Predicting Truck Crash Involvement: 2018 Update
ATRI’s study on the factors that cause truck accidents, and how to predict them.
ATRI SOLICITING TRUCKING INDUSTRY CRASH COST DATA FOR NEW RESEARCH
| Arlington, VA – The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization, today launched a new data collection initiative to create a database of motor carrier crash costs by crash type and severity. This data collection will populate ATRI research designed to enable carriers to make better informed Onboard Safety System (OSS) deployment decisions.
This request for data is targeted toward motor carriers. ATRI is also working with its insurance industry partners to complete the crash cost database. Participating motor carriers will be asked to provide information on common crash costs such as: · Property Damage · Attorney and Court Costs · Towing and Recovery Costs This research was identified as a top priority by ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee and will update a number of Onboard Safety System cost-benefit analyses that ATRI has published over the past decade. |
Ranking the Trucking Industry’s Top Concerns
| ATRI unveiled its list of the top ten critical issues facing the North American trucking industry at ATA’s Management Conference and Exhibition in October. For the third year in a row, the industry ranked the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules as its top industry concern. For the past two years, major HOS impacts on supply chains were the impetus behind the first place ranking. In this year’s survey, carriers and drivers voiced their concern over the uncertain future of the current suspension of the rules.
The complete results of the annual survey of over 4,000 industry stakeholders were released in October at the 2015 Management Conference and Exhibition of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) meeting in Philadelphia, PA, the nation’s largest gathering of motor carrier executives. The ATRI Top Industry Issues report also solicited and tabulated specific strategies for addressing each issue.
Moving up a position from last year, FMCSA’s continued challenges with its Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program resulted in a second place ranking. CSA was closely followed in the ranking by the growing shortage of truck drivers. Related to the driver shortage, driver retention retained its fourth place ranking this year as trucking fleets work to retain their most experienced and qualified drivers.
The lack of available safe truck parking rounded out the 2015 list as the number five issue. Since first appearing as an issue in the annual survey, truck parking has been on the rise as an industry concern. It initially ranked 8th in the 2012 survey and has steadily climbed to the top five issues. Truck parking was also identified by ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee as the top research priority for 2015.
The survey also identified emerging issues in the trucking industry that generated a measurable amount of concern, but not enough to make the top ten list of most critical issues. Two issues which were added for the first time to the survey made the list of emerging issues, the first of which is the overall mission of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Federal tax reform was the second emerging issue new to the survey this year.
“There is perhaps no better benchmark for the challenges we face as motor carriers and drivers than ATRI’s annual survey of top industry issues. As issues climb in ranking each year, so does our collective need to aggressively identify solutions to address those issues,” said ATA Immediate Past Chairman Duane Long, chairman, Longistics, Raleigh, NC.
“As we all know, the trucking industry operates in a complex and evolving environment and we must constantly work to understand how regulatory actions and operational challenges impact the industry,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said. “By improving our understanding of the issues, we can be better stewards of the important job our industry is tasked with.”
With the recent passage of the FAST Act, the five-year $305 billion transportation funding bill, several of the top-ranked strategies identified by ATRI survey respondents have been addressed. Among these is the removal of CSA scores from public view until research is done to identify if scores accurately predict crash risk and identification of a process that removes non-preventable crashes from a carrier’s scores.
A copy of the survey results is available from ATRI’s website at www.atri-online.org. |
ATRI Research Finds Industry’s Operational Costs on the Rise Again
In September ATRI released the findings of its 2015 update to An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking. Using financial data provided directly by motor carriers throughout the country, this research documents and analyzes trucking costs from 2008 through 2014 providing motor carriers with a high level benchmarking tool, and government agencies with a baseline for future transportation infrastructure improvement analyses.
The average marginal cost per mile in 2014 was $1.70, an increase from the $1.68 found in 2013. Despite falling fuel prices, the rise in average operating costs in 2014 is attributed to an increase in equipment purchases, as well as driver wage increases driven by the ongoing driver shortage and the need to retain the industry’s most experienced professional drivers.
“ATRI’s release of its annual Operational Costs of Trucking research is among our association members most eagerly anticipated. They understand and appreciate the value of ATRI’s operational cost analysis to their own fleet benchmarking and as such, are always willing participants when ATRI issues its call for cost data,” said Brenda Neville, President and CEO of the Iowa Motor Truck Association and a member of ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee.
Since its original publication in 2008, ATRI has received nearly 10,000 requests for its Operational Costs of Trucking report, which continues to be among the most popular of ATRI’s research studies. In addition to average costs per mile, ATRI’s report documents average costs per hour, cost breakouts by industry sector, and operating cost comparisons by region of operations.
A copy of the white paper is available from ATRI’s website at www.atri-online.org.
Werner’s Derek Leathers Appointed to ATRI Board
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rebecca Brewster
(404) 247-8787
October 21, 2015
Derek Leathers Appointed to ATRI Board of Directors
Arlington, VA – Werner Enterprises President and Chief Operating Officer Derek J. Leathers has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).
Leathers has worked in the transportation and logistics industry for more than 20 years. Throughout his tenure at Werner, he has held integral roles in many facets of the organization, including the establishment of Werner’s Mexico operations, oversight for all of the asset operating groups and leading the launch of Werner Global Logistics. Leathers holds a degree in economics from Princeton University. Werner Enterprises is among the five largest truckload carriers in the U.S.
Leathers was appointed by ATRI Chairwoman Judy McReynolds, president and CEO of ArcBest Corporation.
“We are very pleased to have Derek join the ATRI Board,” said McReynolds. “His vast industry experience and expertise will be of great value to our Board as we lead the Institute’s work to advance the trucking industry’s safety and productivity.”
A complete listing of the ATRI Board of Directors is available at www.atri-online.org.
ATRI is the trucking industry’s 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation’s essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system.
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