title: An on-road study to investigate fatigue in local/short haul trucking.
abstract: As a precursor to the present research, Hanowski et al. [FHWA Report no. FHWA-MC-98-029. Office of Motor Carriers, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC, 1998] conducted a series of focus groups in which local/short haul (L/SH) drivers provided their perspective on safety issues, including fatigue, in their industry. As a follow-up to the Hanowski et al. work, the effort presented here consisted of an on-road field study where in-service L/SH trucks were instrumented with data collection equipment. Two L/SH trucking companies and 42 L/SH drivers participated in this research. The analyses focused on determining if fatigue is an issue in L/SH operations. Of primary interest were critical incidents (near-crashes) where L/SH drivers were judged to be at fault. The results of the analyses indicated that fatigue was present immediately prior to driver involvement in at-fault critical incidents. Though it is difficult to determine with certainty why fatigue was present, the results suggest that drivers' off-hours behavior likely played a significant role in the fatigue experienced on the job. Another key finding of this research is that a small percentage of drivers were responsible for a majority of the critical incidents. This finding suggests that driver selection and monitoring could potentially improve safety in L/SH operations.
authors.affiliation: Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 3500 Transportation Research Plaza, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. hanowski@vtti.vt.edu
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hanowski
authors.forename: Walter W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Wierwille
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Dingus
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D020920:Dyssomnias; D005221:Fatigue; D006801:Humans; D010560:Personnel Selection; D012307:Risk Factors; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014186:Transportation