Virginia Trucking Group Warns Carriers That Research Data May Be Reused

This story appears in the Aug. 15 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Virginia Trucking Association recently warned carriers to read the fine print when they agree to participate in federally funded university studies, claiming that researchers used motor carrier data from a 2009 distracted-driving study in a subsequent study to support a pending hours-of-service rule.

VTA President Dale Bennett said that a 2009 study of longhaul drivers’ activities in the truck cab were later used in a study that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration used to justify changes in its driver hours-of-service regulation.

Bennett, who also is immediate past chairman of the Trucking Association Executives Council, told TAEC members in an e-mail that restricted data from the 2009 “naturalistic” study that documented drivers’ in-cab activities should not have been included in a new study placed in the FMCSA’s proposed hours-of-service rulemaking record on May 6.

“In June, I made you aware of a situation where motor carrier data collected by a Virginia-based university for one FMCSA-sponsored study (on driver distraction) was subsequently used by that university for a different FMCSA-sponsored study without the motor carriers’ consent,” Bennett wrote in a July 29 e-mail to TAEC members. “That second study was used by FMCSA in support of its proposed changes to the hours-of-service regulations.”

Bennett did not name the four carriers that participated in the 2009 study and might still be unaware their data was used for a second study placed in the FMCSA docket.

In an interview, Bennett said he was not accusing FMCSA or the study’s authors, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, of any wrongdoing, but was merely alerting TAEC members that data from studies could be used for purposes other than carriers might have intended.

“In this case, the data was used for a study that supported a rule change that we have opposed,” Bennett told Transport Topics last week. “I suspect this kind of thing happens more often than we know.”

In announcing its proposed driver-hours rule in December, FMCSA said it was leaning toward reducing driving hours back to 10 from 11 and modifying the 34-hour reset provision by requiring that it include two rest periods of at least six hours and mandating that they fall between midnight and 6 a.m. (1-3, p.1).

FMCSA later added four studies to its docket on the HOS rule, and one of them cited data from the earlier distracted-driving study, which Bennett said could be used to justify the agency’s proposed hours rule.

Although the new VTTI study did not conclude that there was a greater risk for “safety-critical events” associated with the 11th driving hour as compared to the 10th driving hour,” it did conclude that there are elevated risks when driving at the end of the work shift, near the 14th hour. That conclusion supported FMCSA’s proposed requirement that one of a driver’s breaks must be taken within the first seven hours of the 14-hour workday.

The new study also concluded there was a greater risk for accidents when comparisons were made between the first and second driving hours and the 11th hour of driving.

The distracted driving study in question was first published in 2009 by VTTI, and was based on data collected from 97 drivers working for two large and two small trucking companies who were observed by several cameras placed in the tractor cab.

Data collection for the 2009 study took place from November 2005 to March 2007. Nine trucks used in the study were fitted with unobtrusive data-collection equipment consisting of a data acquisition system, sensors to measure driver performance, and video cameras that recorded the driver’s face, steering wheel, and three views outside of the truck.

In the May study, VTTI said it used some of the same data to help provide conclusions in the new hours study.

Researchers said the 2009 study was relevant to hours of service research since the earlier study observing driver behavior closely examined the relationship between safety-critical events and driving hours, work hours and breaks.

The analysis of work hours in the 2009 study found that risk of being involved in a crash, near-crash, or dangerous maneuver such as a lane departure increased as work hours increased (5-16, p. 3).

Spokeswomen for VTTI and FMCSA did not return messages seeking comment.

In his email to state trucking association and other industry leaders, Bennett attached a copy of a “model data-sharing language” non-disclosure agreement that was developed by the American Transportation Research Institute. He encouraged leaders to pass it on to their members.

Rebecca Brewster, president of ATRI, said her association provided the model contract to VTA’s Bennett to help protect the industry.

Brewster said she fears that collecting and distributing data from studies is becoming a trend among some researchers.

“That’s a little scary for us,” Brewster told TT. “I think this is a growing issue that needs to be addressed by making sure we have these data-sharing agreements in place.” 

“It’s a potentially huge deal,” said Edward Crowell, president of Georgia Motor Trucking Association.

“If something doesn’t get seriously done about this not only will the information that exists be used against carriers inappropriately, but there won’t be anybody willing to do research if they’ve got half a brain,” Crowell said. “In the long run that’s going to end all the safety and productivity improvements we get out of research, and it will lead to bad policies being made too. That’s not good for anyone.”