Jason Cannon
Chronic stress can lead to long-term health issues, and approximately 65% of U.S. workers surveyed by the American Psychological Organization characterized their jobs as a very significant or somewhat significant source of stress. Research conducted by the World Health Organization found that 83% of U.S. workers suffer from work-related stress.
Despite having chosen life on the open road as a way to avoid the office grind, and in spite of the remote nature of their work, truck drivers are not immune to workplace stress.
“All jobs have stress. Try trucking, where everything you do is stressful,” said OTR leased driver Greg Bazluki. “Why? Any action can get you fired or killed.”
CCJ earlier this year, in partnership with video safety and video telematics provider Lytx, surveyed company drivers and leased owner operators as part of its 2024 What Drivers Want report. When asked to rank their daily stress level on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being not stressful at all and 10 being constantly stressed, the average rating among all participants was 5.1. Bazluki rated his daily stress level a 6.
CCJ also polled its audience of fleet managers and asked them how they thought drivers would rate their average daily stress on the same scale, and those results show that managers believe drivers are more stressed than they actually report to be: 18% pegged driver stress levels at 10, yet only 3% of our driver respondents put their stress level at 10.
Stress, regardless of its severity, can lead to any number of physical and mental ailments, and many of the drivers we surveyed noted suffering from hypertension/high blood pressure (42%), depression (21%), anxiety (22%), and obesity and stress-induced weight-gain (22% and 11%, respectively.)
“The job has only gotten more stressful since deregulation.”
David Higgins, leased owner operator
“As I’ve gotten older the stress of the job is taken more of a toll,” noted 66-year-old leased driver Larry Maples, who added finding parking was his biggest problem as a driver not related to his employer.
And he’s not alone. Parking is the No. 2 concern for truck drivers industry-wide, according to the American Transportation Research Institute.
“Parking is a nightmare,” said 20-plus-year company driver Gary Fulkerson. “Finding a place to park at night is a big concern.”
Indeed, the top two headaches listed by drivers in our survey are things other industries likely consider mundane: finding parking (46%) and delays from traffic congestion (31%).
Parking, or lack of it
Cities are increasingly rolling out bans on roadside parking for drivers running out of drive time, and already limited free private parking options are increasingly being converted to paid spaces.
“More and more places are telling us not to park. Cities are banning truck parking yet still expecting us to make deliveries. Customers are still not giving us access to bathrooms, [and] the ones that do are installing nasty portable restrooms,” said company driver Charles Bolin. “Fleets allow their customers to mistreat drivers. When cities discuss parking bans fleets don’t band together to push back or refuse deliveries to cities that mistreat us. Fleets won’t pay for parking and parking is no longer free at most places.”
With a daily stress level he rated a 10, Curtis Mills said he came off the road and found a job making the same money because he was tired of dealing with problems that had little to do with getting loads from point A to B.
“I’m home every night, don’t have to worry about my safety, where I’m going to park – because I can’t stay on-site – and fight for or pay for a spot when they already overcharge us anyway, and now we pay for parking,” he said. “Make the government and anyone else who feels the need to make all these [rules and regulations] come ride in a truck and see what it’s like and what we go through out on the road… The trucking industry sucks now. It’s not what it used to be.”
Many driver respondents to our survey see industry regulations as an enabler of the parking crisis because they force drivers to stop when their clock runs out versus having the flexibility to stop when (or if) they find a safe place or the driver is tired.
“All the stupid regs would make anyone stressed out.”
Keith DuBois, company driver
“ELDs force us to park. I know when I am tired, and a 30 minute break slows down the shipment,” said leased owner operator Jim Ohlrogge. “Again, I know when I am tired.”
Leased regional driver Steven Rice listed “ELD’s interference in how I drive” as his top problem not related to his employer, adding “Things are really dumb in this industry. ELD telling you to sleep when it’s not needed, or to take a break.”
Traffic and other drivers on the road
The calendar year 2020 was a challenge for most people, but not all pandemic-spurred issues were universally bad. Freight rates were sky high and, thanks to lockdown orders, freeways were mostly empty. The new work-from-home economy, and the halting of many road construction projects, made for more seamless trips from shipper to receiver. The post-pandemic norm, however, saw traffic come roaring back, and despite a now more remote workforce, truck drivers routinely say conditions have gotten worse.
“I have personally seen a woman driving on a divided four-lane, eating a bowl of spaghetti with a tablet on her dash, driving with one knee and cutting in and out of traffic,” recalled leased operator Mike Bartick. “DOT should target the [people messing] around on their phones in cars and pickups. I see it 10 times a day every day.”
For drivers paid by the mile or paid a flat percentage, sitting in traffic is a problem with many prongs. It burns fuel, increasing cost per mile; it burns valuable drive time, decreasing the amount of time a driver can drive in a given period; and it could mean the load misses its delivery window, practically ensuring detention at the receiver.
“Drivers undergo a lot of stress everyday, especially when your primary running area is east of the Mississippi,” said long-haul company driver Tim Hay. “I liked running west. Less traffic jams equal less stress and easier running. Bigger towns mean heavier traffic. Everyone is in a hurry. The local people drive that road every day but they’ll still stay in that left lane until they get right up on their exit then just shoot across three lanes of traffic to get off most of the time without even looking. They just expect you to stop on a dime and let them over.”
Sage words
Trucking is an industry with a high average age – 46 years old, according to the American Trucking Associations – and there’s wisdom to be had from those who have filled up more than their share of log books.
LTL company driver James Duff, whose logged more than 20 years behind the wheel, said he’s learned to cope by focusing on the things that are within his control.
“You can’t control the actions or reactions of other people, only your own reactions to them,” he said. “Deescalate and de-stress when possible. Often times people are not mad at you, you just happen to be there. Likewise, act professional and understand that you can’t control a shipper or consignee and getting angry at them will not help the situation.”
“Every day is different. Every load is different,” added company driver Floyd Crise, himself a veteran trucker of more than two decades. “Treat it that way and you’ll reduce a lot of your stress, and remember to drive like your family is driving next to you.”
For the fleet managers worried about how stressed their drivers are, Victor Farinas, a relatively new leased owner operator with less than five years in the business, offered a tip: “Creating those relationships with drivers and their support staff will create a sense of belonging, and regular predictable pay will reduce driver stress.”
