The American Transportation Research Institute announced today, Jan. 9, its final request for motor carrier safety data to measure the effects of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service provision that substantially altered the sleeper-berth exception affecting drivers’ ability to split sleeper-berth time.
ATRI began collecting quarterly data a year ago in an effort to track changes in driver safety performance and measure it against the overall safety impacts of the 2004 hours-of-service rules, which included a more flexible sleeper-berth provision. This data collection is for carrier safety data from the fourth quarter of 2006.
ATRI’s study represents the second phase of data collection as part of its continuing research to measure the safety impacts of the hours-of-service rules changes. Information required includes collision and driver injury data covering the period Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2006. ATRI requests that motor carriers submit data no later than Jan. 26. Carriers interested in providing data can contact Brian Smith, ATRI research associate, at (770) 432-0628 or at [email protected].
“The response to our quarterly data collections has been positive, and we are eager to analyze the data to identify safety trends,” says Rebecca Brewster, ATRI president. “With a similar response to this fourth-quarter data collection, we hope to have preliminary results in February.”
Last year ATRI published the findings from its first hours-of-service study, “Safety Impacts of the New Hours of Service,” analyzing the safety effects of the 2004 rules. The study compared the data with previous hours-of-service rules that had governed driver health, safety and carrier productivity for decades. This research found that the 2004 driver work and rest rules generated significant improvements in driver safety performance. To view the results, click here.
