Trucks Roll Big with $9.5 Billion Annual Spend on Safety

When people talk about truck safety, one of the industry leading trade groups wants them to know that according to its research, the trucking industry invests at least $9.5 billion in safety annually.

According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the $9.5 billion annual figure breaks down over four broad categories:

1. On-board Technology: Collision avoidance and mitigation systems, blind spot warning systems, stability control, video event recorders, electronic logging devices and other safety technologies.
2. Driver Training: Safety training, staff wages and consultants, safety retraining and coaching and hazardous materials training.
3. Safety Pay: Awards and bonuses based on improved safety performance.
4. Regulatory Compliance: Motor vehicle and driver record checks, drug and alcohol testing, voluntary safety audits, safety staff wages and benefits as well as safety consultants.

The $9.5 billion figure does not include general and routine maintenance costs such as purchasing new brakes, tires or trucks, which would increase the total significantly.

“Before this survey, we were only able to conservatively estimate our industry’s commitment to safety,” said ATA First Vice Chairman Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express. “Now, thanks to the efforts of ATA, we can see just how much our industry is investing in safety as well as the results of these investments – improved safety for all motorists.”

“Since economic deregulation in 1980, we have seen marked declines in truck-involved crashes and crash rates on our highways, and in the past decade, those declines have been particularly steep,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “Safety is job one for ATA and its members and the efforts we’re making to improve it are remarkable and, for the first time, quantifiable.”

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