TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 24: Distracted Driving Countermeasures for Commercial Vehicles examines driving distractions, as well as any protective (safety-enhancing) effects of particular devices. Distracted driving for commercial drivers is defined as attending to tasks not directly related to operating the vehicle.

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 23: Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes explores practices used to deter drug and alcohol use among operators within the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) regulated community. The report includes a brief history of the transportation workplace drug- and alcohol-testing program, the general approach,...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 22: Safety Management in Small Motor Carriers explores small motor carriers' strengths and weaknesses in safety management, and identifies potentially effective safety practices.

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 21: Driver Selection Tests and Measurement synthesizes information on the use of tests, measurements, and other assessment methods used by commercial truck and bus companies in the driver selection process. The report also identifies and describes driver selection methods and instruments and their potential usefulness in...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 20: Potential Safety Benefits of Motor Carrier Operational Efficiencies addresses risk avoidance strategies and highlights their use and perceived safety effects. The report is designed to assist motor carriers in deploying their vehicles in ways that may minimize crash risk.

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 19: Effects of Psychoactive Chemicals on Commercial Driver Health and Performance: Stimulants, Hypnotics, Nutritional, and Other Supplements identifies available information and research gaps relating to the use of chemical substances by commercial drivers and is intended to provide up-to-date information to inform decis...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 18: Older Commercial Drivers: Do They Pose a Safety Risk? explores age-related changes in the basic functional abilities needed to drive safely. The report is designed to help assist industry and labor practitioners in promoting safer commercial operations.

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 17: Special Safety Concerns of the School Bus Industry explores various safety issues faced by school bus operators, including how the issues are currently addressed, barriers to improvements, and suggestions for making improvements in the future.

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 16: Safety Impacts of Speed Limiter Device Installations on Commercial Trucks and Buses explores issues associated with speed limiters including measurable safety impacts, metrics, and degree of benefit.  Speed limiters, also described as speed governors, are devices that interact with a truck engine to only ...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 15: Health and Wellness Programs for Commercial Drivers explores health risks facing commercial truck and motorcoach drivers.  The report examines the association between crash causation and functional impairments, elements of employee health and wellness programs that could be applied to commercial drivers, ...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 14: The Role of Safety Culture in Preventing Commercial Motor Vehicle Crashes explores practices on developing and enhancing a culture of safety among commercial motor vehicle drivers.  The report also examines suggested steps for increasing a safety culture through a series of best practices.

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 13: Effectiveness of Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Training Curricula and Delivery Methods explores the state of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operator training in the trucking and motorcoach industries.  The report examines the experiences of training programs that are using some combination of simulators...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 12: Commercial Motor Vehicle Carrier Safety Management Certification examines information on existing commercial motor vehicle safety certification, selfevaluation, benchmarking, and best practices programs; identifies major common elements and protocols; and explores the crash-reduction effectiveness of the progr...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 11: Impact of Behavior-Based Safety Techniques on Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers explores various strategies designed to increase safety-related driving behaviors and decrease at-risk driving behaviors of commercial motor vehicle drivers.  The report also examines innovative and successful behavior-based sa...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 10: Alternative Truck and Bus Inspection Strategies explores the characteristics of the various types of alternative commercial truck and bus inspection strategies currently being used by law enforcement agencies.  The synthesis examines how vehicles are selected for inspection; how, when, and where vehicles ...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 9: Literature Review on Health and Fatigue Issues Associated with Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Hours of Work examines literature relevant to health and fatigue issues associated with commercial vehicle driver hours of service.  This literature review was specifically requested by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 8: Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Safety Belt Usage identifies and documents motivating factors that influence commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers in deciding whether to wear safety belts and research and practices that address CMV safety belt usage. It also offers a review of ergonomic and human engineering factors...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 7: Motorcoach Industry Hours of Service and Fatigue Management Techniques identifies and documents the unique features of the extended workday that typifies motorcoach operations and identifies techniques that motorcoach managers, front-line employees, and drivers use to reduce fatigue-related incidents resulting from t...

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 6: Operational Differences and Similarities Among the Motorcoach, School Bus, and Trucking Industries is designed as a single resource for information on profiles, safety statistics, and general business operations for these three commercial vehicle industries.

TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 5: Training of Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers identifies and documents training strategies and curricula from existing commercial driver training programs, with the goal of identifying those commercial motor vehicle driver training tools and techniques that hold the greatest potential to improve commercial motor vehic...

TRB's Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 4: Individual Differences and the “High-Risk” Commercial Driver explores individual differences among commercial drivers, particularly as these differences relate to the “high-risk” commercial driver. The synthesis identifies factors relating to commercial vehicle crash risk and assesses ways that the high-risk driver c...

TRB's Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 3: Highway/Heavy Vehicle Interaction reports on the safety interactions of commercial trucks and buses with highway features and on highway improvements that can be made to improve the safety of heavy vehicle operations.. Report Parts; Front Matter & Chapter 1 , Chapters 2-3 , Chapters 4-5 , Chapter 6 & Appendixe...

TRB's Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 2: Security Measures in the Commercial Trucking and Bus Industries addresses key security threats to the commercial trucking and bus industries, risk management techniques available to assess potential threats, employee/driver hiring procedures, and more. Report Parts; Front Matter , Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , C...

TRB's Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 1: Effective Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Management Techniques focuses on the problems commercial truck and bus fleet managers confront, and the methods that are available to address problems in the areas of driver and vehicle safety, and more. Report Parts; Front Matter , Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter ...