Evaluating the Safety Benefits of a Low-Cost Driving Behavior Management System in Commercial Vehicle Operations: Report

Abstract

FOREWORDMotor vehicle crashes are often predictable and preventable. Yet, many drivers choose to behave in ways that put themselves and others at risk for a vehicle crash and/or serious injuries. At-risk driving behaviors include violating speed limits, excessive speed/lateral acceleration on curves, unplanned lane departures, frequent hard braking, close following distances, lateral encroachment (e.g., during attempted lane changes, perhaps due to improper mirror use), failure to yield at intersections, general disobedience of the rules-of-the-road, etc. Performing at-risk driving behaviors is likely to increase crash risk.Behavioral approaches to safety have provided robust positive results when applied in organizations seeking to reduce employee injuries due to at-risk behaviors. However, almost all prior behavioral safety research has been applied in work settings where employees can systematically observe the safe versus at-risk behavior of their coworkers. In contrast, commercial truck and bus drivers typically work alone in relative isolation and thus require alternative strategies. Until recently, the primary problem with implementing behavior-based approaches has been getting quality behavioral data on driving behaviors. New technologies are available that provide objective measures of driver behavior. These in-vehicle technologies are able to provide continuous measures on a wide variety of driving behaviors previously unavailable to fleet safety managers. Some driving behavior management systems (DBMSs) use in-vehicle video technology to record driver behavior. These recordings can be used by fleet safety managers to provide feedback on safe and at-risk driving behaviors.The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration funded this project to provide an independent evaluation of a commercially available low-cost DBMS. Participating drivers drove an instrumented vehicle for 17 consecutive weeks while they made their normal, revenue-producing deliveries. During the 4-week baseline phase, the DBMS recorded safety-related events; however, the feedback light on the event recorder was disabled and safety managers did not have access to the recorded safety-related events to provide feedback to drivers. During the 13-week intervention phase, the feedback light on the event recorder was activated and safety managers had access to the recorded safety-related events (following a recommended coaching protocol with drivers when necessary). The primary analyses in the current report determined the safety benefits of a commercially available low cost DBMS. NOTICEThis document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof.This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers' names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object...

NIOSH national survey of long-haul truck drivers: Injury and safety

“…Studies (Murray et al, 2006; ATRI, 2011) suggested that moving violations were associated with the risk of truck crashes. Some U.S. companies have used onboard safety monitoring technologies to monitor near misses and provide feedback to truck drivers (Hickman and Hanowski, 2010). Similarly, the U.S. Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) has been collecting confidential, voluntary reports of near misses from pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers since 1976.…”

Evaluation of an in-vehicle monitoring system (IVMS) to reduce risky driving behaviors in commercial drivers: Comparison of in-cab warning lights and supervisory coaching with videos of driving behavior

“…Additionally, return on investment analyses should be done as there has been only limited research published in this area (Boodlad & Chiang, 2014; Pitera, Boyle, & Goodchild, 2013), and IVMS is considered to be a fairly low-cost intervention in comparison to other safety technologies (Hickman & Hanowski, 2010). Given that motor vehicle crashes are consistently the leading cause of work-related death, in addition to affecting the general population, this research has addressed a significant public health problem.…”

“…Technologies such as collision warning systems and lane departure systems have been found to reduce risky driving behaviors (following too closely, lane departures), and rates of crashes (Chen, Jenkins, & Husting, 2004; Lee, McGehee, Brown, & Reyes, 2002; Merrikhpour, Donmez, & Battista, 2014). In addition to technologies that use sensors to detect nearby vehicles, there has been increased use of “on-board” or “in-vehicle” monitoring of driving behaviors (Hickman & Hanowski, 2010; Hickman, Hanowski, & Bocanegra, 2010; Horrey, Lesch, Dainoff, Robertson, & Noy, 2012; International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, 2014; Jones, 2016; Miller, Saldhana, Hunt, & Mello, 2013). These in-vehicle monitoring systems (IVMS) record vehicle maneuvers through sensors and can interface with the vehicle's computer; they may also utilize cameras to record video footage of the driver actively engaged in driving.…”

Impacto del uso del Internet de las cosas en la prevención de accidentes de tránsito en Costa Rica

“…Un estudio del año 2010 publicado por el departamento de transportes de EEUU y elaborado por Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluye que la combinación de dispositivos de monitoreo de seguridad y el entrenamiento conductual fue responsable de la reducción en la tasa de eventos relacionados con la seguridad en los grupos evaluados [24]. La investigación tuvo como objetivo evaluar la comercialización de dispositivos de bajo costo para administrar el comportamiento de los conductores.…”

“…Porcentaje de reducción de accidentes según AGEAS Estimación de la reducción de cantidad de accidentes 218,771 30% 65,631Si se extrapolan los datos del informe publicado por el Departamento de Transportes de EEUU[24], en el escenario pesimista, la reducción de accidentes sería de 38,1%, y en el escenario más optimista la reducción podría alcanzar el porcentaje del 52,2%. En la tabla V se muestran estos porcentajes aplicados a los datos históricos de la cantidad de reclamos para el INS en los años 2014 y 2015, que equivaldría a una reducción entre 83,132 y 113,760 casos.15 th LACCEI International Multi-Conference 2017: "Global Partnerships for Development and Engineering Education", 19-21 July 2017, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.…”