Truck drivers serve as thankless heroes to our nation’s economy, as they’re willing to drive through all hours of the day and through a wide range of weather conditions to ensure businesses get the materials, supplies and products they need for their daily operations. If you think it’s difficult to drive your personal vehicle in less than ideal road conditions, imagine how difficult it is to drive a 16 wheeler in similar trying circumstances.
As such, it’s important that the truck driving industry and researchers continue to explore ways to improve the safety of truck drivers. Certainly, things have come a long way from where they were just a generation ago, but there is always room for further progressions to ensure current drivers feel safe, and to ensure those considering a career in truck driving have peace of mind knowing there are measures in place to protect them.
Virginia Tech, one of the most prestigious universities on the Atlantic Coast, has been awarded a $2.5 million dollar contract to study sleeping patterns and regulations for commercial truck drivers. The study could have a major impact on commercial truck drivers, and the study could have a major influence of future regulations and operational standards.
Per the report, one factor that stimulated the need for research was that many drivers have called for more flexibility. Correspondingly, the study will use a “sleep when they are sleepy” strategy, and measure road violations, crashes and fatigue to see how the strategy fared.
It will be interesting to see the results of Virginia Tech’s research!
