specifically point to the number of deaths as a result of truck-related roadway crashes, the statistics are still staggering–around 20,160 died on U.S. roadways in the first six months of 2021, compared to 17,020 in the first half of 2020. For safety advocates, these numbers are a clear indication that many safety-focused changes, projects, and investments need to make their way throughout the country’s infrastructure as soon as possible.

“The report is sobering,” added Cliff in October. “It’s also a reminder of what hundreds of millions of people can do every day, right now, to combat this: slow down, wear seat belts, drive sober, and avoid distractions behind the wheel.”

What Issue Best Encapsulates Industry Problems of 2021? The Trucker Shortage, Experts Say

December 22, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“This year definitely feels different than driver shortages in the past,” said CPC Logistics vice president of operations and safety, Daniel Most. “It seems that no matter what you’re throwing at different markets, you’re just not getting responses.”

Most’s comments come as the trucking industry has come to an agreement that the overarching challenge of 2021, which will likely continue in 2022, is that of the professional driver shortage prevailing across North America.

As older drivers leave the industry–some retiring early due to the pandemic and some due to other factors–and as consumer demands grow exponentially, the current shortage of at least 80,000 drivers–according to American Trucking Associations–will only get much worse over the next few years if major industry-wide improvements are not made.

“I think that you can’t really talk about driver turnover, looking at the last two years, and not talk about COVID,” said Professional Driver Agency‘s director of operations, Scott Dismuke.

Of course, he’s right–the long-lasting shortage has been worsened by the pandemic era, as the shortage prior to 2020 had reached about 61,500. With longer work hours requiring drivers to be away from home for days at a time, on top of mask and vaccine mandates, driver turnover has reached new heights and companies throughout the industry are scrambling to incentivize qualified drivers to join their fleets–turning to pay boosts, new benefits, and sign-on bonuses.

Still, the pool of adequate commercial drivers is limited, and trucking companies are competing heavily to bring those truckers on board quickly in order to meet demands.

“I think what was interesting is…the shift from 2020 to 2021,” Dismuke continued. “I think in 2020, COVID actually kept drivers from jumping [ship] a whole lot. With the economy shutting down, everything froze.”

Because of the confusion regarding where the industry would go at the time, many drivers stayed put, hoping things would restart as usual. Because of this, trucking companies were not looking for many new drivers until the boom of e-commerce brought higher-than-ever freight demand.

“Once the economy really started opening back up at the end of 2020–and really through the first three quarters of the year–I think COVID had a different effect on turnover, because you saw companies really raising pay…you saw a lot of active recruiting,” explained Dismuke.

These efforts came directly after a period where fleets weren’t expecting to have to incentivize drivers, because so many people were worried about losing their jobs.

“I think we saw the other side of the COVID effect with drivers starting to jump [ship],” added Dismuke.

Now, drivers may be looking for more than boosted pay–although many carriers have raised income levels more than once throughout the pandemic.

“Many carriers raised driver pay in 2021,” said Conversion Interactive Agency vice president of marketing and training, Priscilla Peters. “However, in most cases, that didn’t move the needle as expected for driver recruiting. Quality of life for the driver and home time have become the piece of the driver recruiting puzzle where carriers are making adjustments that have impact.”

The bipartisan DRIVE-Safe Act is working as a boosted effort to bring incentives, training, and job opportunities for younger truckers, and to allow drivers under the age of 21 to be trained thoroughly and become able to operate commercial vehicles in interstate hauls.

“I think the two options [for a solution] are creating a program where individuals can move into this field at a younger age, where we’re not forced to try and peel them away as a second career option after they’ve already been doing something [else], or [targeting] more of those other similar-type positions,” said Most. Additionally, recruitment should focus more upon bringing in more military, female, and minority drivers into the industry, he added.

“Everything that you see is talking about what drivers are looking for,” he said. “It’s the home time built in with good pay…built in with the schedules that they’re looking for. A lot of the jobs that we hire for require unloading freight–that makes it even more challenging, and so it just seems like you have to really adjust the type of work that you’re hiring for in order to get the candidates to start to pile in.”