Trucking’s Snow Problem

Calculating the Cost of Downtime During Winter

Derrick Redding, COO and Chris McDougall, VP of Sales

To clean off windshields and wiper blades drivers climb up onto the side of their trucks increasing their chances of getting injured from a slip and fall.

Racing against cross-country pickup and delivery deadlines, truck drivers don’t stop when extreme winter conditions strike. But they do have to pull over to manually clean off their windshields, ADAS cameras and sensors when these perception surfaces become occluded by snow and ice. Often drivers must climb up on the side of their trucks to clean off their windshields and wiper blades, increasing their chances of getting injured from a slip and fall.

To better understand just how much snow day downtime can cost a fleet, we spent some time this week chatting with drivers stopped at rest areas to clean their windshields and wipers.

The data we collected shows these drivers stop 1–8 times per snow day to clean their perception surfaces. Taking into account the 20 average snow days per year, we found the cost of downtime can range between $190 and $1,520 per vehicle per year. When coupled with the ~$37,000 average cost of a fall from a truck, total snow day vehicle downtime and driver safety could cost a fleet almost $40,000 per year. We believe these costs are largely avoidable with the right safety systems in place.

At SEEVA, we’re driven to create value for commercial truck OEMs, fleet owners and operators by increasing driver and vehicle safety and uptime. Our proprietary heated washer fluid systems clean surfaces so truck drivers don’t have to exit their vehicle and can stay on the road. Want to know more? Contact us at info@seeva.tech.