Safety Culture among Transport Companies in Ethiopia: Are They Ready for Emerging Fleet Technologies?

Hagos, Ehitayhu; Brijs, Tom; Brijs, Kris; Wets, Geert; Teklu, Bikila · 2023 · Crossref

DOI: 10.3390/su15043232

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Summary

This study investigates the safety culture and climate within Ethiopian transport companies to determine their readiness for adopting emerging fleet technologies. Motivated by Ethiopia’s disproportionately high rate of fatal accidents involving heavy vehicles—27.6% of total fatalities compared to 10% in Belgium—the research addresses the assumption that poor safety cultures and climates contribute significantly to these outcomes. The authors posit that while modern technologies like fatigue detection and collision warnings can improve safety, their effectiveness relies on a proactive organizational safety culture. The study aims to assess existing safety management practices, identify areas for improvement, and evaluate the integration of technology within these fleets. The methodology employed a fleet safety audit tool developed by Mitchell et al., which evaluates safety culture across five core categories: management systems, monitoring, employee recruitment and training, vehicle technology, and vehicle journeys. The audit uses a scoring system from 0 to 36, where higher scores indicate adherence to best practices. Data were collected from ten fleet managers and 174 heavy vehicle drivers across ten transport companies selected from a list provided by the Ethiopian Federal Transport Authority. The sample size was calculated to ensure a 93% confidence level with a 7% margin of error. Participants completed anonymous questionnaires and interviews detailing their safety policies, training frequencies, technology usage, and perceptions of safety management. The results indicate that safety culture and climate are limited in most participating companies. Based on the audit scores, ten companies scored below best practices, one scored well below best practices, and only one company achieved best practice standards. Fleet managers reported inconsistent safety measures, with driver training often occurring only annually or reactively after crashes, and sometimes skipped due to cost constraints. Only 40% of companies utilized GPS technology for monitoring workload and fatigue, while the remaining 60% relied on traditional methods. Furthermore, 60% of managers did not perform impact assessments of their safety measures, hindering their ability to evaluate effectiveness. Barriers to implementing best practices included time pressure, lack of resources, and negative driver perceptions of training. Despite these limitations, managers identified driver training and organizational commitment as essential factors for reducing crash risks. The study concludes that Ethiopian transport companies are largely unprepared for emerging fleet technologies due to underdeveloped safety cultures and inconsistent management practices. The reliance on outdated methods and the lack of systematic evaluation of safety measures suggest that technology adoption alone will not suffice to improve safety outcomes. The findings imply that interventions must focus on strengthening safety climates, standardizing training, and fostering management commitment to safety before advanced technologies can be effectively integrated. This highlights the critical need for structural improvements in fleet safety administration to reduce the high incidence of heavy vehicle crashes in Ethiopia.

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Topics

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• traffic safety culture
• fleet safety