According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drowsy/fatigued driving accounts for 72,000 crashes per year and more than 800 deaths. Dr. Erin Mabry, a senior research associate at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s (VTTI) Centre for Truck and Bus Safety, said the average person needs seven to eight hours of sleep per night. But many commercial truck drivers, she said, get only half that.
VTTI is part of a multi-year collaborative research effort to develop, test and evaluate components of a fatigue management program (FMP) – the North American Fatigue Management Program (NAFMP) – for commercial vehicle operators.
“By the time that you’re feeling fatigued and tired, you’re way past the point of being safe on the road,” Mabry said, noting the differences between sleepiness and fatigue. Sleepiness, she said, is sleep related, and though fatigue could evolve from sleep deprivation, it can also occur from monotonous driving or eyes becoming fatigued from staring at the road too long.
According to Mabry, high risk factors for fatigue include:
Driving alone
Driving on monotonous roads
Driving for long periods of time
High and low traffic volumes
Driving at circadian peaks and lulls
She noted that there is short-term and long-term fatigue. Short-term fatigue could be caused by one poor night of sleep. Whereas long-term fatigue would be several long days of driving coupled with short nights of sleep. And that is what leads to risky driving behaviours – poor decision making, decrements of performance, reduced field of vision, tunnel vision – that can cause serious accidents.
The purpose of the FMP is to understand the issues, opportunities and challenges inherent in managing operator fatigue in commercial trucking. The NAFMP was developed in parts of Canada and the U.S. and through four research, development and testing phases.
Phase 1 included a series of focus groups with motor carriers to assist in the project design. Researchers identified fatigue management requirements and developed an approach intended for drivers, dispatchers and company managers.
Phase 2 involved the development of educational and training materials. Procedures for field testing the FMP were developed and assessed, and field data collection was completed in Alberta, Quebec, and Texas, according to NAFMP.
Phase 3 involved an operational field test with 77 commercial drivers in Alberta, Quebec, and California. According to the program, positive trends in sleep duration and sleep efficiency were found post-FMP implementation. According to NAFMP, other post-implementation findings include:
Improved reported sleep quality on duty days
20 minutes longer main sleep on duty days
Duty day main period sleep duration and sleep efficiency improved compared to rest days
Drivers reported less fatigue (trend)
Reduction in proportion of drivers reporting critical events (29% from 46%) and 40% reduction in number of critical events per km driven
Based on the research, findings and operational data from the first three phases, Phase 4 involved development of the recommended guidelines, implementation manual, and training materials and the development of the NAFMP website.
That’s where VTTI came in.
Adopting the program
Mabry said VTTI led Phase 4 of the FMP from summer 2011 through spring 2013. The program includes 10 modules that were each designed to target a specific population – drivers, shippers, receivers, carriers, dispatchers and drivers’ families.
“If it’s going to take off, it really needs to come from management down,” Mabry explained. “I’d be highly surprised if any driver went on the FMP website on their own. It really needs to be a fleet effort coming down from management, and I would recommend an incentive-based program to be an FMP-certified staffer.”
To become FMP certified, organizations or individuals going through the modules take quizzes along the way, and then must pass a test at the end. When it comes to incentives, Mabry said some sort of financial or health insurance reimbursements seem to work well among drivers.
Mabry emphasized that though it is important for drivers to take responsibility for their own health, they need the support of their employers, co-workers and families.
“Drivers are getting all this information about what it means to be healthy, then they go into their carrier’s cafeteria and there are no healthy options available,” Mabry said. “Practice what you preach. Make health and safety the culture of your fleet.”
Fleets can adopt the program by downloading the modules, which are free and publicly available on the NAFMP website. Along with the modules, VTTI developed an implementation manual on how fleets can tailor the FMP to their organizations’ needs.
The program also offers an ROI calculator that fleet managers can use to track any financial benefits gained from implementing the program.
