Fatal Crashes Involving Drivers Recorded As Asleep or Fatigued 2013: Analysis Brief

NHTSA · 2016 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

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Summary

This analysis brief examines fatal crashes involving large truck drivers recorded as asleep or fatigued in 2013, utilizing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The study addresses the prevalence and characteristics of driver fatigue in large truck fatalities, acknowledging that fatigue is often underreported in police accident reports. In 2013, there were 59 fatal crashes involving a large truck where the driver was coded as “asleep or fatigued,” representing 1.7 percent of all large truck fatal crashes. The research methodology involved analyzing FARS data for crash characteristics and matching identified drivers to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Driver Information Resource (DIR) database to review their driving histories. Of the 59 drivers, 57 were successfully matched in the DIR database. Additionally, approximately 60 percent of the crashes were linked to post-crash inspection records in the FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). Key findings reveal distinct patterns in crash timing and conditions. Roughly 75 percent of these fatal crashes were single-vehicle incidents. Temporal analysis showed that 56 percent occurred in the early morning hours (midnight to 7 a.m.), and 24 percent occurred during the morning rush hour. Regarding environmental conditions, 64 percent of the crashes took place in the dark, while 34 percent occurred during daylight hours. For crashes subject to post-crash inspections, more than half (54 percent) of driver violations were related to hours-of-service noncompliance or driving while ill or fatigued. Historical data from the DIR database indicated that the 57 matched drivers had accumulated 175 violations in traffic enforcement inspections between 2000 and 2013, including 89 driver violations and 26 out-of-service violations. The most common prior violations were log violations, hours-of-service violations, and reporting violations. Specifically, 54 drivers had general log violations, and 29 had violations for requiring or permitting a driver to drive after 14 hours on duty. Furthermore, one driver had been involved in a previous fatal crash, and seven had been involved in at least one previous injury crash. These results highlight a correlation between prior regulatory violations, particularly those related to hours of service and logging, and fatal crashes involving fatigued large truck drivers.

Key finding

Among 59 fatal 2013 large-truck crashes with drivers coded asleep or fatigued, about 75 percent were single-vehicle, 56 percent occurred between midnight and 7 a.m., and 64 percent occurred in the dark.

Methodology

dataset

Sample size: 59

Provenance

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Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• truck driver fatigue
• bus coach
• hours of service