Welcome

Safety for the Long Haul, Inc. was a consultancy led by Dr. Ron Knipling, a scientist with 40 years of achievement in traffic safety. The company began as a sole proprietorship in 2006 and was incorporated in 2012. It performed more than 60 research, consulting, expert witness, and training-related contracts, many in topics related to large truck and other fleet safety. Dr. Knipling also devoted approximately 30% of his professional time to pro bono work focusing on research validity, integrity, new needs, and to public education.

Nothing Found

Sorry, no posts matched your criteria

Latest Blog Posts

Guest essays are welcome! Please click here for blog authoring guidelines.

Uncategorized

The Weary Road Ahead: Confronting Driver Mental Health Threats

June 10, 2021/by Dave Elniski, B.Sc., ATCL, CTSP

Uncategorized

What’s Your Safety Personality?

April 19, 2021/by Ronald R. Knipling, Ph.D.

Safety for the Long Haul; Large Truck Crash Risk, Causation & Prevention is the first and only comprehensive resource book on large truck safety. Written by Dr. Knipling with contributions from other experts, the book’s 619 pages encompass more than 100 specific topics relating to large truck crash risk, causation, counter-measures, safety management, and safety policy. It is written in a direct, informative and readable style, but with technical rigor and accuracy. Its target audience is motor carrier and transportation safety professionals, other fleet managers and executives, and government and industry officials and researchers.

In 2010 Dr. Knipling received the Order of Merit, one of the highest recognitions given by the International Road Transport Union (IRU), an international organization representing highway users.

Book Features

Multifaceted and eclectic
Thirteen chapters cover more than 100 large truck safety topics, ranging from driver psychology to vehicle dynamics.
Incisive but non-technical
The book is written at the level of a college survey course, with emphasis on brevity, accuracy, and hitting the highlights.
Topical organization
Can be read in its entirety or used selectively like an encyclopedia.
Visual Presentations
The book contains more than 175 illustrations and another 150 tables and textboxes.

Reference Citations
Approximately 400 citations, many with web addresses.
Expert commentaries
To complement and enhance the main text, there are 18 guest commentaries from top truck safety experts.
Glossary, subject index, and truck safety website list

Reviews

“Every truck safety professional in the country should read this book. And every trucking company owner or chief executive, upon whom the ultimate responsibility for safety lies, should be familiar with it. And so should the next chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. . . What Ron Knipling . . . has attempted here is to put forth in one document, for the first time, the current best understanding of the theory and practice of truck safety . . . Knipling’s style is straightforward and efficient, and he has a passion for the subject that carries him through.”

Oliver B. PattonWashington Editor, Heavy Duty Trucking Magazine

“The best safety resource on the market…nothing else even comes close.”

Robert PetrancostaVice President of Safety, Con-way Freight

“An impressive road safety work, which helps address the main causes of accidents involving heavy commercial vehicles . . .”

Janusz LacnyPresident, International Road Transport Union (IRU)

Downloads

Uncategorized

Trucks ARE for Girls!

by Ellen Voie, President/CEO, Women in Trucking

July, 2021

A decade ago, when I’d stand in front of trucking company executives to talk about Women In Trucking (WIT), their comments were typically dispassionate. “We don’t care if the driver is male or female,” was the usual response. “We just want good drivers.”

I would try to make them understand that women wanted different things in a carrier as well as the industry as a whole. Women often had the same challenges as men but would prioritize their significance differently.

Safety was always an issue. Women looked for a carrier that was concerned about their personal safety on the road as well as how well they maintained the tractor and trailer. We knew that women are more risk averse than men. Even the World Health Organization called “masculinity” hazardous to health due to risky driving.

It was hard at the time to quantify safety data for female commercial drivers, however, as women were said to be, “statistically insignificant” due to the low numbers for data collection. We knew that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners claimed female automobile drivers were less likely to get into accidents, more likely to wear their seatbelt and less likely to drive under the influence. We weren’t yet comfortable claiming the same for commercial drivers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reported only 157 fatal crashes in commercial trucks in 2018 where the driver was female. Out of a total of 4,786, this meant that women were the drivers in just in 3% of truck fatal crashes while comprising 10% of all commercial drivers.

The Transportation Research Board Committee on Truck and Bus Safety (2016) cited studies showing that in 2009, the female involvement rate per 100,000 drivers was 26% lower than the male rate for property damage only crashes, but 64% lower for fatal crashes. A low relative involvement in severe crashes is especially important in CMV transport because it means reduced carrier exposure to liability from catastrophic crashes.

We knew that women were not only safer drivers but were often reported to be better with customers, took better care of their equipment and were much better in completing their paperwork.

To quantify the actual percentage of female over the road drivers, we partnered with Freightwaves to better understand the ranks of women in supply chain roles. They surveyed nearly 900 logistics related companies. The over-the-road carriers reported 10.2% of their drivers are women. Women also comprise 38% of all safety professionals, but only 4% of diesel technicians. Overall, women represent 43.5% of the work force in non-executive positions.

We then partnered with Sawgrass Logistics to conduct a best practices study to determine WHAT carriers were doing to increase their female driver population. Sadly, only 11% of carriers answered “yes” to having a separate marketing campaign geared toward women. A recent study by DriverIQ found that 35% of their carrier respondents had no programs aimed at recruiting female drivers. The remainder felt that their ads were gender neutral.

Misperceptions continue to drive recruiting, which is unfortunate, as this industry still hasn’t figured out what women want. The most common concern I hear from company officials is that women are focused on home time more than men.

They are wrong. A recent Stay Metrics study found that the top turnover predicter for men is dissatisfaction with home time. For women, it’s their equipment and its safety. When we delved into the comments, we learned that safety concerns went beyond just the equipment, There are three factors that women consider when evaluating a carrier’s safety.

First, where are you sending her? Is the loading dock in a well-lit, secure location or is it in a location that is not truly safe? Secondly, what is the company culture in regard to the driver’s level of comfort in adverse weather conditions? Is she able to make the decision to stop and wait for snow, hurricanes, flooding or even protest areas? Finally, how well maintained is the equipment? A mechanically compromised truck is not a safe vehicle and, in addition to the delays for repairs, a disabled truck on the side of the road is not a safe place to be.

In our best practices research, we learned that 83% of women enter the trucking industry at the urging of a family member or friend. This means women are well aware of the anticipated change in lifestyle. We also know that women ask a lot more questions before they make a decision, so they are better prepared for the career change.

Roadway safety has always been this industry’s top priority, yet we need to be more aware of personal safety as well. On a scale of one to ten, we found that women reported an average of 4.4 when asked if they felt unsafe (1) or very safe (10) in their job. We’ve challenged truckstops to increase lighting, surveillance cameras, and fencing. We’ve asked manufacturers for personal safety alarms in the event a driver is sleeping, and someone tries to enter their truck.

We were so excited to learn that the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) included gender when researching crash causation. They reported what we’d known all along. Women are safer commercial drivers. Men were found to be 20% more likely to be involved in a crash than women. In every category, from reckless driving to improper lane changing, women were found to be safer drivers. For example, men were 73% more likely to have a failure to obey a traffic signal conviction, and 70% more likely to have a 1-15 miles over the speed limit conviction. Additionally, men were 40% more likely than women to be convicted of any offense.

Our challenge to the motor transport industry is to stop ignoring the data and start looking at ways to make our roads safer by attracting and retaining more women. This is our mission at Women In Trucking Association. We hope it will be yours as well.

Cited References:

American Transportation Research Institute crash causation study http://truckingresearch.org/2018/07/31/atri-releases-updated-crash-predictor-model/

DriverIQ https://wt.memberclicks.net/index.php?option=com_dailyplanetblog&view=entry&year=2020&month=03&day=09&id=117:top-strategies-for-attracting-and-retaining-qualified-drivers

Freightwaves: 2019 Freightwaves & Women In Trucking Association Survey

Social Issues Research Centre: The Social Issues Research Centre

Sex differences in driving and insurance risk, August 2004

Staymetrics https://staymetrics.com

Transportation Research Board Committee on Truck & Bus Safety (ACS60). Women Commercial Drivers & Safety. Research Needs Statement available at: https://rns.trb.org/details/dproject.aspx?n=35343. 2016 (updated from 2013).

Women In Trucking Association, Inc. https://www.womenintrucking.org/

Bio:

Ellen Voie is the President/CEO and founder of the Women In Trucking Association, formed to promote the employment of women in the trucking industry, address obstacles and to celebrate the successes of its members. Voie serves on FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee and formerly on the Entry Level Driver Training Advisory Committee. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Motor Carrier Association and is a member of the Wisconsin DOT’s Motor Carrier Advisory Committee.

Next month’s blog:

“Which of Five Factors Affect Driver Fatigue and Alertness the LEAST?” by Ron Knipling

Guest essays invited: This website invites submission of guest essays/blogs for publication in coming months. Contact Dr. Ron Knipling at rknipling@verizon.net for information on editorial guidelines and evaluation criteria.

July 12, 2021/by Ellen Voie

Uncategorized

The Weary Road Ahead: Confronting Driver Mental Health Threats

by Dave Elniski, B.Sc., ATCL, CTSP

June, 2021

The original version of this essay won the 2021 OHS Healthy Workplaces Award from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Extension and has been re-published with their permission.

Do you think that the North American long-haul trucking industry is a leader in worker mental health wellness? Do you think trucking effectively helps mentally-stressed workers? I do not. I do, however, believe trucking can improve. In this essay, I will describe why I believe long-haul trucking is so full of anger and stress and then present solutions to improve the mental health of workers.

A Personal Story: Anger in Kalispell, Montana

The majority of my working life has been spent in the trucking industry: first as a driver, and now as a transportation safety professional. Trucking has been good to me. I have enjoyed regular employment, career advancement, and seen wonderful sights across North America. Trucking has a dark side, though. I have seen it sap workers’ vitality, leaving them burnt out, stressed, and isolated.

One night early into my career, I stopped for the night at a truck stop near Kalispell, Montana. While completing my post-trip inspection, another driver walked up to me and asked how I was doing. Halfway through my answer, he began to vent about his week and how upset he was with his employer. He spoke about their broken promises to get him home, and said he was leaving their truck at this truck stop and catching a flight home. He left the truck stop via taxi. A week later I was through the area again and saw his rig and load still sitting there. I remembered the tension in his face and the tight-chested way he had described his frustrations. While part of me secretly criticized him for unprofessionally abandoning his company’s property, I was interested in knowing what pressures would drive someone to end their employment that abruptly.

This was not an isolated incident. As I spent more time as a driver, I began to see unexpressed negative emotions leading to angry outbursts as a standard occurrence. I had many working days where I myself felt reduced to the unit number on the truck after being pushed to and sometimes past my legal driving limits. Given the pressures workers face in this industry, it seemed as though such feelings and outbursts (and their fallout) were just a part of doing business in trucking.

I applaud organizations that consider emotional health in their safety programs. Sometimes, these organizations may not even consider emotional well-being to be a safety issue, but rather as just a nice way to do business.

Researcher and author Dr. Brené Brown has researched and written extensively on how individuals can improve their emotional intelligence. In Dare to Lead, she shows how leaders can lead from a place of emotional intelligence (Brown, 2018). I believe that many businesses around the world see that the emotional well-being of their employees positively correlates with productivity and safety.

However, I do not think that the trucking industry is anywhere near the leading edge of addressing psycho-social and mental health concerns. As an illustration, the Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) premium rate is the dollar amount payable to WCB per $100 of payroll, and this number increases with WCB’s perception of risk. General Trucking’s 2021 premium rate is 35% higher than that of Logging/Woodland Operations ($4.38 and $3.25 respectively; WCB Alberta, 2020). Given the hazards workers face in industries like logging, I see this as evidence that occupational health and safety (OH&S) concerns within the trucking industry have not been addressed as effectively as other high-risk industries. Given the long days and isolation that characterize the working environments of many truckers, I believe that mental health concerns are also not being adequately addressed.

Why is There So Much Anger in Trucking?

I have many personal stories of workers overflowing with anger in the trucking industry. Some resulted in physical health problems, others in career-ending substance-abuse, and many more in poor decision-making while angry. Where does all of this anger come from? I believe it comes from the toxic combination of demanding working conditions, isolation, and a lack of courage amongst leaders to engage with workers emotionally.

Demanding Working Conditions. Solo entrepreneurs and small companies dominate trucking’s North American history (Rubak, 2005). This is different from the histories of industries like mining and railroading: these industries often started with large corporations and investments. Until the end of the 1970s, most trucking was economically regulated to a high degree by the federal governments in both Canada and USA (Belzer, 2000). Regulation limited competition and created carrier entrance barriers. In the early 1980s, Canada and the USA deregulated trucking, introducing general carriers to the already-deregulated world of agricultural trucking (Hamilton, 2008). Competition increased, leading to wage reduction and worsening work conditions (Belzer, 2000).

While strong regulations helped improve working conditions in mining and railroading, deregulation decreased collective bargaining power in trucking, crippling a major source of safety reform. I believe that the current fiercely-competitive nature of trucking – coupled with minimal enforcement of OH&S regulations due to the transient nature of most truck drivers’ workplaces – has pressured companies to reduce safety expenditures.

Isolation. Many people have had to confront isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited social gatherings and workers sent home has led to increased levels of negative emotions which often manifest as outward and inward anger (Kulkarni, 2020). In trucking, this sort of isolation is not new. While the travel associated with trucking may often be romanticized by the uninitiated, the truth is most truck drivers are people trying to make a living and would prefer to be able to spend more time with friends and family.

Lack of Courage in Leadership. Being able to express oneself emotionally in a professional setting takes courage. When I speak to a colleague who is upset, it is easier to wall myself off emotionally and offer a fake smile with platitudes until the encounter is over. However, this approach helps no one. When I mindfully engage with the other person and try to truly empathize with what they are feeling, the encounter is always more meaningful and productive. Yet this is a harder approach to take. I think many leaders in trucking either lack the skills or are too afraid to truly communicate with their colleagues or direct reports. Unfortunately, a lack of courage in this setting only deepens feelings of loneliness and perceived isolation.

Solutions

I have identified mental stress problems in the long-haul trucking workplace. Now I will present three solutions.

1 – Merge Transportation Safety and Occupational Health & Safety

In Alberta, the Traffic Safety Act (TSA) outlines safety regulations for commercial vehicle operators (Province of Alberta, 2020). From my experience, trucking companies tend to measure safety performance in terms of compliance with such regulations. Trucking companies also fall under occupational health and safety (OH&S) regulations yet may pay little attention to these obligations. Focus is often only on safe driving and reducing vehicle insurance rates.

Oftentimes, companies segregate transportation safety and OH&S programs, placing greater emphasis on the former. From a business and public safety perspective, this is understandable: there are greater safety and financial risks when trucks are in motion on a public highway. However, Alberta WCB premiums for General Trucking have risen 31% between 2015 and 2021 (WCB Alberta, 2020), and these premiums account for the many injuries that occur outside of driving: falls, lower back strains, hearing loss, and more. OH&S-focused initiatives can help with these costs.

Transportation-specific safety programs address the safety concerns associated with driving, but do not adequately address the health risks that arise from non-driving tasks. When the number of injuries that occur from collisions are compared with the number of injuries that occur from non-driving duties, non-driving activities result in more injuries to drivers (Dick et al., 2006). A trucking company safety program incorporating OH&S and transportation concerns can not only better address these non-driving injuries, but now also has the framework to systematically address mental health issues.

2 – Use Technology to Eliminate Inefficiency but Not Humanity

Trucking is constantly adopting new technology. Onboard data recording devices communication systems are digitizing trucking. Hours of service recording must soon be done with an electronic logging device for most Canadian truck operators just like how it is currently required to be done in the USA (Transport Canada, 2020).

Technology is neither good or bad. Good and bad come into play when we, as a society, decide how we will use the technology. I believe that many trucking companies have used technology to improve their on-highway safety and dispatch communication, but that this has been done at the expense of driver mental health.

Isolation is detrimental to mental health and can increase negative emotions like anger. Increased levels of anger and frustration not only damage mental health but also create their own safety concerns. Technology that increases a driver’s perceived level of isolation is a hazard to both mental health and safety.

I have worked for companies that have eliminated voice (phone) contact between the office and the drivers, choosing instead to use screen-based dispatch systems like email. Personally, this sort of communication made me feel less connected to my employer and more like a number. While screen- and text-based communication are useful tools, I believe it can be harmful to a driver’s mental health when they are their only sources of social interaction in the workplace.

3 – Nurture Healthy Boundaries and Support Courageous Leadership

In her book Dare to Lead, Dr. Brené Brown states that boundary-setting is one of the best ways to create a kind and compassionate workplace (2018). A person can set their own boundaries by speaking up for themselves and telling others how they expect to be treated. A company can create boundaries with clear expectations, job descriptions, and pay deals that accurately reflect all of the different tasks within a job.

Truck drivers are frequently asked to perform tasks for which they are not specifically compensated. An owner-operator may be told that they have to wait a long time to load and that the wait time is just part of the load. Company drivers who are paid by the mile may be told they have to tarp a load, and not be given any extra pay for this time-consuming task. For many, these pay deals feel unfair regardless of their business justification. From a wellness leadership perspective, I call these pay deals unkind.

Long-haul trucking is an industry which already has many intrinsic mental health risk factors like isolation and difficult working conditions. When there is also an unpredictable and unclear pay deal, feelings of being undervalued may arise. Companies can help address their mental health concerns by creating detailed and specific pay deals and job descriptions and then making sure they stick to them. Deviation from a job description is a broken promise. Leaders and workers must also be encouraged to speak in emotionally intelligent terms. Leaders cannot be afraid to hear the frustration of one of their workers, and they need to be able to see emotionally-charged conversations as valuable feedback, not as nuisances.

Summary

The trucking industry needs to recognise the role that anger, stress, and other negative emotions play in worker health and performance. Anything that impairs rationality and negatively affects a person’s behaviour is a safety hazard, so these negative emotions need to be treated like the safety hazards they are instead of as an unalterable part of the industry’s culture. Trucking may always be a challenging environment in which to promote wellness leadership, but I am confident that improvements can be made. Trucking has an aging workforce, and future recruitment may have a difficult time battling attrition (Canadian Trucking Alliance, 2016); companies need to address wellness problems if they hope to attract and retain labour.

North America relies on trucking companies to keep essential goods moving. Trucking companies rely on their workers to fulfill this responsibility. Now it is time to create a trucking industry where workers can rely on their employers and each other to help ease some burdens of the job.

References

Belzer, M.H. (2000). Chapter 3 The road from institutional to market regulation. In Sweatshops on Wheels. Oxford University Press.

Belzer, M.H. (2000). Chapter 6 Labor market failure and the role of institutions. In Sweatshops on Wheels. Oxford University Press.

Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work. Tough conversations. Whole hearts. New York: Random House.

Canadian Trucking Alliance. (2016). CTA Study: Truck Driver Shortage Accelerating. Retrieved December 16, 2020 from http://cantruck.ca/truck-driver-shortage-accelerating-according-to-new-cta-study/#:~:text=The%20study%20estimates%20that%20the,and%2065%20years%20of%20age.

Dick, V., Hendrix, J.W., & Knipling, R.R. (2006). New Hours-of-Service rules: trucking industry reactions and safety outcomes. Transportation Research Record, No. 1966, Pp. 103-109, 2006a.

Hamilton, S. (2008). Chapter 7 Agrarian trucking culture and deregulatory capitalism, 1960-80. In Trucking Country: The Road to America’s Wal-Mart Economy. Princeton University Press.

Kulkarni, K. (2020). COVID-19: The stages of isolation, and how to cope. Monash University. Retrieved December 18, 2020 from https://lens.monash.edu/@coronavirus-articles/2020/04/28/1380214/covid-19-the-stages-of-isolation-and-how-to-cope

Province of Alberta. (2020). Commercial vehicle certificate and insurance regulation, AR314/2002. Under the Traffic Safety Act. Alberta Queen’s Printer.

Rubak, P.M. (2005). Big Wheels Across the Prairies: A History of Trucking in Alberta Prior to 1960. BWATP Publisher.

Transport Canada. (2020). Electronic Logging Devices – What you need to know. Retrieved December 18, 2020 from the Transport Canada website at https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/electronic-logging-devices/electronic-logging-devices-what-you-need-know#what-is-electronic-logging-device

Workers’ Compensation Board Alberta. (2020). Premium Rate Manual. Retrieved December 16, 2020 from the Workers’ Compensation Board website at https://rm.wcb.ab.ca/WCB.RateManual.WebServer/?sector=6&rateGroup=456102&industryCode=50714

Next month’s blog:

“Trucks ARE for Girls” by Ellen Voie

June 10, 2021/by Dave Elniski, B.Sc., ATCL, CTSP

Uncategorized

What’s Your Safety Personality?

Ronald R. Knipling, Ph.D.

President, Safety for the Long Haul Inc.

Do you have a safety personality behind the wheel? Yes! Everyone has a safety personality. That’s because everyone has a personality, and several universal personality dimensions affect safety behavior. Driver personality is the strongest of various personal factors affecting safety outcomes, in my opinion. Others include driver age, gender, sensory-motor performance (e.g., reaction time), medical conditions, and mental abilities. All of these can affect driver crash risk, sometimes strongly. Yet it is my conclusion that driver personality exerts the greatest enduring affects.

What is personality? You might think of it as just behavior patterns in social situations. We all know both extraverts and introverts, for example. Yet it is more than that. Personality is your long-term consistencies of behavior, compared to others. This consistency is seen across decades of time and across a variety of situations. Think about yourself and 3-4 other people whom you have known for a long time, and across different situations. Who is the calmest person you know well? The most aggressive? The most friendly?

Maybe you are thinking that yes, people have individual differences in their behavior patterns, but that crash involvement is more a function of the environment and of just plain luck. Those elements are strong also. Traffic density is the biggest environmental factor affecting your safety on the roads each day. And traffic crashes, especially serious ones, are rare events relative to all the hours and miles of driving. Luck plays a role. Even the worst drivers have to be unlucky to find themselves involved in a crash on any given day.

The vagaries of life notwithstanding, individual personality effects become evident over time. Studies of groups of drivers, such as those in a truck or other motor vehicle fleet, show repeatedly that there are wide variations in drivers’ rates of risky behaviors. The same individuals tend to exhibit the highest risks over time.

One way to show this is to instrument fleet vehicles with sensors recording speeds, accelerations, decelerations (e.g., hard braking events), swerves, and close proximities to other vehicles. Many large studies have captured and recorded these events, along with video footage of drivers’ actions and surrounding traffic. Driver subjects are fully informed of the instrumentation and are compensated for agreeing to drive “in a fishbowl.” Observations over their first weeks show clearly that drivers habituate quickly to the sensors and behave as usual, whether good or bad. A few actual crashes are captured, but most of the events are “near-misses” or other aberrant incidents. Capturing a lot of events means more reliable statistics.

A commercial fleet study rank-ordered 95 truck drivers by their rate of involvement in these kind of at-fault events (described in Knipling, 2009). If involvements were just a matter of chance, you’d expect all the drivers to average out about the same. Yet the worst drivers, with just 19% of total mileage exposure, accounted for 53% of all the at-fault events. The remaining drivers with 81% of exposure were involved in just 47% of the at-fault close calls. Findings like this are seen reliably in instrumented fleet studies. My conclusion is that, in almost any group of drivers, 15-20% of drivers account for 50% or more of total driver error and, therefore, liability risk. By the way, the single very worst driver of the 95 did 0.9% of the total driving but had 6.3% of all at-fault events. He was seven times riskier than the average subject in the study.

There’s a bright side to this coin. The good drivers had 81% of the exposure but less than half (47%) of the total risk. Event counts even showed that 18 of the 95 drivers never made a detectable mistake. Fleet managers should pick out their bad apples but also recognize and appreciate all their good ones.

What if someone came back a year later and retested the same 95 drivers? Would the good and bad ones still be the same? The study did not do that, but evidence suggests that risk rankings wouldn’t change much. I conducted a survey (Knipling et al., 2004) of 178 motor carrier safety directors and 67 other experts (i.e., researchers, consultants, administrators) which addressed the question of risk consistency over time. When asked about the year-to-year consistency of driver risk, 67% of the safety directors said that relative driver risk stays about the same. Only 10% believed that relative risk can change dramatically. Among the other experts, 65% said that risk stays about the same. None of the 67 believed that individual risk can change dramatically.

So where do personality traits fit in this puzzle? Personality traits are measured along dimensions, not classified in distinct categories like blood type. Traits are scored by survey responses, answers to interview questions, and by behavioral observations. Personality research is thus fuzzy compared to other safety science. It is still compelling, though.

One personality trait with a strong relation to safety is sensation-seeking. People scoring high on this measure tend to seek excitement, take risks, and get bored easily. Sound like anyone you know? Sensation-seeking usually peaks in late adolescence, but individual differences among people remain for decades. Would you rather go to a party or read a book? People who seek “action” at a party tend also to seek “action” while driving.

Impulsivity is another personal red flag. It’s the inability to control impulses, which of course leads to hasty actions and errors. Impulsivity is strongly related to driving mistakes and misbehaviors. Driving presents an instantaneous personality test every time you approach a green-to-amber traffic signal change. With exceptions, we can infer impulsivity and risk-taking tendencies when drivers run the red.

Aggressiveness and anger-proneness are overlapping personality traits. Aggressive people are hard-charging, competitive, and impatient. People who are easily provoked can become wrathful behind the wheel. We’ve all had that road rage gut reaction, but some much more than others. My survey of 178 fleet safety directors asked them to rate the relative risk associated with 16 personal factors. “Aggressive/angry” was the #1 culprit, followed closely by “impatient/ impulsive.” The traits judged least risky of those offered included “older driver” and “introverted/unsociable.”

Decades of personality research has developed and elaborated the “Big Five” model of personality (Little, 2017). The five dimensions don’t encompass everything about a person, but they tell you a lot. The mnemonic “OCEAN” helps one to remember the five dimensions. Research finds that two of the five dimensions correlate most highly with safe and unsafe tendencies. As you read the list, try to pick out the two strongest safety indicators. The “Big Five” personality dimensions are:

Open to experience (vs. Closed)
Conscientious (vs. Casual)
Extraverted (vs. Introverted)
Agreeable (vs. Disagreeable)
Neurotic (vs. Stable).

What are your choices for the two that correlate most closely with behavioral safety? If you were hiring fleet drivers (or employees for any job with risks), you should seek out these two traits. A hint is that the same two personality traits correlate most highly with worker retention (Zimmerman, 2008; Knipling et al., 2011). Driver retention is highly prized in commercial fleets because of the driver shortage.

The American Transportation Research Institute, or ATRI (Boris & Luciana, 2017), reviewed personality traits and other personal risk factors in relation to truck driving safety. Their focus was on young truck drivers (18-25) but their results apply generally. They prioritized two of the “Big Five” as desired truck driver traits. Those two were Conscientiousness and Agreeableness.

The Conscientious personality embraces rule-following and traditional values. At the other end of this dimension, the casual personality interprets rules loosely and might scorn conventional thinking. Casual people aren’t necessarily bad. Little (2017) cites a study finding that the best jazz musicians scored low on conscientiousness. They could improvise because they weren’t shackled by rules. In driving, however, ATRI reported that low conscientiousness was associated with carelessness. You might have trouble getting safely across town if you improvise while driving.

Agreeableness is less obvious as a safety correlate. ATRI’s study focused on drivers who would be hired to drive for a fleet and therefore follow its rules; i.e., be a reliable team member. Agreeable personalities are motivated to get along smoothly with others and not “make waves.” For them, rule-following is the way to sustain positive relationships. The “go along to get along.” At the other extreme, disagreeable people aren’t motivated to get along and may be argumentative about rules and expectations.

Most companies don’t use formal personality tests in their driver screening and hiring, but more should. If you interview job candidates, just being aware of these personality dimensions might help you make better choices. And remember that the whole concept of personality rests on the long-term consistency of behavior. Past behavior predicts future behavior. Past driving behavior is most relevant, but look for non-driving red flags as well. A sad truth is that non-driving criminality is associated with elevated crash risks, twofold or more according to one leading expert (Evans, 2004).

As one who has studied the safety management of fleets, I advocate using every trick in the book to field safe vehicles, drivers, and operations. Do everything you can, across the board. Yet some management areas are more important than others. In a different survey, my colleagues and I (Knipling et al., 2011) asked fleet safety directors to choose the single most important area of fleet safety management from five choices. The answer “All of the above” was not permitted. The five management choices were:

Driver Orientation & Training
Driver Selection and Hiring
Company Communications
Driver Monitoring & Evaluation
Rewards & Discipline.

Notice that Choices 1, 3, and 5 above are all related to changing drivers to make them better. In contrast, Choices 2 and 4 are about assessing drivers as they actually are. How did safety directors allocate their 1^st place votes? Choices 2 and 4 together received 60% of the votes, about 30% each. The combined total of Choices 1, 3, and 5 was 40%, about 13% each. Stated simply, the safety directors placed higher value on accurately assessing drivers’ safety than on trying to change it. To say that one’s personality is “fixed” is too strong a statement. Enduring yes, but not immutable. Personality scientist Brian Little (2017) suggests that our personality roots arise deeply from our genetics and social histories, but that self-aware individuals can transcend their engrained tendencies. An introverted person can learn to function well socially and even become an influential leader, if that’s a necessity of the situation or a strong aspiration. Similarly, some drivers can transcend their past mistakes and commit to safe behaviors going forward. Personality is from your core, but it doesn’t have to be your destiny.

Cited References

ATRI. Research identifies multiple characteristics that may identify safe younger drivers. Research summary available at truckingresearch.org. Undated, downloaded 2021.

ATRI (Boris, C. & Luciana, M.M.). Developing a Younger Driver Assessment Tool Technical Memorandum #1. 2017. Available at truckingresearch.org.

Evans, L. Traffic Safety. Science Serving Society, Bloomfield Hills, MI. ISBN 0-9754871-0-8, 2004.

Knipling, R.R. Safety for the Long Haul; Large Truck Crash Risk, Causation, & Prevention. American Trucking Associations. ISBN 978-0-692-00073-1, 2009. Information available at www.safetyforthelonghaul.com.

Knipling, R.R., Boyle, L.N., Hickman, J.S., York, J.S., Daecher, C., Olsen, E. C. B., and Prailey, T.D. Synthesis Report #4: Individual Differences and the High- Risk Commercial Driver. TRB Commercial Truck & Bus Synthesis Program. ISSN 1544-6808, ISBN 0-309-08810-0, 2004a.

Knipling, R.R., Burks, S.V., Starner, K. M., Thorpe, C.P., Barnes, M. J. & Bergoffen, G. Driver Selection Tests & Measurements. CTBSSP Synthesis 21, TRB, ISBN 978-0-309-22339-9, http://www.trb.org/Publications/PubsCTBSSPSynthesisReports.aspx, 2011.

Little, Brian R. Who Are You, Really; The Surprising Puzzle of Personality. TED Books/Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-1-5011-1996-5, 2017.

Zimmerman, R.D. Understanding the impact of personality traits on individuals’ turnover decisions: a meta-analytic path model. Personnel Psychology, 61, 2008, Pp. 309-348.

Next month’s blog:

“Which of Five Factors Affects Driver Fatigue the Least?”

Guest essays invited: This website invites submission of guest essays/blogs for publication in coming months. Contact Dr. Ron Knipling at rknipling@verizon.net for information on editorial guidelines and evaluation criteria.

April 19, 2021/by Ronald R. Knipling, Ph.D.

Welcome

Latest Blog Posts

The Book “Safety for the Long Haul”

Book Features

Reviews

A Personal Story: Anger in Kalispell, Montana

Why is There So Much Anger in Trucking?

Solutions

Summary

References