Six days on the road: Will I make it home safely tonight? Examining attitudes toward commercial transportation regulation and safety

Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to examine the stressors that professional truck drivers experience and the impact these stressors may have on road safety.

Design/methodology/approach

Both quantitative and qualitative data gathered from 435 professional drivers measured attitudes and behaviors related to safety and compliance. Interviews with professional truck drivers provided an assessment of the stressors that they experience. The insights offered from these individuals were then integrated into a conceptual model. The model was tested via data collected through surveys administered to drivers using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Results from the interviews, as well as the results from the survey administered to professional drivers, suggest that truck drivers experience severe time pressures. Such time pressures create stress which can lead to physical fatigue and emotional exhaustion. Further, both of these debilitating conditions are related to negative attitudes about safety compliance and the current CSA regulation. Additionally, negative attitudes about safety compliance standards are positively related to violation of hours of service regulations.

Originality/value

Findings call into question the effectiveness of the new regulation with regard to commercial transportation as well as possibly suggesting that drivers of automobiles might play a role in helping to ameliorate vehicular crash rates.

Citation

Kemp, E., Kopp, S.W. and Kemp, E. (2013), "Six days on the road: Will I make it home safely tonight? Examining attitudes toward commercial transportation regulation and safety", The International Journal of Logistics Management, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 210-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-08-2012-0080