Evaluating the 2003 revised hours-of-service regulations for truck drivers: The impact of time-on-task on critical incident risk

On January 4th, 2004, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration implemented a revised set of regulations concerning the hours-of-service (HOS) of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. One central component of the revised HOS regulations was a one-hour increase in allowable driving time, from 10 to 11 h. The current study evaluated the impact of the additional driving-hour on critical incident risk. Data from a naturalistic truck driving study, which resulted in over 2 million driving miles of continuously collected data, were analyzed. Driving hour bins (hours 1 through 11) were created and the frequency of critical incidents for each hour, and trips (opportunities) per each hour, were identified. A relative frequency was then calculated (critical incidents divided by opportunities) for each hour and odds ratios were determined. Analyses found an elevated risk in the 1st driving-hour, but no consistent significant difference between hours 2 through 11. Analyses on time-of-day, where incident rates were calculated for each of the 24 h in the day, were also conducted. The results found a strong positive correlation to national traffic density data. As an impact on U.S. national transportation policy, the results of this study do not support the hypothesis that there is an increased risk resulting from CMV drivers driving in the 11th driving-hour as compared to the 10th driving-hour, or any hour.