Driver detention has become one of those issues everyone in trucking knows too well, yet it still manages to slip into the background as if it’s just another part of doing business. The truth is detention isn’t routine at all. It’s costly, disruptive, and increasingly recognized as a real safety concern across the supply chain. Solving it will take more than frustration and finger-pointing; it will take a coordinated effort from every corner of the industry.
Recent research from the American Transportation Research Institute makes clear just how widespread the problem is. Drivers experience detention at four out of every ten stops nationwide. Over the course of a year, which adds up to anywhere from 117 to 209 hours of lost time per driver. When you multiply that across the for-hire sector, the industry lost more than 135 million driver hours in 2023 alone. The financial impact is staggering—more than $15 billion in lost productivity and related costs.
For drivers, detention hits in ways that go far beyond inconvenience. Many are paid by the mile, so every hour spent waiting is an hour of lost income. Detention also eats into their available driving hours under the Hours-of-Service rules, shrinking the legal window they can drive. And perhaps most concerning, the ATRI study found that drivers who experience detention tend to drive faster (about 14.6 percent faster) after they’re finally released, trying to make up for lost time. That pressure creates a clear safety risk.
Carriers feel the strain as well. When trucks and drivers sit idle, assets aren’t being used efficiently, and revenue opportunities disappear. Even though most fleets bill for detention, in ATRI’s research, they documented that fewer than half of the invoices are ever paid. Missed appointments caused by delays ripple through networks, throwing off schedules and damaging service reliability. And because detention is linked to higher crash rates and HOS violations, it becomes a compliance and safety challenge, too.
Shippers and receivers aren’t immune from the consequences either. Detention creates hidden costs throughout the supply chain in the form of late deliveries, capacity shortages, and higher freight rates, among other things. Prior DOT research shows that even a 15-minute increase in average dwell time raises crash risk by more than six percent. Facilities with chronic delays are increasingly being called out by carriers, and the issue continues to rise on industry priority lists.
Recognizing the seriousness of the problem, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has launched a national study—led by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute—to better understand the true impact of detention. The study aims to measure how often detention occurs, how severe it is, and how it affects safety and operations. It also seeks to distinguish normal loading and unloading time from actual detention and to evaluate how ELDs, telematics, and TMS data can be used to track it accurately. The study is designed to inform future guidance and policy, not immediate regulation.
While the challenge may feel overwhelming, there are meaningful steps that can be taken right now. Shippers and receivers can improve appointment accuracy, dock staffing, and yard flow, and consider expanding drop-and-hook or staged loading where possible. Carriers can begin by using ELD and telematics data to track detention consistently and use that information to guide shipper selection, pricing, and conversations about performance. For a broader impact, they can consider sharing some of their detention time data with the researchers at VTTI, who will anonymously analyze this data to help bolster the case that something must be done now! For their efforts, VTTI will provide a comparison of the fleet’s detention experience relative to similar carriers. Regulators, for their part, can use emerging research to promote best practices, highlight detention as a systemic safety issue, and support greater transparency across the supply chain.
The bottom line is that driver detention is not an unavoidable part of trucking. The evidence is clear: reducing detention improves safety, boosts efficiency, strengthens driver retention, and enhances supply-chain reliability. Everyone benefits when detention is taken seriously.
VTTI is currently seeking additional carriers to participate in its study. Those interested can visit the project site or reach out directly at detentiontimestudy@vtti.vt.edu to learn more about how to get involved.