Effects of Operating Practices on Commercial Driver Alertness

O'Neill, T. R.; Krueger, G. P.; Van Hemel, S. B.; McGowan, A. L. · 1999 · ROSA P / United States. Federal Highway Administration

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Summary

This study investigated how commercial truck driving operating practices, specifically loading and unloading activities and duty schedules, affect driver alertness and performance. Using a driving simulator, researchers assessed driver responses to safety challenges under a 14-hour on-duty/10-hour off-duty schedule over a five-day week, while also examining recovery periods. The results indicated that morning loading and unloading sessions transiently improved driver performance in crash-likely scenarios, whereas late-day sessions yielded ambiguous outcomes. Drivers recovered baseline performance within 24 hours of ending a work week, though a 36-hour rest period was recommended to avoid circadian disruption. The 14/10 schedule did not produce significant cumulative fatigue in terms of safety probe performance, despite slight deteriorations in subjective sleepiness measures.

Key finding

Morning loading and unloading activities transiently improved driver performance in safety-critical situations, and a 14-hour on-duty/10-hour off-duty schedule over five days did not result in cumulative fatigue affecting safety probe performance.

Methodology

simulator

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (7 acquisition events logged).

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-01; verification: verified.

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