Fleets Measure Every Hard Brake but Not the Driver Health Behind It

A modern fleet can tell you how many times a driver braked hard last Tuesday, how close they followed the car ahead and how long they idled at the shipper. It usually cannot tell you that the same driver's medical certificate was cut to one year at their last physical, or that their blood pressure reading is the reason. The trucking industry's main research body has now decided that gap is worth measuring, and the timing is not an accident.

ATRI Is Putting a Number on It for the First Time

On October 14 the American Transportation Research Institute launched two surveys, one for motor carriers and one for truck drivers, to identify how driver health affects trucking operations and costs. Drivers report anonymously on basic health information, including how long their medical cards last, and on what it takes to stay healthy on the road. Carriers report fleetwide averages for medical card durations, insurance costs and operational key performance indicators. The Oregon Trucking Associations, which is circulating the survey to members, notes that responses are confidential and due by November 13.

The project grew out of the research agenda ATRI's advisory committee set this spring. FleetOwner reported in April that the 2026 priorities included the relationship between medical card status and operational impacts, alongside a separate study of how coaching and frontline management practices affect safety outcomes. Jeremy Reymer, founder and CEO of Project 61, told CDLLife that the industry already knows driver health can affect safety, and that the research should help fleets connect it to healthcare costs, workers' compensation, productivity, turnover and medical qualification.

Using the medical card as the measuring stick is a practical choice. Medical examiners can certify a commercial driver for up to two years, but FMCSA research documentation on the length of medical certification lists conditions capped at one year, including hypertension that is stable on treatment and heart disease, and examiners can issue three-month or six-month cards when a condition needs closer monitoring. A short card is a health signal that already exists in every driver file, and a lapsed one takes a driver off the road on a date.

The Risk Profile Has Been Known for a Decade

None of the underlying health data is new. The NIOSH National Survey of U.S. Long-Haul Truck Driver Health and Injury interviewed 1,670 drivers at 32 truck stops across the 48 contiguous states. It found 69% were obese, against 31% of the U.S. adult working population, and 51% were current smokers, against 19%. 61% reported two or more risk factors from a list that included hypertension, obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, no physical activity and six or fewer hours of sleep a day.

The link to crashes has been documented too. A University of Minnesota team led by economist Stephen Burks followed more than 700 drivers hired by Schneider National and found that those with a body mass index of 35 or higher were 54% more likely to have preventable crashes than the average of all drivers, Transport Topics reported. Burks suspected obstructive sleep apnea, a condition closely tied to obesity, accounted for about three quarters of the increased risk, though his team had not published findings on that link.

What has been missing is the operating cost. Fleets know driver health matters in principle, but few can show what a one-year card, a delayed recertification or a driver who leaves because the job is wearing them down costs in a given quarter. Without that number, health stays in HR and benefits, while safety budgets go to the things the dashboard can see.

A fleet that can replay every hard brake but cannot see a driver's medical card expiring is measuring the symptom and missing the cause. Logistics Focus analysis

Why the Number Matters More Now

Every driver a fleet can keep qualified is worth more this autumn than last. C.H. Robinson's October freight market update reports that carriers name driver recruiting and retention as their top challenge, that they are raising pay and offering referral bonuses, and that federal enforcement on commercial licenses, visas and English-language proficiency is expected to shrink the driver pool. Route guide failures that peaked at 7.5% this summer have climbed back above 6% in recent weeks.

Costs are rising at the same time. ATRI's latest operational cost study, covered by FleetOwner in July, put the average cost of running a truck in 2025 at a record $2.336 per mile, up 3.4%, with non-fuel costs up 4.2% to $1.854. Driver benefits posted one of the largest percentage increases, while driver pay rose below inflation for the second straight year. Fleets are paying more for health coverage without knowing what that spend returns in safety, uptime or retention.

The Playbook for Logistics Leaders

• Put medical card dates on the safety dashboard. Track certificate length and expiry next to scorecard data so a shortened card is visible before it becomes an out-of-service day.
• Treat a one-year card as an early warning. A shortened certification flags a condition that can be managed. Offer support then, rather than at the recertification that fails.
• Connect fatigue events to health. Repeated drowsiness or lane-drift events can point to sleep problems. Route those findings to a health conversation, not only a corrective one.
• Make healthy choices easier on the road. Drivers report their experience staying healthy away from home in the ATRI survey. Food, sleep and exercise options at terminals and on routes are part of the same program.
• Answer the ATRI survey. Carrier fleetwide data on card durations, insurance and KPIs is what the study needs to produce a usable cost benchmark. The deadline is November 13.
• Measure the benefits spend. If driver benefits are among the fastest-rising costs, tie them to retention, recertification and claims data so the budget conversation runs on evidence.

Telematics taught fleets that what gets measured gets coached. The same lesson applies to the person in the seat. The carriers that bring driver health into the data they already manage will find out what it costs them before ATRI publishes the average, and they will be the ones keeping qualified drivers on the road while the pool shrinks.