Photo courtesy UPS

Photo courtesy UPS

Wednesday, March 8, is International Women’s Day. And while historically, trucking is a heavily male profession, Omnitracs and the Women in Trucking Association have crunched some data indicating that women may actually make better truck drivers than men.

The Women in Trucking Association reports that women still make up only about 7% of the driver population and about 14% of management. However, Omnitracs analyzed 2016 data and reports the following ways that female drivers outperform their male counterparts:

  • Lower accident ratio
  • Longer tenure (notable in an industry that suffers a 96% turnover rate)
  • Travels more overall miles per year (52,682 vs 50,344 – a 2,338-mile difference)
  • Consistently travels more miles per month (see below for a graph representation)

There are also benefits for women seeking employment in trucking. Women in Trucking reports that there is no gender pay gap in the industry. In fact, according to Forbes, truck driving positions rank among the top percentage shares of job listings in many cities, including Atlanta, Indianapolis and Dallas.

If your company's experiencing the same problems many are, with the need to attract more drivers as older male drivers retire, it looks like reaching out to recruit more women as drivers may be a smart thing to do.

About the author
Deborah Lockridge

Deborah Lockridge

Editor and Associate Publisher

Reporting on trucking since 1990, Deborah is known for her award-winning magazine editorials and in-depth features on diverse issues, from the driver shortage to maintenance to rapidly changing technology.

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