If sharing the road with commercial trucks makes you uneasy, you are not alone. Research shows that, in addition to them having large vehicles that endanger you based on size and weight alone, truck drivers today are also engaging in high rates of substance abuse on the job. In doing so, their vehicles become even more substantial highway hazards.
According to the American Addiction Centers, alcohol and drug use are common and problematic in commercial trucking, even though truckers who abuse drugs or alcohol on the job endanger countless lives. How often are commercial truckers using drugs or alcohol on the clock?
Alcohol abuse in commercial trucking
Numerous studies involving substance abuse habits among truckers have revealed that alcohol abuse is especially widespread within the industry. There were 36 separate studies concerning substance abuse among truckers conducted between 2000 and 2013, and collectively, they revealed that up to 91% of truckers use alcohol while working.
Drug use in commercial trucking
Though less rampant, abuse of drugs, and in particular, amphetamines, is also common in commercial trucking. Those 36 studies showed that about 82% of truckers use amphetamines, including methamphetamine, during work, even though doing so may impact everything from alertness and reaction time to judgment and decision-making.
Cocaine abuse is also an issue in trucking, although it is less prevalent than the use of amphetamines. That same series of studies on trucker habits showed that about 8% of truck drivers admit to using cocaine on the job. In terms of alcohol as well as drug abuse, younger truckers were statistically more likely to abuse substances on the job than their older colleagues.
Find out more about negligent truck drivers on our webpage.