Is paying truck drivers by the mile making Louisiana roads unsafe?

There has been much talk about unsafe trucks, and more particularly about too-long hours of service and truck driver fatigue provoking devastating large truck crashes in Louisiana and elsewhere.

One contentious issue in this debate regularly comes up without ever being settled, namely the manner of paying truck drivers.

The overwhelming majority of interstate, full-load carriers use the pay-per-mile method, whereas 62.5% of the short-haul, less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers pay by the hour.

Paying truck drivers per mile has many consequences, a number of which are stressed hereafter:

• Truck drivers want to drive longer, especially if there are no new hauls waiting for them after they complete the present one.
• Motor carriers don’t have to pay overtime on longer driving distances, as would be the case if they paid the driver by the hour.
• The driver carries the risk of congested roads, bad weather and mechanical problems.
• The faster you drive, the better you are paid.

One of the major issues plaguing the trucking industry is the lack of trained and qualified truck drivers. It is quite obvious that a pay system involving long working hours, many nights spent away from home and overtime or constant risks of delay without compensation is not likely to improve the situation, as truck drivers seek other types of employment as soon as they can. The high truck driver turnover in the transport industry is in itself a major source of accidents.

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If you have been the victim of a serious car or truck accident in Monroe, Bossier, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans or elsewhere in Louisiana, contact immediately the attorneys of the Young Firm for a FREE consultation of your case at (504) 680-4100 (local) or (866) 660-7220 (toll free) or by sending us an e-mail.