There’s little doubt that technology has changed the job of driving a commercial motor vehicle forever.
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have changed the driver’s role by taking control of the vehicle during certain conditions.
Electronic control modules (ECMs) have changed the way vehicle components like steering linkage, braking, fuel injection and gear selection operate — and created a way to report on that operation through telematics. In many ways, driving tasks are easier than ever before.
There’s another task that’s been made easier through technology — managing drivers.
A few decades ago, carriers hired drivers based almost entirely on trust. Drivers were handed the keys and assigned a load, sometimes staying on the road for weeks before returning to a terminal. “Supervision” of drivers was handled through occasional phone calls or terminal visits.
These days the location of the truck, operational information such as the vehicle’s speed and braking incidents and even video of the area around (and inside) the truck are available to fleet managers and safety professionals within seconds.
The truck driving job has lost much of the independence it was once lauded for.
But is that necessarily a bad thing?
Foster safe driving behavior
In a March webinar hosted by HireRight, Rich Lacey, chief product officer at SambaSafety explained how data, combined with background screening services, helps carriers identify and mitigate unsafe driving behaviors.
“The most dangerous tool we often hand in a new employee is a steering wheel,” Lacey said, adding that this is backed up by data.
He pointed to National Safety Council statistics that claim 22% of all workplace fatalities occur due to automotive accidents, more than any other cause. Auto insurance rates have climbed much faster than the inflation rate, due to increased costs of repairing and replacing equipment and “nuclear” verdicts (those in excess of $10 million) were responsible for a staggering $18.3 billion in judgements in 2022.
The answer, Lacey said, is for carriers to use available tools to actively manage driver risk.
“Driver risk management is a process of identifying, monitoring and mitigating the risks associated with driving, with the goals of improving safety, ensuring compliance and reducing overall liability,” he explained. “It’s about eliminating crashes.”
Lacey pointed out that many carriers have a great deal of information already, compiled from reports ordered during the hiring process, annual motor vehicle records reports, FMCSA programs like CSA (compliance, safety, accountability), insurance claims and vehicle telemetrics information.
But for some carriers, “this data probably exists in various different departments, silos, systems, databases, spreadsheets, file cabinets throughout the organization,” he noted. The SambaSafety product can bring all the data together and help carriers identify risky driver behaviors.
Correct risky driving habits
Two of the most dangerous driver behaviors, Lacey pointed out, are speeding and distracted driving.
According to the 2024 Driver Risk Report published by SambaSafety, 8% of fatal crashes in 2022 involved a distracted driver, amounting to 3,308 deaths. A 2024 Cambridge Mobile Telematics Report claimed that 84% of survey respondents said they had used an app while driving during the past month.
Speed accounted for nearly a third of all traffic fatalities in 2022, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It’s clear that drivers who violate speed limits are at higher risk of crashes, but the information isn’t always readily available.
Most carriers order MVRs on new drivers and annually on every driver in their fleet. Unfortunately, flaws in the system make many MVRs inaccurate.
For example, records of citations or convictions in another state may take months to get back to the state that issued the driver’s CDL — if they get there at all. Charges that are pled down to lesser charges or dismissed through court supervision programs may not be reported at all.
Even when the system works, a year can pass before the next MVR is ordered and the carrier becomes aware of violations. Accidents may not be reported at all, depending on the jurisdiction responding.
Monitoring services can help
Luckily, there are services available to help motor carriers and driver managers wade through this sea of data and fill any gaps.
HireRight offers a service that monitors driver MVRs for changes, checking every few days, weekly or less often, depending on the law in each state. A similar service is available for monitoring CSA events. Local court records in the driver’s home jurisdiction can be monitored, as can carrier information stored in computerized dispatch systems such as training, insurance claims and disciplinary actions.
By adding this information to telematics data received from each truck such as speeding, hard braking, swerving or impact events, Lacey said, SambaSafety is able to create a “comprehensive risk profile” for each driver.
He points to three goals:
- Evaluate Risk. Managers should ask themselves: “Should this person be driving for my company? Do they meet my safety policy and are they compliant?”
- Monitor Behavior. This should be done regularly to make sure the carrier is informed of any changes. “If all you’re doing is a point-in-time check six months from now, there’s no telling if that person is better or worse,” Lacey said.
- Training. “Training gives you the tools to actually change behavior and make drivers better,” Lacey explained. “It’s important in a competitive hiring environment from a retention standpoint.”
SambaSafety maintains a library of more than 400 interactive training courses, available for browsing on their website. The courses run from a few minutes to nearly an hour, depending on the topic.
According to Lacey, SambaSafety monitors more than 4.5 million drivers on a continuous basis. He claims that combining license monitoring and training results in a 77% reduction in violations in the first year.
“I would add that thoughtful, relevant, timely training often doesn’t feel punitive,” he said. “It’s an investment in you as a driver.”
Regardless of what service is used, careful monitoring of the available data can help motor carriers hire drivers who have safe driving records — and provide learning opportunities for less-than-ideal drivers to correct risky behavior.
Safer drivers make for safer roads — and that’s a win for everyone.
Cliff Abbott is an experienced commercial vehicle driver and owner-operator who still holds a CDL in his home state of Alabama. In nearly 40 years in trucking, he’s been an instructor and trainer and has managed safety and recruiting operations for several carriers. Having never lost his love of the road, Cliff has written a book and hundreds of songs and has been writing for The Trucker for more than a decade.
