ATRI Wants to Hear About Detention

The number one reason everyone gets into the trucking industry is because they want to spend dozens upon dozens of unpaid hours every year waiting at loading bays before they can hit the open road. As such, we are flabbergasted that the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) plans to conduct research on the negative impacts that detention times have on the trucking industry at large, and is asking for truckers’ anecdotal stories of all of its wonders (horrors).

Details

The Consequences of Driver Detention: Motor Carrier and Owner-Operator Survey has twenty-three multi-part questions, of which only one is required: the type of freight the company hauls. If a motor carrier or owner-operator only wants to spend five minutes answering the most imperative questions, they are able to do just that by answering as much or as little as desired.

Questions it asks include how many hours a driver spends in detention, whether or not that time is paid, and if so, to what amount, and how much money the trucker would be making per mile or per hour if they were actively driving instead. Presumably, ATRI will use this sampling in its research to estimate the economic cost of detention time, similar to what it did with the cost of traffic. We hope that you will take time during a meal break to fill it out.

Conclusion

Perhaps one of the most important questions asked by the survey is the final one, asking what steps you have taken to prevent and/or reduce driver detention. If enough fleets and companies put their heads together, the ATRI’s research will be more fruitful in persuading Congress and regulatory bodies about rules and requirements to make the detention process less painful for the driver.

According to ATRI itself from a previous survey in 2023 regarding the top trucking industry issues, detention at customer facilities was a top ten issue, alongside driver retention and driver compensation which both directly relate to this problem. The more that the trucking industry at large can work to reduce this unpleasant part of the job, the better off it will be. Simply put, truckers do not become drivers to not see the beauty of the continent.

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