Vetting Professional Drivers in 2016

Here at AvatarFleet, we’ve often wondered how Uber and Lyft were allowed to come into existence. We’re not quite sure how they have thus far escaped the most rudimentary safety regulations long imposed on more traditional professional drivers. Unfortunately, it takes sensational events and equally sensational article by CNN, such as the recent killings in Michigan, to make people aware of the risks.

For decades, professional truck drivers, and by extension, trucking companies have been held to a rigorous standard of scrutiny by DOT regulations governing driver fitness. In addition to minimum physical requirements and the ability to pass a drug and alcohol screen, professional drivers must also provide a verifiable accounting of their past ten years of residency, and jobs, as well as criminal and traffic violations.

The article describes the all-too-common difficulties in getting complete and accurate background data that every truck driver recruiter in America knows about. But, almost by inference, it fails to note that there are other reliable data that can be legally gathered during the hiring process that can predict on the job performance. These include validated psychometric assessments and structured behaviorally-anchored job interviews. Each of these tools can provide rich data for making more informed hiring decisions. But, when taken together, along with rigorous background and criminal investigations, they help carriers avoid unwanted drivers.

Until these processes become law, or until socially-responsibly executives embrace their use, let the buyer, in this case, passenger, beware.