Driver shortage, traffic congestion: an infrastructure of well-intentioned ineffectiveness

“[Truck driver shortage] dilemma isn’t new to trucking, an industry that each year loses 30% of its drivers to occupations offering higher pay and stable hours. But … has taken on new importance because of a driver shortage that has idled trucks and threatens to disrupt freight shipments. The industry figures that it will need 450,000 new drivers this year, 100,000 more than were hired in 1989” – LA Times Feb 25, 1990

“In 1989, the total cost of congestion for the urban areas studied was approximately $39.2 billion. This represents a 12 percent increase in the economic impact of congestion in 1988.” Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University System July 1992

For decades, organizations, associations, and think tanks have poured countless hours and millions of dollars into analyzing two persistent challenges—only to conclude year after year that these challenges endure. After 35 years of studies, reports, and symposiums, it is time to confront some uncomfortable questions:

Competency: Are leadership teams—across both private and public sectors—equipped to tackle these entrenched issues? Are they capable of delivering transformative solutions, or do they lack the requisite skills, vision, or willpower?

Bandaging Symptoms: Have we so grossly oversimplified the complexities at play that the solutions proposed are little more than exercises in futility? Does the sheer number of variables render direct intervention ineffective, perpetually addressing symptoms rather than root causes?

In these 35 years, an entire industry has emerged to address these challenges: academics and industry researchers, educational institutions, consulting firms, and in-house experts. This ecosystem thrives on studying the problem, diagnosing it, and proposing frameworks—yet the problem itself remains stubbornly intact.

Perhaps it’s time to challenge the very premise of our approach. What if the answer does not lie in endlessly cataloging the problem or developing sophisticated responses to its manifestations? What if the true solution demands a radical pivot—a reinvestment of effort, resources, and ingenuity into identifying and dismantling the root causes?

By perpetually addressing outcomes, we may be building an infrastructure of well-intentioned ineffectiveness. The more we focus on the surface, the further we drift from the systemic, often uncomfortable truths that perpetuate these challenges. Maybe the future of progress isn’t about fine-tuning our ability to live with the problem but mustering the courage to eradicate it at its core.