Aggression and logbook trouble often share a week

When a previous carrier writes that it ended in a shouting match, the useful next question is not only the tone. It is whether logbook and hours problems sit in the same file. Those two show up together far more often than chance. Treat that pairing as a retention screen before you dispatch, not as two separate complaints.

Among the reviews carriers left on CDLScan, 13.9% mention aggression or threats. That figure describes those reviews, not drivers in general: carriers write after a bad run, so the share tells you what shows up once someone bothers to report it.

Inside that slice, 7.3% also mention logbook and hours problems. Read the denominator before you use the number. It is 7.3% of aggression reviews, not 7.3% of all reviews, and not 7.3% of logbook reviews. Flip the pair and the share changes: 22.3% of logbook reviews also mention aggression or threats. Same overlap, two bases.

That pairing is not random. Logbook and hours problems are 4.6% of all reviews. If aggression and logbook trouble showed up together only by chance, you would expect about 4.6% of aggression reviews to also mention logbook and hours problems. The observed share is 7.3% — about 1.6 times the chance rate. Lift is that multiplier. It is not a probability that the next person you dispatch will shout and then disconnect an ELD.

The call, then the logs

The write-ups talk about a bad attitude, always late, a log book, a disconnected ELD, left truck, a loaded trailer, home time, the first load, a truck stop, return truck, abandoned equipment. That is the incident register.

Stay away and waste your time are a different register. Those are the author’s recommendation to the next recruiter, not a description of what the driver did. In 37.2% of aggression reviews the carrier also writes a verdict. In 32.7% of logbook reviews they do the same. That is a fact about how these reviews end, not a fact about the driver. Read the scene. Do not hire off the temperature of the last sentence.

From the aggression side, the louder companions dwarf this pair. An abandoned truck sits in 29.7%. A crash or damage sits in 17.0%. Late or missed deliveries sit in 14.9%. Theft or money games sit in 6.9%. Drugs or alcohol sit in 6.3%. Refused loads and low miles sit in 6.1%. Logbook trouble is not the most common companion. It is the one that can leak into a filing if someone actually falsified logs.

From the logbook side, an abandoned truck sits in 36.2%. A crash or damage sits in 21.3%. Late or missed deliveries sit in 17.6%. Theft sits in 15.3%. Going unreachable sits in 9.5%. Equipment or a fuel card that never returned sits in 7.4%. Always name which base you are standing on.

I keep the logs next to the threat because the packet you already buy is built for hours and inspections, not for a shouting match on the phone. A disconnected ELD can leak into a filing. A bad attitude usually cannot. The aggression trend is in what a threat in a carrier review actually means. The logbook trend is in logbook mentions that are falling, not gone. Late loads next to the logs are late loads and logbook trouble. Missing equipment next to the logs is logbook trouble and missing equipment.

The share of reviews mentioning aggression or threats ran 13.2% in 2018, 14.6% in 2019, 11.2% in 2020, 12.0% in 2021, 14.7% in 2022, 14.0% in 2023, 12.6% in 2024, and 15.1% in 2025. I stop that line at 2025. 2026 is still open. The mention did not fade. 2025 is the high in the completed series.

Logbook mentions ran 5.0% in 2018, 5.8% in 2019, 6.5% in 2020, 5.5% in 2021, 5.5% in 2022, 4.6% in 2023, 4.3% in 2024, and 3.7% in 2025. The aggression line sat high. The logbook line fell. How these shares are counted is on the methodology page. Compare percentages inside each year, not year totals.

What the pairing is not

It is not proof that every threat is a hours problem. Most aggression reviews do not also mention logbook and hours problems. 7.3% is a heavy overlap relative to chance, not a majority.

It is also not a CSA score. Aggression in these write-ups is an employment complaint: a bad attitude, a shouting match, a threat on the phone. Logbook trouble can sit next to that complaint and leak into a filing if someone actually falsified logs. The call itself usually cannot.

A crash in the same review is the exception. 17.0% of aggression reviews also mention accident or damage. That part can show up if it was recorded. The shouting match that came with it usually cannot. If you treat the MVR as the whole story, you keep the wreck and throw away the week.

Why the packet you already buy stays quiet

PSP, an MVR, and the Clearinghouse hold what someone filed: a roadside inspection, a recorded crash, a failed test, a license action. A bad attitude is usually not a filing. A disconnected ELD can leak into that packet. Most of this pairing will not.

Previous-employer forms are not much better. Eligible for rehire can come back blank while the same desk will later write that it ended in a shouting match and they disconnected the ELD. The behavior lives in carrier-to-carrier memory. Most of that memory never becomes a query result.

A clean packet on Monday morning does not tell you whether Friday’s logs hold. Those are different claims.

I am not going to pretend this is an independent study. CDLScan is the source, and I write from the data they share. Aggression is common enough in what carriers bother to write down, logbook trouble rides along far above chance, and the packet you already run is designed for hours, not for the call.

What was visible before you assigned the load

The pattern I’d watch for is a previous carrier who already used bad attitude, log book, disconnected ELD, or always late, plus a hole between two recent jobs. Those words are not a violation code. They are a reason to look the name up before you give out a dispatch phone.

Typical sequence, built from how these reviews cluster, not from one person’s file: they start. The first week has a late pick. The call gets loud. Then the logs look wrong, or the ELD gets disconnected. Home time becomes the argument. Sometimes the next line is that they left the truck. Sometimes they stay and the clock just keeps missing. People who left cleanly can usually tell you how they ran logs and why the last call went that way. People who are about to walk often skip the freight and jump to home time.

None of that is a reason to treat every hard call as a walk-off. It is a reason to run the name before the first live load.

What to do before you dispatch

Look the name up in what previous carriers already wrote. If you see aggression and logbook problems in the same history, treat the first week as a supervised start, not as a full assignment.

Ask how they ran logs at the last carrier, how the last dispatch call went, and what that desk will say about hours. Then make the call. Five open questions beat a rehire box.

If you already assigned a unit, freeze the next loaded trailer until someone has looked. A clean packet on Monday morning does not tell you whether Friday’s logs hold. Those are different claims.

The 13.9% share is not a reason to treat every applicant as a threat risk. It is a reason to stop reading a clean packet as “this person will run hours clean.” Check the name on CDLScan before the spend. It takes less than a minute.

Frequently asked questions

Does 7.3% mean a threat usually comes with logbook trouble?

No. 7.3% is the share of aggression reviews that also mention logbook and hours problems, among reviews carriers left on CDLScan. Most aggression write-ups do not include that companion. The pairing is far above chance. It is not a majority.

Why is the other share 22.3%?

Because the base changed. 22.3% of logbook reviews also mention aggression or threats. Same overlap, counted from the other side. Always name the denominator.

What does lift 1.6 mean here?

Logbook and hours problems are 4.6% of all reviews. Seeing them in 7.3% of aggression reviews is about 1.6 times the chance rate. Lift is that multiplier, not the odds on your next dispatch.

Will PSP or an MVR warn me?

Sometimes about the hours, if something was filed. Not about the call. Those reports hold inspections, recorded crashes, and license events. A bad attitude is usually not filed there.

Is this the same problem as an abandoned truck?

Often nearby, not the same. 29.7% of aggression reviews also mention an abandoned truck. That is the ending you are trying not to buy. The threat and the logs are the middle of the week.

What should I ask before I assign a load?

How they ran logs at the last carrier, how the last dispatch call went, and why the last job ended. Then read the write-ups.

Where do I check the name?

On CDLScan, before the first live load. Previous carriers already wrote this pairing down. You should read it while the truck is still yours.