Government Study to Analyze Trucker Driving Risks on Individual Basis

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is tasked with prevention of injuries and fatalities related to commercial motor vehicle crashes. Given the prevalence of truck accidents which occur annually on the nation’s roadways, the administration has not been granted an easy mission.

One of the tools that the FMCSA hopes will lead to effective safety initiatives in the future is the Commercial Driver Individual Differences Study. In addition to receiving feedback from commercial trucking fleet managers, the study will analyze surveys from over 15,000 truck drivers on a range of personal subjects.

The anonymous surveys are designed so that the administration can compare differences among drivers, in order to spot patterns regarding what type of behaviors may lead to a greater propensity for accidents. As stated by the FMCSA, the study’s purpose is “to identify, verify, quantify and prioritize commercial driver risk factors.”

The initial survey that participants will be asked to fill out contains questions related to personality, medical issues, demographics and performance. More specific issues include the following:

  • Training, education and experience
  • Driving habits, including seat belt use and mileage logged
  • Situations experienced recently involving conflict and job satisfaction
  • Self-perceptions related to personality traits
  • Opinions on aggressive driving issues

Though the questionnaire should only take drivers roughly an hour to fill out, the information that each driver provides will arguably be invaluable, when contrasted with the information provided by thousands of other drivers.

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