"Distracted Driving?" Study reveals this is much more than texting

Although texting while driving by truck drivers has become a major safety concern for the trucking industry, a new report on "secondary tasks"-those not related to the primary tasking of driving the truck- reveals a lengthy list of actions taken by truckers while on their way down the road.

The report was compiled by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and a private consortium led by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) began a multi-year project to develop an "Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety System" (IVBSS) in 2009. One result of the ongoing initiative is the recently publicly released "Heavy-Truck Field Operational Test Key Findings" report.

As part of the IVBSS program, participating drivers were videoed while behind the wheel to see what activities not directly related to the job of driving they engaged in, such as talking on a cell phone, eating, smoking or adjusting various in-cab devices.

The resulting considerable list of the so-called "secondary tasks" recorded may be almost as useful as the testing of the safety systems themselves for what it reveals about work life on the road. Below is a shortened list of the "secondary tasks" the drivers were observed doing while on the road:

Dialing the phone
Text messaging
Talking/listening on the phone
Talking on or holding the CB radio
Talking to or looking at passengers
Adjusting stereo controls
Adjusting HVAC controls
Adjusting other controls on the dashboard
Adjusting the satellite radio
Adjusting the navigation system
Holding or adjusting other handheld devices
Writing on or reading the manifest
Eating
Drinking
Grooming
Smoking
Reading
Writing
Searching the cab interior

Secondary tasks related to communications were the most common (20.7%), followed by eating (9.7%). According to the report, "Drivers with their windshield wipers on were the least likely to perform secondary tasks, while driver at night were the most likely to perform secondary tasks."

These tasks are important to consider while driving. Safety is an ongoing issue, and the FleetLocate team is increasingly researching ways to keep everyone safer on the road.