The Fleet

What does it take to be nominated as Driver of the Year? 6,000,000 accident-free miles in a career is a good start.

Jan Quarnberg is a driver for Barney Trucking and was recently selected as a Lytx Driver of the Year. He’s been a professional truck driver for over 40 years and has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Lytx/DriveCam Good Driving Award and the Glen Barney Haul of Fame award. In the 6,000,000 miles that he’s driven, Quarnberg has never been involved in an accident and has never had any driving violations -- an incredibly impressive record.

On this show, we talk to all kinds of managers, executives, and industry thought leaders, but rarely do we get to sit down with a driver doing the hard work every day. In today’s conversation, Jan shares with us how he got into trucking, what his day-to-day looks like, and his thoughts on safe driving. Plus, he shares some of the craziest things he’s seen on the road in his career.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

For much of our show, we’ve focused on our market here in the United States, but what about the rest of the world?

Fleet Managers that get assigned to international markets quickly learn just how different other countries operate compared to the United States. 

Size of roads, availability of refueling stations, access to repairs and maintenance, laws and regulations, traffic density, and accessways, it’s endless, the myriad of systems in play around the world. 

Meet Raj Bajaj, Vice President for Webfleet Solutions International, a Bridgestone Tire company. They are on a mission to make it easier to operate a fleet anywhere in the world. And to do this, it requires highly sophisticated and localized data plus an intimate knowledge of how each country operates. 

All of this data is used to gather better insights to make better recommendations on how to more efficiently operate a fleet. 

If you’ve ever been curious about how international markets prepare for maintenance, how critical infrastructure around the world plays a massive role in how goods are shipped or wanted to know why a tire company would want to buy a software company, this is your episode.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Where does a city turn in order to make their roads safer? Who does a private fleet call to improve driving conditions for its drivers? 

Because these questions went largely unanswered, a new organization was created to better address solutions for safer roads.

From companies like ABInbev and UPS to city governments, Together for Safer Roads, or TSR for short, is a global coalition on a mission to create safer roads. David Braunstein is the President of TSR and he joins us today to discuss how the organization has been making impacts for decades. 

From redesigning roads and intersections, to providing data and data collection systems to improve civil engineering decisions, TSR is playing a part.

David also discusses how TSR funding helps to enable smaller fleets to gain access to new technologies like Machine Vision or In-Cab cameras to help improve driver safety. 

And the impacts from these solutions aren’t just local. They are global. Learn more on today’s episode with David Braunstein.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

We are psychologically incapable of putting down the phone. 

That might sound horrific, but Dr. Paul Atchley, a Professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida, has studied human behavior for decades and he’s convinced distracted driving is part of our everyday lives, that people want more entertainment and connectivity options while driving, and most importantly, we as a culture find it acceptable to exhibit these behaviors. 

So what can be done? 

On this episode of The Fleet, Paul educates us about distracted driving from the perspective of our brain. He explains why we behave the way we do, and how to prevent distraction. He tells stories of international policies that are much more effective at preventing distracted driving accidents and how some cities and private companies are doing it too.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Driver shortage? 

There’s no driver shortage. 

So why is the trucking industry having such a hard time filling its open jobs? 

According to today’s guest, the cause is not a shortage of drivers, but an abundance of options. 

Joining the show is FreightWaves’ Grace Sharkey. FreightWaves is like the Bloomberg of transportation -- they report on all the logistics, trends, and news that fuel the global supply chain.

In today’s conversation, Grace uncovers the abundance of opportunity available to drivers today, and why the antiquated industry is struggling to meet drivers on their terms. She also discusses how she thinks labor wages will roll back and how new innovations will make shipping easier and possibly less expensive. Plus, find out what she thinks happened to her Beyonce facemask that just never arrived and what happens to your goods that just magically disappear in transit.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

About 35 percent of U.S. trucking miles are driven empty. This means that roughly 1 in 3 trucks we see on the road are empty, traveling between jobs, burning fuel, time, and miles with nothing to haul and no money being made.

Convoy is on a mission to change that. 

Joining the podcast today is Grant Goodale. Grant is the founder, former CTO, and now CXO of Convoy, an on-demand trucking service for arranging regional and local shipments.

Today, Grant tells us how his team is transforming the trucking and shipping industry by helping connect drivers and companies with orders around the country. Grant talks about how they built the Convoy network from the ground up, how they vet for and encourage safety among drivers, and how they are building a future without those time-sucking, fuel-guzzling empty miles.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Earlier this season we sat down with Giovanni Bertolino of Enel X to discuss electric vehicles and the infrastructure needed to support them. Today, we dive even deeper into the world of EVs and what you need to know about implementing them in your fleets. 

Joining us for that discussion is Tim Campbell, the founder and Managing Director of Campbells Consultancy. He is one of the UK's most experienced commercial vehicle consultants in helping fleets transition from diesel to electric or hydrogen fuel cells. As he puts it, switching to “alternatively-fuelled vans or trucks is the start of the journey, not the end.”

In today’s conversation, Tim takes on that journey and helps answer the questions you don’t even know to ask about switching to EVs. From how to power your vans to what type of chargers to use to why it matters whether or not you are leasing your land to the role weather and location play in it all, Tim shares his take on everything you need to know about EV fleets.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

What trends should fleet managers and industry executives expect to see in the next year, 5 years, and 10 years? And how will these trends affect the day-to-day for drivers on the ground?

Joining the podcast today is Rajesh Rudraradhya, CTO of Lytx. Rajesh shares his vision for the future of fleet technology and what he is working on today to meet that vision. Plus, he dives deep into the key trends facing the industry as a whole - including cloud and increased connectivity, the impact of 5G, video as the new GPS, and the growing role vehicle sensors are playing in keeping drivers safe. 

From crosswind detection and weather-based speed recommendations, to sensors that can not only recognize black ice but communicate the location of that black ice to other drivers in the vicinity -- Rajesh and his team at Lytx are building the future of vehicle safety. Learn more on today’s episode.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Today we have a special guest uniquely positioned to offer both a perspective on driving and on coaching -- Herschel Evans, Safety Trainer and Driver for Yellow Corporation. Herschel was recently awarded Lytx’s 2021 Coach of the Year and was the first-place winner in the For-hire Trucking category. Among countless impressive accomplishments, he has maintained a flawless driving record with over 3 million accident-free miles.

Today, Herschel explains how he got his start as a trucker 33 years ago, why he fell in love with the industry, and how his role has evolved from driver to coach. He tells us his philosophy on coaching, what he looks for when he conducts road tests, and why 3 decades later he still values being on the road more than anything else. Plus, he shares some of the craziest things he’s seen behind the wheel and why safety is always top of mind.

His personal story will give you first-hand insight into the driver’s world and what it takes to recruit and retain drivers for your fleet operations.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Today’s guest is Jerry Glass, the President and founder of F&H Solutions Group, a consulting firm that advises companies on a range of labor issues. As a company, Jerry and his team have negotiated more than 800 collective bargaining agreements, and, as he puts it, over the 15 years since he founded the company, “they’ve seen everything.”

Jerry offers a valuable look into labor unions, labor shortages, and how today’s economy is affecting transportation companies. He discusses the necessity for apprentice and on-the-job training programs, why managers and owners have to start thinking about hiring from a 5-year and 10-year perspective if they want to have long-term success, and how to work with unions to embrace new safety technology. Plus, Jerry touches on the increased competition for workers we are seeing across all industries, why that competition is causing smaller operators to get squeezed out, and what you can do to stay relevant in today’s economy.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Electric vehicles. It’s an inevitable transition most fleets will be making -- maybe you already have EVs in your fleet, or have a plan to phase them in in the not-so-distant future.

But as we get ever closer to widespread adoption of EVs in fleets, what do you need to know to be ready?

Joining us today is Giovanni Bertolino, the Head of e-Mobility USA & Canada for Enel X. Giovanni leads Enel’s team focused on growing the company’s residential and commercial smart charging business. Before joining Enel in 2010, Giovanni was Senior Manager in McKinsey and Company, where he worked with European companies in the energy sector.

In this conversation, Giovanni tells us what he and his team at Enel X have been up to, including how he’s working with companies to help them develop efficient infrastructure, why route optimization is so important, and the future of smart charging.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

We are back with more episodes of The Fleet! Kicking it off is our interview with Kristin Danner. 

Kristin is the Corporate Safety Manager for the City of Kansas City, Mo. Over the last two decades, she’s helped develop the city’s safety program from the ground floor into the successful 1900 vehicle program it is today.

On this episode, Kristin shares her experiences managing fleets and safety in the public sector, including how she creates buy-in with drivers, encourages behavior changes in a positive and personal way, and her unique approaches to rewarding drivers that are complying -- she quite literally drives around with a basket of cookies to give to safe drivers.

That and more on today’s episode with Kristin!

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

You’ve heard it time and time again - insurance costs for commercial vehicles are skyrocketing. 

It's a tale of woe for fleet managers everywhere, but our guest today is here to tell you not to give up all hope just yet; there are strategies you can take to get your insurance costs under control - and possibly even lower them.

Joining The Fleet is Dave Michelson, President of DWM Consulting and former longtime CEO of National Interstate Corporation. Dave is a veteran in the trucking industry and has had a front-row seat watching the commercial insurance industry evolve and change over the last 30 years. 

Dave tells us why insurance prices are changing and what you can do to make sure your business is in the best position to get the best price. He also talks about the dramatic role a safety culture plays in that mission and what he envisions for the future of the industry as a whole.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

DOT Compliance. It's a topic that has caused nightmares for CEOs and fleet managers everywhere.

Compliance is an unsung, yet vital, component of running a safe (and legal) business. Every business that operates a fleet has to be in compliance - whether your business is in fleets or if having a fleet is just one aspect of your operations. 

So what exactly does it mean to be compliant and what are some of the top issues that companies struggle with in regards to compliance? 

Joining us to answer these questions and more is Andrew Leavitt, the Director of FMS Safety at Ryder and an expert in Department of Transportation compliance and motor carrier liability. Andrew gives us a crash course in Compliance 101, as well as touches on how compliance affects insurance costs and what changes in DOT regulation you need to be aware of as we head into 2021.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

What works better - incentives or disincentives? Positive peer pressure or negative? Financial motivation or group encouragement? 

Joining The Fleet today - and here to help us kick off the new year - is Professor Nicholas Ward. Nic is the Director at the Center for Health and Safety Culture in the Western Transportation Institute and a Professor at Montana State University. He has a Ph.D. in Psychology, is a founding member of the National Summit for Rural Traffic Safety Culture, and has authored the first United States government white paper on traffic safety culture. Nic has also helped AASHTO develop the traffic safety culture chapter in support of the Toward Zero Deaths national strategy.

Needless to say, Nic is an accomplished expert in the field of driver safety and today he joins the show to talk about the social and psychological contexts of driving and what they mean for your fleets. He answers all the questions above, as well as explains why creating a positive, community-driven culture is so important for driver safety.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Most of our infrastructure was designed and built decades ago. But updating those massive initial investments to keep up with the times is not realistically possible. In the US we already have an estimated infrastructure investment deficit of $60 billion year over year. All of this, on top of increasing demand for mobility and changing methods of transportation, leads to an important question:

How do all these moving pieces play together and what do they mean for the future of logistics and transportation?

To help answer this question, we’ve invited Stephan Keese, Senior Partner at Roland Berger. Stephan has nearly 20 years of experience in the automotive industry and is currently the head of Roland Berger’s North American automotive practice based out of Chicago.

Stephan joins us to talk about the innovations, trends, and technologies that are impacting the logistics and transportation industries today. He shares some creative solutions that have been implemented around the world to solve their transportation needs, and dives deep into how and why our future technologies will still need to operate within the infrastructure of the past.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Today, we are deviating from our regularly scheduled programming. As 2020 comes to a close, we wanted to reshare one of our favorite conversations this year; our interview with Lieutenant Michael Crabb. 

Michael is a Lieutenant of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office where he has worked for over 30 years, but it wasn’t until the last few years that he began implementing technology to help his officers avoid the same distractions their civilian counterparts do. 

In this episode, Mike shares his experiences implementing new systems of safety management with his officers, some of the shocking things he realized about his own driving habits after doing so, and the results he and his office are now seeing after widespread adoption.

And remember! The holidays are a great time to catch up on some of those old episodes you might have missed. Check them out here.

We hope you have a happy and safe holiday season! We’ll be back next week with a brand new episode to help kick off the new year.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

What role does psychology play in driver behavior?

Joining The Fleet today to help us answer this question is Dr. Jeff Hickman, a Research Scientist at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the Group Leader for the Behavioral Analysis and Applications group. 

Jeff has extensive experience in the design, delivery, and implementation of safety and health systems using behavior-based psychology. In today’s episode, he shares how he got into this field, how the technology has involved since he first started analyzing driver behavior in 2001, and where it’s headed today. Plus, Jeff talks about gamification as a way to manage safety, how managers can think about driver empowerment, and the interplay between self-management in the vehicle and coaching after the fact.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

Last year, the US trucking industry brought in 792 billion dollars of revenue and had over 2 million heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers operating on the roads. Needless to say, trucking is a massive industry, and operating competitively in such a complex industry isn’t easy. But one trucking company that stands out in all that noise is Transport America.

Joining us today is Lisa Gonnerman, the Vice President of Safety and Security at Transport America. Lisa has over 28 years of experience in transportation and safety management, is an active member in the American Trucking Association, and was named the ATA National Safety Director of the Year in 2016.

So what makes Lisa and Transport America different?

Their people.

Lisa prides herself on the exceptional team of drivers that Transport America has been able to attract through its unique, driver-focused culture and its commitment to safety.

Today, Lisa shares her experiences getting into the industry, specifically as a woman in a largely male-dominated field. Plus, tune in to find out how Transport America keeps top employees, and how they’ve gone about implementing systems of safety that stick.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.

In every industry, hiring is a two-pronged process. Not only does it take systems for recruiting great employees, it also requires creating cultures and systems that drivers want to continue to work in.

Here to talk to us today about recruiting, hiring, retention, and culture-building is Ozark Motor Line’s V.P. of Human Resource & Safety, Patrick Landreth.

Patrick has nearly 4 decades of experience in the world of trucking and today he lets us tap into that well of knowledge. Patrick shares what he’s seen change over the last several years, why retaining your best drivers in today’s demanding market is more important than ever, and explains the relationship between safety and success. He also shares what training and coaching programs they’ve seen have lasting results, including what technology they are leaning on and implementing fleet-wide.

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The Fleet is brought to you by our friends at Lytx. Whether you manage a fleet of five vehicles or 5,000 – Lytx is here to help. 

Lytx fleet dash cams are powered by best in class machine vision and artificial intelligence designed to help commercial fleets and drivers operate more safely, efficiently, and profitably.

Go to Lytx.com/thefleet to learn more today.

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The Fleet is created by the team at Mission. To learn more about our creative studio and network of podcasts, go to mission.org.