Lee Hae-jong, a truck driver, has been driving a 25-ton cargo truck for 35 years.

His monthly income is about 10 million won.

If you subtract the price of gas and the installment payment for the purchase of a car here, you will have about 2.5 million won to 3 million won per month.

This is the result of enduring long-distance driving of more than 12 hours a day and driving at night.

In 35 years, the car has been changed six times.

Because of frequent breakdowns and equipment competition, if you don't upgrade your car, you won't get a job.

So, it costs about 3 million won only for the monthly installment of the car.

Although not well off, Mr. Lee was able to raise three children by transporting goods.

The reason Mr. Lee let go of the steering wheel is that it is not simply because of money.


In the first half of the year, 65% of fatal traffic accidents were truck accidents…

'Road weapon' truck

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I'm not the only one who felt compelled to avoid driving, especially when encountering trucks on the highway

.

In the first half of this year, 65% of fatal traffic accidents were caused by trucks.

'Knives on the road' is not a word that came out for nothing.

The risk felt by those directly driving the truck is much greater.

The average age of cargo workers was 52.1 years old, 9.2 years older than the industry average.

Older adults are more vulnerable to high-intensity, long-duration work.

Their overwork leads to drowsy driving.

Road hazards are the result of these situations piled up one after another.



The safe fare system, which caused the cargo drivers' strike, started from this concern.

It's not just a claim to increase your income.

It is a demand to guarantee a wage that allows you to earn a living without driving long hours of more than 12 hours and overloading and speeding that have become routine

.

Their 'selfish' demands may be 'altruistic' demands from the general public.

When there are fewer trucks running dangerously on the road, the benefits return to ordinary citizens, right to us.

If so, we need to consider whether the safe fare system actually helps road safety.


The safe fare system helps to improve the work of truck drivers…

Elimination of unnecessary 'multi-level structure'

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Statistics prove that the safe fare system helps improve the working environment of truck drivers.

First of all, it helps to eliminate various unnecessary costs in the freight transportation market

.

Freight drivers do not get jobs directly from shippers, but usually from carriers.

The shipper makes a contract with the carrier, and the carrier in turn makes a contract with the freight driver.

The multi-level structure, such as the unnecessary loading system, was also a major factor in lowering the freight rate for actual freight drivers

.

According to the study, after the introduction of the safe fare system, the multi-level structure was reduced to 0.3 steps (1.76 -> 1.46 steps).

"As the unreasonable low-price bidding competition in the freight transportation market was resolved, the net income of freight drivers increased and working conditions were improved, such as reduced monthly working hours," a report by the Transport Research Institute commissioned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also says.

It has been studied that the introduction of the safe fare system has increased the transparency of the freight transport market by 36.2%

.

It is analyzed that the safe fare system not only has the effect of increasing the income of drivers, but also helps improve the multi-level structure of the freight transportation market, which has been pointed out as a disease.



Shall we look at the drowsy driving part pointed out earlier?

Cargo drivers who participated in the survey said that the rate of drowsy driving experience decreased by 25.8% after the implementation of the safe fare system.

After the implementation of the safe fare system, the "12-hour or longer operation rate" container (29.1% -> 1.4%) and cement (50% -> 14.7%) drastically decreased.

In a way, this is a natural result.

Since the hourly fare has risen, this leads to a reduction in excessive driving.



What is the effect of the 'safe fare system' on reducing traffic accidents?

The results obtained by American economist Michael Belzer and others through data analysis of the two largest freight forwarders in the United States are as follows.

For every 10% increase in fare per mile, the monthly probability of an accident decreases by 34%.”

There are also domestic studies.

"In the case of freight, which is a factor in transportation quality, an increase of 10,000 won reduced the number of accidents by 3.19%.

This result is in line with previous studies that the higher the fare, the lower the risk of accidents. This appears to reduce the risk of accidents by undertaking transport under poor working conditions.”


"Responsibilities of all stakeholders involved in the road transport supply chain"

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A characteristic of freight transportation is that their workplaces are public as roads

.

If this publicity is not kept, there is no choice but to have a serious problem that threatens the lives of ordinary citizens who use the public infrastructure together.

So, the International Labor Organization states:

“Protection of road users from preventable collisions and hazards is a responsibility shared by stakeholders, including governments, as well as actors directly involved in the road transport supply chain.”

We need to remind ourselves again that 'road safety' is not an issue limited to just a few strikers, but is directly related to the safety of the entire nation.

If the government opposes the expansion and continued implementation of the safe fare system, the government is also responsible for presenting an alternative.

It is now up to us to worry about how much responsibility we will share in improving the working conditions of truck drivers for the safety of all members.



[Reference]


Korea Transportation Safety Institute, 'Analysis of performance of safe fare system for trucks and research on how to activate it

' Dooju Baek,


director of Korea Safe Freight Research Institute, Analysis of the effect of Korea's safe fare system and policy tasks for sustainable system implementation Kwanghoon Lee and Taeseung Kim, '


Analysis of the impact of Korean cargo transport workers' working environment on traffic accidents'


Michael H. Belzer, Pay Incentives, Working Time, and Safety: Evidence from US Intrastate Trucking Companies


Script Jinwoo Jang