Behind the Wheel at Work

Prepare workers before implementing distracted driving policies by communicating:

Stephanie: The NIOSH Center for Motor Vehicle Safety values opportunities to contribute to road safety initiatives led by the National Safety Council, which are directly in line with priorities identified through a midcourse review of our strategic plan. The first priority, fatigue, has long been recognized as a factor in work-related crashes. Historically, people viewed fatigue as affecting mainly long-haul truck drivers, but research and interactions with employers tell us that’s too narrow a view. All workers who drive can be affected: oil and gas workers with long hours and commutes; health care workers; first responders; and sales workers who cover a lot of territory. Can you tell me more about NSC’s fatigue initiative, and how our Center might contribute?

Kelly: First, thank you for being a great resource and partner for improving motor vehicle safety. We at NSC agree wholeheartedly that anyone can be affected by fatigue, not just long-haul truck drivers. Thousands of people – including those who drive as part of their job, and those who drive to or from work – die every year in drowsy-driving related crashes. Drowsy driving is impaired driving. We encourage employers to use NSC resources to educate themselves and their workers about the dangers of driving while fatigued. Your Center can – and does – contribute to our efforts by making fatigue part of the national conversation.

Stephanie: Recently, we’ve thought more broadly about sources of driver fatigue, including off-the-job factors such as commute length, sleep habits, health status, and medications. We recognize that fatigue can co-exist with other risk factors such as distraction. In fact, the Center is doing research that will help us better understand how fatigue, distraction, and other factors relate. Fatigue is also a topic of discussion in context of highly-automated vehicles, which are on the horizon but decades away from dominating roads. Highly-automated vehicles are a second issue our Center will focus on more in the future, and this is another challenging issue NSC is taking on.

Kelly: Absolutely. And while it might be decades before fully automated vehicles are on every roadway, life-saving technologies already have started to appear in some new vehicles. One such feature is a drowsiness detection system, which monitors a vehicle’s movements and warns the driver with a sound or vibration if it detects the vehicle starting to drift. Researchers are working to develop additional technology that may monitor a driver’s heart rate, eye movements, or breathing patterns. We’re working with NIOSH and others on a committee to develop the ANSI Z15.3 national standard on safe operation of automated fleet vehicles, which will serve as a companion to the recently revised Z15.1 standard, Safe Practices for Motor Vehicle Operations.

Stephanie: The Z15.3 standard will enable us to help employers plan for the safe introduction of automated vehicles, potentially a seismic shift in how we think about managing vehicle fleets. There will be many difficult issues for us to confront as we develop the standard. Just a few examples – which crash avoidance or driver assistance systems we might now be able to recommend based on evidence, changes in how we think about liability, and how to make sure employee drivers are familiar with automated-vehicle features.

Kelly: These are difficult but important issues to tackle, especially given the rapid pace at which vehicle safety technology is evolving. The work of the Z15.3 committee ultimately contributes to a comprehensive effort NSC is leading called the Road to Zero Coalition. The goal of Road to Zero is to eliminate traffic fatalities within 30 years. We know this is lofty, but we think it is attainable thanks to a large, national coalition that includes an incredible group of transportation and technology stakeholders.

Stephanie: It’s been a great opportunity for us – the Coalition brings together so many important communities we’ve not necessarily had a chance to interact with. We particularly value the involvement of tech companies because it can help inform NIOSH’s engineering research on crash avoidance in work vehicles, and in the future, highly-automated vehicles used in the workplace. More broadly, we appreciate that you and your partners in the Coalition recognize the importance of workplace driving for the safety of everyone on the road.