Use of a video monitoring approach to reduce at-risk driving behaviors in commercial vehicle operations

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) funded this project to provide an independent evaluation of a commercially available onboard safety monitoring (OBSM) system. Participating drivers drove a truck instrumented with data collection equipment (e.g., two video cameras and three accelerometers) for 17 consecutive weeks while they made their normal, revenue-producing deliveries. During the 4-week Baseline phase, the OBSM device recorded safety-related events; however, the feedback light on the OBSM device was disabled and safety managers did not have access to the recorded safety-related events to provide feedback to drivers. During the 13-week Intervention phase, the feedback light on the OBSM device was activated and safety managers had access to the recorded safety-related events and followed the coaching protocol with drivers (when necessary). Carrier A significantly reduced the mean rate of recorded safety-related events/10,000 miles traveled from Baseline to Intervention by 37% (p = 0.046) and Carrier B significantly reduced the mean rate of recorded safety-related events/10,000 miles traveled from Baseline to Intervention by 52.2% (p = 0.034). The results suggest the combination of video monitoring and behavioral coaching was responsible for the reduction in the mean rate of safety-related events/10,000 miles traveled at Carriers A and B.

Research highlights
► Onboard safety monitoring devices provide objective measures of driver behavior.
► The onboard safety monitoring devices significantly decreased the mean rate of safety-related events/10,000 miles traveled.
► Results were consistent with a long-haul and short-haul trucking fleets.