STUDY * USA - Drivers at highest risk on first day back after break

Driving after a break appears to be one of the greatest traffic risks for commercial vehicle drivers, according to a recent study



Washington,DC,USA -Truck News (CAN), by Jan Westell -27 June 2008: -- ... The study, conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VITT) and funded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), indicates that there is a potential for a "safety critical event," not only on the first day, but also within the first hour – according to previous research funded by the same agency – which shows a "trend" between the two studies, according to one of the researchers... The most recent VTTI "naturalist truck driving study" suggests that driving after a two-day break is a potentially risky period for a "safety critical event" (SCE) which could be a "crash, a near-crash or a crash relevant conflict," according to the study terms. Researchers don't know why that first day after a break is so potentially risky for a SCE, but they now have a great deal of data that will allow them to further analyze that type of activity and how it might be contributing to the truck drivers crash or conflict... (Video from YouTube, by rcaston19 - October 19, 2006: "KENTUCKY UPS TRUCK CRASH")