LOGISTICS MONITOR
The annual circus is around the corner. Maybe a week, fortnight, or month-long affair of Road Safety orchestrated by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) to be announced soon.
The number of accidents on highways and expressways were pegged at 1,37,191 in 2019, announced the Highways and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in the recently concluded Winter Session of Parliament. Of course, he cited various reasons for such rising numbers. Hopefully, liquor multinationals, jolly well, will splurge promoting “responsible driving” this year too. One of the biggest jokes.
Around the same time (December 13, 2021), truck driver Roger Aguilera-Mederos, a Cuban-American from Texas, was sentenced to spend, hold your breath, the next 110 years in prison. His crime: On April 25, 2019, he drove a tractor-trailer at 80 miles per hour into a 28-vehicle pileup on Interstate 70 killing four men and leaving six wounded. Luckily, the state Governor commuted the sentence to 10 years, and he can be out on parole after five years. A massive public outcry and agitation by various drivers’ associations pressured the governor to intervene.
Yes, the focus of the court battle was over the road accident that claimed four lives and their dependents. Touching upon the historic legal battle, Lewie Pugh, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA), raised a few pertinent points: what caused the accident and the maturity of driver training in the United States.
Without mincing words, Pugh hit upon the nail: “For far too long we have regulated from behind because the monetary interest driving transportation has continued to push for cheap labor.
“Those focused on profits only spout off about shortages, the need for unproven technology, increased insurance, speed limiters, ELDs, and ways to get younger and even less experienced folks behind the wheel. None of the things have or will make trucking safer.”
Pugh is not a novice. He “learned the skills necessary to operate machinery safety” on his farm.
“I was taught so many things about trucking by my father and friends before I ever got behind the wheel. When I served proudly and drove a truck in the United States Army, I was trained every single day. But, the sad thing is that even with all that, I was far from being completely trained and knowledgeable about what my career path threw at me.”
He contended that even such training was insufficient. “On my 21st birthday, I started diving for a large carrier and attended their training, which was two weeks long, and was then turned loose. I am not too proud to say I ended up in some tense situations a few times. Not because I was negligent or reckless. I just didn’t know what I didn’t know. To me, this was a huge part of what happened that dreadful day in 2019 to Rogel,” adds he.
According to him, the need of the hour is a real investment in training.
“Not just pass a test and be turned loose. We need realistic training hours in all types of weather and driving terrain and conditions. The training must be done by experienced veterans, awake and alert, sitting beside the trainee.”
He points out that 1,000 hours of training is given to become a barber. So, a trucker needs much more training. Spot on. Pugh’s critical observations hold water for the Indian trucking scenario as well.
Listen to Pugh: “Do we know if he could read and understand the road signs in English completely? … the answer to a lot of this would be no. Did his carrier know his ability or even care? I would guess again they didn’t care. They just wanted to get the load delivered because they knew if something happened, the driver would be left to take the fall.”
He does not stop there. “We can continue to pass feel-good rules and push technologies that would have done nothing to have stopped this terrible accident. Or we can take the bull by the horns and give the driver the knowledge and training that he/she wants and needs to make all our lives safer on the highways in America.”
Another key area to improve safety on highways is adequate resting. “Safety starts with a well-trained, well-rested, well-compensated driver behind the wheel that is treated like a professional — instead of just a replaceable commodity,” adds the OOIDA official.
Adequate training is one aspect, resting is another, and last but not the least is good compensation. Pugh punches where it hurts the most.
The American narration is a mirror image of what obtains in India. The 16-letter catchphrase “Wayside amenities” is part of the transport ecosystem’s lexicon. Beyond that, no tangible action on the ground. Technological infusion via onboard gadgets happens but how much is acted upon is a moot point. Ram bharose (leave it to luck because one has no control over the happening) is a favorite Indian saying.
After collecting data, those responsible for initiating action (shippers and transporters) to right the wrong on road safety issues prefer to be diplomatic with the violators (truck drivers), fearing strict vigilance of driving behaviour may pique them, leading to desertion and adding to the woes of driver scarcity.
Pugh’s emphasis on well-resting as one of the prerequisites for bringing down the incidence of accidents has to be taken seriously. Let the action begin with keeping the truck driver’s cabin clutter-free and hygienic.
As far as wayside amenities are concerned, oil/gas marketing companies (Indian Oil, BPCL, HPCL, Reliance, Essar, Indraprastha Gas, Adani, and others) should be mandated to provide access to their fuel stations dotting the highways free of cost. The prevailing practice of parking-facility-for-loyalty cardholders only should be done away with.
Also, by the same author: ESG compliance needs drivers’ backing as they help to mitigate the environmental damage – THE NEWS PORTER
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