As a result of the pandemic, global production, shipping, and supply chains have fallen apart, leaving healthcare workers without supplies, people without their entertainment, and empty car dealerships. While there are numerous layers to the issue, one aspect of the problem stems from the lack of transportation for goods from ports to their destinations.
The US is currently lacking approximately 80,000 truck drivers, a 30% increase from before the pandemic. While this shortage has existed since before the pandemic, recent conditions have only exacerbated the issue. Specifically, the past 40 years have seen a sharp decline in wages and unions for truck drivers. Adjusted for inflation, truck drivers earned an average of $110,000 in 1980 and approximately 40% were under union contracts. In 2020, that number has dropped to $47,130 and only 10% of drivers are unionized. Despite the shortage, there are millions of Americans who actually have commercial driver’s licenses and are certified to drive trucks. However, the deregulated industry leaves many truckers working long and difficult hours for shrinking pay and generally finding the career unproductive. Furthermore, the gap between people leaving school at 18 and being legally allowed to drive a truck at 21 has pushed people away from the career.
In order to alleviate the situation, the US is lowering the age requirement to be an interstate truck driver from 21 to 18. Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration detailed the necessary training procedures and vehicle safety requirements where drivers have to complete 400 hours of training with an experienced driver in the truck. This program is a part of the infrastructure bill that Biden signed into law late last year. While this will help the issue, the trucking industry will continue to struggle with retaining drivers, especially considering the long hours away from home and the relatively poor conditions for the wages they earn.
Questions:
Do you think it’s wise to trust teenagers to drive trucks for long hours?
How might self-driving technologies impact the trucking industry both currently and in the future?
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/business/apprentice-program-truck-drivers.html
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/27/us-truck-drivers-economy-pay-conditions
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/19/economy/trucking-short-drivers/index.html
https://www.vox.com/22841783/truck-drivers-shortage-supply-chain-pandemic
9 comments:
Personally I think no. Being a truck driver is high demanding and unfortunately there have been countless accidents with exhausted truck drivers which have caused avoidable deaths, your brain doesn't fully develop until 25 and your still young and fresh out of high school at 18, the united states and its corporations is going to do anything but increase wages for its employees and make better conditions in all honesty this situations are going to point out the biggest problems in the United States economy. Truck drivers are severely under-appreciated by the people and companies
Self driving trucks are still going to need one truck that is driven manually at the front of them, there is still going to be a human aspect to it but less employees that someone is going to need to pay. I think that these self divining truck aren't going to get rid of the problem of awful pay and conditions, yes theres fewer employees but this doesn't mean these corporations are going to pay more and treat them better, this just shows what corporations are going to do to avoid paying people.
I'm not entirely sure, however, I am leaning more towards saying no. Given the current circumstances, it would definitely be beneficial to have a broader pool of potential truck drivers. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor statistics has noted that the number of truck driver deaths has been steadily increasing. Having young adults put themselves in situations that already have elevated risk (driving) is not the most appealing idea to me (especially with the inevitable fatigue that comes with driving for extended periods of time, further increasing the risk).
Source: https://www.trucks.com/2021/01/11/federal-data-shows-trucking-remains-one-of-americas-deadliest-jobs/#:~:text=The%20Bureau%20of%20Labor%20Statistics,according%20to%20the%20federal%20data.
As Freja mentioned, one's pre-frontal cortex, which is responsible for emotional control and decision-making, is not fully developed until around 25 years old. This is a good point but I'm not entirely sure how this argument could be used for truck driving considering that 16-year olds are capable of getting regular driving licenses.
The required training seems like it should do a great job in preparing young drivers for the road. Regardless, these young drivers will be exposed to the same risks as adult drivers, which is why I am hesitant to agree with Biden's bill.
I predict that self-driving tech would only further decrease the average trucker's wage. However, it could lead to much more efficient transportation of goods which in turn could help the economy. The tradeoff would be losing human truckers. Especially since Tesla and other companies have incorporated into their smaller vehicles, it's only a matter of time before companies can rely on programs to drive trucks by themselves. As of right now though, it looks like there will continue being a shortage of truckers until more people step up.
This seems to be some sort of experiment by letting teens become truck drivers. I feel personally that this will likely be a bad idea. Being a truck driver is a complex job which comes with a lot of inherent risks. Freja talked about how teen's pre-frontal cortex which controls emotions and decision-making is not fully developed until people are around 25. This could influence decisions by teen drivers and is especially dangerous with long hours and an extremely large truck that could kill people if there is any accidents. Self driving trucks would be a huge change in the transportation industry which mainly depends of truck drivers to transport the cargo across the US. Overall, this shows how truck drivers need more support with wages and working conditions when they are trying to get teenagers to take jobs rather than more experienced drivers.
I am not totally sure, but I feel like neither teenagers or self driving technology are not the solution to the decrease in available truck drivers. Though the advances in self driving technology are exciting and hold a lot of possibilities, they are far from where they would need to be to create a commercially available and safe self-driving truck. I think the issues that should be addressed to fix the problem are present in the article: lower wages and lower unions. Improving the wages and working conditions of truck drivers would make it a more viable career, especially when looking at how demanding the hours and work are. It also speaks to the importance of unions for workers.
However, it is really cool to see self-driving technology growing in our very on SF. "Cruise" has debuted with a self-driving version uber/uber eats. The current version of Cruise is a modified Chevy bolt that is available to take people anywhere in SF. (It's actually pretty cool to see what they are, because during their testing process, I kept seeing these weird cars on my way to practice, and now they're available for everyone to use). The next version that they are working on is a self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel, pedals, or drivers seat (super futuristic). I feel like this cars have a lot of possibilities for the future, as it could make the road safer. Accidents are overwhelmingly caused by human error (distraction, intoxication, sleep deprivation), and robots aren't faced with this issue. In addition, having this as a version of uber could provide an alternative for people who aren't comfortable being driven by a complete stranger (especially young women). Probably the most important benefit of Cruise is that it is completely electric, and 100% clean and renewable energy. Hopefully, as self-driving technology expands outside of San Fransisco, it can help make roads safer and lessen harmful emissions.
https://builtin.com/transportation-tech/cruise-psychological-safety-autonomous-vehicles
https://www.getcruise.com/news/farm-to-fleet-how-cruise-powers-its-self-driving-cars-with-clean-energy
https://www.getcruise.com/
I agree with Freja, that this increasingly large shortage of truck drivers exposes problems with the US economy. I'd also like to specifically mention that although the increase in need for truck drivers has been happening gradually over the years, but has been totally brought up into the light by the huge number of online orders during the pandemic.
From the phrasing of your question, it leads to the answer that no, it wouldn't be wise to trust teenagers to drive trucks for long hours. However, thinking about it, although I have reservations, I think that lowering the age requirement to 18 is a necessary change. As mentioned, the gap between school and a trucking license has been pushing people away from a truck driving career, exactly the trend that we don't want. I feel like Biden and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration are aware of the dangers of adult "teens" driving, so I lean more comfortable with trusting these "teen" truck drivers, with proper and extensive training.
There's a couple ways to look at this. First, if a prospective driver is receiving the same amount of training, then a 3 year difference shouldn't matter that much. However, there are some concerns about a younger brain, possibly younger drivers are more aggressive. Additionally, with the advent of self-driving trucks on the horizon (although they won't be heavily implemented for at least 5 years), this legislation may not have long-lasting effects. We should also look at this through the lens of social mobility. Say an individual graduates from high school and can't afford or doesn't want to go to a 4 year university, what are their options? They could enlist in the military, but this is physically and mentally demanding work and it really isn't for everyone. They could enroll in community college, but this isn't for everyone, and unless there's a guaranteed transfer program (like our TAG program) then transferring to a 4-year, especially a highly ranked 4-year is notoriously difficult. They could start working immediately, although this would probably be a low-wage job, or they could go to trade school. Trade school probably has the best ROI on average of any of these options, and now trucking is added to the mix. With trucking, high school grads can be their own boss, make decent money ($47,000 is well above the national average of around $36,000), and help a critical part of American supply chains. I don't think age is a concern here, most in that position would take their job seriously and understand the severity of a crash. Considering the recent crash in Colorado, where the driver almost got a 110 year sentence (he got off with 10 years but 10 years is serious time), there is extra scrutiny on the industry. Although that individual was excessively speeding and missed an emergency truck ramp, crashes are crashes and deaths are deaths, emphasizing the importance of safety in the trucking industry, especially for new recruits. Overall, 18 year olds should be allowed to drive.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/truck-drivers-sentence-lowered-10-years-originally-receiving/story?id=82010219
*also sorry to correct this I misread their website, the technology for self-driving is not available yet, but they are working on it and hopefully it will be soon :)
There's a couple ways to look at this. First, if a prospective driver is receiving the same amount of training, then a 3 year difference shouldn't matter that much. However, there are some concerns about a younger brain, possibly younger drivers are more aggressive. Additionally, with the advent of self-driving trucks on the horizon (although they won't be heavily implemented for at least 5 years), this legislation may not have long-lasting effects. We should also look at this through the lens of social mobility. Say an individual graduates from high school and can't afford or doesn't want to go to a 4 year university, what are their options? They could enlist in the military, but this is physically and mentally demanding work and it really isn't for everyone. They could enroll in community college, but this isn't for everyone, and unless there's a guaranteed transfer program (like our TAG program) then transferring to a 4-year, especially a highly ranked 4-year is notoriously difficult. They could start working immediately, although this would probably be a low-wage job, or they could go to trade school. Trade school probably has the best ROI on average of any of these options, and now trucking is added to the mix. With trucking, high school grads can be their own boss, make decent money ($47,000 is well above the national average of around $36,000), and help a critical part of American supply chains. I don't think age is a concern here, most in that position would take their job seriously and understand the severity of a crash. Considering the recent crash in Colorado, where the driver almost got a 110 year sentence (he got off with 10 years but 10 years is serious time), there is extra scrutiny on the industry. Although that individual was excessively speeding and missed an emergency truck ramp, crashes are crashes and deaths are deaths, emphasizing the importance of safety in the trucking industry, especially for new recruits. Overall, 18 year olds should be allowed to drive.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/truck-drivers-sentence-lowered-10-years-originally-receiving/story?id=82010219
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