In a study, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) reveals that truck drivers with certain driving records (ie, prior crashes, violations, and convictions) are more susceptible to being involved in a future truck crash than their peers with clean driving records.
The analyses in the report draw on data from 582,772 US truck drivers over a two-year time frame to expose a dozen driver behaviors that raise a driver’s risk of being involved in a truck crash by more than 50%.
“This research represents a major step forward in helping carriers sift through and prioritize the vast amount of information associated with driver MVRs or the new PSP system,” said Keith Klein, Transport America executive vice-president and chief operating officer. “By understanding how driver histories relate to future crash probability, carriers can develop targeted solutions for minimizing future safety risks. It is no coincidence that safety tends to improve as the prevalence of these problem behaviors decline.”
ATRI compares these new findings with a series of parallel analyses the organization conducted in 2005, demonstrating the stability of numerous behavior-based crash indicators. Meanwhile, differences between the two studies highlight the dramatic safety improvements the industry has seen since 2005, including record-low 2009 truck-involved crash rates and overall reductions in the percentage of roadside inspected drivers found violating any of FMCSA’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.
To continue reducing the occurrence of crashes and crash-related behaviors, ATRI reports on enforcement and industry best practices capable of addressing the problem behaviors identified in this study. ATRI also provides a list of “top tier” states, which emphasizes those states that have proven track records of maximizing their enforcement resources while minimizing their share of the nation’s truck crashes.
A copy of this report is available at www.atri-online.org.
