PSYCHOLOGY 409A March 10, 2006

Outline 5:

TRUCKERS UNDER PRESSURE

By Lincoln James Whyte

Rothe, J. Peter (2002). Dispatchers and Drivers. In Rothe, J. Peter (ed.), Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer (pp.143- 159). Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.

Instructions for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James

Concept 1: Economic induced pressure

Truckers earn a living by delivering goods of some form and in order to make their money they must deliver on time. It is mainly the time pressure caused by economic incentives that lead to unsafe driving and the breaking of laws. Here are a few things that truckers are forced to do because of the fear of being fined or losing their jobs.

• Forced to lie on logbooks which is illegal
• to drive over legal number of hours a day (10), which leads to fatigue which is the most unsafe thing that truckers can do while operating such a massive and heavy vehicle. Also drivers use drugs such as amphetamines to try to stay awake and alert
• skip weigh ins and drive overweight, again also illegal
• speed
• fined for late shipments

Decline in market value is the term used to describe what happens when a trucker is late. The shipment is no longer worth as much and the company loses money. Another problem with all these laws that are being broken by trying to make the company its money, if they are caught and receive a ticket for anything such as speeding or skipping weigh ins they have to pay out of their own pocket.

Concept 2: Dispatcher induced pressure

Many of the times that a trucker is forced to break the law it is the dispatcher that is encouraging or in some cases even requiring it. Below is a list of some things that result from dispatcher pressure.

• Have informal power- control truckers “without use of policy- driven and guidebook- approved procedures”
• If trucker disobeys dispatcher they can reduce number of loads or give them “bad” low paying jobs
• Often disregard how a trucker is to do a job as long as it gets done, even if laws are broken, “what ever it takes” type of attitude
• Don’t take blame for traffic violations or accidents, or if the driver gets in trouble other ways such as getting in trouble with the company or safety inspectors
• Often over look labor standards and laws and force drivers to break them: speeding, driving overweight, skipping weigh ins, drive over legal # of hours, use poorly maintained equipment
• When a driver becomes angered at a dispatcher he can be preoccupied while driving because of his emotions and thus put other road users at danger from his lack of attention

When a driver angers his dispatcher he risks losing his job or losing money in some way which puts the dispatcher in charge because the driver doesn’t want to be punished and is given no choice but to obey every command of the dispatcher.

Related Links:

1) Stress + Hostility = Violence: Road Rage Is a Highway Hazard on the Rise

http://www.ttnews.com/members/printEdition/weekly.archive/09.29.97.tw4.html

This article is about road rage and how truckers experience so much of it from being on the road for a living. Their jobs require them to be on the road which increases the chances for them to be involved in road rage incidents especially with their high rates of job stress. Also I feel that many people are angered at trucks because they take up so much room, maneuver poorly and drive slower than the rest of traffic.

2) Stress Factors Experienced by Female Commercial Drivers in the Transportation Industry

http://www.cdc.gov/elcosh/docs/d0300/d000391/d000391.html

This link emphasizes the seriousness of psychological stress that is imposed on truck drivers, with an emphasis on female drivers who have a higher incidence of psychological stress from the job. Most of the time you would not picture a truck driver to be female, and it is this reason that female drivers acquire so much stress from discrimination and sexism.

3) Psychological Measures to Reduce Fatigue-related Accidents by Long-distance Truck Drivers

http://www.immortal.or.at/public_downloads/fatigue2.doc

I chose this link because it gives a European example of how trucking problems are universal. Also it is about what I consider the most serious of truck driving problems, driving while fatigued. Much work needs to be done on decreasing the amount of fatigued truckers and drivers in general on the road which will make the streets and highways much safer for all.

My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/whyte/home.htm

G24 Class Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm