Dawn McCoy fell in love with the open road as a kid in the passenger seat of a semi. Her dad was an over-the-road truck driver and sometimes she’d tag along for a long haul. “From coast to coast,” McCoy said. “I loved it. But that was in the ’70s and there weren't a lot of females in trucking then. When I told my dad one day, he said, ‘Well, this field is not for ladies.’ That set my mind — I have to figure out something else.”
She did. She went to college, had three kids and built a career as an ultrasound technician. But when Covid hit, the stress of working in the medical field during a global pandemic led to her re-evaluate her career options. McCoy decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a truck driver.
Passing the test to earn a commercial driver’s license (CDL) was “one of the happiest moments that I could think of,” she recalled.
With a CDL in hand, she entered an industry in which the hiring of new drivers has soared over the past two decades, including women. It’s also an industry that’s grown increasingly hazardous as the number of accidents rise. And it’s an industry rapidly transitioning to automation with self-driving trucks ready to take to the highways, clouding the future of drivers like McCoy.
The opportunity
Large trucks carry a heavy load — literally and economically. The rise of e-commerce and shifts in how companies manage their supply chains have increased reliance on semis. In Pennsylvania, nearly 900 million tons of freight worth $1.1 trillion moved across the state in 2022 — the fifth highest tonnage in the U.S., according to a recent report from TRIP, a nonprofit national transportation research group. They project the state’s load to grow 98% in total value by 2050.
The need to move such large volumes of freight is one reason behind the rising demand for drivers. Employment in the trucking industry is up 41% since 1992, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data. Pennsylvania has the fourth highest number of truck drivers in U.S., according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s a high priority occupation in Allegheny County and it’s expected to continue to grow in the next decade, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
Another reason for the hiring crunch is a high turnover rate as drivers switch jobs in the industry or leave it altogether, according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), an industry trade group.
“If you're a good driver — and good is both safety as well as ability to pass a drug test — this is an opportunity for you,” said Bob Costello, chief economist at ATA. “I tell drivers all the time, if you're not getting medical, vacation time, 401K, dental, life insurance — you need to change carriers because you can get all of that.”
A tractor-trailer driver in Pittsburgh makes on average $52,660 a year. Several companies cite the potential to earn six figures, with experience.
In order to drive a large truck, a driver must hold a CDL. McCoy earned hers after completing the Commercial Driver’s License Training program at Community College of Allegheny County.
But beyond passing the exam, there are no education or hours-on-the-road requirements by the state. And CDL programs and their requirements vary widely.
“There's still places out there advertising CDLs in 24 hours,” said Lewie Pugh, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a national trade group representing truckers. One thing most truckers want, he said, is more robust, more restrictive training. “In the state of Missouri, where we're based out of, it takes 1,000 hours to be a barber. To drive a truck, really, all you have to do is pass the test.”
CCAC’s program requires a clean drug screen, valid driver’s license and passing a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation physical in order to enroll in the program. Their Class A, or long-haul trucking, program mixes about 60 to 80 hours of classroom instruction and another 100 or so hours behind the wheel on the road and at the driving range at the Boyce campus in Monroeville, according to Debra Roach, vice president of workforce development at the community college. Students practice performing a pre-trip safety inspection, backing and parking maneuvers, and then go out on the road and drive a predetermined route.
While truckers are still mostly white and male, their ranks have become more diverse over the past decade. Women make up only 6.9% of truck drivers on the road, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. But the share of female drivers has nearly doubled since 2000.
Angela Isabella worked as a long-haul trucker in the 1990s. “When I first started driving, you had either the guys that thought it was great and cool and then the other ones that would tell you we should be back home in the kitchen,” Isabella said. “I just never let it bother me. I was there to make a paycheck and to provide for my family.”
There’s more support for women on the road today, including advocacy groups such as Women in Trucking Association, Isabella said. “But back in the day, you really didn't have the support team.” She’s now the director of the CDL program at CCAC.
CCAC’s CDL classes are about 30% female and range in age from 18 to 70 and are racially diverse, according to Roach. She said about 90% of their graduates get a job in the industry after passing their test and make anywhere between $60,000 and $90,000 annually. Roach also reported that interest has grown each year since CCAC started offering the Class A program in 2018.
“A lot of it has to do with the demand in the industry, the many jobs that are available,” Roach said. “The starting wages are certainly family-sustaining. And the fact that it's a short turnaround for someone who is looking to either get a job quickly or change jobs.”
McCoy got a job as a long-haul truck driver last August with CRST, a transportation and logistics company. She stays out on the road for three to four weeks at a time swapping 10 hour shifts with another driver. One drives, while the other sleeps in the back of the cab. “I fell in love with being back on the truck, traveling,” McCoy said.
The hazards
Trucking today isn’t all clear skies and open roads. “When I was growing up, lots of people wanted to be truck drivers,” said Lewie Pugh, the vice president of the trade group representing drivers. “It was a good, middle class job. You can raise your family and do good. It was a decent living and people treated you right. And it seems we've gotten away from that with all the burdensome regulation, the lack of pay, the lack of parking, the lack of training.”
Fatal crashes involving large trucks have surged in the U.S. with fatalities rising 75% since 2009, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Pennsylvania ranked ninth in total number of fatal crashes with 185 deaths in 2022, an increase of 14% from the year before. Factors behind these crashes include speeding, distracted driving and fatigue, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
“It's atrocious,” said Zach Cahalan, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition. “And most folks are unaware that we are in the midst of a truck crash fatality crisis.”
Drivers inspect their trucks before getting on the road and are required to have their trucks inspected once a year by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. On the road, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance conducts random road check blitzes throughout the U.S. Last year, they found that more than 19% had an out-of-service violation meaning, nearly 1 in 5 trucks were not safe to be on the road.
“If your truck is going to be out of service for a week or two and you just can't financially withstand that, you're going to keep kind of patching it together and running out there,” Cahalan said. “Everyone else is going to be put at risk. And that's literally what's happening.”
How drivers are paid varies. Drivers who work for a trucking company are mostly paid by the mile, not the hour, and they’re exempt from overtime. Their time sitting at a loading dock waiting for shipments is unpaid. Some drivers, known as owner-operators, own their own truck and have more control over their pay, but must pay to maintain their truck and keep up to date with regulations.
The U.S. Department of Transportation mandates all drivers must take a 10-hour break after 11 hours of work. But finding a safe place to park can be a challenge. Truck stops have diminished on the side of highways with only one parking space available for every 11 semis on the road, according to a 2021 FHA survey. Truckers are forced to park overnight “anywhere and everywhere,” Pugh said, on the shoulder of the highway, on ramps, abandoned parking lots.
These hours are tracked by Electronic Logging Devices or ELDs. They are hardwired to the engine of every truck and track the truck’s location, mileage and whether the engine is running. They’re meant to enforce the driver’s required 10-hour break, cutting down on driver fatigue. But the evidence is mixed according to Karen Levy, an associate professor of information sciences at Cornell University who studies this issue. Drivers complied with the hours-of-service regulation, but there was no improvement in any of the safety outcomes on the road.
“Every day truckers are left with the situation of picking either an unsafe place to park or being in violation of hours of service,” Pugh said. “There's no parking, and there's no flexibility. So, what are you supposed to do?”
Other safety technology such as automated breaking, blind spot detection, and technology that limits a truck’s top end speed exists, but is not required. Pugh said they’re expensive additions for owner-operators without much evidence they improve safety. Cahalan disagrees.
“We have had the capability to limit the top speed of trucks since the early 2000,” Cahalan said. “Each of these engines have been equipped with that capability, and some large fleets have taken advantage of the lower fuel safety gains that come out of using that, as well as obvious safety benefits. But we still don't have a rule requiring drivers and their associated companies to use that capability.”
On the horizon
Autonomous systems in trucking are moving beyond helping a driver slam on the breaks. Complex technologies have advanced rapidly that enable motor vehicles to operate without a human behind the wheel and the trucking industry is in the cross-hairs of these innovations. Pittsburgh, in fact, has emerged as a hub of autonomous systems development. Later this year, Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation expects to dispatch a fleet of its self-driving trucks laden with freight onto Texas freeways without human drivers in the jump seat — a critical stage in determining the commercial viability of autonomous long-haul trucking.
McCoy doesn’t mind the ELDs or the automated safety features inside the truck. But when it comes to driverless trucks: “I don’t trust them. With all the dangers on the road and all the different situations and scenarios a truck can end up in, not having an operator could be deadly.”
She wants to get a few years of driving under her belt and then she plans to become an owner-operator like her father.
“When you're your own boss, you can pick your loads,” McCoy said. “You can pick your hometown. You can pick who's on the truck with you. You can take family members out with you. Things like that. You can take your pet. Nice things like that. You control when you go to the restroom.”
This is the first in a two-part series on trucking. Part two will be published on Tuesday.
