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Naturalistic Driving Research

New England Journal of Medicine: Distracted Driving and Risk of Road Crashes Among Novice and Experienced Drivers

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute conducts naturalistic driving research that can help commercial vehicle drivers and businesses better understand human factors relating to crashes. Below are a few example projects. 

Center for Truck and Bus Safety

VTTI’s Center for Truck and Bus Safety (CTBS) focuses on the research, development, and evaluation of heavy-vehicle systems. CTBS is dedicated to the design, delivery, and implementation of leading-edge research and development efforts aimed at improving the health and safety of heavy-vehicle drivers. A few example projects are listed below.

  • Electronic Logging Devices – FMCSA: The purpose of this study was to assess the benefits of installed electronic hours-of-service recorders (EHSRs) on safety and hours-of-service (HOS) violations related to Class 7 and 8 trucks as they operated during normal revenue service.
  • Fatigue Management Program – NAFMP: The fatigue management program was sponsored by the North American Fatigue Management Program (NAFMP) and was completed in 2012. This program sought to address a number of issues through the comprehensive analysis of various factors that affect fatigue in truck drivers.