Distraction in Commercial Trucks and Buses: Assessing Prevalence and Risk in Conjunction with Crashes and Near-Crashes

This research analyzed naturalistic data on commercial trucks (3-axle and tractor trailer/tanker) and buses (transit and motor coaches) over a 1-year period using two data sets: data set A from 207 truck and bus fleets comprising 13,431 vehicles included 1,336 crashes, 15,864 near-crashes, and 173,591 crash-relevant conflicts; and data set B from 183 commercial truck and bus fleets comprising 13,306 vehicles included 1,085 crashes, 8,375 near-crashes, 30,661 crash-relevant conflicts, and 211,171 baseline events (i.e., triggered non-safety critical events). Study results
document the prevalence of cellular telephone distractions and the risk associated with performing related tasks while driving. Findings include the odds of involvement in a safety-critical event differed as a function of performing different cell phone-related sub-tasks while driving. More specifically, talking/listening on a cell phone while driving was generally found not to impact significantly the odds of involvement in a safety-critical event (and was even found to decrease the odds significantly in some cases), while other cell phone sub-tasks (e.g., texting, dialing, reaching) were found to increase significantly the odds of involvement in a safety-critical event. Analyses examine the likelihood of commercial drivers to use their cell phone under a fleet cell phone policy and State cell
phone law.