Truckers: changing an image - includes related articles - Industry Overview

New Mexico Business Journal, Dec, 1991 by William Diven

Somewhere on its way to the 1990s, the image of American trucking skidded into a ditch.

It was a public relations wreck which left the riders -- truck owners, drivers and regulators -- badly shaken.

Where once truckers were viewed as Knights of the Road, the industry suddenly faced a public wary of big trucks, the cargoes they carry and the people who drive them.

The public concern is out of proportion to reality, truckers will say while acknowledging problems exist. Both sides need to work on the relationship between cars and trucks on the highways, they add.

And they point to the upside as efforts to enhance public faith in trucking contributes to a reformation in the industry.

In no small respect, it's a reformation upon which livelihoods and lives depend.

"Truckers are not a breed apart," says Vic Sheppard, managing director of the New Mexico Motor Carriers' Association Inc. "They're just average working Americans not advocating the use of drugs or aggressive driving.

"They want to get home safely just like everybody else."

In New Mexico that means 37,900 people directly employed in the trucking industry and earning $1 billion in annual income, according to NMMCA figures.

Another 216,000 New Mexicans -- 52 percent of the work force -- hold jobs in truck dependent industries.

Whether you're trekking through the grocery store, eating at a restaurant or shopping at a boutique, you can bet whatever you're looking for came by truck one way or another.

"The vast majority of trucks on the road are safe vehicles being operated in a safe manner," says Larry Kehoe, director of the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division.

"But all you remember is that one guy who blew you off the road," he says. "The one bad trucker is the one who sets the standard."

Kehoe oversees a 180-person department which includes 70 revenue agents checking trucks at ports of entry and 65 inspectors trained and commissioned as peace officers.

"We're commonly referred to as rig pigs or truck troopers, but we try to be a professional organization," Kehoe says. MTD inspectors receive 200 additional hours of training after graduating from the State Police Academy.

The agents perform up to 14,000 truck inspections a year, can stop and cite unsafe, overloaded and improperly certified trucks and in recent years have begun checking driver qualifications as well. The department also recently adopted regulations for hauling and labeling hazardous materials.

Industry research shows trucks becoming safer and drivers better trained during the 1980s. Tough drug testing has shown less than 1 percent of the current drivers tested positive for illicit drugs, compared to a 6.4 percent usage rate estimated in the general population.

Kehoe contends the trucking industry could be more effective in getting its story out to the public. Truckers concede the public hears more about sensational accidents than about improvements and self-policing within the industry.

One example they cite is the road report, a simple form truck owners, operators and safety managers across the country have used for years to monitor trucks on the road.

In New Mexico, 100 members from the Safety Management Council of the NMMCA routinely submit their eyewitness reports -- good and bad -- about what they see while driving.

"We try to write about 400 a month," says council chairman Bob Clover of Albuquerque-based Clover Inc. "These reports go to trucking companies all over the United States."

Clover says the council also is taking its safety message beyond the industry and is working with schools to develop programs involving professional drivers.

"We'll be going to the high schools to teach the students about safety and how to better get along with big trucks on the highway," he adds.

"We also try to help by explaining about keeping their licenses clear," he says, "since you can't drive a commercial vehicle any more with a bad driving record."

In addition, the safety council works with the New Mexico State Police Academy to educate officers on truck safety and driver relations. County first responders get training on truck cargoes.

The council also sponsors a public truck driving "roadeo" every summer where drivers from around the state compete in five sizes of rigs.

Truckers argue they are an easy target to blame for highway deterioration caused by poor road materials and for accidents caused by careless motorists.

During the recent annual meeting of the New Mexico Highway Users Conference, a state official said ruts in Interstate 40 near Tucumcari and on Nine Mile Hill in Albuquerque relate as much to asphalt problems as heavy truck traffic.

A new blend of European-style asphalt toughened by larger aggregate is to be installed on Nine Mile Hill next year, he says.

Classrooms for truckers

As the April 1 deadline for obtaining the first national truck driving license approaches, Clifford Hickel has traded the driver's seat for a classroom chair.

And trucking companies are glad to see the 53-year-old driver back in school. With new licensing requirements and increasingly sophisticated trucks, owners are concerned there may not be enough qualified drivers to go around.