More often than not, our perception about truck drivers are shaped by news reports and movies. And the propagated thought about truck drivers are usually in bad light, with only accidents and the negative side presented. A website called Trucker to Trucker wants to clarify things.
In a blog post, it clarified the 4 biggest myths about truckers supported with truck driver statistics in America.
Myth No. 1: Truckers are dangerous drivers and cause most accidents.
Looking at the numbers, this is definitely not true. Commercial trucks are only listed to be involved in 2.4% of all car accidents. Trucks are also 3 times less likely to be in an accident rather than regular motor vehicle and 4 times more likely to pass safety inspections than passenger vehicles.
The idea of truckers being reckless drivers come from a multitude of truck accidents being reported. Apparently, what’s not being reported is the rate of these accidents.
Myth No. 2: Truckers use a lot of drugs.
Truckers use drugs, but not a lot. In the 1.4 million drivers arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics in 2009, only 6% of those arrests were truck drivers.
Meanwhile, alcohol- and drug-impaired driving crashes in 2009 counts to 10,839 cases, with only less than 5% of the truck drivers being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Myth No.3: Men are better truck drivers than women.
Truck driving appears to be a man’s job indeed, but now we live in a world where women are given equal opportunities to do jobs usually intended for men. There are now over 200,000 female long haul truck drivers in America.
And they are perhaps the better truck drivers. Statistics show that female truckers are 3 times less likely to get in an accident than their male counterparts, and 5 times less likely to violate safety regulations. Also, they are 4 times more likely to pass the CDL certification exam on their first attempt than men.
Myth No. 4: Truck drivers are poor.
When the national salary median for the U.S. is $44,389 and truckers are being paid at $59,000 to $68,000 in Mississippi, Wyoming, New York, and Massachusetts for example, you can’t call truck drivers poor.
Source: Trucker to Trucker
