Preliminary Assessment to the Crash Truck Driver s Characteristics In Surabaya Gempol Toll Road

Transcription

1 Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 7, 29 Preliminary Assessment to the Crash Truck Driver s Characteristics In Surabaya Gempol Toll Road Ria Asih Aryani SOEMITRO Lecturer Civil Engineering Dept. Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Kampus ITS - Sukolilo Jalan Arif Rahman Hakim Surabaya 6111 Indonesia Fax: ria@ce.its.ac.id and soemitroraa@yahoo.com Nurani HARTATIK Former Master Student Civil Engineering Dept. Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Kampus ITS - Sukolilo Jalan Arif Rahman Hakim Surabaya 6111 Indonesia Fax: : nuranihartatik@ymail.com Hitapriya SUPRAYITNO Lecturer Civil Engineering Dept. Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Kampus ITS - Sukolilo Jalan Arif Rahman Hakim Surabaya 6111 Indonesia Fax: ce.its.ac.id and suprayitno_hita@yahoo.com Abstract: Occupational vehicular accidents involving truck drivers represent a serious threat to both work safety and public health. Indonesian Government Regulation (Peraturan Pemerintah Tentang Kendaraan dan Pengemudi) No is a primary tool used to regulate safe travel for commercial vehicles. The purpose of this present study is to investigate contributing factors to truck accidents and to identify crash driver characteristics that had been responsible for the accident. A total of 16 crash truck drivers in Gempol Surabaya toll road were interviewed. The results show that the most important factors contributing to truck accidents are the limited level of education of the truck drivers, regulation violation and weak physical driver lead to drowsy driving. Then, higher level of education for the commercial drivers should be required and traffic law enforcement should be seriously applied. Key Words: crash truck drivers, Gempol Surabaya toll road, truck driver s education, regulation violation, traffic law enforcement. 1. INTRODUCTION Occupational vehicular accidents involving truck drivers represent a serious threat to both work safety and public health (Rosenbloom et al., 29). Research has indicated that truck driving is among the occupations with the highest risk for fatal injuries though not necessarily due to the fault of the truckers (McCall and Horwitz, 25). In fatal crashes involving both large trucks and passenger vehicles, 94% of deaths occur in passenger vehicle occupants because the greater weight of large trucks transmits most of the crash forces to the lighter vehicles (Braver et al., 1997).

2 Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 7, 29 An issue that has received considerable attention in the truck driver accident analysis is the association between the probability of being involved in an accident and driver fatigue. Generally truck drivers themselves do believe driver fatigue to be a problem for the industry and several previous studies have reported that some truck drivers do have fatigue-related problems while driving (Arnold et al., 1997; Häkkänen and Summala, 21). Truck driving is the type of task known to be fatiguing; it is both a monotonous, repetitive task and one that required sustained attention. Not only do most truck drivers have high level of driving exposure, many also work long, irregular hours, at times that conflict with natural body rhythms; even frequently drive on long monotonous high speed roadways (McCartt et al., 2). Many truck drivers may have limited opportunities to have sufficient restorative sleep. However, when analyzing accident data, the information concerning crash truck driver characteristics is not always available or might, in some respect, be unreliable. Indonesian Government Regulation (Peraturan Pemerintah Tentang Kendaraan dan Pengemudi) No is a primary tool used to regulate safe travel for commercial vehicles. It stipulates that except under limited circumstances, commercial vehicle drivers may not drive more than 4 consecutive hours and should be having minimum 3 minutes rest, or work more than 8 hours per day. In some special cases however, commercial vehicle drivers may drive more than 8 hours per day but not exceed 12 hours per day. Long distance commercial vehicle carriers have to provide a spare driver to work in tandem. During the period of in Surabaya Gempol toll road truck drivers had been involved in approximately 45.65% of all the toll road accidents. Although a large proportion of toll road accidents involving truck drivers, surprisingly very few previous studies have investigated the association between crash truck driver s characteristics and the probability of being involved in an accident. The purpose of this present study was to investigate contributing factors to truck accidents and to identify crash driver characteristics that had been responsible for the accident. In particular, emphasis should be given to the level of education and driving experience of the crash drivers. There is no requirement of minimum level of education for commercial vehicle drivers. Indonesian Government Regulation No stipulates only that the applicant for commercial vehicle driving license should be literate and at least 2 years of age. The commercial vehicle driving license might be renewed every 5 years. The issues of this present study are considered to give more information in order to improve the Indonesian Government Regulation No related to traffic safety in truck drivers. 2. METHOD In-depth interviews in the year 26 with a sample of crash truck drivers selected to be representative of crash truck drivers in Gempol Surabaya toll road. A total of 16 crash truck drivers were interviewed. Interviews were conducted at public service area and after entering the toll booth. Drivers were asked to participate if they had been involved in the toll road accident. No identifying information on driver or carriers was collected; drivers were assured that their responses were completely anonymous. Interviews were conducted during daytime hours. The interview instrument was drafted consultation with the staff of the Indonesian toll road agency. Following a pretest of the instrument, modifications were made to some questions. The final instrument consisted of 13

3 Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 7, 29 items, and interviews generally required 15 2 minutes to complete. Teams of at least two experienced interviewers were present at each site, depending on the anticipated volume of truck traffic. 3. RESULTS The investigation results are presented in table 1. Table 1 Investigation results Variabel Number of Respondent Percentage Age of Driver years years years years 55 years Education Level of Driver Primary School Primary School Graduate Secondary School High School University Driving License No License years 1-5 years years years Driving Experience 1 years years years years Truck Configuration Trailer Double Unit - Truck axle loads - Truck axle loads - Truck Time of Accident Day ( ) Night ( ) Type of Collision Rear End Side Swipe Back-up Lost of Control Number of Vehicles in Collision One Two Three or more

4 Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 7, 29 Variabel Number of Respondent Percentage Cause of Accident Driver Vehicle Environment Road Condition Crashed Crash Out Come Fatal Heavily Injured Lightly Injured All crash drivers interviewed were men. 59 % of the crash drivers were years of age. Most of the crash drivers (84%) were primary school graduates % of the crash drivers having driving license for more than 1 years and having more than 1 years driving experience. The highest number (58.49%) of truck configuration involved in the accident was 2-axle loads trucks. Truck accidents were mostly (66%) happened at night. Rear end accident (84.9%) was the highest number of collision; the highest number (85.85%) of vehicles involved in the accident was two vehicles. The crash drivers interviewed mostly (79.25%) described that they were the one who should be blamed for the accident. The crash outcome was mostly (62.26) lightly injured. 4. DISCUSSION Truck driving is a complex activity, which relies on a certain number of cognitive skills and their automation level and mainly depends on the driver s expertise (Rosenbloom et al, 29). Moreover, psychological and physiological factors such as motivation, personality, cognitive style, fatigue and stress level of the driver must also be considered. Previous analysis concerning fatal accident rates of large trucks have more often shown that the probability of being involved in an accident is associated with some driver characteristics or external factors. As with private drivers, the truck drivers probability of being involved in an accident has been shown to be associated with driver age and driving experience (Rosenbloom et al, 29). Kaneko and Jovanis (1992) showed that accident risk of truck drivers is highest among those with less than 5 years of driving experience. The result, on the other hand, found that truck drivers between years of age and having more than 1 years driving experience were over-involved in the accident. Although the Indonesian Government Regulation also limits permitted consecutive driving hours to 4 hours; it had been found during the interview that non-compliance with the driving hour regulation is rather common among truck drivers. The truck drivers admitted that the primary reasons for violation were economic. Nevertheless, it might also possible that more experienced truck drivers generally believe they able to cope with possible driver fatigue and rarely consider it leading to an accident (Häkkänen and Summala, 21). The accident happened mostly at night, then it might be concluded that drowsiness was an important factor in the truck accident. It should also be noted that the greatest percentage of the crash drivers were only primary school graduates. It might be assumed that though the drivers knew the traffic regulation, they might not fully understand the implication or consequence of violating the traffic regulation due to their limited level of education.

5 Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 7, 29 Rear end collision was found to be the largest percentages of the type of collision and mostly two vehicles were involved in the accident; associated to the fact that the accident happened at night; this may be preliminary interpreted that most probably the truck accidents were due to human factors such as the error in attention, anticipation or estimation. These findings lead to a preliminary conclusion that weak physical drivers due to such factors as extended driving times, irregular work and sleep schedules, higher frequency of night time driving and inadequate sleep were a key factor to the truck accident. 2-axle loads truck found to be the largest percentages of the truck configuration involved in the accident as this type of trucks is the most economical trucks in Indonesia. Accident and especially traffic offence history of the driver was considered to indicate, to a certain extent, driving style. Nevertheless, it should be noted that traffic enforcement may not able to permanently improve dangerous driving behavior. Without a change in driver attitudes and beliefs, enforcement serves only as a restraint and once removed, drivers are likely to return to their usual behaviors. It is also important to be noted that to change driver s attitudes and beliefs, it may be better to rely on driver education but the success rates of educational campaigns vary considerably and depend largely on the target audiences and the behaviors targeted (Tay, 25, Tay et al., 29). 5. CONCLUSIONS Despite these study limitations, a number of factors that appear to be the most important causes contributing to truck accidents had been identified. These included the limited level of education, regulation violation and weak physical driver lead to drowsy driving. Indonesian Government Regulation No should require a higher level of education for the commercial drivers. As Indonesia had already applied free 9 years national education program, then the minimum level of education should be secondary school graduates. It is also important to provide traffic officers with intelligence on where and when to target their law enforcement efforts. Equally important is to conduct a more seriously law comprehension test and driving tests on the driving license renewal. More research is needed to better understand the effects of toll road design and curvature, average speeds, government laws and regulations, law enforcement, vehicle conditions and driver characteristics. Although crash truck driver s characteristics can provide valuable information, future research incorporating more complete factors is essential to better understand the crash risk factors for different types of vehicles leading to intelligent policy decisions regarding traffic safety. REFERENCES Arnold, P.K., Hartley, L.R., Corry, A., Hochstadt, D., Penna, F., Feyer A.M. (1997) Hours of work, and perception of fatigue among truck drivers, Accident Analysis and Prevention 29 (4), pp Braver, E.R., Zador, P. L., Thum, D., Mitter E. L., Baum H. M. and Villardo F. J. (1997) Tractor-trailer crashes in Indiana: A case-control study of the role of truck configuration, Accident Analysis and Prevention, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp Häkkänen, H. and Summala, H. (21) Fatal traffic accidents among trailer truck drivers and

6 Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 7, 29 accident causes as viewed by other truck drivers, Accident Analysis and Prevention 33 pp Kaneko, T., Jovanis, P. (1992) Multiday driving patterns and motor carrier accident risk: a disaggregate analysis, Accident Analysis and Prevention 24 (5), pp McCartt, A. T., Rohrbaugh, J. W., Hammer, M. C., Fuller, S. Z. (2) Factors associated with falling asleep at the wheel among long-distance truck drivers, Accident Analysis and Prevention 32, pp McCall, B. P., Horwitz, I. B. (25) Occupational vehicular accident claims: a workers compensation analysis of Oregon truck drivers , Accident Analysis and Prevention 37, pp Peraturan Pemerintah Tentang Kendaraan dan Pengemudi (Government Regulation on vehicles and drivers) 1993, PP No. 44, in Indonesian. Tay, R (25) The effectiveness of enforcement and publicity campaigns on serious crashes involving young male drivers: are drink driving and speeding similar? Accident Analysis and Prevention 37 (5), Tay, R (29) Factors contributing to hit-and-run in fatal crashes, Accident Analysis and Prevention 41, Rosenbloom, T., Eldror, E., Shahar, A. (29) Approaches of truck drivers and non-truck drivers toward reckless on-road behavior, Accident Analysis and Prevention (article in press).