ReviewWork-related driving safety in light vehicle fleets: A review of past research and the development of an intervention framework
Research highlights
► Work-related driving crashes have become the most common cause of death, injury, and absence from work in Australia and overseas. ► Majority of past research has been data-driven, and therefore, limited attention has been given to theoretical development in establishing the behavioural mechanism underlying driving behaviour. ► This paper presents a critical review of past research in the work-related driving field in light vehicle fleets (e.g., vehicles < 4.5 tonnes) and an intervention framework that provides future direction for practitioners and researchers.
Introduction
Road crashes are now the most common cause of work-related injury, death and absence in a number of countries. Given the impact of work-related driving crashes on social and economic aspects of business and the community, work-related road safety and risk management has received increasing attention in recent years. However, limited academic research has progressed on improving safety within the work-related driving sector, particularly in light vehicle fleets. The aim of this paper is to present a review of work-related driving safety research to date, and provide an intervention framework for the future development and implementation of work-related driving safety strategies for light vehicle fleets.
Section snippets
What is a work-related driver?
A fleet is referred to as a group of vehicles within an organisation most commonly used for the transportation of material or people. Work-related driving safety, or fleet safety, involves the management of fleet vehicles, and more importantly, the management of individuals who drive fleet vehicles. Work-related drivers, or fleet drivers, are commonly defined as those who drive at least once per week for work-related purposes, including those who commute to and from work (Haworth et al., 2000,
Methodology
The following discussion will present a review of the work-related driving literature specifically relating to light vehicle fleets (i.e., vehicles < 4.5 tonnes). Although a large body of research has identified workplace safety as an important issue within commercial vehicle fleets (i.e., trucks and motor coaches) (e.g., Adams-Guppy and Guppy, 2003, Glendon, 2007, Arboleda et al., 2003, Arnold and Hartley, 2001, Caird and Kline, 2004, Morrow and Crum, 2004, Sullman et al., 2002) there is greater
Extent of the problem
Identifying the true extent of the ‘fleet driver effect’ (see Grayson, 1999) or ‘work-related driver effect’ (see Newnam et al., 2002) is difficult considering that jurisdictions in Australia and overseas do not monitor purpose of journey information on crash reporting forms (Bomel Ltd., 2004, Murray et al., 2003). As such, national statistics on light vehicles may under-represent the true extent of the problem as the figures do not generally account for company vehicles. However, a number of
Theoretical development
Theoretical development in the work-related driving field has been limited with the majority of research being either anecdotal or data-driven (i.e., Haworth et al., 2000, Murray et al., 2003, Stradling et al., 2000). Although anecdotal and data-driven research has provided significant insight into the extent of the work-related driving problem, it is limited in that it does not provide the theoretical foundation for establishing the development and improvement of interventions designed to
Work-related driving safety interventions
Work-related safety interventions have traditionally been focused at the individual or driver level. These interventions have tended to reflect micro-level initiatives, such as driver training, and behaviour modification strategies. Interventions such as these typically require external individuals to conduct the interventions and modify behaviour through introducing short-term rewards that outweigh immediate costs (e.g., safe driving practices). More recently, work-related driving
Intervention framework
So far, this paper has presented work-related driving research to date, including a review of theoretical development and intervention approaches. As stated earlier, past research has been limited in its theoretical approach to understanding driving behaviour and in the development of safety interventions. Furthermore, past research has neglected the broader organisational context in the safety management of work-related drivers. Specifically, although some research has described the processes
Discussion
This paper has provided a review of work-related driving research to date, incorporating literatures in the academic and industrial sectors. The first section of the paper discussed terminology of a work-related driver, and the extent of the work-related driving problem. The second section presented a theoretical discussion of work-related driving research and described some of the theoretical framework utilized in past research. The third section of this paper discussed current work-related
Conclusions
The aim of this paper was to present a review of past research in the work-related driving field, and present an intervention framework that provides future direction for practitioners and researchers. Although work-related driving crashes have become the most common cause of death, injury, and absence from work in Australia and overseas, very limited research has progressed in establishing effective strategies to improve safety outcomes. As such, to move forward in the field of work-related
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to gratefully acknowledgement the support of the Australian Research Council. The authors would also like to thank Will Murray for his comments on an earlier version of this paper.
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