Need More Drivers at The Table
Over the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in two separate studies involving Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs), along with a professional roundtable discussion focused on modern onboard safety technology in commercial trucks.
Two of those discussions involved researchers connected to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Another involved Scopelitis Transportation Consulting — one of the most recognized transportation policy and regulatory consulting firms in the trucking industry.
For drivers who may not know the name, Scopelitis Transportation Consulting works closely with motor carriers, industry organizations, and regulators on issues involving compliance, ELD mandates, safety regulations, litigation trends, and federal transportation policy. Their work frequently intersects with FMCSA regulations, Hours-of-Service enforcement, and the broader debate around safety technology in trucking.
The conversations and studies I took part in centered on real-world driver behavior, fatigue management, ELD enforcement, and the growing amount of technology now being built into modern trucks — collision mitigation systems, lane departure warnings, inward- and outward-facing cameras, adaptive cruise control, and automated safety systems.
What stood out to me most was this: there is finally growing recognition that trucking safety cannot be reduced to adding more technology inside the cab.
Real-world driving conditions still matter. Traffic flow. Customer detention. Parking shortages. Weather. Fatigue. Operational pressure. A truck is not operated inside a laboratory. It is operated in traffic, construction zones, mountains, cities, and unpredictable situations every single day.
The research on ELDs reflects that complexity. Multiple studies have shown improved Hours-of-Service compliance after the ELD mandate, especially among smaller carriers and owner-operators. But several researchers have also found little evidence that ELDs significantly reduced crash rates overall.
A widely cited study from the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business — led by researcher Andrew Balthrop and later published in the Journal of Operations Management — found that crash rates among the most-affected carriers did not decrease after the mandate. Worse, unsafe driving violations among small carriers and owner-operators climbed sharply. Speeding, following too closely, and improper lane changes all trended up as drivers worked to compress their routes into a tighter clock.
That matters, because drivers have been trying to explain this reality for years.
When you put a hard clock on a job that depends on weather, traffic, shippers, receivers, and parking availability, the clock doesn’t slow any of those things down. The driver absorbs the pressure. And pressure shows up in the violation data.
Technology can assist a professional driver. It cannot replace judgment, experience, patience, or common sense behind the wheel.
As someone with decades behind the wheel, sitting in these discussions reminded me that experienced drivers still have valuable insight to offer — especially when policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders are trying to shape the future of trucking safety.
The industry needs data.
But it also needs drivers willing to speak honestly about what life is actually like out here on the road.
Will Cook— Just “A Driver’s Perspective”
May 15, 2026