Safety Challenges Facing Tomorrow's Commercial Drivers and the Role of New Simulation Technology to Meet Them

Psychologists talk about road safety as a combination of three components: the driver, the vehicle, and the roadway environment. Although the distinctions were once clear-cut, they have become increasingly blurred as technology continues to facilitate the integration of functions and features. Satellite navigation brings road signs into the vehicle; antilock brakes, intelligent cruise control, radar braking, and the like shift previous driver demands onto vehicle systems. Roadway sensors and cameras enable real-time traffic information to be made available by radio, cell phone, or onboard computer screens. It remains instructive to look at these components separately as contributors to safety, but there is concern that, for all that has been accomplished to bring down the crash and fatality rates in commercial vehicle operations over the years, developments are moving in directions that will pose increasing challenges to truck and bus safety in the years ahead. There is a bright future for simulation in the training and assessment of bus and truck drivers, and it lies not with costly, high-fidelity simulators, but with relatively low-cost, part-task simulators that can be available wherever and whenever needed. Such simulators can be located in the depots of truck and bus companies, at truck stops and highway rest areas, and in other locations that professional drivers frequent. These simulators could be placed into service as part of a larger, redesigned driver training and assessment environment that provides financial, psychological, and functional incentives for their use.

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  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conf/CP38.pdf
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  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309094224
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Wachtel, Jerry
  • Sizov, Konstantin
  • Fisher, Donald L
  • Mourant, Ronald
  • Crean, Christopher M
• Conference:
  • Future Truck and Bus Safety Research Opportunities
  • Location: Arlington Virginia, United States
  • Date: 2005-3-23 to 2005-3-24
• Publication Date: 2006

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 59-66
• Monograph Title: Future Truck and Bus Safety Research Opportunities
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Board Conference Proceedings
  • Issue Number: 38
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 1073-1652

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus drivers; Commercial drivers; Driver training; Driving simulators; Highway safety; Incentives; Truck drivers
• Subject Areas: Highways; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01023774
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309094224
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 5 2006 9:12AM