Research on the relationship between entry-level driver training and safety outcomes appears to indicate that longer training doesn't necessarily mean safer drivers.


The American Transportation Research Institute Wednesday released the findings of its study on entry-level training, among the first ever to examine the overall duration of new entrant driver training, the instructional environment and curriculum topic areas covered, and the relative safety impact of each on new entrant driver safety performance. ATRI is the non-profit research arm of the American Trucking Associations.

ATRI's research critically examined the statistical relationship between training regimens and safety performance for more than 16,500 new commercial drivers, a sample representing nearly 30 percent of the annual new entrant population. Among the findings is the absence of a significant impact of total training duration on new entrant driver safety performance.

"As a fleet, we have long believed that the litmus test for commercial driver training should be performance-based and not a derivative of hours spent in training; this research bears out our hypothesis," said Chad England, vice president, Recruiting, Training and Safe Driving for Utah-based C.R. England.

When the research looked at the number of hours included in training programs devoted to specific topic areas, it found that just one of the topic areas -- accident procedures instruction -- significantly influenced the probability that a driver does not have a safety-related event. Researchers hypothesized that "initally new entrant drivers hae little experience or empathy with large truck crashes, but accident procedures training increases the cognitive awareness and seriousness of crashes for new entrant driers in a way that increases their understanding and appreciation for mitigating crashes."

"This study provides a critical benchmark for carriers and driver training schools alike," said Michael O'Connell, executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association. O'Connell and England both served as members of the study's Technical Advisory Committee who, along with others from training institutions, motor carriers and driver groups, provided oversight to ATRI on the research methodology.

The driver training report is available on ATRI's website at www.atri-online.org.