DALLAS MORNING NEWS December 11, 2006 Truckers’ Long Hours, High Stress Take Toll Industry’s pressures lead many drivers to an early grave while endangering others on the road By JENNIFER LaFLEUR / The Dallas Morning News Truck driving is one of the country’s most dangerous jobs, with tens of thousands of injuries and hundreds of deaths each year. Nearly 1,000 U.S. truck drivers died on the job last year - one-sixth of all worker deaths, according to federal statistics. It isn’t the deadliest job - professional fishermen and logging workers die at much higher rates. But for every 100,000 truckers on the road, 29 die. That compares with four out of 100,000 for all workers. The toll doesn’t count drivers who, in a high-pressure, physically taxing job, work themselves to early deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other health problems. And the mechanisms in place to ease that pressure, some experts say, fail to protect truckers - and in turn, the drivers with whom they share the road. “I believe that the stress on the body of running a 24-7 operation with chaotic schedules that never become routine is the major contributor to all this disease,” said John Siebert, project manager for the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association Foundation. “Truckers will say they learn to live with it, but it’s actually killing them a little at a time, and they are dying at a tragically younger age than the rest of society.” Deadly profession Shirley James of Lewisville said she can’t count the number of times her trucker husband would “barely walk in the door before the company he contracted with would be calling to tell him they had another load.” Her husband, Lonnie Cutberth, promised the company that he could haul one more load to Little Rock in April 2001. They were counting on him, Mrs. James remembered him saying, even though he did not feel well. Despite his wife’s urging to stay home and rest, Mr. Cutberth delivered the load on sched
Interesting article. I’d say from personal experience most of the points are valid.
The pressures to deliver freight in an industry that has pay schedules figured on a per mile schedule of fees, and accessorial charges figured on pretty cheesy rates.
Where a driver can get a per box rate of something equivalent to about $.01 per piece handled; the lumper gets basicly on the spot from the driver, ‘what the traffic will bear’, and a ‘contracted’ company is able to negotiate rates a company would never consider pay an employee.
[#ditto][#offtopic][|(]
Unfortunately, although the pay rates have climbed faster in the last 20 years than they ever did in the previous twenty years. Drivers, and Owner/Operators still contribute an indecent amount of uncompensated labor to their jobs. Stressed to the max, pressured to take chances that could cause them to be fined, and/or operate extra-legally to fulfill those job expectations.
Unstructured sleep periods lead to ‘micro-napping’ behind the wheel, a potential cause for rear-end accidents, or lane change events. Sedentary job requirements, and rapid exercise periods[ driver unloads]. These lead to poor eating habits which lead to improper nutrition, snacking and/or eating while driving, lead to overweight drivers and potential health issue, diabetes is accepted as one result of overeating/overweight, and cigarette smoking to resolve nervousness or hunger, or both is also a detrimental health issue.
Sorry for the “Vent”, folks, but a topic near to my heart, and heartache in my over-the-road trucking life. Trucking is both a vocation and avocation for many; it resolves psychological and sociological needs for many individuals, and cares for society. " If you have it, a truck brought it!" at least at some point.
Unfortunately, we as a society cannot spend the social capital to solve