This week Kansas Legislature passed a bill to allow the use of driverless vehicles – specifically large trucks. In the lead up to the vote, the big groups that support it (Koch Industries, Walmart, Americans for Prosperity, and the Kansas Chamber) sent out a brief explaining why this is needed. They relied largely on the truck driver shortage.
Since I’ve been tied up in Topeka, and since this was a topic of conversation up here, it seemed like a good time to pull out a previous episode with my friend Tim Smith. Tim has been a longtime trucker, and spent much of his career as a long haul trucker. If we’re going to make policy decisions and say it’s because of a driver shortage, we might want to hear from people who have done the job.
The conversation with Tim has been one of the most-listened episodes. You’ll learn a bunch of things about trucking you never knew before – and you’ll have a better understanding of why people are leaving the industry.

link to the bill http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/measures/documents/ccrb_sb313_01_0000.pdf

The report from the ATA – https://www.trucking.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/ATA%20Driver%20Shortage%20Report%202021%20Executive%20Summary.FINAL_.pdf