Truck Driver Health Issues Shorten Life Expectancy 16 Years

The Centers for Disease Control released last week a report on truck driver health risks related to Irregular schedules, long hours of work, poor diet and nutrition, and the stress of driving in heavy traffic and bad weather.

The CDC reported:

Life expectancy: 61 for truck drivers, 77 for national average.

Obesity: 50% of commercial truck drivers are overweight or obese compared to only 33% of general adult population. Obesity leads to hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, and other health problems.

Smoking: 54% of truck driver smoke, compared to 21% of adult population.

Exercise: 8% of truckers exercise regularly, compared to 49% of all adults.

That’s bad for the truck drivers and bad for others on the road whose safety is adversely affected by truck drivers with sleep apnea and other conditions that make them less safe.

Ken Shigley, author of Georgia Law of Torts: Trial Preparation & Practice, is a board member of the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, he has been listed as a “Super Lawyer” (Atlanta Magazine), among the “Legal Elite” (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers . He practices law at the Atlanta law firm of Chambers, Aholt & Rickard, and has broad experience in catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, spinal cord injury, brain injury and burn injury cases. He is also president-elect of the State Bar of Georgia. This post is subject to our ethical disclaimer.