Drivers suffer from long detention times

Officials from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) recently announced that a new bill may make shippers and receivers accountable for their contribution to the lack of productivity in the transportation supply chain.

A recent bill drafted by federal lawmakers will help address the problem of excessive wait times for trucks at shipping and receiving facilities, which are known as detention times.

This bill comes at a time when new regulations to driver's hours of service are being proposed, which would decrease daily drive time from 11 hours to 10. A study from OOIDA states that drivers spend as many as 40 hours per week waiting to be loaded or unloaded.

"In a just-in-time, deregulated industry, trucking has de-evolved to where truckers are donating their time to the benefit of shippers and receivers," said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA. "The problem persists because it does not cost shippers or receivers to squander drivers’ time."

Safety directors can enroll their operators in online truck driving regulation training to educate them on how time management skills may help to minimize the effects of detention time.

By Mark Priest

Drivers suffer from long detention times

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011