Insurance and Risk Management

Drivers and carriers commonly overlook these regulations

Trucking is known as a highly regulated industry, and rules are in place for good reason. At its core, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations are meant to keep both CDL holders and the general public safe.

Adherence to safety regulations is a daily effort for management, office staff and drivers. But so far in 2023, there have been 1.5 million state and federal roadside inspections, and 57% of them have revealed at least one violation, according to data from FMCSA’s Roadside...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/drivers-and-carriers-commonly-overlook-these-regulations

Why are truck crash fatalities elevated?

Traffic fatalities appear to be on the rise among large trucks — at least compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Crash Statistics Summary, which reflects data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System, during calendar year 2019, the last year pre-pandemic, there were 5,082 fatalities as a result of crashes across the country involving large trucks. That number dropped slightly in 2020 to 4,988 then concerningly spiked in 2021...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/why-are-truck-crash-fatalities-elevated

Don’t let good safety practices slip amid freight recession

With trucking companies bearing the brunt of the freight recession, the question on every carrier’s mind is how to generate more revenue despite low freight rates and weak demand.

Brian Runnels, vice president of safety at Reliance Partners, a trucking insurance agency and safety consultancy, has observed carriers’ efforts to grow margins in action. Recently, he’s witnessed multiple motor carriers shifting their operational practices to deprioritize high-mileage runs for shorter, more profitable...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dont-let-good-safety-practices-slip-amid-freight-recession

How carriers can identify log falsification

Hours-of-service violations are fairly easy to detect on a driver’s log. After all, ELDs are designed to keep track of drivers’ hours and will flag instances when they exceeded their allotted driving time.

However, just because the ELD system did not detect an HOS violation doesn’t mean it’s not there, concealed by log falsification.

The issue of log falsification isn’t new. It was prevalent both in the days of paper logs and still today in the ELD era. What has changed is the way drivers falsify...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-carriers-can-identify-log-falsification

Policy vs. guidance: Why it matters to know the difference

There’s no getting around one thing: Every motor carrier needs safety policies. 

If those policies have ever backfired at your company, as they inevitably have at some point for many, have you considered that it shouldn’t be a policy at all?

“You have those occasions where the policy [gets] broken, but you never have any other issue with this driver. Do [you] have to fire him? According to the policy, yes, you do,” said Brian Runnels, VP of safety  at Reliance Partners, a trucking insurance and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/policy-vs-guidance-why-it-matters-to-know-the-difference

PSP records: A driver’s resume

As its name suggests, the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) is used by motor carriers ahead of a hiring decision to evaluate a prospective driver’s safety history. 

As such, drivers should treat their PSP records like a resume, said Mark Barlar, director of DOT regulatory compliance at Reliance Partners, a trucking insurance and safety consulting agency.

While PSP records are sometimes inaccurately referred to as scores, they are not numerical values. Instead, the reports are compilations of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/psp-records-a-drivers-resume

How safety can be the key to lowering insurance costs

Everybody in the transportation industry can probably agree on one thing: It’s not cheap to keep a trucking business running.

FreightWaves has estimated it costs $210,000 to operate just one truck annually, based on running 120,000 miles. Fleet owners might even say that most of the expenses that contribute to this figure are out of their control. After all, the industry is highly subject to supply and demand.

For instance, overall, companies can’t really control driver pay. If carriers want to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-safety-can-be-the-key-to-lowering-insurance-costs

8 practices to improve your driver coaching strategy

Though each company’s approach to driver coaching is different, one thing usually remains the same: When the safety office calls, the driver’s first thought is probably: “What did I do this time?”

If the only time drivers ever hear from the safety office, or a fleet manager for that matter, is when they’re being told they did something wrong, they will always associate that phone number with news that might ruin the rest of their day.

One of the first things you as a safety professional or fleet...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/8-practices-to-improve-your-driver-coaching-strategy

How you can prepare to ace a weigh station inspection

Weigh station inspections can take as little as thirty minutes or, if a driver is having a bad day, it can end up costing them 10 hours. 

Of course, 10 hours is only if a driver receives a violation severe enough to put them out of service.

These violations cost drivers not just their time but could require them to pay fines and impact the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) report, which might make it more difficult to get hired by another carrier in the future.

But passing an inspection isn’t...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-you-can-prepare-to-ace-a-weigh-station-inspection

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