Truck drivers have long had the reputation of being rugged individualists, tough and independent, much like the pioneers who struck out into the wilderness in the beginning of our country’s history. And just like those pioneers, today’s professional drivers have to face new challenges every day. In honor of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, let’s take a look at a couple of those challenges — and just what drivers are doing about them.
Road Safety
From distracted drivers to reckless drivers, trucks are continuously surrounded by passenger cars whose drivers just aren’t thinking in terms of safety — which puts the onus on truck drivers to be twice as vigilant. And while being hyper-aware and reacting quickly to risks is the front line of a truck driver’s defense, many drivers today are going beyond that, and incorporating the use of tech tools and solutions into their driving in order to ramp their safety up even more.
Whether it’s a gadget that alerts a driver of a threat, or safety and security software solutions, truck drivers are making smart use of every tool at their disposal to ensure their own safety and the safety of those around them.
Driver Health and Wellness
Finding a way to focus on health and wellness despite necessarily sedentary working conditions is another challenge that drivers are facing head-on.
Long hours sitting at the wheel and irregular sleep patterns can slow down the body’s metabolism and make it easier to gain weight. But truck drivers are coming up with creative solutions like 15-minute, high intensity workouts and diet changes that make sense even on the road — and those are now gaining more widespread traction in the fight to keep drivers healthy on and off the road.
At Omnitracs, we’re committed to helping drivers face these challenges and keep driving. It’s hard to overstate the trucking industry’s importance to the U.S. economy and our way of life altogether. There are roughly 3.5 million truck drivers operating in the United States, bringing $726 billion of revenue to the American economy.
It sounds like a huge industry, and it is, but at the end of the day it comes down to the individual drivers who are hauling that freight across the country. All 10.5 billion tons of it, to be exact. Without our truck drivers, the country’s economy would come to a standstill. Some people take truck drivers for granted, but our society simply could not operate without their hard work. That’s why we’re so proud to be in the trucking industry, and why we focus our efforts on making life easier for drivers.
It’s simply amazing the amount of time and effort that these men and women put into their jobs. Truck drivers are the lifeblood of America, continuously crisscrossing the highways and roads to ensure our country runs smoothly. In fact, truck drivers log roughly 430 billion miles annually. That’s enough mileage to take you to Pluto and back almost 25 times. Individually, the average long haul truck driver travels over 100,000 miles a year — about four times the length of the equator.
When you see all the facts laid out like that, it’s hard not to appreciate what our truck drivers do for us. A week probably isn’t enough to show our gratitude for these pioneering spirits. At Omnitracs, we’re thankful for our truck drivers every day of the year.
.