Threat of Truck Driver Cell Cellphone Use – Security & Compliance

Any activity that entails a driver’s fingers and eyes has the best threat of leading to an incident or unsafe occasion on the street, in line with examine findings by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

Lots of all these duties concerned hand-held electronics, stated Susan Soccolich, a VTTI analysis affiliate for the institute’s division of freight, transit and heavy automobile security, throughout a presentation on the Fleet Security Convention in California on Nov. 11.

 For instance, the next duties enhance the danger of an unsafe occasion:

• texting on a cellular phone: 23 instances the danger
• interacting with a dispatching gadget: 10 instances the danger
• dialing on a cellular phone: 6 instances on the danger

VTTI’s examine, “Evaluation of Naturalistic Driving Knowledge to Assess Distraction and Drowsiness in Drivers of Industrial Motor Autos,” confirmed the longer a truck driver’s eyes had been off the ahead roadway, the higher the danger of being concerned in a security vital occasion. There was a major enhance as soon as the driving force’s eyes had been off the street for greater than two seconds.

Drivers who had been looking on a cellular phone had one of many highest common instances their eyes had been off the roadway (4 seconds). Drivers who had been texting had their eyes off the street for a median of 5 seconds.

The examine discovered that speaking/listening on a hand-held telephone (the commonest cellular phone use conduct) confirmed no change in threat whereas speaking/listening on a hands-free gadget confirmed a decreased threat of being concerned in a security vital occasion. The examine collected information over 3.8 million driving miles from numerous heavy-duty truck fleets.

Threat of Truck Driver Cell Cellphone Use

When a driver was perceived to be at-fault throughout a security vital occasion, over 5% of drivers had been looking on a cellular phone.

“What’s attention-grabbing about this examine is what we’re not seeing as a lot as we used to,” Soccolich stated.

Texting on a hand-held telephone was one of the vital rare varieties of cellular phone use within the examine. About 1% of drivers texted or had been concerned in a security vital occasion.

“These drivers are looking, and so they’re speaking and listening, because the rules enable,” she stated. “However they’re not texting in the way in which we might imagine based mostly on how individuals behave of their on a regular basis life.”

Hand-held cellular phone duties tremendously enhance the danger of security vital occasions on the street. When the driving force is perceived to be at-fault for the incident, these duties enhance the danger by 4 instances.

Palms-free cellular phone duties minimize the danger of those incidents in half. These drivers are concerned in about as half as many occasions, Soccolich stated.

The varieties of duties impression the danger ranges. See chart under. An odds ratio above 1 signifies an elevated threat, whereas an odds ratio under 1 signifies no change within the threat.