Learn how to keep your trucks full of safe drivers with the latest news and resources.
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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) expanded its Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP) to 21 crash types, including in...
Think of your perfect candidate. Maybe it’s an experienced CDL driver with all the endorsements, a clean MVR and who lives 5 minutes down the road. Im...
Want to print out the DQ File Checklist? Download the free PDF by clicking below:
Challenge Faced As the second-generation owner of Transmark, Garrett Knollman has been working to revamp the business and set it up for the future. Pa...
Go slow to go fast. NASCAR pit crews don’t rush to go fast. They go fast because everyone knows exactly what to do and when. Every second is standardi...
Bus companies are typically sophisticated marketers. You have to be constantly booking new business, so you’ve nailed marketing strategy and tactics. ...
We respect motor carriers who make the effort to muscle through making a generic HR system the system onboard drivers and manage Driver Qualification ...
It’s no secret that recruiters at transportation companies wear many hats.
By now you’ve seen the sparkles.
Should you manage Driver Qualification Compliance or outsource it? The answer to that question is what will you do with that time and does it bring th...
Anchor Transportation is a family-owned, 100-unit motorcoach company serving Tennessee and Northern Alabama. The 35-year-old firm has been using A-Sui...
Adding technology is one of the first things motor vehicle carriers can do to improve as they ascend from a good company to a great company. Technolog...
Other than maybe an office party on your last day before retirement, you don’t want any surprises as a motor carrier Safety Director.
Repetitive data entry is the bane of any modern worker’s existence. It’s a waste of time. It’s tedious. It creates room for error. Overall, it’s costl...
You know the old saying: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure?”
Everyone knows time is money, and nobody in the transportation industry likes to waste either one.
Congratulations! You’ve taken the first two steps toward becoming much more effective in your job as a Safety Director.
As a Safety Director, you spend a lot of your day as the Chief Firefighter. You have to grow the fleet, reduce accidents and remain DOT compliant, amo...
Challenge Faced LJ Rogers was grappling with inefficient spending on job sourcing with minimal return on investment, specifically from Tenstreet's Job...
Challenge Faced Before partnering with AvatarFleet, George Hildebrandt Inc. faced significant challenges in their driver recruitment efforts. The comp...
Challenge Faced ATCO Hauling, a woman-owned, tractor-trailer, and dump truck company, found itself submerged under the weight of paperwork and manual ...
Challenge Faced Puryear Tank Lines, a third-generation, family-operated logistics firm, faced significant organizational and operational challenges wi...
Brisk Management Services was formed in 2013 to provide risk financing and risk management solutions to mid-cap trucking companies. Their flagship cap...
ATC Driveaway Transportation Services offers commercial truck manufacturers, work truck builders, and fleet management companies reliable, on-time, pr...
For the passenger motor carriers who run in the state of New York, Article 19-A is a pain to manage. There is a lot of redundancy to the FMCSA Driver ...
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) are a set of rules and guidelines established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration...
When you google “Top reasons for bus accidents,” you don’t see statistics, accident types, or studies on risky behaviors. You see over 100 articles fr...
JMS Transportation's partnership with AvatarFleet has boosted recruiting, compliance, and operational efficiency. JMS overcame the small business hurd...
AvatarFleet's A-Suite Comply proved to be a game-changer for GO Riteway during a recent Department of Transportation (DOT) audit. Despite receiving sh...
Do you find yourself saying “I don’t need more candidates, I need more of the right candidates”? We encounter many driver recruiters feeling frustrate...
You’re sick of dealing with accidents, cost of loss, inefficiencies in operation, passenger complaints, and your operators getting hurt. So, you imple...
Summary: The cost of driver recruiting software can range between $129-$6,000 per month, or $1,548-$72,000 annually, based on your fleet size. This do...
Would you rather give your recruiting money to Job Boards or your drivers?
Summary: The cost of driver compliance software can range between $150-$1,200 per month, or $1,800-$14,000 annually. This does not include the cost of...
If you’re a busing operation in need of safety training, you might be wondering where to begin. Do you make your own? Do you go for the cheapest optio...
Training your bus operators costs you thousands of dollars per trainee. You probably want to know if what you’re doing is worthwhile.
You’re probably reading this because you’re tired of planning bus operator training.
Transitioning your DQ Files from paper or a local drive to software may seem like a daunting leap. It’s a common feeling if you're not tech-savvy or h...
You want the best drivers lining up to work for you. And, you want to spend less time sorting through leads so you can build your fleet of all-stars.
Managing your trucking company is complicated and stressful - no matter the size of your operation. You have to recruit new drivers, ensure your compl...
Many transportation companies can greatly benefit from an off-the-shelf or “plug-and-play” CDL driver training program. Programs like our Bus Safety C...
When done well, training your CDL A truck drivers results in reduced accidents, a more efficient operation, lower cost of loss, and saved lives.
OSHA violations cost light-duty fleets hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Worse yet, these violations lead to accidents, injuries, and even ...
When was the last time you showed your drivers how valuable they are to your company? Are you waiting for driver appreciation week?
Training CDL drivers often comes with wasted time, big budgets, and mixed results. Of course, not providing adequate training is an even worse option....
Truck Driver Appreciation Week is almost upon us, so if you aren’t yet prepared, it is time to figure out how to show your thanks to your drivers and ...
Entry-Level Driver Training is necessary for every new bus operator you train to qualify for their CDL. ELDT went into effect in February of 2022. Thi...
Your bus or motorcoach company can reduce accidents and save money when you create a workplace culture focused on safety.
Whether it's on the highways or in the military, heroes are among us, selflessly dedicating their lives to serving our country. Among these heroes is ...
If you own a fleet of transit buses or motorcoaches, you’re legally obligated to train them. However, that is NOT the main reason to train your bus op...
The gift a freight recession gives you is the opportunity to be pickier with drivers.
It depends on who you ask, but most folks throughout the industry say it costs $5,000 to hire one professional driver. Other clients say it’s north of...
Driver Recruiters: you've been lied to.
An effective driver training program will drastically reduce your accidents and injuries. In fact, your driver training program should save you more m...
If you’re a trucking company in America, you’re likely suffering from the driver problem. Driver turnover/churn is almost 90%. Worse yet, the trucking...
Accidents cost you time and money. However, we aren’t just talking about driving accidents. We’re also talking about accidents that lead to personal i...
If you put employees behind the wheel, their most important job is to be defensive drivers who prevent accidents. This makes you a more efficient oper...
Are you struggling to fill empty seats with the right drivers? Like you, we used to wonder where all the good drivers are hiding. Your driver problem ...
We’re over a month into 2023, so it’s time to take the pulse of the trucking industry. Unfortunately, it appears that the industry’s crystal ball is f...
The first week after you hire a new truck driver is make or break. It can be the difference between drivers sticking with you for years to come or lea...
Editors Note: We're giving away our driver recruiting secrets! Check out our free video series to double your hires without spending more on ads: [Vid...
When people find out about the success we've had recruiting drivers, they always ask “where are the best places to advertise for truck drivers?” Unfor...
The FMCSA is making changes to 49 CFR 391.23 which outlines the requirements for Previous Employer Verifications.
The truck driver shortage isn’t getting any easier to solve. With experienced drivers retiring and fewer young people entering the profession, truckin...
The trucking industry is facing an existential crisis. Companies have freight collecting dust. They have empty seats they can’t fill. And they have ju...
Accidents are costing your municipal fleet time and money. Worse yet, they’re common.
As a carrier, your business cannot exist without truck drivers. This seems obvious, yet the industry faces an existential crisis: clogged shipping doc...
Pest control fleet drivers are at risk for injury and illness from workplace hazards, chemicals, and sprays. The good news is, these risks are top of ...
In the first week of operation, the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse identified nearly 8,000 substance abuse violations in professional drivers. T...
Your light-duty vehicle drivers are at risk of serious accidents and injuries due to OSHA violations. This also means that your company is at risk.
If you’ve read our articles before, you’ve heard this one many times: there’s no silver bullet to solving your driver problem. You struggle to find, r...
Excel spreadsheets, downloadable PDFs, and website form captures aren’t the industry standard anymore. These processes are cumbersome, take a lot of e...
The DOT driver physical is an important part of keeping America’s roads and highways safe. That being said, it can be a hurdle for companies and drive...
If you have delivery drivers, you’re at risk of losing tens of thousands of dollars in cost of loss per year. Perhaps you’re at risk of losing million...
Next week is National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, so hopefully, you’ve been thinking of ways to show your gratitude to the hardworking people who ...
Here’s one of the most popular search terms from motor carriers: how to hire drivers.
As a fleet owner or manager, bloodborne pathogens are likely not high on your list of concerns. That doesn’t mean they don’t present a risk to your dr...
Brake Safety Week runs from August 21st through August 27th. This initiative is put in place by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) with the...
In July 2022, AvatarFleet president Scott Rea discussed recruiting and marketing to truck drivers with Ron Yazzetti from Work4.
Slips, trips, and falls are the most common OSHA injury. This means you need to take action to prevent them for your fleet drivers.
For the most recent episode of Solving the Driver Problem, Scott Rea met with Bluewire’s CEO, Steve Bryan.
In May of 2022, an ODOT vehicle and a dump truck were involved in a serious accident on I-77 that resulted in an explosion. Luckily, no one was killed...
On June 22nd, 2022, AvatarFleet leaders Scott Rea and Mark G. Gardner discussed recruiting, compliance, training, and nuclear verdicts with Bluewire.
This blog was updated on December 15, 2021.
You’re spending loads of money to find, attract, select, and hire drivers. That makes it all the more painful when they disappear on you and go with a...
Your utility workers are at risk for serious accidents and injuries every day. However, their biggest risk doesn’t come from fixing downed lines, clim...
It has never been more important to be safe and compliant. Such was the message driving Transport Topics’s webinar on nuclear verdicts and tort reform...
The goal of fleet safety training is to protect employees, reduce accidents, save the company money, and save everyone time and headaches dealing with...
If your company puts people out on the road for work - whether it’s delivering goods, providing services, or visiting job sites - you’re at risk of ma...
Hiring enough drivers to keep up with demand isn’t easy. It feels impossible most days. That’s why it’s all the more frustrating when you’re ready to ...
Tow truck drivers face the risk of accidents and injuries. The fact is, it’s a dangerous job. As the owner/manager of a tow truck company, that risk i...
What are your driver recruitment goals? Whatever they are, they’re tied directly to your success as a business. However, the more important question i...
There are major changes to the Annual Record of Violations Requirement. What does it mean for the transportation industry and companies like you?
Do you have enough quality drivers in your fleet? That’s a rhetorical question because we know the answer is no. What if you could reduce accidents, l...
What does an accident cost your company? Probably more than you think. A single accident can cost a company with work truck, van, sedan, or truck driv...
Trucking companies face massive risk from aggressive plaintiff attorneys and nuclear verdicts. The FMCSA isn’t the main boogie-man anymore. It’s lawye...
When your construction workers have accidents, it costs you money. You lose out on workers’ compensation, rising insurance costs, lost time, vehicle r...
No one has ever accused the government of being cutting-edge technology adopters. Without a literal act of Congress, the FMCSA will have to audit your...
Think back to your elementary school classroom. Was it a peaceful, controlled, and relaxed environment? Much to the chagrin of your teacher, probably ...
I got a call the other day from a client who’s worked with us for many years. We first met him back in 1999. At the time he was senior vice president ...
Did you know that you may be required to keep driver qualification files for non-CDL drivers?
AvatarFleet released an upgrade to help you manage your Previous Employment Verifications (PEV). The A-Suite PEV Manager has received some handy upgra...
The audit is a fact of life. The Department of Transportation (DOT) takes its role as federal regulations arbiter very seriously and conducts its nece...
Light-duty fleet truck drivers face the risk of serious accidents and injuries while on the job. The legal and financial risk is transferred to the co...
Accessing motor vehicle reports can be expensive and time-consuming. Worse yet, if you fail to keep up to date with them, defense attorneys will sniff...
The 2022 International Roadcheck is scheduled for May 17th - 19th. This year’s focus will be on wheel-end components. If you want to avoid costly fine...
Accidents are costing you time, money, and resources. Worse yet, they’re hurting your people. The solution, of course, is to invest in a fleet safety ...
How confident are you that your drivers report every violation they have in a timely manner? Any accident that happens between a violation or an expir...
You and your HVAC technicians face immense exposure to risk and cost of loss. Where does the risk come from? On-the-job injuries like strains and spra...
Cleveland, OH - AvatarFleet, the software provider that helps transportation companies fill empty seats, pass every audit, and bring 'em home safely, ...
The goal of having driver safety policies is to prevent accidents and injuries while reducing your liability. You likely already have some safety poli...
Ready to fill your empty seats? A-Suite’s newest update to EZApp is one more tool to help.
On this episode of Solving The Driver Problem, Scott Rea gets together with AvatarFleet CEO and Founder Mark G. Gardner. The two discuss ELDT, what it...
Accidents lead to lost time, injuries, and rising costs. This holds true for an accident of any severity. So, what’s the most common cause of vehicula...
How hard is it today to track down a driver for a new license or to coordinate with dispatch a time to swing by your office to sign the Certificate of...
When you have an accident, the last thing you need is a plaintiff attorney named The Hammer knocking on your door and sniffing around your Driver Qual...
Accidents cost you money. Worse yet, they get people hurt or even killed. Your best bet is to work to prevent accidents from happening. But what’s you...
Your non-CDL or light-duty drivers face risks out on the road. They face the risk of accidents, injuries, or even fatal collisions. However, the risk ...
Failure to properly secure cargo/loads can result in hefty fines. Worse yet, improper securement can cause serious accidents and injuries. It can even...
You need light-duty vehicle drivers who will avoid accidents, reduce risk, and get the job done without incident. In short, you need safe and reliable...
The biggest fear for most fleets is a massive DOT violation. There’s an issue with your drug & alcohol testing policy, a driver who is out of comp...
Rules, policies, and procedures are not “safety.” Safety and accidents come down to human behaviors. After all, rules won’t always stop your drivers f...
CSA violations are one of many things that can keep a fleet manager up at night. They range from burdensome all the way to crippling. They could even ...
In order to avoid hefty fines and stay in compliance, you need to stay informed on the DOT Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse going into 2022. We’ll help ...
Your non-CDL driver accidents and injuries are costing you money. Worse yet, they result in pain and suffering. If you want to reduce accidents, injur...
Accidents cost non-CDL fleets money, plain and simple. They cost you fines, repairs to vehicles, lost time from employees, and much, much more. Even w...
Most light-duty fleets are not regulated by the Department of Transportation. Thus, there is no specific “fleet safety certification” or demarcation f...
Like most people in the trucking industry, the idea of an audit probably makes your skin crawl. However, we’re not talking about the DOT. We’re talkin...
You need simple solutions to reduce your fleet’s cost of loss. One way to do so is to focus on fleet vehicle maintenance and repairs.
Creating a world-class safety training program requires your HR and Safety departments to be aligned.
Are you experiencing high accident numbers for your light-duty vehicle fleet? Do you have little to no budget or time to solve your safety problem? Th...
At AvatarFleet, we understand that recruiters are often forced to source candidates across dozens of channels every day.
Traditional safety and driver training happens in the classroom, or behind the wheel, and is led by an instructor. These are both important aspects of...
The FMCSA will roll out new Entry Level Driver Training (ELDT) regulations that take effect on February 7, 2022. What does this mean for your company?
Moving your non-CDL driver training online saves you time, money, and headaches. Best of all, it’s easier than you might think. You just need one simp...
Did you know 60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of their length or complexity?
Accidents cost you lost time, rising insurance premiums, and perhaps even court fees. The good news is, accidents don’t have to happen. Attend The Fle...
What would happen to your company if you were handed a $1 billion verdict in a court case? It sounds far-fetched, but today it’s a reality. A Florida ...
Are you struggling to keep up with the recruiting demands of your company? Are you watching your advertising budget skyrocket? Would you love to upgra...
Are you fishing with a net or a spear?
Every driver you hire, you take on risk. You put them behind the wheel for your company and entrust them with your goods, services, vehicles, customer...
Looking for industry news on essential recruiting and retention trends? Look no further. HireRight® released its Global Benchmark report this summer c...
Are the time, money, and resources you pour into driver training worth it? Or are you working up a sweat to get mediocre results? When implemented cor...
You should be spending less time and resources on driver training while getting better results. Many companies with a fleet of non-CDL drivers pour th...
If your employees need to drive to perform essential job duties, they’re professional drivers. Pest control specialists, delivery drivers, and utility...
Earn points towards NATMI certification renewal with AvatarFleet’s professional safe driving training programs.
Dealing with a worker shortage in your light-duty vocational fleet? You’re not alone. America is suffering from a surplus of jobs and a shortage of ap...
We all know what happens when we’re not ready for the DOT audit. Fines, court dates, or even worse - prison time - can happen when we’re not in compli...
If you want meaningful and permanent reductions to your accident numbers, it isn’t enough to just train your new hires. You need to consistently educa...
When you train your light-duty and non-CDL vehicle drivers to prevent accidents, you save money, become a more efficient company, and protect your peo...
You need safe, defensive drivers in your fleet of non-CDL vehicles. When your employees focus on preventing accidents, you’ll enjoy lower cost of loss...
In order to protect your company from hefty fines, it’s essential to understand whether or not your drivers need a commercial driver’s license.
This blog was written by John Kuder with consultation from Jordan Call and Marc Blubaugh from Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP. The Unit...
Your fleet safety training program should actually be saving you time and money. It doesn’t need to be a burden on your company.
Digital advertising is an integral part of your driver recruitment strategy. Any changes in online privacy laws can affect your ability to reach and t...
You want to reduce your company’s accidents with your non-CDL drivers, but if you don’t have a goal in mind, you won’t get anywhere. That’s why you ne...
If you want to hire more qualified drivers, your job postings need to stand-out from your competition.
What’s the most dangerous part of a utility worker’s job? Climbing a telephone pole? Dealing with a downed wire? While those are both high-risk activi...
Are your safety meetings engaging, educational, and productive? Or are they a painful experience for your non-CDL drivers?
The most important part of your drivers’ job is preventing accidents. That means you should do everything you can to reduce accidents and injuries in ...
Being a truck driver isn’t easy.
What’s the cost of fleet accidents for your company? Probably higher than you think.
Your light duty, non-CDL drivers face as much risk behind the wheel as a truck driver.
Your non-CDL light-duty vehicle drivers face tremendous risk out on the road. Other people, road conditions, and weather all create chances for seriou...
Managing fleet safety training across multiple locations can be a cumbersome, costly, and painful process.
You have a powerful driver recruiting and retention resource sitting at your fingertips: your current drivers.
Accidents are a common and costly part of your business. They cost lost-time, a large chunk of your budget, and paid worker’s compensation. Worse yet,...
Opting In/Out of Mass Emails and Texts Your leads, candidates, and team members have the option to opt out of mass communications emails and text mess...
If your employees drive in order to complete vital job duties, they’re professional drivers. And without the proper training, they’re putting themselv...
According to OSHA, the average car accident will cost a company around $16,500. However, an on-the-job crash that results in an injury can cost nearly...
If you want to get in shape and stay in shape, it’s not enough to spend a week lifting weights and running. You need to keep-up with an exercise routi...
It isn’t enough to train your drivers when you first hire them. They need to be re-trained, re-trained again, and then re-trained some more. And here’...
Watch AvatarFleet President Scott Rea interview some of our panelists about the upcoming webinars.
Traditionally, training takes up a lot of time, money, and resources. You need to gather everyone together, pay a trainer to flip through a powerpoint...
As an Owner/Operator, you are tasked with operating a business and driving professionally. That is two full time jobs and we know it’s just the beginn...
Training your employees in defensive driving today isn’t the same as it was a year ago. What can you do to continue keeping your drivers safe in all t...
Do you trust your new-hires to get behind the wheel? Do you trust them to avoid risk and prevent accidents on the job site? Or, are you holding your b...
One of the best ways to reduce your accident rates is to give your employees essential safety training right from the time of hire. However, it can be...
How can you influence your employees to care about safety as much as you do? What will it take to get your employees to think, breathe, and dream abou...
Do your employees drive in order to fulfill vital job duties? If the answer’s yes, you have professional drivers.
A-Suite Term Changes We have adjusted some of the terms used within A-Suite.
Maybe you’ve just been tasked with quickly developing a safety training program for your organization. Or, in the most unfortunate of circumstances, m...
Just like the rest of the industry, you have empty seats and you need to fill them yesterday. Where do you start?
Do you spend time and energy creating your own in-house driver safety training materials? Or have you outsourced safety training?
If you’re not tech savvy, the transition from paper driver qualification files to electronic storage can feel like a giant leap to make. There’s comfo...
Driving is the riskiest thing your employees do.
It’s been nearly a year since the foundation of the DOT Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse as the new primary database for driver histories of drug and al...
How many hours out of your week does your in-house safety training program eat-up?
You care about the safety of your employees. It’s why you host safety meetings, correct your employees’ unsafe behaviors, and read our blog posts. How...
Professional driving, especially trucking, has always been an older folks’ game. Figures constantly come out with worrying trends about the increasing...
This story will give you five million reasons to be 100% certain you are compliant with U.S. law. There was a Canadian driver who broke down in Michig...
Driving is the riskiest thing your employees do.
On September 24th 2020, AvatarFleet President Scott Rea was the presenter for a webinar on how to manage recruiting, compliance, and safety in the COV...
Time is precious and in short supply for both you and your drivers, so you need to save it where you can. On top of that, you don’t need the added fin...
Online defensive driving training used to be watching a video to check the box. The goal was to prove in court that you tried. We always thought it wa...
Accidents are every fleet’s nightmare. Accidents cost lives, money, and trust, none of which are easily replaced. A worst case scenario is one known a...
The most recent episode of our podcast “Solving the Driver Problem” features Joel Mandelbaum, author of the best-selling book Winning Online: Increase...
The most recent episode of our podcast “Solving the Driver Problem” features Irwin Shires, a longtime driver and safety expert, who works as Vice-Pres...
In May, Congress elected to make changes to the existing hours of service rules in order to give truckers more flexibility in their work that will go ...
Is your cost-per-hire skyrocketing while the quality of your driver candidates plummets? If so, we have a solution for you: A-Suite Ad, the newest mod...
The professional driver recruiting funnel isn’t what it was five years ago. Jason Kent Crowell continues to accurately document the evolution of recru...
Welcome to the new age of driver training, onboarding, and orientation.
John Liberatore from Primacy Risk Services sits down with Scott to talk about how companies can protect their drivers and themselves from lawsuits bro...
On June 9th, AvatarFleet President Scott Rea was featured on a webinar hosted by the Ohio Trucking Association on the topic How To Manage Recruiting, ...
Scott Rea sat down with Brisk Management Services founder Bob Bernatchez about insurance captives, a growing alternative to traditional insurance for ...
In episode 5 of Solving the Driver Problem, Scott talks safety and compliance with safety guru Clay Merches. Clay is the president of Leading Edge Con...
FMCSA is going digital. That’s right, your government is joining the 21st century. As a means of continuing their usual responsibilities of maintainin...
A logistical marvel during a time of crisis, motorcoach operators across America gathered in Washington D.C. on May 13th to stage a “rolling rally” ou...
Scott sits down for a chat with AvatarFleet CEO Mark Gardner to talk about his experiences and knowledge that he's gained over a 30 year career in the...
Why Does Driver Retention Matter? Before COVID-19, unemployment rates were at record lows - drivers had the leverage in the supply and demand equation...
During COVID-19, we’re all counting on drivers to keep the stores stocked with the essentials. Consumers rely on them, the economy relies on them, and...
MAD Magazine came out in 1952 and, for the next 57 years, successfully lampooned just about everyone and everything in the world. The magazine’s carto...
Foster v. Landstar Ranger is an infamous case in the trucking industry. The 2011 case was filed by a Georgia woman in 2007 who was looking to hold a t...
How are you running your business when the world is full of uncertainty? The Marines would call this a
This week on Solving The Driver Problem, Scott talks with Chris Harris, a.k.a. The Safety Dawg, who works with trucking companies on recruiting, train...
In our second episode, Scott talks with Chad Hendricks, host of the Recruit & Retain: Trucking Edition podcast and president of Brand Outcomes, In...
Professional drivers are a cornerstone of our daily lives. Some make sure that there’s food and medicine at the store. Some make sure there’s fuel at ...
In our first edition of the Solving The Driver Problem podcast, host Scott Rea talks with KRTS's Kim Richardson on the subject Leadership In Transport...
Our team is always working hard to make A-Suite the best it can be for our customers with fixes, updates, and new features. In this article, we recap ...
Brian Fielkow wrote a terrific article on the rising cost of liability insurance and the negative impact it’s having on the trucking industry. Fielkow...
In February of 2020, Avatar Fleet president Scott Rea presented at the 5th annual Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO) Conference. Re...
In February of 2020, Avatar Fleet president Scott Rea presented at the 5th annual Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO) Conference. Re...
AvatarFleet President Scott Rea recently presented at the Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO) 5th Annual Conference. The conference ...
Finally, a tax break for the trucking industry! This is big. Unlike the old joke that begins with, “Hi I’m from the government and I’m here to help yo...
Keeping pace with the ever-changing landscape of recruiting can be a daunting task for any transportation specialist. As new technology emerges and dr...
If you have more than one terminal, can you keep your Driver Qualification Files at multiple physical locations? It may seem like a simple question, b...
Driver recruiting is a non-stop process that requires time and resources to find the right people. It makes the most sense, then, to try and do it eff...
In December of 2019, Avatar Fleet president Scott Rea guest-starred on the podcast Recruit & Retain: Trucking Edition. The episode discussed Avata...
Chad Hendricks hosted "the Dr. Phil of Trucking" on his “Recruit and Retain” podcast, who had five great points worth sharing with our readers. Charle...
In December of 2019, AvatarFleet President Scott Rea joined podcast host Chad Hendricks on an episode of Recruit & Retain: Trucking Edition. The e...
High driver turnover often snowballs for trucking companies. You suffer from high turnover and need more drivers. However, you have a hard time findin...
A Summary of The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is waiting for you on January 6, 2020 so we’ve created a summary to...
Your dispatchers could be causing you turnover. Of course, they don’t mean to, but we hear it from drivers time and time again. Drivers often quit bas...
2020 is right around the corner. The driver recruiting game is getting more sophisticated and you need tools to keep up. To start January with a bang ...
There have been rumblings about the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse for years, and it appears that it is final...
MACEDONIA, OH - AvatarFleet, LLC is excited to announce its strategic partnership with the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI). AvatarFleet is ...
We hope you don’t take offense to the article title. We aren’t here to rag on you. In fact, just the opposite, we’d like to congratulate you on a soli...
This blog post was updated on March 31, 2021.
Last year, 90 percent of CDL holders applied for a job using a mobile device. The future is here! Unfortunately, this means that these applicants are ...
Now more than ever, you need an efficient way to recruit more drivers. If your turnover rate is near the national average, still well over 70% for car...
The OTA Annual Conference took place in Cleveland, OH September 16th and 17th. Held by the Ohio Trucking Association and the Ohio Association of Mover...
On September 16th and 17th, leaders in the transportation industry will gather in Cleveland, OH for The OTA Annual Conference. Held by the Ohio Trucki...
Mark your calendars: The OTA Annual Conference, held by the Ohio Trucking Association and the Ohio Association of Movers, is taking place September 16...
This blog post was updated on March 26, 2021.
Think back to the first job you ever had. Picture yourself walking through the door on your very first day. You may have been excited, but you were al...
Recruiting professional drivers is no easy job. A recruiter often has to do the job of four or five people, spending their day contacting drivers by p...
In order to hire new drivers, all transportation companies have to run Previous Employment Verifications (PEV) under DOT regulations. The PEV has hist...
The driver problem requires some new thinking. If you’ve been following along with us for some time, we’ve shared numerous strategies that can help yo...
One of our clients was telling us a story that we hear a version of all the time. This particular story was about a top performing driver named Nancy....
Distracted driving is, simply put, risky. By definition, risk is the possibility of suffering harm or loss. You risk a lot when you drive distracted. ...
Do you know the top 5 reasons drivers quit a company? Some are obvious, like inadequate pay or not enough hometime. Others however, you might not expe...
Driver Qualification Files are a necessary part of life for transportation companies. The consequences of expired or missing paperwork can result in a...
Summer is here and with so much sunshine, driving has suddenly become enjoyable. The grey skies and wintery conditions are gone. Everyone is rolling d...
Follow the Data Last month, I read an interesting article in the NATMI monthly newsletter. It was written back in September 2018 by Stephen V. Burks a...
We're excited to announce the latest version of A-Suite Recruit's Application List for users today! The new Application List offers more clarity, orga...
How frustrating is it when you have orientation no-shows? You’ve spent time, money, and resources working with someone and then, last minute, they dit...
Scott Woodrome of FedEx freight continued his dominant run at the Ohio Trucking Association Truck Driving Championships, winning the Grand Champion ea...
Recruiting is an everyday job. It can be a lot to track, email, and call drivers day to day. So it might be helpful to be able to step back and look a...
Hire More Drivers with a Faster Onboarding Process One of your biggest challenges in hiring quality drivers is that your competitors are vying for the...
Ralph Hamilton won the South Carolina Truck Driving Championships on May 5 in Columbia, South Carolina. The Grand Champion will be headed to Pittsburg...
On April 27, 2019, TransRep hosted the first annual National Recruiting and Retention Symposium in Mississauga, Ontario, featuring various industry an...
If your driver retention numbers are as bad as the industry average, you can change that! It should be no surprise that pay is one of the most common ...
In 2006, we lived in a world without smartphones. In 2017, it was found that American’s check their phones an average of 80 times a day. The average A...
The average age of an over the road truck driver is 55 years old. Swapping 55-year-olds from company to company in an endless shell game will get you ...
The Ohio Trucking Association (OTA) recently celebrated the 2019 Driver of the Year Award. Twelve professional truck drivers were recognized for their...
Well it’s finally happened. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics just published a lengthy report suggesting that there is no evidence of a driver sh...
AvatarFleet's driver recruiting and compliance management software, The A-Suite, has integrated with Accurate Background, a leading provider of automa...
Improving the candidate experience for potential drivers is an important on-boarding aspect that often gets overlooked. Use these tips to enhance the ...
Between advertising, recruiting, on-boarding, and training, it costs you thousands of dollars to hire just one driver. So it hurts all the more to see...
If you’re like most transportation companies in North America, you have more customer demand than you have a supply of drivers. Simply put: you turn d...
Our conversation continues with Kim Richardson of KRTS to talk about the importance of creating career paths for your drivers and the role orientation...
The digital age has forced trucking into the 21st century. It’s no longer just an advantage, but an absolute necessity to use technology in profession...
Millennials became the largest generation in the workforce in 2016. Even so, most trucking companies fail to effectively recruit and retain millennial...
We recently sat down with our friend Kim Richardson of KRTS to talk about some of trucking's hottest topics. We came away with a few recruiting and re...
The New York Times published an article this past summer on the changing demographics of American truck drivers. Fleets no longer consist only of midd...
What if you ran your trucking company like a restaurant? What if you treated your drivers like customers? Sound like a strange comparison? Maybe, but ...
I apologize if this title is politically incorrect. However, it comes from none other than Albert Einstein who defined insanity as “doing the same thi...
Being a driver recruiter is no walk in the park. You hustle and dedicate yourself every day to hiring the best of the best. Even so, the big boss remi...
If you’ve been in the transportation industry for a long time, you know as well as anyone that things have changed a lot. The days of paper logs, road...
How to Combat the Wage War in Professional Driving Trucking companies are desperate for more drivers and are pulling out all the stops to find them. A...
This blog post has been updated on January 27, 2021.
On November 8th, I sat in on a driver recruitment panel at the second annual Ohio Trucking Association Technology Conference. The focus of the panel w...
We’re continuing our recap of the important takeaways on recruiting drivers from the second annual Technology Conference presented by the Ohio Truckin...
Trucking is a relationship business. Drivers are people and their issues are your issues. Driver retention is all about establishing clear expectation...
On November 8th, the Ohio Trucking Association held its second annual Technology Conference. The conference covered topics focused on how to use techn...
Everyone asks us for the silver bullet when it comes to hiring good truck drivers. Where's the best place to advertise? Should I go with Craigslist or...
At AvatarFleet, we love safe drivers. That’s why we always have our ear to the ground when it comes to accident data. It’s also why we hate to see FMC...
Are you feeling the pain of driver shortage? Trick question - there is no driver shortage. You’re feeling the pain of the driver problem, which is a m...
This is a continuation of our blog series on Safety Leadership. In the last article, we explained Avatar’s five-step risk management model and said mo...
This is a continuation of our blog series on Safety Leadership. In the first blog, we defined safety as “Freedom from risk.” And, based on that defini...
The American Trucking Association and many other trucking organizations continue to pump out reports that we’re currently short 63,000 drivers, and fo...
Driving a truck can be a stable lifelong career but the lifestyle has contributed to the driver problem in America today. More than any other element,...
This blog post was updated on March 16, 2021.
For several months my team has been asking me to write an ebook on Safety Leadership. At first, this would seem to be an easy task. After all, we’ve c...
This article serves as Part 3 of 3 in a series on Choosing a Driver Training Program
Professional driving is a tough gig. It’s also one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. That’s because driving any kind of vehicle is a dangerous ...
This article serves as Part 2 of 3 in a series on Choosing a Driver Training Program
This article serves as Part 1 of 3 in a series on Choosing a Driver Training Program
Driver First, Customers Second
If you want quality, outcome-based online driver safety training, you need to understand what goes into creating a successful design. It’s all about y...
During the past 27 years we've developed professional driver education and training for dozens of leading transportation companies. Most of the curric...
For as long as cars have existed, people have driven without complete attention. Back in the 1930s, radios were first put in luxury vehicles and peopl...
This blog post was updated on March 31, 2021.
Improving Driver Retention starts with hiring the right drivers for the jobs you have to offer. You make a heavy investment in drivers before they wor...
Money can’t buy happiness or your driver’s loyalty. But you need to provide enough of a consistent salary, so they don’t have to worry about making th...
When it comes to professional driving, the first 90 days are your critical period for retention. These first three months are pivotal for a driver dec...
The Driver Shortage Is For Your Competition Take the term Driver Shortage out of your vocabulary. It’s an excuse not to grow your fleet. There is a Dr...
In 1993, Rudy Giuliani was elected Mayor of New York City based, in part, on a “get-tough-on-crime” platform. Although he was a controversial characte...
American Trucking Associations has, once again, updated its numbers and they confirm what we read and hear about nearly every day; the driver shortage...
Are you married? Odds are, yes. Currently in America, 52 percent of all adults are married. That means at least 121,600,505 of them chose to say “I do...
You’ve read everywhere about how the trucking industry needs younger drivers. Luring them into professional driving still proves to be a challenge. Th...
AvatarFleet exists to make the world a safer place. It’s in our DNA. It’s the fire in our belly when we come to work each morning. But what does it me...
Organizational change is usually conceived as logical, rational, orderly, and completed on a predictable time-frame. In reality, it is usually messy, ...
ApplicantCare
The days of simply posting a job online and landing qualified applicants are long gone. Today, you have to “pay-to-play.” But tomorrow, you’ll have to...
Professional driving is a dangerous business. By the simple fact that professional drivers spend eight to twelve hours on the road each day, they find...
We have a saying here at AvatarFleet: Parked cars don’t have accidents, people do. If you back into something, it’s your fault and yours alone (not to...
We're proud to announce a handful of software updates as we close out 2017. Highlighting the release are the following updates: New features to report...
Driver retention depends heavily on company culture. In an article from Heavy Duty Trucking’s online magazine, Deborah Lockridge, Editor-in-Chief wrot...
Safety meetings can be a powerful asset in your toolbox for a strong safety campaign. In trucking however, it’s difficult to get everyone in the same ...
In Northeast Ohio, we make small talk over weather because it changes like a playlist on shuffle. We know what we’re going to get, but we don’t know w...
You can’t understand a driver’s experience working for your company if you don’t ask them. You have drivers that come to work everyday and enjoy worki...
With the holidays fast approaching, many companies have found themselves once again scrambling for extra help as shipping increases with the season. A...
In the past couple of years, Ohio has made the move to allowing commercial carriers to register trailers permanently in the state for a one-time fee. ...
One of the hottest topics in trucking the past couple of years has been the self-driving truck. We’ve all heard or read about beer trucks driving them...
It’s one of the most common things that happens when you hire a new driver. A driver used to drive for the company down the road. He or she decided th...
![AdobeStock_113264614 [Converted] 600.jpg](https://www.avatarfleet.com/hubfs/AdobeStock_113264614%20%5BConverted%5D%20600.jpg)
There are many ideas to try to cut turnover for truck drivers and keep retention at a high level. But one area driver retention efforts often overlook...
The good people at Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) released their latest “market pulse” survey at the beginning of the month to take the temperature ...
Verified First and AvatarFleet have partnered to streamline the hiring process through integration of background screening tools with AvatarFleet’s A-...
Our friend Brian Fielkow published this great article on tips to build a strong safety culture for Inbound Logistics. The article makes several points...
A trucking company always wants to keep the truck drivers they recruit. That’s pretty obvious; you always want to retain everyone you hire. Unfortunat...
Recruiting is a daily challenge in trucking. It takes a lot of effort and vigilance to fill your driver needs, especially when you have to deal with d...
You will never be 100% safe at your company. It’s a harsh thing to say, but it is a fact of life. Even if you have the best safety team in the world, ...
You may have heard that driver retention numbers have improved slightly in the trucking industry in the past few years. ATA reported that turnover upt...
A major reason for driver turnover that comes up time and time again is that drivers leave based on the way they are dispatched or a lack of assistanc...
You have a group of drivers beginning their orientation this week. They have all passed their written tests and have been cleared to get started. Some...
By now, this blog has taught you that to solve driver turnover takes practice, effort and time. One answer isn’t going to cut it for every trucking co...
Few things are more critical to driver retention than communication. It is so important that you establish effective communication with your new drive...
You will try almost anything to find truck drivers. If you had a guaranteed strategy on how to find truck drivers that always worked, you wouldn’t nee...
Trucking companies have taken great pains to help new drivers get used to their jobs. They have upped bonuses, splurged on extra training, maybe even ...
You can’t run your business in trucking if you aren’t in compliance with federal regulations. This fact can often cost your company a bunch of time an...
This blog post has been updated on January 27, 2021.
When it comes to reducing driver turnover, there is no magic formula. No matter how effective management is at your company, there’s no way to ensure ...
Summer means your drivers will be out on the long, hot road. While some people prefer the heat to the bitter cold of winter, summer can be just as dan...
At AvatarFleet, we love safe drivers. The Ohio Trucking Association’s (OTA) Truck Driving Championships and Technician Competition in Sandusky are tou...
An inevitable part of trucking is conflict. Conflict can come from almost anywhere and is never pleasant. Sometimes conflict can even lead to driver t...
We told you in last week’s post that it’s critical to have your experienced drivers explain to your new ones the way things are at your company. We’re...
By now you’ve probably come to realize that the best way to find recruiting strategies that work for you is to try different things. One of the best p...
The New York Times published a recent piece on the life of a long-haul trucker. The article not only calls attention to some of the issues that driver...
We've mentioned that hiring truck drivers requires some imagination. The same is true in truck driver employment retention. Once you have your drivers...
One of the easiest ways to make sure you are playing by the DOT’s rules in trucking is to develop your own DOT compliance checklist. DOT regulations s...
Truck driver retention continues to be one of the biggest challenges you face on a day to day basis. If you have read our other blogs on retention, yo...
You run a trucking company the best that you can. You’ve hired and trained qualified safety personnel to deal with DOT regulations and nonsense. You t...
The Ohio Trucking Association celebrated the top 12 professional truck drivers in the state and announced Mark Spencer, YRC Freight, as the 2016 Drive...
There are truck drivers looking for jobs and no one is reaching them. But you can. The world has gone mobile and lives on social media. Hey trucking: ...
You know what truck driver compliance is. You and your safety team have a painfully instilled working knowledge of the DOT and their guidelines and re...
In your search to find truck drivers for your fleet, there are a ton of strategies you can employ for recruiting and retaining drivers. But in spite o...
This blog post was updated on January 15, 2021.
There are too many trucking accidents out on the road. According to the most recent data from the FMSCA, there were 97,000 truck/bus injury collisions...
This blog post was updated on March 3, 2021.
No one in trucking looks forward to a DOT audit. An auditor can cause a great deal of stress with the power to slap your company with costly fines. Mo...
Is truck driver training old school? Is it no longer relevant in 2017? Hardly, but some trucking companies seem to treat it that way. In the never-end...
This blog post was updated on February 23, 2021.
The National Safety Council recently issued a report that traffic fatalities were up 9 percent in the first half of last year. The numbers show nearly...
Most of the trucking companies we work with have a solid core of veteran drivers who have been with them for years, but almost everyone seems to suffe...
The trucking industry has struggled with excessive driver turnover for years and has made very little progress solving the problem, but everyone is lo...
Excessive driver turnover has nagged the trucking industry for decades. There are several reasons retention proves challenging, but some of these are ...
Truck driver compliance and turnover are related. Compliance can be irritating, confusing and ever-changing, but it’s an essential piece of the turnov...
If you truly love your safe drivers, you’ve invested in building a driver-centric culture. A driver-centric culture put your drivers first in every de...
Andy wanted to spend more on driver retention, but first he had to justify the extra spending to his uncle, so he decided to do a study on the high co...
Our recent webinar with the Ohio Trucking Association discussing driver retention has had a lot of people asking us just what is driver turnover and w...
Despite efforts by the government and safety agencies, highway deaths continue to rise, reversing positive trends from past decades. No extra rules or...
The Ohio Trucking Association recently asked us to present our research findings on the Top Ten Reasons Drivers Quit and How to Fix It. Our blog forma...
The Over-The-Road trucking industry is waking up and not accepting 100% driver turnover as a cost of doing business. Everyone searches for available t...
Andy started in operations his family’s trucking business right out of school, but he was quickly promoted to Director of Recruiting and Retention. Hi...
Mark had enjoyed a meteoric career, quickly rising through the ranks of terminal operations. He’d set records for productivity, load average and on-ti...
A recent CCJ Article featuring the results from the MarketPulse Survey confirms what we already know: truck driver turnover rates rank as the industry...
We’re passionate about driver safety. We live to reduce the frequency of accidents and injuries for our client trucking companies. That’s why we produ...
Is it Otto, or Auto?
Have you ever wondered when is the best time to discuss an accident? I wanted to do just that a number of years ago. I wanted to dig into the details ...
The average age of your driver population is going through the roof and you desperately need a game plan to bring the next generation into your trucki...
Driving trucks is more than a job. It's a lifestyle. And it's a lifestyle that's not for everyone. Drivers frequently work in the middle of the night....
There is such a thing as "safety fatigue".
If you constantly recruit, hire and then lose drivers, you need to work on your driver brand. Earlier this week, we answered the unanswered questions ...
If you experience constant driver turnover, you need to work on your driver brand. Earlier this week, we outlined How to Create a Driver Brand to summ...
You’ve seen the headlines since deregulation in 1980 about the truck driver shortage in America: it’s bad and getting worse.
When trucking companies hear about our success recruiting drivers, they always ask us for our secret sources. Advertising where your prospective drive...
Our loyal readers know that safety is freedom from risk, which means you’re never completely safe. Putting trucks on the road means your company is al...
We have written extensively on safety and risk management, and the impotence of federal regulations on highway safety. You read that right: impotence,...
I was waiting for a flight at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport the other day, when I decided to take a pre-emptive strike at the restroom. The airport was bu...
A belly full of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes means that winter is right around the corner. Already, we’ve started to see winter-like weather ...
There is no substitute for effective truck driver safety training. You can add all the technology in the world to your trucks, but in the end, you’ll ...
This blog post was updated on May 26, 2021.
The Majority of Driver Turnover Happens in the First 90 Days Trucking companies know that the majority of their turnover occurs in the first 90 days o...
Pay is always a top concern for drivers yet trucking companies can’t precisely tell a driver how much he or she will make in a year. Drivers tend to t...
According to a Commercial Carriers Journal survey involving 423 fleet management subscribers, fleets are primarily focused on managing job expectation...
Record Low Unemployment
An Unengaged Workforce A Gallup study from 2015 stated that 70 percent of American workers hate their job or are completely disengaged. You can’t run ...
In January 2008, Deborah Lockridge, published an article in Heavy Duty Trucking listing the top ten reasons drivers quit one company only to go to ano...
This blog post was updated on February 10, 2021.
This blog post was updated on February 4, 2021.
Competition for truck drivers is a much bigger marketplace than your competition for hauling freight. Your competitors include any other transportatio...
Brian Fielkow presented his seven principles of safety that he has implemented at JetCo Delivery over the last 10 years to achieve a world-class safet...
The DOT makes changes to required paperwork as often as the sun shines. The changes may seem arbitrary to drivers or managers busy with a plateful of ...
AvatarFleet proudly sponsored the Ohio Trucking Association 2015 Driver of the Year, hoping to shine a bigger spot light on Ohio's best professional d...
The latest news is that not only is the driver shortage not getting any better (hint: it’s getting worse) but the technician shortage won’t get better...
Embed Safety Everyone agrees that focusing on safety has to be part of a good onboarding or orientation program. But the best ways to incorporate safe...
Humanize Paperwork This is the third installment in a series on improving orientation for new drivers. (See Part 1 and Part 2) Getting new drivers sta...
Think People, Not Process Last week we provided ideas how good driver orientation and on-boarding integrates the new driver into your company. It sets...
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 t...
Would you drive a truck for your fleet?
Like most kids growing up in the sixties, I read the newspaper funnies every night with my dad after he was done with the sports section. In those day...
U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers, has named AvatarFleet partner Benesch Law the top law firm in transportation law.
When you treat drivers well, they will appreciate it and be more likely to stay and do a good job. When you don’t, it’s a source of turnover.
In these days of driver shortage, retaining drivers is extremely important.
As cited by the American Trucking Associations’ report, woman are an underutilized segment of potential drivers.
Bad drivers are bad news. Most trucking firms know that the consequences of hiring bad drivers is even worse than the pain of having a truck sit idle ...
The Truck Safety Coalition is arguing against the current transportation bill that would eliminate an ancient old rule that has been outdated for deca...
Truck Driving Would be a Great Job if You Got Paid Fleet Owner
What an incredible article in Wired Magazine on the right way to build a successful team. https://www.wired.com/2015/04/hire-like-google/
Once again, we see the trucking industry, through its chief lobbyist, the American Trucking Associations (ATA), attempt to influence the federal gover...
Fleet Owner
HireRight® is hosting a free webinar on this important topic on November 12th and we’re excited to be part of it. By all indications, we’re going to s...
A talented safety professional and friend of mine, David Guess, posted an article on this month’s NATMI newsletter. He’s a smart guy, good writer, Exe...
Two Steps to Protect Your Company From Negligent Hiring and Retention Claims
SOMEONE GETS IT! Safety begins and ends with leadership.
Common sense might just be another term for regulations. Instead, the transportation industry could prevent tragedies by reducing or eliminating risk....
The Ohio Trucking Association recently honored the best drivers in Ohio. Lew Eaton, from Ross Transportation, was named Driver of the Year. He has two...
What does the new National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners mean to you and your drivers? Are you prepared for the launch of FMCSA’s new Nation...
Swift Transportation has agreed to pay $4.4 million to settle a federal driver class action lawsuit over claims it failed to inform prospective driver...
April Is Distracted Driving Awareness Month
Last week, I celebrated my 24th anniversary of surviving a near fatal head on collision. I suppose I could feel sorry for myself, but instead, I treat...
By now, you've trashed your NCAA tournament bracket. And, your dreams of winning one billion Dollars of Warren Buffet’s money are toast. Millions of p...
Our friend and partner, HireRight, has some excellent learning content scheduled for next week! Their webinar on April 9 will highlight details of dat...
In partnership with Benesch, Attorneys At Law, we recently presented, “How to Stay Legal & Avoid Risky Drivers,” at the National Truckload Carrier...
Finding good CDL drivers is very tricky. Keeping them is even trickier.
Avatar is spanning the globe to make the world a better place through safe driving.
Truck driver risk was in full view of the nation as thousands of cars were stuck in Atlanta during a two-inch snowfall. There were over 1200 accidents...
Recently there’s been a rash of articles about big rig drivers and the poor state of driver health. In addition to the physical toll on drivers, these...
Some carriers have policies that ban any applicant, including drivers, with a criminal background. Based on EEOC guidance, this can create serious leg...
CSA scores DO matter.
AvatarFleet and HireRight team up to improve hiring quality and driver retention for the transportation industry. Press Release AvatarFleet has a new ...
There is a push for Ontario government to introduce mandatory entry level training for commercial truck drivers. The Ontario Trucking Association, ins...
Part of the mountain of toys donated to Summit County Children's Services at Santafest.
Highway safety is improving-- or is it?
Part of being a hiring manager or supervisor is training employees. Too often, though, training employees fall short of expectations. Trainers are dis...
Driver shortage, turnover, churn, and the heavy hand of the government with programs like CSA and HOS were conspicuous topics at this year’s ATA Confe...
This month, CRST announced that in addition to its biggest increase in driver pay ever, it’s also spending $25 million to train drivers. That’s a huge...
Do you build a high performing team through superior selection or excellent OTR training? Remember the old proverb: you can teach a squirrel to fly bu...
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the folks that bring Operation Roadcheck to you every June, is sponsoring the North America-wide Brake Inspect...
Professional Safe Driver Course
What can you learn about driver selection and CSA from fantasy football?
How lawyers exploit CSA and PSP data was the topic as Bright Mountain Trucking managers ate lunch at their outside picnic table.
Double-edged sword. Cuts both ways. Mixed blessing. Unintended consequences. These contrast-evoking expressions come to mind when I read about the int...
The United States Court of Appeals ruled today that the new HOS rules will stand, with one very inconsequential exception. Short haul drivers do not h...
The changing nature of laws and compliance is once again a topic at Bright Mountain Trucking’s monthly staff meeting.
Starting June 4 and running 72 hours straight, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and its members across the United States, Canada and Mexi...
In our last Blog, we discussed how bemoaning the circumstances arrayed against the trucking community is not very productive. What is productive is co...
Actions that the government takes in the interest of trucking safety (CSA, HOS) seem (and often are) incomprehensible, counter-intuitive and, well, cr...
"Look, all we gotta' do is make sure the drivers record their detention time as off-duty and the new half-hour-break thing is no big deal," said Bud.
Recently our partners at Benesch issued a white paper entitled:
Despite the general craziness of the world we live in, it’s always seemed that there are some givens.
For some carriers, to call their safety strategy “fatally flawed” is a huge complement. For some, it’s not even that good. That’s because they have no...
When things go wrong, what was the real cause? You can ask “Why” five times and go back to the source of the problem. That’s the type of thinking that...
Truth One Safety is freedom from risk. Accept this truth: you will never be safe. The best you will ever do is reduce risk. "Safety" is relative, not ...
Hot topics in transportation rise and fall. One of the hottest issues for trucking companies today is how they deal with distracted driving. Distracte...
Every executive wants to get better results. After all, better is better. Producing “better” is part of the job description. In many ways, the busines...
In 1982 John Adams of University College, London, published a paper called The Efficacy of Seatbelt Legislation: A Comparative Study of Road Accident ...
Safety pioneer H.W. Heinrich introduced his domino theory of accident causation in 1932 in his breakthrough paper, Industrial Accident Prevention. The...
You need a place for all things safety. This home makes it clear that you are serious about the durability of the safety initiative. It’s a process no...
In the old days, a big part of communication was via posters. That’s how Billboard, the company that ranks top music hits in a plethora of categories,...
1. Be Solid, Look Solid Let’s say that a group of investors and entrepreneurs opened a bank on a busy street corner but rather than a stately, columne...
The deadline for finalizing yearly budgets for Bright Mountain Trucking has come and gone yet little progress has been made.
Fritz ate a late dinner with his wife, Mollie, after spending all day at a CSA conference and driving home for two hours. Watching an old Godfather re...
Wow! Just got back from the ATA Management Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas and it was nothing if not impressive.
Hiring and retaining drivers has become much easier for Bright Mountain Trucking since it began employing a systematic approach to hiring and retentio...
Change blindness is an amazing phenomenon that demonstrates our perceptual limitations. It refers to incidents in which people fail to notice seemingl...
Bud was perplexed. “What does this mean: ‘Research the cognitive functioning and behavior of 18-25 years-olds that could serve as the basis for gradua...
Belinda is presenting her findings on health care options to the management team at Bright Mountain Trucking:
In our 2010 White Paper, The Perversion of Safety in the Transportation Industry, we shared a model for how government intervention causes negative ef...
As we predicted in our post below, government roadside checks took a toll on busing companies. "Earlier this month, FMCSA and its state and local law ...
It’s Spring. And along with the colorful blooming of azaleas and rhododendrons, it’s that time of year for roadside commercial vehicle inspections to ...
We’ve asserted all along that regulations have little if any impact on the frequency of accidents in the transportation sector. Now, researchers at We...
You've heard the Kinks song: "The tax mans taken all my dough And left me in my stately home Lazing on a sunny afternoon"
When we wrote our White Paper, "CSA 2010: Pain and Suffering", in Summer, 2010, little did we know how predictive it would be.
All of a sudden, Bright Mountain’s truck driver staffing problems are getting better. Naturally, this is a prominent topic at the weekly staff meeting...
“Okay, let’s review where we’re at.” Jack, head of Bright Mountain Trucking, stood beside a flip chart pad. Several more sheets torn from the pad clun...
Jack is anxious to get his management going after returning from his monthly Presidents’ Council meeting, a voluntary business group where improvement...
Every Friday, Jack and his management team from Bright Mountain Trucking head to Annette’s for lunch. The food is always top-notch, service is fast an...
Suffering from hiring and turnover problems with truckers, Bright Mountain Trucking has decided to dig deeper. Cary gives his report to the management...
“We got tractors and trailers sitting around doing nothing.” Jack, head of Bright Mountain Trucking, reflected on what Fritz told him this morning. It...
The age-old driver shortage has once again become a spotlight issue for the industry. Experts, and others purporting to be experts, are ramping up the...
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