Quantification of Motor Carrier Safety Program Impacts on Accident Reduction - Phase 2

Project summary:

The interstate trucking industry has been deregulated since 1980, but FHWA continues to enforce/control safety standards, by supporting two safety compliance programs: Safety/Compliance Review (SR/CR) and Roadside Vehicle Inspections (RVI). There is a wealth of historical data on the commercial carriers, including the results of the two safety compliance programs and accident rates for the past 10 years available from the Federal Highway Database. This historical data implicitly contains qualitative estimates of the impact of various safety programs on the accident rate reduction. In phase 1 of this project, we developed a framework for quantitative characterization/prediction of safety performance for Minnesota motor carriers, based on the available historical data. In phase 2 we shall apply models and methods developed for Minnesota carriers to the data on carriers from other states. This would enable:(1) verification/validation of methods developed in phase 1; (2) comparison of safety programs and practices in various states.