Safety-Related Trends in 2019
12.27.2019
A national industry consulting firm has released its Summary of Safety-Related Trends for 2019, summed up into 3 categories:
Positive Safety Trends in Trucking
- Increased industry awareness of the importance of safety culture (based on recent research and trade press coverage)
- Greater adoption of advanced safety technologies (including video event recorders and advanced driver assist systems)
- Growing use of alternative drug testing technologies (mainly hair testing)
Other “Not-So-Positive” Safety Trends
- Increased driver use of marijuana and CBD oil (based on growing societal acceptance and new state laws)
- Continued upswing in distracted driving by all drivers (more smartphones, greater use of tablets in the industry, texting, etc.) along with insufficient enforcement
- An increasing number of truck-involved crashes (likely due, in large part, to driver distraction)
Current and Future Regulatory & Compliance Trends
- Higher rates of HOS compliance (as a result of the ELD mandate)
- Accurate, accessible drug and alcohol screening of drivers (as a result of Clearinghouse to be implemented January 2020)
- More involved FMCSA oversight of non-compliant drivers and carriers (through increased use of more efficient off-site/remote compliance audits and CSA program improvements in the future)
- Flexible HOS rules (as proposed in Aug 2019 and likely to be finalized in 2020)
- Greater acceptance and use of younger CMV drivers — 18-20 year-olds — operating in interstate commerce (based on FMCSA’s Under-21 military pilot program)
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