CDC Says Driver Health Risks Exceed Other Occupations

This story appears in the Jan. 20 print edition of Transport Topics

WASHINGTON — A survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly 70% of longhaul truck drivers are obese, 50% smoke cigarettes, 14% have diabetes and more than one-third have no health insurance.

Truck drivers had more than twice the rates of obesity and smoking when compared with the general adult working population, said Karl Sieber, a senior research health scientist for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

“Furthermore, the presence of diabetes was elevated compared to the national working population,” said Sieber, who discussed the survey’s preliminary findings Jan. 14 during the annual meeting here of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

Anne Ferro, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, also addressed TRB. She called the findings “troubling” and said that they serve as a reminder that her agency and the trucking industry need to continue striving to improve drivers’ work environment.

Driver health is a major safety issue for motor carriers — about one-third of all fatal truck-related crashes are the result of driver-related factors, Ferro said.

But Rob Abbott, vice president of safety policy for American Trucking Associations, questioned whether driver health should be a priority for an agency charged with commercial vehicle safety.

“This very question played out in the hours-of-service rulemaking when the agency used presumed driver health benefits, not substantial safety benefits, to justify the rule change,” Abbott said.

The survey found that about 88% of the drivers questioned had one or more of the three risk factors of hypertension, smoking or obesity compared with only 54% of workers in other sectors. Nearly one in 10 drivers had all three factors, and only 2% of other adult workers had all three.

The study also found that:

• About 15% of respondents showed signs of sleep apnea, and 59% probably had some respiratory disturbance.

• Roughly 34% of the drivers admitted to either nodding off or falling asleep while driving, and 7% said they felt drowsy every day.

• The mean workweek for drivers was 61 hours, and nearly eight out of 10 said they drove alone.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health does research and makes recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness in each work sector.

Its researchers interviewed 1,670 drivers at 32 truck stops in 20 states from October through December 2010, Sieber said, and 405 other drivers participated in an abbreviated survey.

Despite the discouraging health assessment, more than half of the driver participants told interviewers that they were in “good” to “excellent” health, Sieber said.

“When I talk to truck drivers at truck shows, I talk to people who are clearly obese, and they say, ‘Well, I have no risk factor,’ ” Sieber said. “Well, current research shows that no matter what level, if you are obese, there is no such thing as healthy obesity.”

Ferro said the study should send a signal to carriers that they should take steps to ensure that drivers “are the most alert, best rested and best able to apply their skills to the task at hand, operating on our highways at high rates of speed under very difficult conditions.”

The study’s findings led researchers to conclude that “targeted interventions” and “continued surveillance for longhaul truck drivers” are needed.

The study required that those longhaul drivers included in hourlong, face-to-face interviews had driven vehicles with three or more axles for at least the past year.

Ferro, who recently took a two-day over-the-road trip from Maryland to Missouri with owner-operator Leo Wilkins, said the experience caused her to note that her agency needs to “press forward on improving the conditions under which drivers operate.”

She added, “Drivers have among the toughest jobs in our nation. They operate under very difficult conditions. They operate under extreme stress.”

ATA’s Abbott noted it’s important that researchers compare truck drivers, who are mostly male, not against the whole population but rather the segment that typically comprises the ranks of truck drivers.

“For instance, if most of the driving population is male, then we should compare truck driver health to that of other working men,” Abbott said. “Similarly, the health of truck drivers should be compared against those of similar age, education and income levels. Only then will we be able to fully understand the role of the occupation in affecting the driver’s health.”