Study Spotlights Reckless Driver Warning Signs
Oliver B.Patton
Washington Editor
A truck driver who has had a reckless driving violation is more than three times as likely to get involved in an accident than one who has not, according to a new research report.
The study by the American Transportation Research Institute, an arm of the American Trucking Associations, collected three years of data on more than 540,000 drivers. The aim was to come up with an analytical model that predicts a driver's likelihood of being involved in an accident based on his past performance.
What it found was that violations such as reckless driving or improper turns indicate behavior problems that spell trouble down the road.
Specifically, if a driver has had a reckless driving violation, the likelihood of him being involved in an accident in the future accident increases 325 percent. Other types of violations and their risk forecasts:
• Improper turn violation: 105 percent
• Improper or erratic lane change: 100 percent
• Failure to yield right of way: 97 percent
• Improper turn: 94 percent
• Failure to maintain proper lane: 91 percent
• Past accident: 87 percent
• Improper lane change: 78 percent
• Failure to yield right of way: 70 percent
• Driving too fast for conditions: 62 percent
• False or no logbook: 56 percent
Ranging downward from here are a host of other violations, such as speeding (56 percent), hours of service (41 percent), or an overweight vehicle (21 percent).
A second objective, conducted with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, was to identify enforcement actions that counter these types of behavior. What the study found was that the most successful enforcement includes one or more of four strategies: apprehend aggressive drivers; target both trucks and cars; use visible and covert enforcement; and manage enforcement with a performance-based system that covers accident types, driver behavior and accident locations.
The study also found that the safest trucking companies shared a number of attributes. They have clear, documented and well distributed policies and strategies to deal with driver behavior; their safety directors and managers are accessible and fully engaged; they are willing to test different training methods and onboard safety systems; and they are directly involved in developing or customizing safety programs.
The companies also shared similar methods for dealing with the specific types of behaviors that forecast a driver's future performance. All of the fleets interviewed, for example, said that they automatically fire any driver who is convicted of reckless driving, and most said they do the same if they learn about a reckless driving violation.
The other violations generally lead to a combination of reactions, including counseling, remedial training and a road test, a meeting with the safety director, or a strike as part of a "three strikes and you're out" policy.
For a copy of the study ("Predicting Truck Crash Involvement"), contact ATRI at (703) 838-1966, or www.atri-online.org.
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