Practicing Safety With Every Mile
One thing you’ll hear a lot about at J.B. Hunt is the importance of safety. It’s not just something we talk about - it is one of our fundamental values and is essential to our culture. Our values - Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Safety and Excellence - were instilled by Mr. and Mrs. Hunt over 60 years ago. They represent the behaviors that define who we are and highlight how each person in our organization can rise to the responsibility that they have as an individual to uphold the promise represent by our scroll.
Safety is part of everything we do, whether it’s in an office, a shop or the cab of a truck. The company's best performance in history from a safety perspective was in 2023. Our more than 22,800 company drivers achieved a significant reduction in Department of Transportation preventable accidents per million miles, setting a new record for us. Our Compliance, Safety, and Accountability scores for our maintenance teams improved even while working through a record number of trades and new equipment. This reflects the hard work of our maintenance teams and how well our equipment performs at roadside inspections.
Being One of the Safest Trucking Companies
Our investment in safety also helps you, our customers. We are committed to implementing the newest available safety technologies in our fleet to amplify our safety impact for both our drivers and the motoring public. This allows us to protect your freight and get it to its destination.
We’ve activated inward-facing cameras (IFCs) in most of our fleet and plan to reach 100% implementation by August 2024. Since piloting IFCs in 2018, we’ve seen a 20% reduction in costs associated with claims involving trucks equipped with this technology. We’ve equipped our tractors with the latest in right-side-assist technologies. Since implementation began in September 2020, we’ve seen about a 15% reduction in costs associated with right turn and right lane-change collisions.
“Safety is something that we talk about all the time. It’s a part of our DNA. It’s who we are. People know J.B. Hunt as the gold standard for safety on the road,” Del, an intermodal driver, said.
We are always evaluating ways to improve safety and provide continuing education around training, risk identification and prevention. For drivers, safety training begins during the onboarding process and continues throughout each driver’s career.
Drivers for our Dedicated Contract Services® teams receive account-specific training and uphold safety standards by staying updated with current safety practices in the industry. In addition, they are trained on special safety standards related to foodservice and agricultural products, and we maintain a variety of certifications related to the transport of food products to make sure goods arrive safely.
Our Final Mile Services® teams have a strict screening process for both company drivers and third-party contract carriers. We understand the significance of sending someone into a consumer’s home, so this helps us to provide greater consumer safety when completing an in-home delivery.
Safe Driving Rewarded Through Million Mile Awards
In 1996, we started our Million Mile program. Since then, we’ve recognized 4,749 company drivers who have achieved at least one million safe miles. We’ve also been able to celebrate three drivers who have achieved five million safe miles. In 2001, we began rolling out the red carpet and hosting an annual celebration to honor the drivers who achieved two million or more safe miles.
"I didn't expect the whole company to celebrate our achievements. You hear stories about it, legends about it, but actually experience it, I'm like, 'Wow, I feel appreciated,’” James, an intermodal driver who celebrated two million safe miles last year, said.
In addition to having their name listed on the Million Mile Wall at our corporate headquarters, drivers receive a safe driving bonus for their achievement. Bonuses start at $5,000 for their first million miles and double for each million after that, up to $50,000. In total, we have awarded more than $38 million in safety bonuses.
“Our Million Mile drivers represent the epitome of who we want all of our drivers to be,” said Nick Hobbs, chief operating officer, president, contract services and EVP. “It’s their unwavering commitment to be the very best at what they do that makes this accomplishment so special. We couldn’t do what we do without them.”
Whether it’s through new technology, advanced training or recognition of a job well done, we will continue to be a safety-focused company as we work to create the most efficient transportation network in North America.
Discover how our safety culture can bring more value to your operations.