NTSB Offers Information on Managing Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Fatigue Risks

A photo of the 3-D image of the truck, which appeared in The Washington Post, helped the NTSB investigate the crash. Fox said investigators discovered that the Walmart truck driver had made a personal trip during his off-duty time, traveling 800 miles (12 hours) from his terminal in Delaware to visit his home in Georgia. The driver then drove back to Delaware and continued with his entire planned route. The NTSB determined he’d been awake for almost 24 hours at the time of the crash.

Walmart didn’t have any restrictions on how far away a driver could live from their terminal. Although the company uses collision avoidance systems on its vehicles, these systems were not fully operational. Fox said NTSB found that critical event reports were not being generated. Walmart did address fatigue as part of its driver training, but Fox relayed that it did not have a structured fatigue management program. The company has since implemented numerous safety improvements that address driver fatigue.

Additionally, Fox discussed the four elements of creating a fatigue management program:

Good safety culture with continuous education Policies and Procedures, to provide structure to support the culture of safety Training and Education, including obtaining rest off-duty Evaluation of the success of the program may use accident data Fox suggested that insurance companies are excellent partners to work with when creating a fatigue management system, as they can provide tools to help reveal vulnerabilities.