Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-d8cs5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T10:48:47.761Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Returns to compensation in trucking: Does safety pay?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Michael R Faulkiner  and
Michael H Belzer
Michael R Faulkiner
Affiliation:
Wayne State University, USA
Michael H Belzer*
Affiliation:
Wayne State University, USA
*
Michael H Belzer, Department of Economics, Wayne State University, 2127 Faculty Administration Building, 656 W. Kirby Street, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. Email: michael.h.belzer@wayne.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Large truck crashes remain a significant problem in the truckload sector of the US motor carrier industry. Employing a unique firm-level data set from a large US truckload motor carrier, we identified two different driver groups hired during two distinct pay regimes. Before-and-after data on wages and safety outcomes created a natural experiment. Higher wages paid to experienced drivers in the new pay regime led to higher driver retention rates. Experienced drivers had lower average crash costs and were more productive during each tenure month. Experienced drivers had a much larger expected discounted net present value when compared with inexperienced drivers. As the previously inexperienced drivers gained additional experience, their crash probabilities and their value began to mirror those of the experienced drivers, demonstrating the value of greater tenure. This research supports ‘safe rates’ public policy because safety pays – for trucking companies, for cargo owners and for society.

Keywords

J24J28J33Compensation systemsefficiency wagesemployment experiencelabour productivitypieceworksafetytruck driverstrucking industrywage policywages
Type
New research
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 30 , Issue 2: Symposia: Australian Regulatory Failure: Labour Markets and Banking Practice Youth Precarity , June 2019 , pp. 262 - 284
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Becker, GS (1964) Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research; Distributed by Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Belman, DL, Monaco, KA (2001) The Effects of deregulation, de-unionization, technology, and human capital on the work and work lives of truck drivers. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 54(2A): 502–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belman, DL, Monaco, KA, Brooks, TJ (2004) Sailors of the Concrete Sea: A Portrait of Truck Drivers’ Work and Lives. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.Google Scholar
Belzer, MH (1993) Collective Bargaining in the Trucking Industry: The Effects of Institutional and Economic Restructuring. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Belzer, MH (1994) The motor carrier industry: truckers and teamsters under siege. In: Voos, PB (ed.) Contemporary Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector. Madison, WI: Industrial Relations Research Association, pp. 259–302.Google Scholar
Belzer, MH (1995) Collective bargaining after deregulation: do the teamsters still count? Industrial and Labor Relations Review 48(4): 636–655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belzer, MH (2000) Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Belzer, MH, Sedo, SA (2018) Why do long distance truck drivers work extremely long hours? The Economic and Labour Relations Review 29(1): 59–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belzer, MH, Rodriguez, DA, Sedo, SA (2002) Paying for Safety: An Economic Analysis of the Effect of Compensation on Truck Driver Safety. Washington, DC. Available at: http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/CarrierResearchResults/WordFiles/PayAndSafety_Report.doc (accessed 31 January 2019).Google Scholar
Boyer, KD (1993) Deregulation of the trucking sector: specialization, concentration, entry, and financial distress. Southern Economic Journal 59(3): 481–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Britto, RA, Corsi, TM, Grimm, CM (2010) The relationship between motor carrier financial performance and safety performance. Transportation Journal 49(4): 42–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burks, SV, Belzer, MH, Kwan, Q, et al . (2010) Trucking 101: An Industry Primer. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board.Google Scholar
Burks, SV, Carpenter, JP, Goette, L, et al . (2008) Using behavioral economic experiments at a large motor carrier: the context and design of the truckers and turnover project. In: The Analysis of Firms and Employees: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 45–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen Guang, X, Sieber, WK, Lincoln, JE, et al . (2015) NIOSH national survey of long-haul truck drivers: injury and safety. Accident Analysis and Prevention 85: 66–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corsi, TM (1993) Motor carrier industry structure and operations. In: Paper Presented at the International Symposium on Motor Carrier Transportation. Washington, DC, 31 May–4 June.Google Scholar
Corsi, TM, Fanara, Jr (1989) Effects of new entrants on motor carrier safety. In: Moses, LN, Savage, I (eds) Transportation Safety in an Age of Deregulation. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 241–257.Google Scholar
Corsi, TM, Barnard, R, Gibney, J (2002) Motor Carrier Industry Profile: Linkages between Financial and Safety Performances among Carriers in Major Industry Segments. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation. Available at: https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/carrierresearchresults/WordFiles/FMCSA_RI_02_009.doc (accessed 31 January 2019).Google Scholar
Cox, DR (1972) Regression models and life-tables (with discussion). Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B (Methodological) 34(2): 187–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faulkiner, M (2015) A Three Essay Examination of Current Pay and Safety Issues in the Truckload Sector of the Motor Carrier Industry. PhD Thesis, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.Google Scholar
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) US Department of Transportation (2016a) Large truck and bus crash facts. FMCSA. Available at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/data-and-statistics/large-truck-and-bus-crash-facts-2016 (accessed 19 November 2018).Google Scholar
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) US Department of Transportation (2016b) Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics. Washington, DC. Available at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/2016_Pocket_Guide_to_Large_Truck_and_Bus_Statistics.pdf (accessed 31 January 2019).Google Scholar
Glaskowsky, Jr (1990) Effects of Deregulation on Motor Carriers. 2nd ed. Westport, CT: Eno Foundation for Transportation.Google Scholar
Grawe, DC (2008) Have truck, will drive: the trucking industry and the use of independent owner-operators over time. Transportation Law Journal 35(2): 116–137.Google Scholar
Hirsch, BT (1993) Trucking deregulation and labor earnings: is the union premium a compensating differential? Journal of Labor Economics 11(2): 279–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, BT, Macpherson, DA (2018) Union membership and coverage database. Available at: www.unionstats.com (accessed 19 November 2018).Google Scholar
Kemp, E, Kopp, SW, Kemp, E (2013) Six days on the road: will I make it home safely tonight? Examining attitudes toward commercial transportation regulation and safety. International Journal of Logistics Management 24(2): 210–229.Google Scholar
LeMay, SA, Taylor, GS, Turner, GB (1993) Driver turnover and management policy: a survey of truckload irregular route motor Carriers. Transportation Journal 33(2): 15–21.Google Scholar
McMullen, BS (2005) The evolution of the US motor carrier industry. In: Belman, DL, White, CC (eds) Trucking in the Age of Information. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, pp. 1–20.Google Scholar
Monaco, K, Williams, E (2000) Assessing the determinants of safety in the trucking industry. Journal of Transportation and Statistics 3(1): 69–81.Google Scholar
Moore, TG (1983) Rail and truck reform: the record so far. Regulation 7(7): 33–42.Google Scholar
Moore, TG (1986) Rail and trucking deregulation. In: Weiss, LW, Klass, MW (eds), Regulatory Reform What Actually Happened. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, pp. 14–39.Google Scholar
Panel on Research Methodologies and Statistical Approaches to Understanding Driver Fatigue Factors in Motor Carrier Safety and Driver Health (2016) Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Fatigue, Long-term Health, and Highway Safety: Research Needs. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.Google Scholar
Quinlan, M (2001) Report of Inquiry into Safety in the Long Haul Trucking Industry. Sydney, NSW: Motor Accidents Authority of New South Wales.Google Scholar
Quinlan, M, Mayhew, C, Johnstone, R (2006) Trucking tragedies: the hidden disaster of mass death in the long-haul road transport industry. In: Tucker, E (ed.) Working Disasters: The Politics of Recognition and Response. 1st ed. Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing, pp. 19–63.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, DA, Rocha, M, Belzer, MH (2004) The effects of trucking firm financial performance on driver safety. In: Peoples, JH, Talley, WK (eds) Transportation Labor Issues and Regulatory Reform (Vol. 10). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier Science Publishers, pp. 35–55.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, DA, Rocha, M, Khattak, AJ, et al . (2003) Effects of truck driver wages and working conditions on highway safety: case study. Transportation Research Record, Freight Policy, Economics, and Logistics; Truck Transportation (1833): 95–102.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, DA, Targa, F, Belzer, MH (2006) Pay incentives and truck driver safety: a case study. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 59(2): 205–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, NL (1987) Labor rent sharing and regulation: evidence from the trucking industry. Journal of Political Economy 95(6): 1146–1178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SafeStat (n.d.) Available at: https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/safestat_overview_8_1.htm (accessed 2 February 2019).Google Scholar
Saltzman, GM, Belzer, MH (2002) The case for strengthened motor carrier hours of service regulations. Transportation Journal 41(4): 51–71.Google Scholar
Stephenson, Jr, Fox, RJ (1996) Driver retention solutions: strategies for for-hire truckload (TL) employee drivers. Transportation Journal 35(4): 12–25.Google Scholar
Suzuki, Y, Crum, MR, Pautsch, GR (2009) Predicting truck driver turnover. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review 45(4): 538–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Viscelli, S (2016) The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, A, Friswell, R (2013) The effect of external non-driving factors, payment type and waiting and queuing on fatigue in long distance trucking. Accident Analysis and Prevention 58: 26–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williamson, A, Bohle, P, Quinlan, M, et al . (2009) Short trips and long days: safety and health in short-haul trucking. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 62(3): 415–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaloshnja, E, Miller, T (2007) Unit costs of medium/heavy truck crashes. Report for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC. Available at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/UnitCostsTruck%20Crashes2007.pdf (accessed 4 February 2019).Google Scholar