Hayes Transport: Improving Driver Experience, Reducing Driver Turnover 

Since 1980, Hayes Transport, a Verona, Wisconsin-based truckload and LTL dry van carrier, has earned a reputation for being a reliable transportation services provider. The company has grown from a single truck operation to a fleet that consists of 65 company-owned trucks and 165 dry van trailers. Hayes Transport provides service across the lower 48 states and has a portion of its fleet dedicated to providing local and regional delivery services from its terminal in Verona.

Founder Tim Hayes, continues to lead the company, and prioritizes maintaining a family-friendly work environment where employees want to stay for a career, as well as a company customers want to do business with. According to Kyle Vidlock, Hayes Transport’s safety manager and a former driver with the company, the fleet’s driver turnover rate is well below the industry average.

The Challenge

As a former driver of seven years, Vidlock knows all too well how unexpected downtime can impact operations and driver satisfaction. Prior to transitioning to a full-time role as safety manager for Hayes Transport in 2022, Vidlock used Drivewyze to receive weigh station bypass opportunities along his routes. At the time, weigh station bypass wasn’t a service the company was providing drivers, so Vidlock downloaded the Drivewyze mobile app and subscribed to Drivewyze’s PreClear weigh station bypass service. According to Vidlock, he was often assigned loads moving between Baltimore and Verona.

Along that route, he would pass several weigh stations, including one on I-70 just outside of Baltimore that he vividly remembers as being troublesome prior to downloading Drivewyze.

“Any time you’re directed to pull into a weigh station, you don’t know if it’s going to be a couple of minutes or a 2.5 hour wait if you have to go through a Level 1 inspection,” said Vidlock. “It’s inconvenient to a driver and if they’re on the longer side of a wait time, it can impact that driver’s ability to complete a delivery on time. When I began using Drivewyze, I significantly reduced the number of times I was pulled into a weigh station. In fact, there was a weigh station location in Maryland that I would frequently pass along my route to Baltimore that was enabled with Drivewyze. In an 18-month period, I was able to bypass the location all but one time.”

 When Vidlock became a full-time safety manager, he was eager to adapt the advantages of using a bypass solution across the company’s entire fleet. But first, he needed to address the challenges the company was having managing its ELDs. Vidlock and his team realized they needed better customer support from their provider when issues with its devices occurred or when they needed assistance finding telematics data.

The Solution

At the beginning of 2024, Hayes Transport made the decision to switch ELD and telematics providers. According to Vidlock, the enhanced customer support provided, coupled with a reputable ELD and telematics provider, was the driving force behind the change. In addition to its ELDs, Hayes Transport installed Netradyne dashcams to better support driver
safety and training.

Shortly after making this change, Vidlock saw an opportunity to implement Drivewyze PreClear as a paid-for service for all over-the-road drivers in the fleet.

Drawing from his experiences using the service, he knew it would benefit other drivers. Not only would it reduce driver downtime, but it would also help cut operating expenses associated with idling at weigh stations and better support on time deliveries.

“In conversations with company executives, we knew we wanted to introduce a new solution to enhance the on-road experience for our drivers,” said Vidlock. “No driver likes pulling into a weigh station and not knowing how long they may be there. Minimizing this inconvenience is something we knew our drivers would welcome, plus it would improve our overall efficiency as a fleet.” 

Since Drivewyze is integrated with their new ELD’s, Hayes Transport can easily activate Drivewyze PreClear on its trucks’ ELDs, and manage these vehicles through the online portal. This, in combination with the widest weigh station bypass coverage that provides the most potential bypass opportunities, are the primary factors why Hayes Transport have selected Drivewyze for this service.

The Result

Since switching to a new ELD and telematics provider and implementing Drivewyze PreClear for all its OTR drivers, Hayes Transport has been happy with both decisions. According to Vidlock, ongoing customer support from Drivewyze has made transitioning to these new technologies and services easy.

“Drivewyze was a big help in getting our trucks set up with PreClear and they are responsive when we need them. I appreciate good customer service,” said Vidlock.

Since making weigh station bypass services a standard offering to its drivers, Vidlock has noticed an increase in driver productivity with less time spent at weigh stations fleet wide.

“It’s been a big hit with our drivers,” said Vidlock. “It’s easy for them to use – they receive a notification from Drivewyze that pops up on their ELD that informs them if they are able to bypass an upcoming weigh station or not about 2 miles from the site. Our drivers appreciate having a service that reduces the amount of time they spend at inspection sites so they can continue their route and get home sooner.”

Download a PDF version of this case study

DOWNLOAD PDF