Free wellness video series confronts staggering driver health crisis
The commercial trucking industry has spent decades investing billions of dollars in safety technology, aerodynamics and predictive maintenance to ensure trucks run as efficiently as possible.
Yet, the industry’s most critical component — the driver behind the wheel — has often been left to navigate a grueling lifestyle alone.
The consequences of this neglect are laid bare by a series of alarming health statistics. According to data tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and highlighted by the non-profit Project 61, the average life expectancy of a U.S. commercial truck driver is just 61 years. That’s roughly 15 to 16 years shorter than the national average.
The day-to-day physical realities of the job paint a sobering picture:
- 70% of truck drivers are obese — nearly double the rate of the general U.S. workforce.
- Drivers suffer from heart disease and depression at twice the rate of the average worker, with severe isolation making them 6.2 times more likely to experience depression than office workers.
- The rate of Type 2 diabetes is twice as high among truckers compared to the general population.
- A staggering 87% of drivers operate with hypertension or pre-hypertension.
This is more than a wellness issue — it is a critical safety and economic crisis.
A landmark study from the University of Utah School of Medicine revealed that commercial drivers with three or more chronic medical conditions double to quadruple their chances of being involved in a collision. Poor health directly leads to sky-rocketing insurance premiums, costly worker’s compensation claims, premature career exits and sudden cardiovascular events on the highway.
CDL educators and motor carriers can help drivers take charge of their health.
To confront this crisis early and reshape the future of the workforce, a groundbreaking new resource has arrived. A professional 16-part Driver Health Video Series is now available — completely free of charge — to every truck driving school and trucking company across North America.
This educational tool is the product of an impactful joint partnership between Project 61, a non-profit dedicated to driver longevity, and the Next Generation in Trucking Association (NGT), a trade association focused on cultivating a young, skilled workforce. The massive undertaking was made possible through a generous development grant from the Trucking Cares Foundation, the charitable arm of the American Trucking Association.
Let’s work to stack the odds in the drivers’ favor.
Unlike generic corporate wellness initiatives that ignore the hard realities of life on the road, this video series is specifically built around The 5 Axles of Health, a practical wellness framework created by Project 61:
- Fuel (Nutrition): Navigating truck stops to make realistic, metabolic-friendly food choices without relying on restrictive diets.
- Move (Mobility & Activity): Maintaining strength and keeping joint pain at bay using simple cab exercises or brief lot walks without needing a gym membership.
- Recharge (Sleep & Recovery): Controlling what is possible in a sleeper berth to ensure restorative sleep and fight highway fatigue.
- Mental Drive (Stress Management & Connection): Offering mental health resets to manage the unique stress and extreme isolation of long-haul driving.
- Preventative Maintenance (Early Health Care): Demystifying key biometrics like blood pressure and A1C, encouraging proactive healthcare habits long before a mandatory DOT physical.
The content delivers bite-sized, actionable guidance. Rather than lecturing drivers on ideal habits, the videos teach them how to stack the odds in their favor amid ever-shifting schedules, noisy truck stops and tight dispatch windows.
It’s a turnkey resource for fleets and educators.
Designed for truck driving schools, community colleges and private training programs, the series offers a seamless way to incorporate mandatory health and safety elements directly into existing CDL training programs.
To ensure this isn’t just passive screen time, the learning series includes built-in reflection prompts and structured lesson activities. These interactive components turn each video into a true lesson, encouraging students and drivers to critically evaluate their own habits and map out realistic, micro-step changes.
For established trucking fleets, the program acts as a turnkey safety meeting resource or a standalone driver development strategy. By teaching new and veteran drivers how to actively manage their physical and mental health, companies stand to see substantial long-term benefits, including safer highway performance, reduced medical leave, and significantly improved driver retention rates.
“Drivers do not need health advice that ignores the realities of trucking,” said Jeremy Reymer, founder of Project 61. “They need practical tools that fit life on the road. This series was built to help drivers take small steps that can make a real difference over time.”
Here’s how to access the series:
The full 16-part video training content can be accessed at zero cost through the official Project 61 website, mobile app and YouTube channel.
For those who want to integrate this program into a company or truck driving school, it is also offered as a comprehensive, certificated curriculum, complete with lesson resources and activity guides. School administrators, safety directors, and fleet managers can access these educational materials directly through the Next Generation in Trucking Association network.
Dave Dein is co-founder of the Next Generation in Trucking Association and the former truck driving program coordinator and instructor at the Patterson High School Supply Chain and Logistics Training Center in Patterson, California.
With a career spanning over three decades in the trucking industry, Dave has worked as a driver and a manager. He is also the founder of Faith Logistics, a nonprofit truck driving school ministry dedicated to providing career opportunities through trucking.
For the past 27 years, he has been a dedicated educator within the Patterson, California, Joint Unified School District, holding both multiple and single-subject teaching credentials.
His commitment to shaping the next generation of trucking professionals has earned him significant recognition, including being named the 2025 California and Region V Teacher of the Year.
