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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A - A Model Research Plan." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2007. Effectiveness of Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Training Curricula and Delivery Methods. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23272.
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Page 30
Page 31
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A - A Model Research Plan." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2007. Effectiveness of Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Training Curricula and Delivery Methods. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23272.
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Page 31

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30 At a meeting with key researchers in late summer 2006, the senior author was asked to include a research approach to answering some of the fundamental questions about commercial driver training. The two questions addressed in this brief discussion were (1) Does commercial driver train- ing contribute to traffic safety? and if so, (2) What are some optimum approaches to maximizing that contribution? Table A-1 provides an outline of this appendix. Macro Approach. The data that are missing from this report would answer the question, Does training work? Al- though there are specific instances discussed in the body of the report, a general data based conclusion on the importance of driving training is lacking. One problem, of course, is the variability of what is called, “training.” A large field study would be needed to establish if there is a general safety bene- fit from training, no matter its particular form. Such a study would require the cooperation of many, if not all, the states plus active participation by appropriate industry associations. The overall approach would be to col- lect training background information on every CDL appli- cant in the participating jurisdictions for a period of 6 months. Each applicant would need to fill out a short (this is impor- tant) form identifying if he or she had graduated from a training program and, if so, what kind (e.g., length of course, any technologies, apprenticeship opportunities). Each par- ticipant would need to sign an informed consent form to allow access to his or her driving records for the period of the study. Each participant would be followed for 6 months beyond obtaining his or her CDL. Data would also be collected on those who fail the CDL test or who have to take it multiple times. Data analysis would be massive. The best outcome that could be expected would be a set of correlations between driving records (accidents, citations) and various kinds of training including a “no formal training” category. Once the initial data collection and analysis were completed, random samples of the participants could be followed for a longer period of time. The major weakness of this approach would be that even with the high number of participants (the team estimates be- tween 90,000 and 125,000), the variety of training experiences from which the participants come will make it difficult to make any generalizations about training effectiveness. The strength of the approach is that if there are any significant findings, they will be important. One possible finding, that new CDL owners who get additional training after licens- ing have better safety records than those that go directly into the workforces, could lead to new post-CDL training standards with high safety payoffs. Micro Approach. This approach would try to identify specific instructional interventions that produce increased levels of safe performance among commercial driving stu- dents. The current FMCSA simulation evaluation program could be a model for this approach. The interventions of interest, such as driving simulation, could be submitted to a set of experimental controls to measure particular safety effects. Several instances of this kind of approach are described in the body of the report, albeit with less rigor than one would want for a formal investigation. If an experimental design model could be developed and protocols designed, vendors, experimentalists, training operations, and users would have a common method to evaluate any kind of instructional intervention. A key fea- ture of this approach is that a specific set of measurable objectives for training outcomes must be established. Once this is accomplished, than various approaches, devices, and products can be tested to see how well they meet either some or all of the objectives. Studies could be paid for by normal sources (government grants and contracts, indus- try grants) or by various potential stakeholders in the process A P P E N D I X A A Model Research Plan

31 (simulator and training material vendors). It would be sim- ilar to the Food and Drug Administration model for testing new drugs. These two approaches would retrieve quite different results. One would produce, at best, some general findings about the effects of various formal training programs on traffic safety. The other would produce empirical data to support the acceptance or rejection of various instructional tech- niques for improving the specific performance of commercial drivers. MICROMACRO Massive field study Series of experiments on specific training interventions Take your subjects where you find them. Large N Controlled laboratory setting Volunteer subjects Small N Need and state cooperation • As many jurisdictions as possible • Track each participant for at least 6 months Candidate CBI programs • Vendors provide products—pay for third-party testing • Industry selects candidates that have minimum standards Need 6 months identifying subjects (informed consent, agreement to release records, self-reporting protocols) Establish end of course standards (beyond CDL) based on industry/government consensus 6 months of data collection beyond the 6 months 6 months initial data collection 15-month study after states are on board 1 year study Table A-1. Research approaches.

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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 and computer-based instruction and identifies measures of training effectiveness being used in the CMV community.

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