ATRI Releases Top Trucking Industry Concerns 2023
Not too long ago, we informed you that the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) was conducting survey research about the biggest issues plaguing the trucking industry. Now, the results have been released and to quote James Carville, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Methodology
The way by which they accumulated their data is the same as last year’s survey: a survey taker gets six points and must spend three in their biggest issue, two in their second-biggest problem, and one in their third-largest topic of concern. A category could receive fewer first place votes than another and still come out on top, provided it received enough second and third place votes to make up the difference; a third and a second are equal to a first. With over 4,000 respondents, there were over 24,000 points to be had.
The industry concern index (ICI) is a simple way to see what percentage of the points a topic obtained compared to the top issue.
Survey Results
1. Economy
ICI: 100
2. Truck Parking
ICI: 94
3. Fuel Prices
ICI: 87.7
Our prediction that fuel prices would be the number one issue this year was incorrect, as it obtained only 87.7% of the points that the economy did.
4. Driver Shortage
ICI: 81.8
5. Driver Compensation
ICI: 76.1
6. Lawsuit Abuse Reform
ICI: 67.5
7. Driver Distraction
ICI: 59.4
8.Driver Retention
ICI: 58.9
9. Detention/Delay at Customer Facilities
ICI: 53.5
10. Zero-Emission Vehicles
ICI: 53.0
11. Driver Training Standards
ICI: 51.1
12. Insurance Cost/Availability
ICI: 49.8
13. Diesel Technician Shortage
ICI: 44.5
Conclusion
As we mentioned in the survey results, we are flabbergasted to see that fuel prices, having risen once again to around where they were during the 2022 survey, has taken a backseat to the economy and truck parking. Both of those are also extremely important for the health of the industry, however, so if these survey results lead to more funding for places to let truckers rest, we are all for it.
Also interesting to note is that driver shortage, which was at one point the undisputed king of trucking industry issues, has since fallen to fourth place. It will be interesting to see if it moves up or down in the 2024 version of the survey.
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