The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration intends to investigate the differences among characteristics of individual commercial drivers that may or may not factor into crash propensity.


In an Information Collection Request published October 3 in the Federal Register, the Agency said the purpose of the study is to identify, verify, quantify, and prioritize commercial driver risk factors. It will be looking at personal factors such as demographic characteristics, medical conditions, personality traits, and performance capabilities. Risk factors may also include work environmental conditions, such as carrier operations type.

The study will identify risk factors by linking the characteristics of individual drivers with their driving records, especially the presence or absence of DOT reportable crashes.

The Commercial Driver Individual Differences Study will be a three-part survey, beginning with the survey itself, and two follow-up surveys on Recent Life Experiences, and Job Descriptive Index. FMCSA will also seek input from fleet managers.

FMCSA says the information would be used to developing future safety initiatives.

Comments must be submitted on or before December 2, 2011.

For further information, contact:
Theresa Hallquist,
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration,
Office of Analysis, Research and Technology,
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration,
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Telephone (202) 366-1064
E-mail theresa.hallquist@dot.gov.