Truck Driver Safety: An Evolutionary Research Approach

Driver safety is consistently a top concern of motor-carrier industry leaders at all levels. Efforts to improve safety performance span a variety of domains, and one key element of the safety problem is the behavior of the commercial motor-vehicle operator—the driver of the “big rigs” we share the highways with on a daily basis. The purpose of this article is to tell the story of an ongoing research program designed to understand safe/unsafe driving in the unique occupational context of the North American commercial motor-vehicle driver (i.e., truck driver). As part of a broad, multiyear effort, the investigators who immersed themselves in that culture at several motor carriers were granted unique access to their employees. By allowing the employees (safety professionals and drivers alike) to inform the research direction, overlaid with extant psychosocial behavioral models post hoc, a promising stream of research was developed that led to a more integrated and comprehensive theoretical framework. The framework informs the development of interventions in hiring and training designed to improve driver safety. Recommendations for how this approach can be applied to other domains are provided.