New ATRI report reviews ways to find safe younger drivers

From Transport Topics. A new initiative from the American Transportation Research Institute is exploring development of an assessment tool to identify the safest drivers among 18- to 20-year-olds, a key group that the trucking industry is targeting for expanded eligibility of commercial driver licenses for interstate travel. The group’s Young Driver Assessment Tool — which…

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From Transport Topics.

A new initiative from the American Transportation Research Institute is exploring development of an assessment tool to identify the safest drivers among 18- to 20-year-olds, a key group that the trucking industry is targeting for expanded eligibility of commercial driver licenses for interstate travel.

The group’s Young Driver Assessment Tool — which is in phase one of beta testing — has demonstrated that there is the potential to identify individuals who are likely to be safer drivers via development of safety profiles that incorporate personality traits, physiological characteristics and other aspects of mental health. “ATRI’s Younger Driver Assessment Tool can potentially identify those new entrant drivers who share the same personality attributes as safe, mature veteran drivers,” ATRI President Rebecca Brewster said in a statement to Transport Topics. “We look forward to expanding our pilot test to include more younger drivers to further validate the tool’s accuracy.”

Currently, federal law prohibits commercial drivers under age 21 from interstate travel; they are restricted to intrastate travel and there are restrictions on the type of freight they can move.

According to an Aug. 4 news release from ATRI, the research includes a series of technical memoranda exploring ways to develop the assessment tool.

Truck drivers who participated in the initial assessment ranged from 20-60 years old, with varied levels of driving experience and safety performance. The beta test included 16 drivers under the age of 30; the median age was 47.

Drivers were tested in several areas, including personality traits, reasoning, impulsivity, sensation-seeking, sleep quality and cognitive control. Participating drivers’ safety performance was evaluated by reviewing their state motor vehicle records (MVR) and pre-employment screening (PSP) data — specifically when it came to data on safety violations and involvement in accidents.

See the complete article online at Transport Topics.

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