The influence of daily sleep patterns of commercial truck drivers on driving performance

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chen GX ; Fang Y ; Guo F ; Hanowski RJ
• Description:
  Fatigued and drowsy driving has been found to be a major cause of truck crashes. Lack of sleep is the number one cause of fatigue and drowsiness. However, there are limited data on the sleep patterns (sleep duration, sleep percentage in the duration of non-work period, and the time when sleep occurred) of truck drivers in non-work periods and the impact on driving performance. This paper examined sleep patterns of 96 commercial truck drivers during non-work periods and evaluated the influence these sleep patterns had on truck driving performance. Data were from the Naturalistic Truck Driving Study. Each driver participated in the study for approximately four weeks. A shift was defined as a non-work period followed by a work period. A total of 1397 shifts were identified. Four distinct sleep patterns were identified based on sleep duration, sleep start/end point in a non-work period, and the percentage of sleep with reference to the duration of non-work period. Driving performance was measured by safety-critical events, which included crashes, near-crashes, crash-relevant conflicts, and unintentional lane deviations. Negative binomial regression was used to evaluate the association between the sleep patterns and driving performance, adjusted for driver demographic information. The results showed that the sleep pattern with the highest safety-critical event rate was associated with shorter sleep, sleep in the early stage of a non-work period, and less sleep between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. This study also found that male drivers, with fewer years of commercial vehicle driving experience and higher body mass index, were associated with deteriorated driving performance and increased driving risk. The results of this study could inform hours-of-service policy-making and benefit safety management in the trucking industry. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Automobiles Body Weight Demography Fatigue Men Occupational Health Safety Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Naturalistic Driving Study Body Weight Cluster Analysis Demographic Characteristics Drivers Humans Negative Binomial Regression Sleep Deprivation Sleep Disorders Sleep Pattern Surveillance Truck Drivers Truck Driver Safety

  More +
• ISSN:
  0001-4575
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  55-63
• Volume:
  91
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047705
• Citation:
  Accid Anal Prev 2016 Jun; 91:55-63
• Contact Point Address:
  Guang Xiang Chen, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Safety Research, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505, United States
• Email:
  gchen@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Accident Analysis and Prevention
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:45cb293f083f3a0e7f15e9f9ad6f8330de607e9e4fc9d80f0d07dcc7d711ad76d751b36870f4a69c9cff821bd6be81f0e10de41ae4bc1131f7778233c6cd7468
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202708/cdc_202708_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.36 MB ]