According to research by the American Transportation Research Institute on the current hours of service rules, the total collision rate was down 11.7 percent and preventable collisions decreased 30.6 percent from 2004 to 2009.
As part of an ongoing analysis of HOS-related safety impacts, ATRI compared 2009 safety data to 2004 data collected as part of a previous HOS study.
ATRI found that in 2009, the majority of commercial motor vehicle crashes occurred within the first eight hours of driving. Meanwhile, only 12 percent of crashes happened in the ninth through 11th hours of driving. ATRI also examined driver use of the 34-hour restart provision, finding that in general it is used an average of three or fewer times per month.
ATRI's latest research included data from nearly 260 motor carriers, representing over 127,000 commercial drivers.
A full copy of the report is available at www.atri-online.org.
ATRI Research on HOS Shows Safety Improvements
According to research by the American Transportation Research Institute on the current hours of service rules, the total collision rate was down 11.7 percent and preventable collisions decreased 30.6 percent from 2004 to 2009
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