Motor carriers are holding onto used assets until new equipment arrives. Recently the wait has been taking longer than anticipated. Build slots for new trucks and trailers are filled through 2022 amid unprecedented demand for capacity and a manufacturing backlog caused by global shortages of chipsets and other materials. Extending trade cycles create risks. The cost to
More than just compliance. Transflo T-series ELDs are built on an open platform that can be custom fit to your fleet. It’s an easy-to-install device that pairs with the Transflo Mobile+ trucking app and provides real-time GPS tracking, vehicle monitoring, and more.
Trucking companies are a big target in today’s litigious society. The number of billboards, TV commercials, and clickbait ads from plaintiff attorneys prove it. The legal system uses tort law and/or negligence to settle claims and the associated damages regarding auto crashes. To be held negligent, a party must be shown to have breached the duty of safe vehicle operations that a “reasonable person” would typically observe. Using this textbook definition does not explain why motor carriers have lost the upper hand in court. Analysis of truck accidents show that professional drivers are at fault approximately 20% of the time, yet motor carriers end
“Do you want to solve the driver shortage?” Asking this question will likely result in a 50/50 split of answers in the trucking industry. It might also ignite a spontaneous debate: Does the industry have a driver shortage problem or a driver retention problem? Both answers are correct. Driver shortages have always been a problem for motor carriers, but the labor supply has only gotten worse during pandemic challenges and setbacks. The number of tractor-trailer drivers on fleet payrolls was 1,797,710 in May 2020, which was 58,420 less than May 2019. As many fleets can attest, some drivers took time off during the
By Verlen Larson Motor carriers accumulate vast amounts of driver data from vehicle telematics, cameras, IoT sensors and back-office software systems. The sheer volume of data is both a challenge and opportunity. Solving the challenge has legal implications. Fleets could be found negligent by not acting on data in a timely manner that indicates a
In every T.V. classic, the characters repeat a common refrain after narrowly avoiding disaster: “Phew! That was a close call.” In the trucking business, close calls don’t elicit nearly the same reaction. Close calls are often shrugged off or go unnoticed, leading to bigger trouble down the road. In the previous blog in Transflo’s Fleet Safety series, we discussed how data, like
I was watching Star Trek the Next Generation on Netflix the other day (don’t judge me), and I got to thinking. Isn’t it wild that the character Data, the friendly Enterprise android, can comb through millions of pages of information in mere minutes? Real life, of course, is nothing like a day on the Starship Enterprise. To
Professional truck drivers must be sticklers for detail to stay safe, productive, and compliant. The last thing they should have to worry about is whether they will get paid after completing an on-time delivery. All the planning and awareness it takes to ensure an incident-free workday can seem futile if paper shipping documents are causing delays in payroll and
In the ‘80s cartoon G.I. Joe, there was a PSA at the end of each episode (don’t talk to strangers, look both ways before crossing the street, that kind of thing). After learning an important life lesson, the kid would say: “Thanks, G.I. Joe! Now I know.” G.I. Joe would reply with his famous catchphrase: “And knowing’s half the battle.” You don’t have your own personal
No other profession claims to be more mobile than over-the-road trucking. Professional drivers often start and end their workdays in different states and have to adapt to unique rules, weather, and traffic conditions along the way. Rarely does the workday go exactly as planned, adding to drivers’ level of stress and frustration. Efforts by fleets to improve the