ROAD TRANSPORTATION

 Running head: ROAD TRANSPORTATION 1
Road Transportation
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
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The paper aims at exploring four major reasons contributing to the shortage of truck
drivers in the United States. The paper will also focus on the past and future of trucking
companies as the shortage of drivers threatens to decelerate the growth of the United States’
economy. The key reasons leading to the shortage include poor compensation, long hours
without family, restrictive government regulations in licensing and driver poor working
conditions leading to health challenges.
Neil, I. (August 9, 2014). The trucking industry needs more drivers. Maybe it needs to pay more.
The New York Times.
The author starts by providing an example of Swift Transportation - one of the biggest
logistic companies in the United States. Swift Transportation employs more than 20,000
employees including 14,000 truck drivers. Swift Transportation’s earnings fell by 18% in the
fourth quarter of 2014. Higher demand for trucking services and low supply of licensed truck
drivers caused the revenue loss. The American Trucking Association data indicates a shortage of
30,000 truck drivers in 2014 and estimated 200,000 in a decade. Thousands of long haul truck
drivers are quitting the job each year raising serious questions. The author emphasizes that
cutting the salary and allowances is the main factor contributing to the shortage of truck drivers
regardless of the market employment potential. The author notes that the salary of a truck driver
has fallen by 9% when adjusted with inflation rates. An average truck driver earns less than
$50,000 annually with only a few hazardous materials truckers earning up to $70,000. The
author notes that the compensation is not sufficient considering the nature of the job and the state
of the economy. Truck drivers spend months on the road risking accidents, having poor health
and diet, deprived of sleep, having poor healthcare and losing family time. The average white
employee earns $45,000 working about 8 hours a day and receives health insurance, family time 
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and enough resting time of 16 hours a day. The author concludes that tracking companies can
increase driver turnouts by increasing basic salaries, extra time allowances, health insurance, and
general welfare allowances.
The article is great exposing the most significant factor leading to a shortage of truck
drivers. Human beings perform better when appreciated and truck driver’s sacrifices are not
appreciated.
Keith, V. (2012). Why truck driving is one of the deadliest jobs in America. IO9
The author notes that truck driving is a horrible job compared to other technical skills
jobs. The author highlights three main factors that make the job horrible. They are poor pay,
extremely long working hours and poor lifestyle. The author lays strong emphasizes on the long
working hours leading to a poor lifestyle and the impact on the truck driver's health. The author
highlights that truck drivers work extremely long hours, driving for up to 12 hours without a rest.
The author also notes that though legislation exists governing the time limit for a truck driver,
the legislations are hardly followed. Truck drivers earn an average of $38000 per year working
up to 4400 hours. Truck drivers also account for 12% of work-related deaths in the United States.
Truck drivers also lead unhealthy lifestyles, only 86% of the 3 million truck drivers are obese.
Few truck drivers have time to stop and find a good meal because finding parking spaces for the
trucks is challenging. The drivers settle for fast and unhealthy salt saturated foods ending up
creating health challenges. The drivers cover thousands of miles surviving on high calorie and
sugar snacks. The author also notes that only 8% of the 3 million truck drivers engage in any
form of physical exercises. The figure is too low compared to over 49% of the general
population that engage in physical exercises. Truck drivers, therefore, work for extremely long
hours, sleep for a few hours and have poor diets leading to lifestyle diseases. The author 
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concludes that the factors combined drive the shortage as most Americans are health conscious
and want conducive jobs.
The article is relevant to the research. The poor lifestyle associated with truck driving is a
major factor leading to a shortage of truck drivers. Americans value jobs that need less work,
offer more family time and also create time for personal health management.
Davidson, P. (2012). Trucker jobs go unfilled, leading to delayed deliveries. USA Today.
The author notes that the trucking business is headed for a disaster as many of the old and
experienced drivers retire. The average age of a truck driver is 52 while there is more truck
drivers above the age of 45 compared to those between 21 and 25 years. Thousands of students
are