LATEST ARTICLES
Raising A Ruckus on the Trailer Trash Podcast
I jumped on the Trailer Trash Podcast to talk about the side of trucking nobody brags about — safety and compliance. It’s not glamorous. There’s no chrome or neon lights in this part of the business. But screw it up, and you’re one inspection, one lawsuit, or one...
In trucking, you will pay for safety.
The only question is when
Safety problems in trucking rarely appear overnight. They build slowly. A few more roadside violations. A preventable crash that shouldn’t have happened. Driver turnover creeping higher. Then renewal season arrives and the insurance premium jumps without a clear explanation. Most fleets assume these problems start with drivers or bad luck. But the truth is usually closer to home. In The Cost of Safety, Sam Watts draws on decades of experience inside the trucking industry to explain how leadership decisions, operational pressure, and company culture shape safety outcomes long before a crash ever occurs. Through practical insights and real-world perspective, this book shows fleet leaders how to recognize the hidden patterns driving risk—and how to build an operation where safety and performance work together instead of against each other.
MEET SAM
I did not learn trucking from a textbook or a boardroom. I started washing trailers at 14 years old. Since then, I have spent the majority of my time working in the trucking industry in various roles like dispatch, operations, management, safety, compliance, and insurance loss control. That experience gave me a real understanding of the pressure, risk, and decisions that shape a trucking operation on a daily basis.
Today, I serve as the Director of Safety and Loss Control for Ten Four Truck Insurance and am regularly invited onto national trucking programs to speak about safety, compliance, insurance, and operational risk. I have also turned that knowledge into books, training programs, and practical safety systems that help both large and small operations. My true passion is to help everyone in the industry understand that safety and compliance is crucial, and can truly make or break your company. With my background, I am able to give direct and relevant insight from someone who not only knows the industry, but understands how it works.
FEATURED NEWS
Talking Safety, Compliance, and Smart Solutions on Taking the Hire Road
I recently had the chance to join Jeremy Reymer on the Taking the Hire Road podcast — and we dove deep into a topic that’s close to my heart (and my career): safety and compliance in trucking. For me, it all started with a tough early audit — the kind that makes you...
Sam Sits Down With Linxup To Talk About Successful Safety Programs
Linxup recently published a great piece called “4 Keys to a Successful Safety Program” — and I’m honored they interviewed me for it. We had an in-depth conversation about what really works when it comes to keeping fleets safe, and their article pulls together some of...
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SAM@WATTSMEN.COM
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