Pub. 1 2020 Issue 2

16 Kentucky Trucker Kentucky Trucking Association ATRI’s Top Industry Issues report details the results of the responses from industry stakeholders, including employee drivers and owner-operators, motor carrier executives and other trucking industry stakeholders. However, each of the stakeholder groups surveyed have different levels of involvement in and perspectives on how these topics impact them. As a result of these var- ied experiences, the selection and ranking of issues will differ across these groups. To account for the differing perspectives in the ATRI survey sample, ATRI com- pletes a separate analysis to juxtapose how commercial drivers and motor carriers rank the issues. For motor carriers, the driver shortage, driver retention, and HOS were their top three concerns. For professional drivers, driver compensation, HOS, and truck parking repre- sent their top three. As part of its analysis of critical industry issues, ATRI also tracks the emerging topics that generate signif- icant industry interest but fall just outside of the top 10 concerns. This analysis can provide insight on the issues that may emerge in the future as a top industry issue. Driver distraction was the top emerging issue in this year’s survey. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), over 3,100 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving dis- tracted driving in 2017. The impacts of driver dis- traction are witnessed daily by commercial drivers. So, while it ranks as an emerging issue overall, truck drivers rank driver distraction as the eighth-most critical issue in trucking. The power of ATRI’s annual survey is that it supplies industry groups at the state and national levels with clear direction on the issues and strategies that the industry believes will have the most impact on truck- ing for years to come, thus allowing the industry to address the issues broadly and proactively. ATRI is the trucking industry’s 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation’s essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system. A copy of the full 2019 Top Industry Issues Report is available from ATRI’s website at www.Truck- ingResearch.org. All of ATRI’s research is provided free of charge. The power of ATRI’s annual survey is that it supplies industry groups at the state and national levels with clear direction on the issues and strategies that the industry believes will have the most impact on trucking for years to come, thus allowing the industry to address the issues broadly and proactively. continued from page 15