'Getting In Gear'
Eat better and live a healthier lifestyle. That is the advice from a soon-to-be-released report on “Gettin in Gear,” a federal initiative that seeks to improve the health of the nation’s truck drivers as an antidote to fatigue and drowsy-driving problems.
“A healthy driver is a more alert driver and an alert driver is a safer driver and a safer driver is less likely to get into accidents,” said Albert Alvarez, transportation specialist in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Office of Research and Technology.
In drafting its reforms to the hours-of-service regulations, FMCSA identified declining alertness as a significant cause of accidents in drawing up plans to limit the time truckers spend behind the wheel (5-1, p. 1).
With these links in mind, FMCSA developed the idea for a driver wellness program in 1997, which ultimately was given the “Gettin-in-Gear” title. The agency’s goals dovetailed with the work of Sue Roberts, a health care specialist in Des Moines, Iowa. With her company, Sue Roberts Health Concepts, Roberts had just finished creating a driver wellness program for Ruan Transportation Management Systems, also in Des Moines. The National Private Truck Council was interested in the same subject, and Roberts ended up completing the assignment for FMCSA under contract to NPTC.
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For the full story, see the Aug. 7 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
