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The effectiveness of motor carrier safety audits
Abstract
In 1986 the federal government expanded its program of company inspections for enforcement of motor carrier safety regulations. We find that many parts of these inspections are unrelated to the safety performance of firms. Never the less, reinspection of firms found to be unsatisfactory in a previous inspection does appear to bring about a substantial improvement in their safety performance. However, such firms represent a small fraction of the industry, and the probability of being inspected is very low. Thus, the program does not appear to have resulted in a detectable improvement in the accident rate of the industry.
... The question of the effectiveness of these audits has been addressed by the authors elsewhere (Moses and Savage, 1992). For the purposes of this paper, we represent the audits by employing a dummy variable to indicate firms that are rated unsatisfactory. ...
... One cannot draw strong conclusions on relative accident rates from simple comparisons of means. For example, hazardous materials firms are very large, and in earlier work we found that large firms have lower accident rates than small firms (Moses and Savage, 1992). A Poisson multiple regression approach is therefore used. ...
... The difference is statistically significant with a t statistic of 5.57. Previous work has revealed that as the proportion of non-compliance rises accident rates increase (Moses and Savage, 1992 We find that firms that carry hazardous materials exclusively have lower accident rates than those that carry both general freight and hazardous materials. However, the accident rates of firms that carry hazardous materials, whether alone or in combination with general freight, are higher than the accident rates of those that do not carry hazardous materials. ...
ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether trucking firms that haul hazardous materials differ from firms who do not haul these goods. It employs a database of 75,000 federal government safety audits of United States motor carriers. We find that hazardous materials firms are five times larger, in terms of annual fleet miles, than non-hazardous materials haulers, and are more likely to be general commodity carriers. Based on Poisson regression analysis, firms that carry hazardous materials exclusively have an accident rate 11% higher than comparable,firms that do not carry these commodities, and arate of fatalities and serious injuries that is 22% higher. Firms that carry hazardous materials in combination with general freight, have an accident rate that is 18% higher and a fatality and injury rate that is 24% higher. Among hazardous materials carriers, accident rates decline with firm size. Private carriers are safer
... For the firms that improved their audit rating, the average accident rate reduction was 42.69%. The magnitude of the reduction is supported by an earlier paper by the current authors (Moses and Savage, 1992). A regression model was estimated which linked performance on individual safety audit questions and the accident rates of firms. ...
... However, even this program is not without its critics. Moses and Savage (1992) showed that, with a few exceptions, compliance with the questions asked had little to do with actual accident experience. The exceptions were hours-of-service compliance, and the reporting of accidents. ...
ABSTRACT This paper contains a cost-benefit analysis of two federal programs,to improve truck safety. One program involves visits by federal inspectors to the operating bases of firms to investigate safety management practices. A rating system is used to determine whether further visits are necessary, and whether enforcement and educational action are needed. The other program,is a system of roadside inspections to check for compliance with federal safety laws. Vehicles and/or drivers that fail to comply are placed out-of-
... Changes in the economic conditions facing the trucking industry have raised concerns about driver safety (Belzer, 2000). Recent studies have examined the relationship between firm characteristics, operational characteristics, and human capital factors and crash involvement (Corsi et al., 1984;Chow et al., 1987;Bruning, 1989;Moses and Savage, 1992; Hunter and Magnum, 1995;Corsi et al., 2002). These studies, however, have tended to examine a limited set of variables and their correlation with safety outcomes, without accounting for the complexity of relationships that influence trucking firm, driver, and crash involvement. ...
... Yet these factors have been prominently identified in several studies, including Gearing Up for Safety (Office of Technology Assessment, 1988) and in GAO's Freight Trucking: Promising Approach for Predicting Carriers' Safety Risks (Office of Technology Assessment, 1991). Empirical studies that do include these factors as safety determinants suggest that trucking firms' financial performance and drivers' human capital investment seem to be significantly associated with crash involvement (Chow et al., 1987;Corsi and Fanara, 1988;Bruning 1989;Moses and Savage, 1992;Hunter and Magnum, 1995;and Corsi et al., 2002). ...
This chapter uses trucking firm-level information to address the paucity of multivariate analysis accounting for the safety effect of various types of truck driver compensation and firm financial performance. Using negative binomial regression models, we find that small firms with high liquidity are correlated with better safety performance. Likewise, small firms that devote a higher share of their revenues to labor expenses tend to have better safety outcomes. Although the dataset is limited in many ways, these associations suggest that small firms may be particularly sensitive to the competitive nature of the truckload sector, relying on the human capital of drivers to overcome safety challenges due to their size.
... Occupational safety and health (OSH) is defined by Alwi (2011) as the state of being safe or the lack of aspects that can cause accidents, injuries, or interupptions to work. Previous studies (Fernandez-Muniz, Montes-Peon, & Vazquez-Ordas, 2009;Chang & Yeh, 2004;Moses & Savage, 1992;Mejza, 1998) have determined safety performance as the probability that workplace accidents would result in fatal injury or property damage. The topic has gained prominence among researchers since 1970s and many of the studies have focused on identifying factors that influence safety performance. ...
Safety performance has gained acceptance as a field of study and has been increasingly researched nowadays. Researchers and practitioners have attempted to investigate factors that influence safety performance which can improve the effectiveness and productivity of an organization. Nonetheless its importance, studies on safety performance have been limited and inadequate. More specifically, the literature review reveals that as a field of study, safety performance has received minimal focused on groups, organizational and industry level analysis instead of individual as well as in the context of Malaysian small and medium enterprises. Based on the review of the literature, this paper highlights some of the major issues and research areas on safety performance that require further investigation. Future research may attempt to identify environmental factors that influence safety performance.
... Moses and Savage utilized a large dataset of 75,577 federal safety audits and crash records from the 1986-1991 period, but did not report statistically significant effects for carrier profitability (Moses and Savage 1994). However, in an earlier analysis the authors found that carriers identified in safety audits as unprofitable did indeed have significantly more crashes (Moses and Savage 1992). Their analyses differed in the type of statistical procedure used and the industry segments examined. ...
On June 1, 2011 a discount intercity bus carrying 59 people to New
York’s Chinatown crashed, killing four people and injured more than 50 others.
The carrier had a long history of violations and crashes and a safety rating far
worse than the rest of the intercity bus industry. A driver fatigue rating of 86
on a scale of 1 to 100 meant that before the crash, federal officials had rated it
among the most unsafe bus carriers. Its driver fitness rating of 99.7 meant that
it ranked in the bottom 1%.
Sky Express should not have been on the road and after the crash the
FMCSA gave it an unsatisfactory rating and banned it from interstate service.
Though the ban was too late for the victims, under US regulations this still did
not prevent the company from continuing to operate intrastate. Safety
advocates’ calls to require seatbelts, stronger roofs, more driver training, and
other regulatory changes do not address the problems that led to the crash and
would not prevent future crashes.
Intensified competition created by deregulation, without proper
safeguards, created this safety problem. We do not have to repeal deregulation
to solve it, but we have to address the problems this intense competition
creates. If insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a
different result”, we are insane. Preventable crashes like this will happen again
for the same reasons, regardless of how many times we rework the algorithms
of CSA or scrap it and replace the entire program altogether. In short, the
safety problems that CSA attempts to address will not be remedied until we
begin to address the systemic problems in the trucking industry.
I have examined the link between commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver
compensation and work pressure, and driver safety. Research establishes a
pay-safety link that is important for policy because it shows that economic
forces inherent in transport competition tend to produce unintended safety and
health consequences drivers and passengers.
My full report on the economics of safety applies to both truck and bus.
Transport deregulation brought lower consumer prices, but this bus crash
showed the dark side. Deregulation has increased competition among carriers
in all modes hauling both passengers and freight, and reduced compensation.
CSA in its current form places pressure on drivers without addressing
underlying causes. In the trucking industry, inadequate compensation for
drivers causes a misperception of a driver shortage that isn’t there, and causes
many to look for cheaper labor, such as that found in Mexico. Everyone who
has passed introductory economics knows that more drivers will be attracted to
trucking by a better job package, including compensation. Opening the border
to Mexican truck drivers will bring more of the same, as Mexican drivers
compete with American small business drivers and employees at ¼ the cost,
intensifying competition among US motor carriers and lowering driver hiring
standards. No regulation can overcome the effect of markets that drive down
price.
This creates a sustainability problem. The CMV driver’s workplace is the
public highway and unsafe drivers become a public hazard—–what we call a
“negative externality”. While people buy transport services for an apparent
market price, it does not include safety and health cost. Economic efficiency
requires that price incorporate all costs and benefits associated with
commercial movement, and failure to incorporate the full safety and
environmental cost sends incorrect signals to the market, creating an implicit
public subsidy of unsafe operators.
If the insurance market worked perfectly, the risk associated with lowpaying
carriers would show up in higher cost insurance. This market does not
work well because insurance companies cannot rate motor carriers and charge
accordingly. Big crashes are low-probability, high-impact events that insurance
companies don’t like. FMCSA regulations only require truckers to carry
$750,000 of insurance per incident.
Economic forces play a strong safety role because carriers that pay more
money can hire better drivers. Efficiency wages paid by these carriers leads to
better performance because drivers know that their jobs are better than their
alternatives, providing incentives to drive safely.
These findings are consistent with economic theory because we expect
that carriers pay drivers their market value, determined by their personal
employment history, driving record, training and education, experience, driving
skills, temperament, and other factors. These factors explain the differences in
safety outcomes.
For every 1% in pay, we have found 1% to 4% better safety. Higher pay
produces better carrier and driver safety. We don’t yet know whether safety
pays, but clearly driver pay strongly predicts safety.
Low price doesn’t necessarily mean low-cost. Since in an efficient market,
price should include all costs, the environmental and safety costs associated
with cheap labor and cutthroat competition create unsustainable supply
chains that make everyone less well off.
Three solutions would go a long way to resolve this problem.
1. Get government regulators out of their silos. FMCSA and the Department of
Labor should cooperate with the industry to engage in a dialogue to promote
economic conditions that improve highway safety. The DOL has the
authority to regulate compensation and perhaps it is time to reconsider
certain exemptions for the trucking industry under the Fair Labor
Standards act.
2. Implement Chain of Responsibility regulations like those enacted by the
Australian Parliament to create a level playing field in a deregulated
environment. The owner-operator model is a valuable one and we need to
preserve small businesses in the trucking industry. Other nations, like
Australia, maintain a deregulated industry while supporting small business
truckers and without compromising safety. One way to do this is to address
underlying systemic problems such the failure to pay truckers for loading
and unloading.
3. Tighten regulations on subcontracting that balances the power between
contractors and trucking companies, as Australians have done. Court
rulings 40 years ago usurped legislative authority, disallowing traditional
cooperation among owner-drivers to negotiate with carriers. This would give
owner-drivers a fair shake. In short, help level the playing field by giving
small businesses more negotiating power to keep costs low and safety
benefits high.
... Addison, N. and G. Burgess, Compliance with the manual handling regulations amongst a random selection of small businesses in England. Mayhew 1999 [101] x Moses 1992 [102] x Morantz 2009 [103] x Nielsen 2013 [104] x Niskanen 2013 [105] x Niskanen 2014 [106] x Piwowarska 2011 [107] x Rasmussen 2003 [108] x Sadeghi 2014 [109] x Saksvik 1996 [110] x Saksvik 2003 [111] x Sauni 2015 [112] x Schenk 2015 [113] x Schneider 2016 [114] x Sinclair 2014 [115] x Siriruttanapruk 1997 [116] x Sohn 2004 [117] x Spangenberg 2002 [118] x Stocks 2015 [119] x Stokols 2001 [120] x Thorvaldsen 2015 [121] x x Tungu 2015 [122] x Van der Molen 2016 [123] x Walls 2002 [124] x x Wilson 2007 [125] x x Zhang 2016 [126] x x ( LIMIT- TO ( PUBYEAR , 1990- 2017 ) OR LIMIT--TO ( DOCTYPE , "ar" ) ) AND ( LIMIT-TO ( SUBJAREA , "SOCI" ) OR LIMIT-TO ( SUBJAREA , "PSYC" ) O R LIMIT-TO ( SUBJAREA , "HEAL" ) ) ...
In spite of improved work environment in Norway, the frequency of work related illness and injuries is still high. Knowledge about the effects of different measures executed by the authorities is needed to give priority to those actions that are documented as effective.
The aim of this systematic literature review was to identify, evaluate and summarize international research on the effect of authorities’ efforts to influence work environment factors with health implications.
... Vehicles of inferior roadworthiness run a much higher risk of partaking in traffic accidents than roadworthy vehicles [9,10]. ...
The paper aims to present the results of study on how certain types of vehicles with malfunctioning technical parts affect traffic safety in the Republic of Serbia between 1997 and 2014. The following methods were used in the paper: statistical method, comparative method, analysis of frequency of defined traffic accident causes, Pearson linear correlation with a modelled algorithm for data processing. The technical malfunction of vehicles as a cause for accident occurrence has a share of 0,72% in the total number of accidents. The most common cause of accidents lies with malfunctioning lights or light-signalling devices on vehicles. The technical malfunction of vehicles has the highest value of 1,65% in accidents with fatalities and the biggest correlation between accidents at police district and accidents on national level is recorded with accidents in which only material damages were sustained. The research results can be used for comparison on regional level, so as for developing of the model of analysis of the causes of traffic accidents in Serbia and in the region.
... The existing motor-carrier safety literature has explored myriad topics and various factors that infl uence safety, including drivers' personal characteristics , organizational culture/climate, external factors, and the regulatory environment. Academics have commendably performed motor-carrier safety research on numerous related topics, including driver characteristics (i.e., age, career stage [Campbell 1991 ; ), driver attitudes and driver safety behaviors (Kim and Yamashita 2007 ; Lueck and Murray 2011 ), carrier safety management (Mejza et al. 2003 ; Mejza and Corsi 1999 ; Morrow and Crum 2004 ), safety climate (Huang et al. 2013 ; Zohar et al. 2014 ), safety technology adoption (Cantor, Corsi, and Grimm 2006 ;, and the linkages between regulations (and enforcement) and carrier/ driver compliance and safety performance (Chen 2008 ; Corsi and Fanara 1988 ; Corsi et al. 2014 ; Lantz and Loftus 2005 ; Moses and Savage 1992 ; 1997 ; Saltzman and Belzer 2002 ). Until fairly recently, rarely did motor-carrier safety studies use theory as a conceptual foundation (Douglas and Swartz forthcoming; see Swartz and Douglas 2009 ; and Zohar et al. 2014 for exceptions), and even more seldom did they bridge current practice to theory (see Cantor and Terle 2010 for an exception). ...
Driver safety is consistently a top concern of motor carrier industry leaders at all levels. Efforts to improve safety performance span a variety of domains, and one key element of the safety problem is the behavior of the commercial motor vehicle operator - the driver of the “big rigs” we share the highways with on a daily basis. The purpose of this paper is to tell the story of an ongoing research program designed to understand safe/unsafe driving in the unique occupational context of the North American commercial motor vehicle driver (i.e., truck driver). As part of a broad, multi-year effort, the investigators immersed themselves in that culture at several motor carriers and were granted unique access to their employees. By allowing the employees (safety professionals and drivers alike) to inform the research direction, overlaid with extant psychosocial behavioral models post hoc, a promising stream of research was developed that led to a more integrated and comprehensive theoretical framework. The framework informs the development of interventions in hiring and training designed to improve driver safety. Recommendations for how this approach can be applied to other domains are provided.
... Evidence suggests that regulatory compliance and motor carrier safety go hand-in-hand, and money spent on regulatory compliance programs is money well spent (Corsi et al., 2014). In fact, the extant motor carrier safety literature reveals myriad studies highlighting the linkages between regulations (and enforcement) and carrier/driver compliance and safety performance (Chen, 2008;Corsi et al., 1984Corsi et al., , 2012Corsi et al., , 2014Corsi and Fanara, 1988;Lantz and Loftus, 2005;Moses and Savage, 1992, 1994, 1996Saltzman and Belzer, 2002;Savage, 2011). ...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine whether or not early, mid, late-career stage truck drivers view the safety regulations differently and how drivers’ regulatory attitudes influence their compliance attitudes and intentions.
Design/methodology/approach – This survey study is designed to evaluate the differences in truck drivers’ attitudes toward safety regulations across career stages. Moreover, the study applies ordinary least squares path analysis to determine the influence of drivers’ regulatory attitudes on compliance attitudes and intentions.
Findings – Results revealed that drivers’ in early and late career stages harbor different perceptions of the burden safety regulations place on driving operations, the effectiveness of driver-focused safety regulations in maintaining road safety, and the acceptability of certain unsafe acts. Moreover, drivers’ attitudes toward regulations directly and indirectly influenced compliance attitudes and intentions.
Research limitations/implications – The participant sample was taken from employees of four large motor carriers operating refrigerated and dry box trailers over the road in interstate commerce. While the sample is roughly representative of this segment, the authors recommend caution in generalizing the findings across the diverse U.S. trucking industry as a whole.
Practical implications – Findings suggest that motor carrier management should tailor safety and regulatory familiarization training across career stages. Moreover, carriers should provide targeted communication regarding the effectiveness of regulations and impact of regulations on driving operations in order to alleviate drivers’ negative attitudes toward regulations where possible.
Originality/value – This study marks the first application of career stage theory to the motor carrier safety context. This study also provides further evidence as to the efficacy of drivers’ attitudes toward safety regulations in predicting drivers’ compliance attitudes and intentions. A better understanding of these phenomena may lead to improved compliance and safety.
Keywords - Motor carrier safety, Transportation safety, Truck driver attitudes, Commercial motor vehicle driver safety, Compliance, Career stage, USA
Paper type - Research paper
... Research into mandatory company compliance and audit programs demonstrates they have a positive effect on the safety performance of firms. However, the resource-intensive nature of these programs means they are limited in their impact and reach ( Chen 2008;Moses & Savage 1992;Moses & Savage 1994). It is for these reasons that increasing regulatory attention and support is given to voluntary accreditation and assurance programs. ...
This paper examines structural factors that influence the safety performance of the Australian trucking industry. It argues that more needs to be done by industry to improve its commitment to effective self-regulation. Regulatory reform has had a significant impact on the efficiency and productivity of the industry. However, improvements in safety still lag. Data on the safety performance of the industry is examined and it is argued that traditional enforcement techniques have reached their limit in terms of impact on safety. Further improvements in safety standards demand that industry and regulators respond to safety as a much broader work related matter and not simply a matter of on-road compliance. This requires firms to adopt a more systemic approach to safety, which integrates aspects of accreditation programs into daily business practice. The available research evidence demonstrates that accreditation programs improve the safety performance of trucking firms and more needs to be done by industry associations and government to promote their take-up across the trucking sector.
... Academics have performed motor carrier safety research on myriad topics, to include driver characteristics (i.e., age, career stage ;Campbell 1991;McElroy et al. 1993), drivers' safety attitudes and behaviors (Lueck and Murray 2011;Swartz and Douglas 2009), carrier safety management (Morrow and Crum 2004), safety climate (Huang et al. 2013;Zohar et al. 2014), safety technology adoption (Cantor et al. 2006(Cantor et al. , 2009, and the linkages between regulations (and enforcement) and carrier/driver compliance and safety performance (Chen 2008;Corsi and Fanara 1988;Corsi et al. 2012;Lantz and Loftus 2005;Moses and Savage 1992, 1997Saltzman and Belzer 2002). However, problems with safety compliance will likely continue to exist in the trucking industry (Beilock 1995), and little research has assessed the underlying ethical and decision-making mechanisms that guide truck drivers to operate safely. ...
Accidents involving large trucks result in significant economic and social costs. As technological solutions have improved, behavioral factors contributing to accidents have risen in importance. The purpose of this research is to investigate how norms, consequences, and personal attitudes influence safety-related ethical judgments and behavioral intentions. The Hunt-Vitell theory of ethical decision-making is adapted to test how these factors influence truck drivers' decisions containing ethical content. Professional truck drivers evaluated decisions presented in two scenarios that included the situation, the decision, and the results. The research found that drivers rely heavily on evaluations of safety norms (and not reward/punishment outcomes) when forming ethical judgments and behavioral intentions. Further, drivers' attitudes toward compliance and the effectiveness of safety regulations also influenced decision-making to an extent. Overall, evidence of a refutation of the assumption that a tradeoff exists between operational productivity and safety was discovered. Drivers in this study intended to behave in a certain manner irrespective of time or money pressures. The perceived ethical component of the decision outweighed regulatory and economic consequences under a range of parameters.
... Lincoln e Conway hanno pubblicato nel 1999 un lavoro in cui andavano a valutare l'efficacia dell'United States Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act del 1988 nel ridurre l'elevato tasso di infortuni fatali tra i pescatori in Alaska, attraverso un'analisi dei dati di sorveglianza(139). Più recentemente, Lu e Tsai (2008) hanno pubblicato uno studio sull'effetto di vari interventi che vanno a determinare il "safety climate" sugli incidenti navali; i risultati hanno indicato che le pratiche di gestione della sicurezza, il training sulla sicurezza e aspetti legati alla sicurezza sul lavoro influenzano significativamente l'incidenza di infortuni fatali nell'equipaggio(140).Per quanto riguarda il settore del trasporto su strada, Moses e Savage hanno pubblicato nel 1992 uno studio sull'efficacia di un programma di ispezioni nelle compagnie di trasporti per l'applicazione delle norme sulla sicurezza(141). Un ulteriore studio sull'argomento è stato pubblicato nel 2004: Garbarino e coll hanno affrontato il tema del riposo, ovvero di prevedere momenti in cui dormire, come prevenzione nei confronti degli incidenti legati ai colpi di sonno nei lavoratori in Polizia che effettuano turni di notte, in Italia(142). Lo studio è stato articolato in due parti: analisi retrospettiva dei casi di incidenti verificatisi nel periodo 1993-1997 (risultati essere 1195), seguita da una analisi di validazione di una piccola coorte di incidenti raccolta durante il 2003 (n=84); i risultati hanno indicato un'efficacia teorica del "sonnellino" quantificata nella riduzione del 48% degli incidenti. ...
... Examples include age and career stage (Campbell, 1991;McElroy et al., 1993), drivers' safety attitudes and intentions (Swartz and Douglas, 2009), and carrier safety management practices (Morrow and Crum, 2004). Researchers have also unveiled some of the linkages between regulations (and enforcement) and carrier/driver compliance and safety performance (Chen, 2008;Corsi and Fanara, 1988;Lantz and Loftus, 2005;Moses and Savage, 1992, 1994, 1997Saltzman and Belzer, 2002). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement scale to assess over‐the‐road commercial motor vehicle operators' attitudes toward safety regulations.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review of the current USA motor carrier safety literature and general safety literature is conducted to determine the existence of a construct and measurement scale suitable for assessing truck drivers' attitudes toward regulations. As no existing construct is found, a new construct needs to be developed. A rigorous construct development process is conducted to establish the content domain, reliability, and validity of a new construct to measure truck drivers' regulatory attitudes.
Findings
The results of this paper shows a reliable and valid construct to measure truck drivers' perceptions of the general attitude, effectiveness, and enforcement of safety regulations.
Research limitations/implications
This effort is the initial construct development process and use of the construct in theory testing studies is necessary.
Practical implications
The regulatory attitude construct is developed in support of a larger investigation into the behavioral aspects of truck driver safety. The broader study seeks to inform theory and practice as to how the trucking industry's regulatory environment influences truck drivers' safety‐related decisions and behaviors. By identifying the impact of the regulatory environment, safety program managers should be able to direct their educational and training efforts to influence factors that will result in better decisions and safer driving behaviors.
Originality/value
This construct development process marks the first attempt to comprehensively measure truck drivers' attitudes toward safety regulations.
... They do not actually inspect any equipment or test drivers. They mark "yes" or "no" answers to 75 questions [7]. The questions are grouped into five categories called "rating factors": general, driver, operational, vehicle, and hazardous materials handling. ...
The paper develops a statistical procedure for predicting the safety performance of motor carriers based on characteristics of firms and results of two government safety enforcement programs. One program is an audit of management safety practices, and the other is a program to inspect drivers and vehicles at the roadside for compliance with safety regulations. The technique can be used to provide safety regulators with an empirical approach to identify the most dangerous firms and provide a priority list of firms against which educational and enforcement actions should be initiated. The government needs to use such an approach rather than directly observing accident rates because the most dangerous firms are generally small and, despite relatively high accident rates, accidents remain rare events. The technique uses negative-binomial regression procedures on a dataset of 20,000 firms. The definition of poor performance in roadside inspection is based on both the rate of inspections per fleet mile and the average number of violations found during an inspection. This choice was made because selection for inspection has both a random and nonrandom component. The results of the study suggest that both of the government's safety programs help identify the most dangerous firms. The 2.5% of firms that do poorly in both programs have an average accident rate twice that of the mean for all other firms.
... Performance-based monetary incentives (but effect depends on broader payment practices) Crashes & violations Shaw et al. (2002) Disciplining drivers involved in 'preventable' crashes Crashes & injuries Moses and Savage (1992) Bonus/group monetary reward for good performance Positive impact Gregersen et al. (1996) Immediate direct rewards for good performance Positive impact Geller et al. (1987) Delayed direct rewards for good performance Positive impact Geller et al. (1987) Indirect rewards for good performance Positive impact Geller et al. (1987) F. Vehicle technology, selection and maintenance Drivers driving a variety of vehicles associated with low accidents Crashes – self-report Lynn and Lockwood (1998) Antilock Braking System associated with more crashes (but is likely a training issue) ...
Work-related vehicle crashes are a common cause of occupational injury. Yet, there are few studies that investigate management practices used for light vehicle fleets (i.e. vehicles less than 4.5 tonnes). One of the impediments to obtaining and sharing information on effective fleet safety management is the lack of an evidence-based, standardised measurement tool. This article describes the initial development of an audit tool to assess fleet safety management practices in light vehicle fleets. The audit tool was developed by triangulating information from a review of the literature on fleet safety management practices and from semi-structured interviews with 15 fleet managers and 21 fleet drivers. A preliminary useability assessment was conducted with 5 organisations. The audit tool assesses the management of fleet safety against five core categories: (1) management, systems and processes; (2) monitoring and assessment; (3) employee recruitment, training and education; (4) vehicle technology, selection and maintenance; and (5) vehicle journeys. Each of these core categories has between 1 and 3 sub-categories. Organisations are rated at one of 4 levels on each sub-category. The fleet safety management audit tool is designed to identify the extent to which fleet safety is managed in an organisation against best practice. It is intended that the audit tool be used to conduct audits within an organisation to provide an indicator of progress in managing fleet safety and to consistently benchmark performance against other organisations. Application of the tool by fleet safety researchers is now needed to inform its further development and refinement and to permit psychometric evaluation.
... Additional fi ndings show reduced crash risk related to fi rm size, and fi rms that are private carriers (not for-hire). Contrary to the authors' previous research (Moses and Savage 1992), older fi rms do not necessarily have higher crash rates; fi rm age does not appear to be related to crash rates. advocate a management perspective in addressing firm safety. ...
The theory of the firm suggests that firms should maximize profit by investing in safety until marginal cost is equal to the marginal benefit. This paper addresses motor carrier safety from the perspective of the firm, developing the theoretical framework for firm safety decisions. Additionally, this paper tests the relationship between firm safety performance and safety practices, new safety technologies, and firm marketing strategies. By testing the impact of the safety performance marketing strategy on carrier accident rates, it can be shown that firm managers have control over the safety performance of their firms through management decisions.
... In an earlier paper in this journal we reported on the use of Poisson regressions to analyze the effect of truisk firm characteristics-such as size, cargo carried, and compliance with safety regulations--on accident rates (Moses and Savage 1992). As a result of the interest generated by the paper, the authors approached the Federal Highway Ad- ministlration (FHWA) to obtain a larger database. ...
This paper expands an earlier analysis of the effect of firm characteristics and safety practices on truck accident rates. The sample size has been increased from 13,000 to 75,500. Negative binomial regressions are used in preference to the Poisson technique used previously. The current analysis confirms previous results, but provides important new insights into the safety implications of being a private carrier and hauling hazardous materials and the effect of having been in business for many years.
Background
Road Traffic injuries (RTI) are among the top ten leading causes of death in the world resulting in 1.35 million deaths every year, about 93% of which occur in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). Despite several global resolutions to reduce traffic injuries, they have continued to grow in many countries. Many high‐income countries have successfully reduced RTI by using a public health approach and implementing evidence‐based interventions. As many LMICs develop their highway infrastructure, adopting a similar scientific approach towards road safety is crucial. The evidence also needs to be evaluated to assess external validity because measures that have worked in high‐income countries may not translate equally well to other contexts. An evidence gap map for RTI is the first step towards understanding what evidence is available, from where, and the key gaps in knowledge.
Objectives
The objective of this evidence gap map (EGM) is to identify existing evidence from all effectiveness studies and systematic reviews related to road safety interventions. In addition, the EGM identifies gaps in evidence where new primary studies and systematic reviews could add value. This will help direct future research and discussions based on systematic evidence towards the approaches and interventions which are most effective in the road safety sector. This could enable the generation of evidence for informing policy at global, regional or national levels.
Search Methods
The EGM includes systematic reviews and impact evaluations assessing the effect of interventions for RTI reported in academic databases, organization websites, and grey literature sources. The studies were searched up to December 2019.
Selection Criteria
The interventions were divided into five broad categories: (a) human factors (e.g., enforcement or road user education), (b) road design, infrastructure and traffic control, (c) legal and institutional framework, (d) post‐crash pre‐hospital care, and (e) vehicle factors (except car design for occupant protection) and protective devices. Included studies reported two primary outcomes: fatal crashes and non‐fatal injury crashes; and four intermediate outcomes: change in use of seat belts, change in use of helmets, change in speed, and change in alcohol/drug use. Studies were excluded if they did not report injury or fatality as one of the outcomes.
Data Collection and Analysis
The EGM is presented in the form of a matrix with two primary dimensions: interventions (rows) and outcomes (columns). Additional dimensions are country income groups, region, quality level for systematic reviews, type of study design used (e.g., case‐control), type of road user studied (e.g., pedestrian, cyclists), age groups, and road type. The EGM is available online where the matrix of interventions and outcomes can be filtered by one or more dimensions. The webpage includes a bibliography of the selected studies and titles and abstracts available for preview. Quality appraisal for systematic reviews was conducted using a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews, AMSTAR 2.
Main Results
The EGM identified 1859 studies of which 322 were systematic reviews, 7 were protocol studies and 1530 were impact evaluations. Some studies included more than one intervention, outcome, study method, or study region. The studies were distributed among intervention categories as: human factors (n = 771), road design, infrastructure and traffic control (n = 661), legal and institutional framework (n = 424), post‐crash pre‐hospital care (n = 118) and vehicle factors and protective devices (n = 111). Fatal crashes as outcomes were reported in 1414 records and non‐fatal injury crashes in 1252 records. Among the four intermediate outcomes, speed was most commonly reported (n = 298) followed by alcohol (n = 206), use of seatbelts (n = 167), and use of helmets (n = 66). Ninety‐six percent of the studies were reported from high‐income countries (HIC), 4.5% from upper‐middle‐income countries, and only 1.4% from lower‐middle and low‐income countries. There were 25 systematic reviews of high quality, 4 of moderate quality, and 293 of low quality.
Authors' Conclusions
The EGM shows that the distribution of available road safety evidence is skewed across the world. A vast majority of the literature is from HICs. In contrast, only a small fraction of the literature reports on the many LMICs that are fast expanding their road infrastructure, experiencing rapid changes in traffic patterns, and witnessing growth in road injuries. This bias in literature explains why many interventions that are of high importance in the context of LMICs remain poorly studied. Besides, many interventions that have been tested only in HICs may not work equally effectively in LMICs. Another important finding was that a large majority of systematic reviews are of low quality. The scarcity of evidence on many important interventions and lack of good quality evidence‐synthesis have significant implications for future road safety research and practice in LMICs. The EGM presented here will help identify priority areas for researchers, while directing practitioners and policy makers towards proven interventions.
Introduction:
This paper presents a re-analysis of a previous study of the effects on accidents of technical inspections of heavy vehicles in Norway and a replication of the study using more recent data.
Method:
Increasing the number of technical inspections is associated with a reduction in the number of accidents. Reducing the number of inspections is associated with an increase in the number of accidents. The relationship between changes in the number of inspections and changes in the number of accidents is well described by means of logarithmic dose-response curves.
Results:
These curves show that inspections had a larger effect on accidents in the recent period (2008-2020) than in the first period (1985-1997). Based on recent data, a 20% increase in the number of inspections is associated with a 4-6% reduction in the number of accidents. A 20% reduction of the number of inspections is associated with a 5-8% increase in the number of accidents.
Abstract This article presents results of a systematic review of the US motor-carrier safety literature in transportation, logistics, and safety journals. The discipline has seen growth in research over the decades, and growth of the field rapidly increased in the last decade. We organize the literature into a systems framework and summarize the research across industry system levels to include government, regulators, carriers, and drivers. We then apply a goal-framing approach to reveal some of the dynamic interactions between system levels and the environment, as entities work to minimize risk to life and property during freight operations while striking a balance between the industry's welfare and societal welfare. This article provides recommendations for future research to fill gaps in the current body of knowledge and to aid government officials, regulators and law enforcement officials, carrier managers, and drivers in addressing industry challenges and maintaining safe roads in 2020 and beyond.
Problem statement:
In the U.S., a safety rating is assigned to each motor carrier based on data obtained from the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) and an on-site investigation. While researchers have identified variables associated with the safety ratings, the specific direction of the relationships are not necessarily clear.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to identify those relationships involved in the safety ratings of interstate motor carriers, the largest users of the U.S. transportation network.
Method:
Bayesian networks are used to learn these relationships from data obtained from MCMIS for a 6-year period (2007-2012).
Results:
Our study shows that safety rating assignment is a complex process with only a subset of the variables having statistically significant relationship with safety rating. They include driver out-of-service violations, weight violations, traffic violations, fleet size, total employed drivers, and passenger & general carrier indicators.
Application:
The findings have both immediate implications and long term benefits. The immediate implications relate to better identification of unsafe motor carriers, and the long term benefits pertain to policies and crash countermeasures that can enhance carrier safety.
Ensuring safe operations of large commercial vehicles (motor carriers) remains an important challenge, particularly in the United States. While the federal regulatory agency has instituted a compliance review-based rating method to encourage carriers to improve their safety levels, concerns have been expressed regarding the effectiveness of the current ratings. In this paper, we consider a crash rate level (high, medium, and low) rather than a compliance review-based rating (satisfactory, conditional satisfactory, and unsatisfactory). We demonstrate an automated way of predicting the crash rate levels for each carrier using three different classification models (Artificial Neural Network, Classification and Regression Tree (CART), and Support Vector Machine) and three separate variable selection methods (Empirical Evidence, Multiple Factor Analysis, Garson's algorithm). The predicted crash rate levels (high, low) are compared to the assigned levels based on the current safety rating method. The results indicate the feasibility of crash rate level as an effective measure of carrier safety, with CART having the best performance.
This study is to suggest the advanced strategy for planning stage of basic convergence research and development in the strategic perspectives of Korean government and public side. At first, we review the current status and trend of research and development about convergence technology at the developed country for example EU, US and Japan. In these leading countries, we can find that their various efforts are focusing to enlarge the effect of research and development about convergence technology and to set themselves the leading and positioning commitment of global society. In this study, the achieved status and limitation of convergence research and development in Korea is described, and then the advanced planning process of convergence research and development and infrastructure reconstruction are suggested for maximization for the effect of research and development. The planning process of research and development programs is very important because it contains the key process which decides on the success or fail of them such as, strategic goal and direction setting of R&D, key competence evaluation and measurement of organizations, investigation of technical demand, searching and inducing the research and development programs, the initial planning including the industry and patent analysis, project screening, and, project decision and budgeting. Also the basic research and development about technology convergence is important which stage is sprouting phase globally and influence effects on the industry and application areas can be propagated on the various territories. The major suggestion items of policy framework establishment and management are the preemption of the strategic convergence research areas and the enhancement for planning and searching/evaluation of research program. And these of convergence research infrastructure construction are consisted of research organization, research basement, and disciplinary education system. At the conclusion, these suggestions was summarized and discussed with expecting to adopt these results for policy making and consecutive study.
This article reports findings from a survey conducted in order to characterize the driver management practices of trucking companies that are recognized as being among the safest companies in the motor carrier industry. Using primary data collected from a geographically stratified judgment sample of the safest U.S. motor carriers, we present observations and analysis of aspects of the driver hiring, driver training, and driver reinforcement activities of the "best safety performers" in the trucking industry. The findings imply that the safest trucking firms apply screening criteria consistently in all driver-hiring situations; emphasize pre-service and in-service training for company drivers and owner-operators alike; cover a broad scope of topics in several venues during their training programs and use several methods to evaluate drivers in those programs; and use an array of different types of rewards to support drivers who demonstrate safe driving performance. The information developed in this study could be useful to managers of new entrant carriers who are still developing their safety management programs, to managers of established carriers who might wish to compare or benchmark their existing driver hiring, training, and reinforcement practices to those of the safest trucking companies, and finally, to public safety agencies that might use the results as input to the development of educational components of their motor carrier safety programs.
The increase in truck mileage each year, with inspection resources remaining relatively constant, has motivated the development of a federal wireless roadside inspection (WRI) program. The WRI program is meant to increase the frequency of inspections substantially with the use of technology to inspect commercial vehicles automatically. In concept, this greater frequency will improve the effectiveness of manual inspections by initially screening compliant drivers, vehicles, and carriers. WRI technology could be voluntary for compliant carriers, to increase credit for positive inspections, and mandatory for noncompliant carriers, to detect major safety problems. Increasing the probability of inspection should act as a deterrent for knowingly noncompliant vehicles and carriers. Quantifiable results of technologies and use scenarios deployed in the FMCSA-and RITA-sponsored pilot test are described. The test was performed in three states (New York, Tennessee, and Kentucky) to evaluate three technology platforms (dedicated short-range communications, commercial mobile radio services, and universal identification). The pilot test will inform, in part, the decision to deploy a national program in the future. This paper also describes the technical results from the 15-week pilot test. Its focus is system performance across all technologies and communication pathways in the context of WRI supporting a number of possible real-time and non-real-time scenarios. During the limited pilot test, few technical barriers supported the real-time and non-real-time scenarios; yet message accuracy and communication speed should be improved in a larger deployment.
This study was undertaken to explore the factors affecting the safety performance of bus companies in Taiwan. A conceptual framework was developed based on the theory of organizational accidents. Environmental and organizational factors were assumed to determine the safety performance of bus companies. Since the deregulation of intercity passenger transportation in 1995 the bus transportation industry in Taiwan has been restructured, and this provides an opportunity to gain insight into the factors that influence the safety performance of bus companies. The study results show that the bus companies on joining intercity bus services in Taiwan did experience higher risks of being involved in major injury and minor injury accidents. The study results provide convincing evidence that organizational factors, including driver-specific, vehicle-specific and general management factors, have significant effects on the safety performance of bus companies. Therefore, if the economic deregulation was implemented with some safety regulation policies, we might have the opportunity to pursue a better safety performance by the bus transport industry as a whole, rather than just prevent the deterioration of the existing safety performance. Furthermore, the limited resources available to monitor the safety performance of bus companies are suggested to focus on those companies that run intercity services as well as those companies of small size, having older fleets, and a higher traffic conviction rate.
Recent studies do not agree on the possible relationship between medical conditions and traffic safety; most of them do not control for exposure factors. This problem has become more pertinent for scientific studies because of litigation that showed that present regulations about access to driver permits might contravene human rights legislation. In our study, we estimate the effect of different medical conditions on truck drivers' distributions of accidents. Our data and our models permit simultaneous control for age; medical conditions; exposure factors measured by hours, kilometer, and qualitative factors; and other characteristics of truck drivers. Our results show that diabetic truck drivers of the permit class for straight trucks have more accidents than drivers in good health. No other studied medical condition has a significant effect on individual accident distributions. Many risk exposure variables are also significant. The effect of age is discussed in detail.
Studies of the crash experience of tractors pulling multiple trailers have reached different conclusions concerning the relationship of truck configuration to crash risk. A previous case-control study found a significant increase in crash risk for double-trailer trucks in the state of Washington. The present case-control study was done of tractor-trailers crashing on Indiana interstates during November 1989-March 1991. Controls were obtained for 25% of the crash sites and were all tractor-trailers passing the crash sites during a traffic observation session one to four weeks following a crash on the same day of the week for 30 minutes at the same time of day. Logistic regression identified day of week, time of day, urban/rural area, and specific highway as significant predictors of controls' truck configuration. This model was applied to the cases to estimate the expected number of double-trailer cases. For all crashes combined, no increased crash risk was observed for doubles (Standardized Crash Ratio (SCR) = 83). Doubles were significantly underinvolved in multiple-vehicle crashes (SCR = 74), crashes on dry roads (SCR = 61), and crashes on wet (other than snow, ice, or slush) roads (SCR = 54). Doubles were significantly overinvolved in crashes on roads with snow, ice, or slush (SCR = 153). Because truck configuration was highly associated with driver age and work operation attributes among trucks in crashes, the absence of control data on these potential confounders precluded definitive assessment of the intrinsic risk of multiple versus single-trailer vehicles.
This study examined statistical relationships between safety inspection scores and occupational injury rates among civilian employees in 11 types of United States Navy shore facilities ranging from shipyards to research and development centers. The study's results indicate that workplace inspection scores are significantly predictive of lost-time injury rates, even in the presence of statistical controls for differences in facility characteristics. Further, these results suggest that even a 1% improvement in these facilities' safety inspection scores would yield an expected 1% decrease in the rate of severe injuries. Although this is a very small decrease in the injury rate, the number of civilian workers at these Navy shore facilities is so large, and the average cost of such injuries is so great, that the reduction in total injury costs would be nearly $2 million per year. These data suggest that periodic, comprehensive safety inspections can be rewarded with lower rates of occupational lost-time injuries.
This paper presents a study of the effects on accidents of technical inspections of heavy vehicles (trucks and buses) in Norway. Multiple regression analysis is applied in order to estimate the effects of technical inspections, controlling for annual trend in accident rate, the number of new drivers and annual economic growth. It is found that abolishing inspections may result in an increase of 5-10% in the number of heavy vehicles involved in injury accidents; increasing the number of inspections by 100% is associated with a similar reduction in the number of accidents. These results are not statistically significant and highly uncertain. The study clearly illustrates many of the difficulties often encountered in non-experimental accident research.
The compliance review (CR) is a federal program monitoring motor carrier safety performance and regulatory compliance. This study sought to assess the impact of CRs on reviewed trucking companies in reducing truck crashes.
Data was from the Motor Carrier Management Information System. Study subjects were trucking companies established during 1990-1995, had at least one truck, and remained active until April 2004. Truck crash data of these companies was examined from 1996 to 2003. The crash rates in 2003 and annual percentage changes in number of crashes were computed. Analyses were stratified by company size, organization, operation classification, and safety rating.
Companies that received CRs had a higher crash rate than never-reviewed companies. Reviewed companies experienced a 39-15% reduction in number of crashes in the year the CR was performed. The reduction in crashes was observed in all reviewed companies regardless of company size, operation classification, type of organization, or safety rating. The reduction in crashes was sustained for at least 7 years after CRs.
The study results were controlled for the year in which CRs were performed, crash trend, and CR selection bias. However, further studies, especially a randomized prospective longitudinal study, are needed to overcome the limitations that are associated with an observation study.
Recent studies do not agree on the possible relationship between medical conditions and traffic safety; most of them do not control for exposure factors. In this study, we estimate the effect of different medical conditions (namely diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary disease and monocular vision) on the distribution of accidents of truck drivers. Our data and our model permit the simultaneous control for age, medical conditions and other characteristics of the truck drivers; exposure factors measured by hours, kilometers, and qualitative factors; and of the circumstances surrounding accidents described in police reports.
I. Introduction Since the turn of the century, legislation in Western countries has expanded rapidly to reverse the brief dominance of laissez faire during the nineteenth century. The state no longer merely protects against violations of person and property through murder, rape, or burglary but also restricts "dis crimination" against certain minorities, collusive business arrangements, "jaywalking," travel, the materials used in construction, and thousands of other activities. The activities restricted not only are numerous but also range widely, affecting persons in very different pursuits and of diverse social backgrounds, education levels, ages, races, etc. Moreover, the likeli hood that an offender will be discovered and convicted and the nature and extent of punishments differ greatly from person to person and activity to activity. Yet, in spite of such diversity, some common properties are shared by practically all legislation, and these properties form the subject matter of this essay. In the first place, obedience to law is not taken for granted, and public and private resources are generally spent in order both to prevent offenses and to apprehend offenders. In the second place, conviction is not generally considered sufficient punishment in itself; additional and sometimes severe punishments are meted out to those convicted. What determines the amount and type of resources and punishments used to enforce a piece of legislation? In particular, why does enforcement differ so greatly among different kinds of legislation?
This article analyzes markets in which consumers are imperfectly informed about product quality. An important force that prevents deterioration of the quality supplied by sellers is the formation of firm-specific reputations. It is shown in general that reputations, because they can reward high quality production only with a lag, can work only imperfectly. Viewing reputation as an expectation of quality, this article studies the properties of quality expectations that are fulfilled. When sellers set quality once and for all, any self-fulfilling quality level must lie below the perfect information quality level. The same is true of steady-state quality levels when sellers can vary quality over time. Finally, the relationship between consumer information and product quality is explored.
Linkages between motor carrier accidents and safety regulation
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The efficacy of roadside inspections in reducing heavy truck accidents
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of the Hazardous Materials Transport Conference. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University; 1991.
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The efficacy of roadside inspections in reducing heavy truck accidents
- Patten
Linkages between motor carrier accidents and safety regulation
- Corsi
Gearing up for safety: Motor carrier safety in a competitive environment
- Office of Technology Assessment
Truck safety: Improvements needed in FHWA's Motor Carrier Safety Program
- U.S. General Accounting Office