Zero Alcohol and Other Options Limits for Truck and Bus Drivers -- Special Report 216 (1987) / Chapter Skim
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ALCOHOL Limits for Truck and Bus Drivers TranspottitiResearch1BöäidI [NATIIONALRESERCHtOUNCI L
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1987 TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OFFICERS Chairman: Lowell B Jackson, Executive Director, Colorado Department of Highways, Denver Vice Chairman: Herbert H
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SPECIAL REPORT 216 ERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Limits for Truck and Bus Drivers COMMITTEE ON BENEFITS AND COSTS OF ALTERNATIVE FEDERAL BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION STANDARDS FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLE OPERATORS Transportation Research Board National Research Council Washington, D.C.
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Transportation Research Board Special Report 216 modes 1 highway transportation 2 public transit subject areas 51 transportation safety 52 human factors 70 transportation law Transportation Research Board publications are available by ordering directly from TRB. They may also be obtained on a regular basis througi organizational or individual affiliation with TRB; affiliates or library subscribers are eligible for substantial discounts.
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Committee on the Benefits and Costs of Alternative Federal Blood Alcohol Concentration Standards for Commercial Vehicle Operators M
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JAMES JOHNSTON, Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association ALLEN D MANESS, Senate Commerce Committee CARYLL F
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Preface In enacting the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986, the Congress established a framework for a national driver's license for operators of medium and heavy trucks and buses. The framework establishes a national standard for such licenses that would define, in terms of blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
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vi PREFACE drivers of passenger vehicles. Driving-related skills have often been examined under controlled dosage conditions in instrumented cars or in closed-course experiments where subjects operated automobiles at selected BACs.
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PREFACE vii the information necessary to carry out its charge. John Eicher of the Federal Highway Administration facilitated the early discussions about the study and helped initiate it at an early date.
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Contents ExEcUTIVE SUMMARY .
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4 APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRIVER: LEGAL IssuEs AND TESTING TECHNOLOGIES....................................67 Overview of the Legal System and Enforcement Process, 67 Legal Issues, 75 Alcohol Concentrations in the Blood and Breath, 80 Testing Techniques and Their Effectiveness, 81 Summary, 86 5 PREVENTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING THROUGH DETERRENCE..............................................90 The Deterrence Model, 91 Evaluations of Deterrence Policies, 92 Lessons of Deterrence Research, 106 Scenarios of Reform, 108 Benefits of Deterrence Scenarios, 111 6 COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DUI ENFORCEMENT PRACTICES.................................118 Public Enforcement, 118 Private Enforcement, 131 Benefits and Costs of Alternative BAC Standards, 136 Summary, 141 7 SUMMARY ASSESSMENT.................................... 145 Findings, 145 Recommendations, 154 APPENDIX A Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Truck Crashes..........
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APPENDIX F Estimating the Costs of Post-Crash Testing...........182 APPENDIX G Cost of Traffic Delays Caused by Accidents ..........
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Executive Summary Driving a heavy truck is hazardous work. The occupational death rate of heavy-truck drivers is five times greater than the average for all workers in the United States.
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2 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS crashes, 15 percent of commercial vehicle drivers in fatal crashes had been drinking compared with 45 percent of all drivers in fatal crashes. Performance on driving-related tasks decreases at any BAC above zero and crash risk increases sharply as BAC rises.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 recommends that drivers detected with BACs greater than zero but less than 0.04 percent be penalized with a license revocation of up to 30 days on the first offense and from 30 days to one year on second and subsequent offenses. These drivers should also be referred for diagnosis and treatment as appropriate.
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1 Introduction A driver, his judgment and responses dulled by alcohol, turns and brakes too late to avoid a crash. He kills himself or some innocent person.
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INTRODUCTION 5 per milliliter of blood, which can also be expressed as "percent BAC," is the most widely used legal measure of blood alcohol concentration.) Similarly, in 1986, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a regulation requiring that railroad crews adhere to the 0.04 percent standard as well.
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6 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS automatically becomes 0.04 percent. Under the provisions of the act, a commercial vehicle driver convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol would lose his commercial license for one year on the first offense.
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ThTTRODUCTJON 7 truck drivers involved in fatal crashes have a measurable amount of alcohol in their blood. More detail about the truck and bus industries and the number of crashes in which commercial drivers had been drinking is presented in Chapter 2.
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8 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS suspicion. that a driver is intoxicated before the driver can be stopped, and the officer must establish probable cause for taking a test before he can request a breath or blood test.
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ThTRODUCT! ON 9 The findings and recommendations of the study committee are summarized in Chapter 7.
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2 Alcohol-Involved Truck and Bus Crashes The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 covers drivers of tractorsemitrailers, intercity buses, transit buses, vehicles carrying hazardous materials, and, potentially, drivers of all commercial trucks weighing more than 10,000 lb. With the exception of most pickup trucks and some lightweight delivery vans, this includes virtually all drivers of trucks and buses engaged in commerce.
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 11 been drinking. Although these are relatively low percentages compared with the involvement of alcohol in passenger-car, light-truck, and motorcycle crashes, the resulting number of crashes is roughly 750 causing a fatality, 7,700 causing injury, and 4,750 causing property damage only.
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F"l Class 1 utilIty van compact van 6,000 lb & Less pick-up mum-purpose utIlity van compact van Class 2 06 6,001-10,000 lb pick-up walk-in Class 3 milk bread walk-in 10,001-14,000 lb oft compact van conveniionai van Class 4 14,001-16,000 lb large walk-in Class 5 rack tree specialist 16,001-1 9,500 lb large walk-tn ___________________________ I I I - - j Class6 furniture school - wp 19,501-26,000 lb coe van single axle van TIID home fuel transit Class 7 4% #* 26,001-33,000 lb medium conventional trash Class 8 extra heavy dump tandem conventional 33,001 lb & Over *
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 13 utility trucks, and cranes. Some tractor-semitrailer combination trucks (a truck with a power unit hauling a separate cargo unit)
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14 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS In the review of statistics about trucks, it is useful to anticipate the discussion in Chapter 6 regarding private-sector enforcement of laws regulating alcohol-impaired driving and to note that companies of sufficient size to mount their own alcohol and drug abuse enforcement efforts are responsible for less than one-third of the heavy trucks using the highways. Just over onehalf of trucks are operated by firms or individuals with five or fewer vehicles.
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 15 about 73,000 drivers to operate 55,000 motor buses in active service (UMTA 1986, Tables 2.13, 2.14)
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16 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS INTERCITY MOTOR CARRIERS Intercity Trucking Intercity trucking is classified into the following types: firms that transport goods for the public on the basis of published rates (common carriers) , firms that transport goods for specific companies under contract (contract carriers)
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ICC REGULA INTERSTATE MOTOR CARRIER INDUSTRY FQR HIRE REGULAR ROUTE GeneralFreighT - COMMON ATE Special Commodities Machinery - Petroleum IRREGULAR - Refrigerated Products ROUTE - Motor Vehicles Building Materials - Household Goods - Other - CONTRACT PRIVATE EXEMPT Exempt Agricultural Products FIGURE 2-3 The structure of the motor carrier industry, 1984 (TRB 1986)
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18 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS TABLE 2-3 COMPOSITION OF MOTOR CARRIER INDUSTRY, 1983 (TRB 1986) Carrier Type Share of Total for Combination Trucks Miles (millions)
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 19 The ICC no longer places heavy burdens on applicants to prove the need for new service. Instead, it routinely approves almost all applications.
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TABLE 2-4 AGE OF DRIVER BY TYPE OF OPERATION AND REGULATORY STATUS (Wyckoff 1979, 10) Company Drivers (%)
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 21 drivers working for private, contract, and common carriers tend to be older and more experienced than exempt drivers and owner-operators (Table 2-4)
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22 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS percent of nonunion drivers are age 34 or younger (Wyckoff 1979, 28)
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 23 drivers do not have to violate the 10-hr limit to suffer from fatigue. In two major evaluations of driver fatigue it was found that in drivers' own reports of feeling tired, fatigue becomes more pronounced after 6 or 7 hr on the mad and that the actual frequency of crashes exceeds the expected frequency of crashes after about 7 hr of driving time (Harris and Mackie 1972, viii; Mackie and Miller 1978, xii)
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24 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OFIIONS (Perrine 1971)
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TABLE 2-8 ATHTUDE TOWARD ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES BY REGULATORY STATUS AND AGE OF DRIVER (Wyckoff 1979, 65) Percent by Regulatory Status Percent by Driver's Age Attitude Toward All Exempt Private Contract Common Alcoholic Beverages (n=8,319)
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26 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS hurry. Among the 12 percent of drivers who did not participate or did not provide samples, it is possible that a high percentage was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 27 Swnmary The studies reviewed in this section are both imperfect estimates of drinking and driving by commercial vehicle drivers. The Wyckoff survey was designed to get a large enough response rate to compare driver responses but was not designed to be representative of all drivers.
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28 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS to this report is the proportion of the commercial vehicle drivers involved in these crashes who were under the influence of alcohol. After a brief review of the size of the truck safety problem, the discussion turns to the different data sources and statistical techniques that estimate the role of alcohol in commercial vehicle crashes.
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 29 NHTSA provided information from the most recent 3 years of NASS data. Because of the lack of specificity in NASS data and assumed underreporting, crash data from individual states are used to estimate alcohol involvement in nonfatal crashes.
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30 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Alcohol in Motor Vehicle Crashes The role of alcohol in motor vehicle crashes has always been difficult to estimate. Many studies have estimated alcohol involvement from police reports, but the police do not detect and record alcohol in many crashes (Voas 1983)
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 31 trucks, buses, motorcycles) , the percentages are similar to those from the estimates based on the 15-state sample to estimate alcohol involvement in fatal crashes.
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32 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS TABLE 2-15 KNOWN AND UNKNOWN BACs FOR SURVIVING COMMERCIAL VEHICLE DRIVERS, 1982-1985 BAC Truck Type Medium Heavy Unknown All Percent of Total Drivers Percent of Known BACs Known No alcohol 172 1,378 107 1,657 9.7 85.6 0.01-0.03 5 60 5 70 0.4 3.6 0.04-0.09 11 41 7 59 0.3 3.0 0.10 + 38 96 18 152 2.1 7.8 Unknown 1,959 12,421 721 15,101 88.6 n/a Total 2,158 13,996 858 17,039 SOURCE: FARS data tapes, 1982-1985. low reporting for surviving drivers creates a pmblem in estimating the role of alcohol in truck crashes because in more than 75 percent of fatal crashes involving trucks, the occupant of a passenger car or a pedestrian is usually killed; the truck driver is rarely the victim (NHTSA 1987b)
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 33 A more cautious approach to estimating alcohol involvement in crashes is to pool all known BACs for killed and surviving drivers and, having adjusted for the characteristics associated with these crashes, such as vehicles involved, time of day, age of driver, and land use, to predict alcohol involvement among the unknown cases. In effect, this method adjusts the frequency of alcohol involvement among the known BACs to account for potential overrepresentation of known BACs in certain kinds of crashes and then assumes that the unknown BACs are distributed similarly to the known BACs (as adjusted)
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34 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS weight class) and tractor-trailers (more than 26,000 lb)
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 35 fatal commercial vehicle crashes (Table 2-16) is similar to the distribution for injury and PDO crashes.
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36 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS commercial vehicles estimated that about 1 percent of drivers had been drinking alcohol (Lund et al.
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ALCOHOL-INVOLVED TRUCK AND BUS CRASHES 37 REFERENCES ABBREVIATIONS ABA American Bus Association BMCS Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety NHThA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration OTA Office of Technology Assessment TRB Transportation Research Board TSC Transportation Systems Center UMTA Urban Mass Transportation Administration ABA.
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38 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Metro Magazine, May/June 1987, pp.
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3 Alcohol, Performance, and Crash Risk Over the last decade, most states have established 0.10 percent BAC as the legal standard for intoxication in highway driving. During the same period, the federal government regulated 0.04 percent BAC as the standard for determining alcohol impairment for commercial aviation and railroad crews.
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40 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS measure low BACs, and partly on the potential success of such a policy in deterring drinking and driving by commercial vehicle drivers. This chapter provides an analysis of the first of these three areas by reviewing the scientific literature examining the effect of low BACs (at or below 0.04 percent)
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 41 alcohol in the blood (preferably capillary rather than venous blood)
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42 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS 0.10 0.08 C 0 0.06 0 C 0.04 0.02 0.0 30 60 90 120 Time After Drinking (mm) Note: 10 min allowed for drinking.
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 43 Performance Decrements at Low BACs Hundreds of studies have examined at least one facet of behavior or skill at various BACs (Moskowitz and Robinson 1987)
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44 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS consistency in significant results across several studies, however, compensates for the potential of a biased sample in a single study. Some studies fail to systematically relate the effects of alcohol to the time duration of the task; thus fatigue effects may potentially be interpreted as alcohol effects.
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 45 Laboratory and Simulator Studies of Performance Visual Peiformance Most of the information necessary for driving must be processed by the human visual system. Wilson and Mitchell (1983)
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46 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS Cognitive Peiformance The effect of alcohol on the recognition and decision-making steps of Smith's information-processing model has been studied by various tests that divide the subjects' attention. Moskowitz et al.
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 47 driver at a low BAC may have little difficulty when able to devote his attention to a single task such as steering, but his response to peripheral stimuli (such as those needed to detect and avoid crossing traffic) might be slowed.
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48 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS in choice reaction time or simple reaction time at a mean BAC of 0.05 percent. Nevertheless, this study showed a significant increase in errors made in a visual search task at 0.05 percent BAC.
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 49 influences and to therefore focus on the individual variables of interest. The disadvantage with such studies is their inability to replicate actual driving conditions.
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50 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS potential accident situation. In this study, 26 subjects drove a lane of roadway while maintaining a speed of 30 mph.
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 51 hangover conditions. This study used a more demanding task and 14 hr before the trial the subjects had peak BACs between 0.101 and 0.121 percent.
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52 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS The relative probability of being involved in a crash is defined as the ratio of the BACs of comparison drivers to those of drivers involved in crashes. This probability remains roughly equal for drinking drivers compared with drivers who have not been drinking up to about 0.08 percent BAC (Figure 3-2)
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U Grand Rapids data (5,985 total crashes) U -- - - Grand Rapids data (300 total or serious crashes)
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 55 (Hurst 1985)
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40 30 I .02 .04 .06 .08 .10 .12 .14 .16 .18 .20 56 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS U GRAND RAPIDS DATA, 3305 CRASHES, DRIVER ASSUMED RESPONSIBLE • MANHAUAN DATA, 24 FATAL CRASHES, DRIVER ASSUMED RESPONSIBLE O-O VERMONT DATA, 75 FATAL CRASHES, DRIVER ASSUMED RESPONSIBLE BAC %(WN) OF DRIVER FIGURE 3-4 Relative crash responsibility for drivers assumed responsible and those not assumed responsible as a function of BAC where 1.0 = relative probability at zero alcohol.
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 57 of automobiles. Is this research applicable to the effects of alcohol on truck and bus drivers as well?
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58 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS closed-course experiment, performance decreases at low BACs in potential accident situations. Although skilled drivers might be expected to perform better than unskilled drivers in such situations, as shown by the effect of low BAC on divided-attention tasks, their abilities would probably be impaired even at low BACs.
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH PJSK 59 take effective evasive action. These demands on driver alertness will continue to increase with the projected increase in traffic on major rural and urban highways.
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60 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS Deceleration Commercial vehicles cannot stop as quickly as cars can, their brakes are often out of adjustment or need maintenance, and loss of brakes on long downgrades is a particularly truck-related problem (Radlinski 1987)
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 61 Controls and Displays Safe driving requires that drivers be able to quickly and accurately locate displays and reach controls of the vehicle. This task is much more difficult for truck drivers than car drivers.
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62 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS SUMMARY Human performance in driving-related tasks decreases at low BACs. Although some research suggests that performance decrements occur within the visual system (Wilson and Mitchell 1983; Adams and Brown 1975)
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 63 the highway. These findings indicate that at any BAC above zero most commercial vehicle drivers would experience a degradation in skill that would increase the risk of crash involvement.
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64 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Ervin, R
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ALCOHOL, PERFORMANCE, AND CRASH RISK 65 MacArthur, R
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66 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Ryder, J
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4 Apprehending the Impaired Driver: Legal Issues and Testing Technologies In the preceding chapter evidence was examined showing driver impairment at BACs lower than the current general enforcement standard of 0.10 percent. The ability to determine impairment and apprehend drivers of commercial vehicles at a more stringent standard will depend on the feasibility of detecting and measuring impairment at lower BACs and on the legal framework within which enforcement efforts must be carried Out.
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68 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Early state drinking-driving statutes focused entirely on the behavior of the driver. They defined driving while legally drunk as a criminal act and then subsequently broadened the definition to include individuals driving under the influence of alcohol or driving while impaired (Voas 1982, 5)
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TABLE 4-1 SUMMARY OF MAJOR STATE DUI LEGISLATION AS OF JANUARY 1, 1987 State Prelim- nary Breath Test implied Consent Law (All States) , Mandatory Minimum Licensing Action First Second Refusal Refusal Illegal Per Sc (BAC Limit)
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TABLE 4-1 continued State Prelim- mary Breath Test Implied Consent Law (All States) , Mandatory Minimum Licensing Action First Second Refusal Refusal Illegal Per Se (BAC Limit)
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TABLE 4-1 concluded Implied Consent Law (All States) , Administrative Per Se Mandatory Minimum Licensing Action Prelim- Illegal Pre- mary Per Se sumptive Mandatory Minimum Licensing Action Breath First Second (BAC (BAC BAC First Second Third State Test Refusal Refnsal Limit)
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72 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS testing in Great Britain in the late 1960s to determine alcohol use before administration of an evidential chemical test spurred interest in preliminary testing in the United States. Over the past 15 years, 26 states have adopted preliminary breath test laws, which define those circumstances under which preliminary prearrest testing can be conducted (Table 4-1)
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APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRIVER 73 process leading up to an arrest, continue to be driven by behavioral standards and evidence. Moreover, differences among state drinking-driving statutes have resulted in considerable variations in actual enforcement practices.
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Criminal Proceedings -- jail, fines (all states) Vehicle Selection Accidents Moving violations Erratic driving Checkpoints Determination of Alcohol Use Behavioral cues (odor of alcohol, slurred speech, etc.)
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APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRIVER 75 impairment at the point both of selecting vehicles to stop and of determining alcohol use. Conventional methods of identifying drunk drivers through erratic driving behavior and other behavioral cues and tests are not likely to be effective at lower BACs.
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76 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER ONiONS Reasonable Suspicion Stopping a vehicle, determining alcohol use, and preliminary testing of a driver for alcohol impairment -- the first three stages in the enforcement process -- require that a law enforcement officer have only a reasonable suspicion of alcohol use. According to the courts, which have defined reasonable suspicion with respect to stopping and frisking a suspect, nonevidential seizures are permitted when "specific and articulate facts which, taken together with rational inferences from these facts, reasonably warrant the intrusion" [Terry v.
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APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRIVER 77 Effect of Lower BAC Limits Actual or perceived legal restrictions on the use of various enforcement practices will have important implications for the feasibility of enforcing more stringent BAC standards for commercial vehicle drivers. In particular, greater use of objective, nonbehavioral enforcement techniques such as sobriety checkpoints and prearrest testing will be required to detect lower levels of alcohol impairment.
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78 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS checkpoints in 39 states. Checkpoints should be used as one component of a systematic plan of drinking-driving deterrence and should employ specific field procedures to limit any appearance of discriminatory or overly intrusive police action (Compton and Engle 1983, 8)
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APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRIVER 79 the driver's mouth for the presence of alcohol. Because this method of testing is considered by many to be less intrusive than a PBT, it may be permissible to use the passive sensor without probable cause and still not violate the suspect's Fourth Amendment rights (Fields and Hricko 1986, 50)
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80 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS regulations derives from a long history of federal regulation of commercial vehicle driver safety under the commerce clause, which now extends to intrastate as well as to interstate drivers. State legislation embodying the federal regulations will be required, however, if state and local law enforcement officials, who are likely to administer the tests, are to adopt this lower standard.
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APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRiVER 81 also subject to interindividual and intraindividual variability. As a result, "population mean BAC/BrAC ratios, no matter how carefully and correctly determined, do not necessarily apply to a given individual at a given time and under given conditions, to the degree of certainty required for some applications, such as criminal law prosecutions" (Dubowski 1986, 29)
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82 ZERO ALCOhOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Passive Alcohol Sensors The passive alcohol sensor (PAS) has been developed to test the ambient air in front of the driver's mouth for the presence of alcohol (Figures 4-2 and 4-3)
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APPREhENDING TIlE IMPAIRED DRIVER 83 FIGURE 4-3 Passive alcohol sensor used at Charlottesville, Virginia, checkpoint. (Photograph courtesy Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
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) 84 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS may have limited value.
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APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRIVER 85 them warm.) Lack of cooperation from the suspect reduces the accuracy of the reading by 30 percent or more (Gibb et al.
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86 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OV1'IONS in most states, most screening for driving while intoxicated relies on behavioral cues that will not be manifested by drivers at low BACs. Passive sensors, which would only be used for screening drivers, are more sensitive to the presence of alcohol than the senses of an individual officer.
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APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRIVER 87 will be required to identify low BACs. Many states, however, have been reluctant to adopt these methods because of legal considerations, the newness of the prearrest tests, and the perceived unreliability of the testing technologies themselves.
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88 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Not all states, however, test in the event of an accident. See the Federal Register of April 17 and August 2, 1985, for final rules pertaining to alcohol and drug use for the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration, respectively.
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APPREHENDING THE IMPAIRED DRIVEl? 89 Macdonald, D., and M
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5 Preventing Alcohol-Impaired Driving Through Deterrence In this chapter the possible benefits are estimated of reforming statutes and law enforcement practices aimed at alcohol-impaired driving by commercial vehicle drivers. First the deterrence model is delineated, a conceptual framework that has increasingly formed criminal justice approaches to highway safety over the past two decades.
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PREVENTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 91 impact of policies that differ from those for which the evidence of effectiveness is clearest -- such as moving to more severe punishment of much lower BACs or using less intensive enforcement procedures. THE DETERRENCE MODEL The idea of using police power to prevent criminal acts appears fairly simple and even obvious.
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92 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Researchers distinguish specific deterrence from general deterrence. The first of these refers only to individuals who have been apprehended while committing violations and have received punishment.
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PREVENTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 93 The most common and powerful method of analysis is to closely follow what happens when a particular shift in policies or procedures occurs, comparing it with baseline levels, control sites, or internal statistical controls, or using all three. Researchers typically employ a form of interrupted time-series analysis (e.g., Box and Tiao 1975)
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20 16 12 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 Year FIGURE 5-1 U.K. fatality rate corrected for month and with seasonal variations removed.
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PREVFRIJNG ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 95 the BAC to be determined by an Alcotest breath-testing device of German manufacture, 1 million of which were purchased (with considerable fanfare) by the British government.
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PREVEWFING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 97 especially on weekend nights (Figure 5-2)
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1,800 1,600 1,400 0 1,200 E z 1,000 800 600 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Year FIGURE 5-3 Crash-related deaths in France with seasonal variations removed.
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PREVEITTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 99 "official diffidence in enforcing the legislation." About 335,000 tests were given nationwide in 6 months, which would be roughly one for every 100 licensed drivers on an annual basis. But only about four-tenths of 1 percent were recorded by the police as positive, which is less than one-fourth the proportion of tests recorded as positive in independent roadside research surveys of driver BAC levels conducted in France at the time.
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New South Wales 121 RBTINNSW 111 101 61 51 41 t I I I I I I I I I I 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 Year FIGURE 5-4 Fatal crashes for New South Wales for each month from January 1971 to July 1985. (Homel 1986.
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PREVENTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 101 United States Since 1970 Several reforms in dealing with alcohol-impaired driving in the United States have produced results that may be compared with those of the international cases. In the early 1970s (roughly 1970 to 1976)
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SOUTH AUSTRALIA 43.00 39.00 35.00 31.00 C.) i 27.00 LL 23.00 z 19.00 15.00 11.00 7.00 71 73 75 77 79 81 83 85 87 Year Al lTPAI IA twI pcw 214.0 200.0 186.0 U, 5 172.0 158.0 0 c 144.0 z 130.0 116.0 102.0 71 73 75 77 79 81 83 85 87 Year Wales for each month from January 1971 to 1985.
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60 55 0 50 0 U 0 0 45 z 40 35 104 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS return is a lesser sentence. The more severe the sentence, the greater the bargaining power of the accused, and the greater the likelihood that he will be charged with a lesser offense.
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From page 117... ...
PREVEJ'T1'JNG ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 105 planned intermissions, from January 1976 to June 1979. California laws did not provide for per se BAC violations or mandatory prearrest breath tests, and roadside checkpoints were not used.
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From page 118... ...
106. ZERO ALCOhOL AND OTHER OPTIONS officers inspected drivers' licenses and interviewed each driver for 20 to 60 sec, looking for signs of intoxication.
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From page 119... ...
PREVENTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 107 TABLE 5-3 MAJOR CASE EVIDENCE ON SUCCESSFUL DETERRENCE EFFECTS Location BAC Level Enforced (%) Annual Surveillance Intensity Effects United Kingdom 0.08 per se 1/500 Prompt only: fatalities, 23 percent; injuries, II percent; illegal BAC among fatally injured drivers, 40 percent France 0.08 and 1/100 Prompt only: 0.15 per se fatalities, 14 percent New South Wales 0.05, 0.08, and 1/3 Sustained: 0.15 per se fatalities, 23 percent United States Twelve of 35 Varied, mostly Unknown, arrests Fatalities, 12 percent; ASAP 0.10 doubled to positive BAC in programs presumptive tripled roadside surveys, 16 percent Stockton, Calif.
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From page 120... ...
108 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS assumption of relative tolerance or inefficiency in detecting and sanctioning violations. So long as the reform has the appearance of a change in vigor that has less (if at all)
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From page 121... ...
PREVENTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 109 It should increase the rate of DUI detection and sanctioning -- ordinarily arrest or some other form of detention -- by a factor of 3 or more. The routine use of prearrest BAC sensing technology substantially improves the efficiency of testing.
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From page 122... ...
110 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS such investigations when any driver operating with a license covered in the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act was involved in a crash resulting in a fatality or injury (injury is defined here as one in which the victim was transported from the scene for medical attention)
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From page 123... ...
PREVEWTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 111 One pertinent finding is that actual police behavior and sanctioning tend to vary with the observed BAC, not only within the provisions of statutory codes but also in the discretionary attitude of enforcement and justice agencies. For example, in New South Wales, a first violation at 0.05 percent BAC was penalized less strongly by statute -- which permitted fines but not revocation -- than a violation at 0.08 percent BAC.
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From page 124... ...
112 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS From 1983 through 1985, there were estimated to be about 441,500 reportable crashes annually involving medium and heavy trucks and buses (see Table 2-11)
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From page 125... ...
PREVENTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 113 TABLE 5-4 PRELIMINARY ESTIMATES OF CRASHES PREVENTABLE BY APPLICATION OF SUCCESSFUL DUI REFORMS TO COMMERCIAL VEHICLE OPERATORS Fraction of Crashes Deemed Preventable No. of All-Vehicle Positive BAC Proportion No.
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From page 126... ...
114 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS TABLE 5-5 CRASHES, INJURIES, AND FATALITIES PREVENTABLE BY BEST DETERRENCE SCENARIO AT ALTERNATIVE BAC STANDARDS Type of No. Preventable by BAC Standard Reduction 0.00 004 0.10 PDO crashes 2,040-2,170 1,630 1,070-1,220 Injuries in NI crashes 3,070-3,270 2,460 1,620-1,840 Fatalities 230-250 190 125-140 NoTe: Data are for medium and heavy trucks; use of passive sensors is assumed.
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From page 127... ...
PREVENTING ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING 115 TABLE 5-6 PREVENTABLE CRASHES, INJURIES, AND FATALITIES WITHOUT USE OF PASSIVE SENSORS Type of No. Preventable by BAC Standard Reduction 0.00 0.04 0.10 PDO crashes 1,190-1,280 1,000 710-805 Injuries in NI crashes 1,700-1,800 1,525 1,070-1,220 Fatalities 130-140 115 80-90 NOTE: PDO = property damage only; NI = nonfatal injury.
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From page 128... ...
116 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS NOTES Deterrence falls within a class of contingent propositions that involve the exchange of behavioral performances and sanctions. The central idea of such theories is "if I do X, that is, choose to perform behavior X
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From page 130... ...
6 Costs and Benefits of Public and Private DUI Enforcement Practices Deterring drinking and driving by commercial vehicle operators, as indicated in the previous chapter, will require vigorous and sustained enforcement. Successful enforcement of a more stringent BAC standard, in turn, will depend on developing cost-effective enforcement strategies directed toward the commercial vehicle driver.
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From page 131... ...
COSTS AND BFJ'IEF! TS 119 special teams, often referred to as "Tiger Teams," whose primary role is DUI enforcement.
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From page 132... ...
120 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS In the following section strategies for targeting DUI enforcement more directly on commercial vehicle drivers are discussed and their costs are analyzed. Developing Workable Commercial DUI Enforcement Strategies From a deterrence perspective, the most effective DUI enforcement strategies are those that sustain a high level of intensity.
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From page 133... ...
COSTS AND BF] s'EFITS 121 vehicles on the nation's highways.
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From page 134... ...
122 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS safety inspectors actually get into the cab to check license, registration, log books, and other records associated with the safety inspection. If alcohol use is suspected, either from behavioral cues or from the presence of an alcoholic beverage in the cab (which is forbidden by federal regulation)
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From page 135... ...
COSTS AND BFJVEF! TS 123 weighing.
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From page 136... ...
124 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Many studies have documented the strong deterrent effect of license revocalion relative to other sanctioning methods (Latchaw 1986, 8)
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From page 137... ...
Safety Truck Weight Inspections Citations (1,158,000)
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From page 138... ...
126 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS Comprehensive Commercial Safety Enforcement Cost Estimate Based on 0.10 Percent BAC Alcohol testing Personnel $5,192,000 Equipment 304,000 Training 4,000 Testing 330,000 Towing 2,750,000 Subtotal $8,580,000 Sanctioning Administrative review $275,000 Administrative hearing 1,782,000 Judicial hearing 3,114,000 Subtotal $5,171,000 Publicity campaign $5,000,000 Economic losses from shipment delay Driver $2,136,000 Truck 882,000 Inventory 186,000 Subtotal $3,204,000 Total $21,955,000 NoTE: See Appendixes D and E for a more detailed ex- planation of the calculations underlying the cost estimate. or injury requiring transport to a hospital.
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From page 139... ...
COSTS AND BENEFITS 127 many jurisdictions BACs are not regularly measured in the case of a fatal accident or in accidents resulting in injury. Although more states have begun to test for blood alcohol in the event of fatal accidents, they frequently exclude the surviving driver, who, in the case of truck-involved fatal accidents, is the truck driver in 80 percent of such crashes.
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From page 140... ...
128 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS would decline by $2 million to $5 million, which reflects savings on equipment purchases. However, the benefits would also be reduced accordingly, particularly at low BACs, as shown later in this chapter.
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From page 141... ...
COSTS AND niiin's 129 hr. At lower BACs greater use of objective testing devices, such as passive sensors and PBTs, was assumed necessary to detect alcohol impairment.
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From page 142... ...
130 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Cost Allocation by Payment Source Costs were also analyzed from the perspective of who would pay. As Table 6-3 shows, the public sector would bear nearly four-fifths of the cost (78 percent)
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From page 143... ...
COSTS AND BENEFITS 131 road. Increasing opportunities for contact with commercial vehicle drivers would be combined with a vigorous public information campaign and swift sanctioning through license revocation.
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From page 144... ...
132 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Current Enforcement Practices Trucking Industry Drivers in the trucking industry represent the largest pool of workers to be affected by the proposed change in alcohol standards. The alcohol policies of large trucking companies appear to be based on the federal regulations described earlier, and testing is generally confined to those incidents for which probable cause of.
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From page 145... ...
COSTS AND BENEFITS 133 behind these strict policies. Enforcement, however, is still limited to testing for cause at the discretion of a company supervisor.
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From page 146... ...
134 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Bus operators in large public transit systems may begin their shift at a designated street location rather than at a terminal, thus limiting opportunity for supervisor contact. These problems will be exacerbated with a lower BAC limit at which detecting impairment, even under the best of circumstances, is difficult.
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From page 147... ...
COSTS AND BENEFITS 135 conducted without violating a driver's constitutional rights (Transport Topics 1987)
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From page 148... ...
136 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER ONIONS Summary By federal regulation most of the industries affected by the proposed change to a more stringent BAC standard, with the exception of public transit, already prohibit consumption of alcohol on the job and within 4 hr before going on duty. Many of the larger firms and public agencies have explicit alcohol and drug abuse programs that require testing of employees when probable cause for alcohol or drug impairment can be established.
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From page 149... ...
TABLE 6-4 BENEFITS AND COSTS AT ALTERNATIVE BACs AND TRUCK WEIGHTS ASSUMING USE OF PASSIVE SENSORS AND PBTs BAC Legal Limit (%) Benefits No.
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From page 150... ...
138 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS trucks under a scenario in which passive sensors and portable breath-testing devices (PBTs) are used.
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From page 151... ...
TABLE 6-5 BENEFITS AND COSTS AT ALTERNATIVE BACs AND TRUCK WEIGHTS ASSUMING NO USE OF PASSIVE SENSORS AND PBTs BAC Legal Limit (%) Benefits No.
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From page 152... ...
140 zo ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS TABLE 6-6 TOTAL NET ENFORCEMENT COST PER CASUALTY AVERTED AT ALTERNATIVE BACs AND TRUCK WEIGHTS ASSUMING USE OF PASSIVE SENSORS AND PBTs Cost by Truck Type ($) BAC Legal Heavy Trucks Limit (%)
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From page 153... ...
COSTS AND BFJS'EFITS 141 In a legal environment in which passive sensors and PBTs are ruled unconstitutional, net cost of enforcement per casualty averted is substantially higher at each BAC, reflecting benefit reductions that are not offset by cost savings. As enforcement levels become more stringent, total enforcement costs per casualty averted increase by 40 percent from approximately $10,000 at 0.10 percent and 0.04 percent BAC to $14,000 at 0.00 percent BAC (see Table 6-7)
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From page 154... ...
142 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS used in other commercial environments and require testing after serious crashes. The general deterrence effect of the latter option, however, is less well defined.
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From page 155... ...
COSTS AND BENEFITS 143 made by truck size, the net cost per casualty averted for medium trucks is substantially higher than the cost for heavy trucks and buses, reflecting the significantly larger number of fatalities and injuries that could be avoided by preventing heavy-truck accidents. Casualties comprise the sum of fatalities and injuries.
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From page 156... ...
144 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS For crashes involving trucks cariying hazardous materials, delays can last up to several hours and evacuation of area residents may be required. See Appendix G for a more detailed explanation of the methodology used to derive this estimate.
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From page 157... ...
7 Summary Assessment Driving a heavy truck is hazardous work. The occupational death rate of heavy-truck drivers is five times greater than the average for all workers in the United States.
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From page 158... ...
146 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS truck drivers and in about 14 percent of heavy-truck drivers involved in fatal crashes. Crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers of passenger buses are rare.
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From page 159... ...
SUMMARY ASSESSMFRT 147 drivers of trucks and buses are more hazardous than they are for drivers of automobiles. Legal and Technical Ability To Test for Low BACs Legal Ability To enforce a much lower BAC for commercial vehicle drivers, officers would need to rely more heavily on hand-held breath-screening devices to detect and measure low BACs.
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From page 160... ...
148 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS and a probable cause before arresting a suspect. The uncertainty regarding enforcing a low BAC standard is whether passive sensors can be used to assist officers in establishing reasonable suspicion and whether portable breath testers can be used in establishing probable cause.
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From page 161... ...
SUMMARY ASSESSMENF 149 percent or more, in part because of the ratio used to approximate BAC from the breath alcohol concentration. Even so, reliable measurements of breath alcohol concentrations with evidential equipment require careful adherence to the scientific procedures developed for forensic alcohol analysis.
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From page 162... ...
150 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS TABLE 7-1 RANGE OF BENEFITS AND COSTS AT ALTERNATIVE BAC STANDARDS Benefits BAC Reduced Increased Public Legal Nonfatal Involvements and Private Costs Limit Lives Injuries in Property of Enforcement (%) Saved Averted Damage Crashes ($ millions)
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From page 163... ...
SUMMARY ASSESSMEWF 151 safety inspections and at vehicle weigh stations. Sufficient opportunities for contact with drivers exist in these situations to be within the range of driver contacts achieved in successful deterrence efforts.
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From page 164... ...
152 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS Comparison of Alternative BACs The benefits of enforcing lower BACs appear justified when total social costs are compared with total social benefits. For example, the net cost of each BAC option per casualty averted ranges from a low of roughly $4,000, assuming maximum benefits, to a high of $14,000, assuming the minimum benefit at zero BAC (Table 7-2)
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From page 165... ...
SUMMARY ASSESSMENT 153 Retaining 0.10 percent BAC, however, ignores the considerable risk to the public of tolerating driving by commercial vehicle drivers while under the influence of this concentration of alcohol. In actual practice, the BAC limits enforced are higher than those specified in law.
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From page 166... ...
154 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OTHER OPTIONS be even greater. The primary question about adopting a zero BAC is whether the enforcement and legal systems would support it given that the risk of a crash at very low BACs is low and the consequences for the driver are quite severe.
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From page 167... ...
SUMMARY ASSFSSMFRT 155 the bloodstream -- whether from a beer with lunch or because of a hangover -- is incompatible with the safe operation of commercial vehicles. A zero limit enforced by the public sector would also strengthen the policies of many private companies that strictly prohibit alcohol consumption on the job or before reporting to work.
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From page 168... ...
156 ZERO ALCOHOL AND OThER OPTIONS TABLE 7-3 ESTIMATED BENEFITS AND COSTS OF ZERO BAC STANDARD (EXCLUDING MEDIUM TRUCKS) Category Annual Effect Lives saved 120-220 Nonfatal injuries averted 1,400-2,500 Medical savings ($ thousands)
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From page 169... ...
Appendix A Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Truck Crashes Past efforts to estimate alcohol involvement in fatal crashes have relied on the 15 states reporting the highest percentage of BACs. The approach of using data from states with good alcohol reporting is reasonable, yet may introduce reporting biases.
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From page 170... ...
158 those types of accidents where previous experience indicates possible alcohol use. For example, rural, nighttime, and single-vehicle accidents were overrepresented in the 15 states with good reporting in the 1982 FARS data (Voas 1984)
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From page 171... ...
159 TABLE A-3 COMPARISON OF BAC CORRELATES FOR PREDICTOR SUBGROUPS AND TARGET SUBGROUPS (NHTSA 1986) Percent Correlate (%)
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From page 172... ...
TABLE A-4 ALLOCATION OF FATALLY INJURED TRUCK DRIVERS WITH UNKNOWN BAC LEVELS (NHTSA 1986) Percentage by Correlate Single Vehicle Multiple Vehicle Urban Rural Urban Rural Day Night Day Night Day Night Day Night BAC (N = 41)
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From page 173... ...
161 METHODOLOGY A simplified procedure for compensating for alcohol oversampling was developed as part of this study. Because there is always some reporting of BACs in all states, even among surviving drivers, the approach was to accept all the known BAC values and to allocate the unknown values by comparing their accident characteristics against a predictor sample, which in this case was chosen to be fatally injured drivers with known BACs in all states.
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From page 174... ...
162 TABLE A-6 PERCENTAGE OF ALCOHOL USE IN FATAL CRASHES BY DRIVERS OF PERSONAL VEHICLES AND TRUCKS, 1984 Personal Vehicles Medium and Heavy Trucks "Good State" Current "Good State" Current BAC Level (%) Extrapolation' Method Extrapolationa Method No alcohol 45.5 47.3 78.3 80.1 0.01-0.03 2.9 1 3.5 2.8 1 2.3 0.04-0.09 7.0 54.5 7.5 52.7 2.4 21.7 3.6 19.9 J ~ 0.10 4.4.7 J 41.7 J 16.5 j 14.0 a Based on extrapolation of results for fatally injured drivers in the 21 states with good alcohol coverage.
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From page 175... ...
163 detected in an estimated 53 percent of personal vehicle drivers as compared with 20 percent for truck drivers (Table A-6)
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From page 176... ...
Appendix B . FARS and Texas Data on Fatalities for Drivers of Medium and Heavy Trucks Olga J
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From page 177... ...
TABLE B-I PERCENTAGE OF KNOWN AND UNKNOWN BACs FOR FATALLY INJURED DRIVERS BY VEHICLE TYPE AND BAC CATEGORY Truck Type BAC Limit (%) 1982 Percent Total No.
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From page 178... ...
irc These data must therefore be used in a purely descriptive sense in recognition of the limitations and potential bias of the estimates. The estimates tend to show a certain degree of consistency from year to year.
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From page 179... ...
167 TABLE B-2 TEXAS DPS-REPORTED ALCOHOL INVOLVEMENT FOR DRIVERS OF MEDIUM AND HEAVY VEHICLES, 1980-1986 Vehicle Type Medium and Heavy All Others Crash Type Percent No. Percent No.
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From page 180... ...
Appendix C Description and Costs of Testing Techniques Breath-screening devices of various types assist officers in detecting the presence of alcohol. Behavioral sobriety tests are more commonly used to determine whether a driver is sufficiently impaired by alcohol to be arrested.
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From page 181... ...
169 (called nystagmus) as they follow the side-to-side movement of the pencil.
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From page 182... ...
170 Semiconductor sensors use metal oxide as the conductor, which shows significant increases in conductivity in the presence of reducing gases, in this case alcohol. The sensor can be used with many repetitions without error but is sensitive to temperature and must be recalibrated weekly.
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From page 183... ...
171 sample. After the optical cell has been purged with alcohol-free air, test cycles of less than 1 min are possible.
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From page 184... ...
172 Dubowski, K
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From page 185... ...
Appendix D Estimating the Costs of a Comprehensive Commercial Safety Enforcement Option The methodology used to derive the cost estimate for the comprehensive commercial safety enforcement option is discussed in more detail in this appendix. There are four types of costs associated with a successful enforcement program: those related to alcohol testing, those of the sanctioning process, those of a publicity campaign, and economic costs associated with delay created by the enforcement process.
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From page 186... ...
174 alcohol use. This roadside interview of 1,833,000 drivers would take 3 mm per driver.
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From page 187... ...
175 TABLE D-1 COMMERCIAL VEHICLE DRIVER ALCOHOL INVOLVEMENT BY CRASH TYPE AND BAC STANDARD Alcohol Involvement by BAC Limit Type of No. of 0.10 0.04 0.00 Crash Drivers Percent No.
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From page 188... ...
176 Training One day of training in the use of PBTs for each of the 156 devices would be required at a cost of $286 per day. Because officers would not have to be retrained in the use of the equipment each year, except for new recruits, average annual training costs would be lower than this initial figure.
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From page 189... ...
177 PUBLICITY Costs are based on an intensive publicity effort involving a national campaign at a cost of approximately $1 million to develop a campaign theme, advertising materials, and the like. Accompanying state programs of approximately $75,000 each would be needed to develop promotional materials, such as billboards and brochures, tailored to local audiences.
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From page 190... ...
Appendix E Estimating the Economic Costs of Shipment Delay A description is given of the methodology used to derive an estimate of the economic costs of shipment delay associated with stopping and testing commercial vehicle drivers for alcohol use. The estimate covers three types of cost.
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From page 191... ...
179 exceptions here are the independent owner-operators, who are paid a percentage of the expected revenue from a shipment. The policy of the firms interviewed, with the exception of those that use owner-operators, is to pay a driver on an hourly basis for time out of service even if the driver is at fault.
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From page 192... ...
180 Weighting the latter figures according to the method described earlier resulted in an average iravel distance of 115 mi to pick up a load. TRUCK COSTS The capital costs associated with delay are depreciation and an opportunity loss on the capital invested in the truck during the period of delay.
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From page 193... ...
181 However, shippers already build a delay factor into the calculation of their inventory needs and an estimate of the delay involved from alcohol testing amounted to less than 1 percent of the total truck miles traveled.' This was not considered significant enough by industry experts to change the level of safety stocks carried. Several data elements were required to calculate the opportunity loss on the investment tied up in the value of the shipment during the time of delay.
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From page 194... ...
Appendix F Estimating the Costs of Post-Crash Testing This appendix provides a more detailed explanation of the methodology used to derive the cost estimate for the post-crash testing option. There are three types of costs associated with a successful enforcement program: costs related to alcohol testing, costs of the sanctioning process, and costs of a publicity compaign.
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From page 195... ...
183 Post-Crash Testing Cost Estimate Based on 0.10 Percent BAC Alcohol testing Personnel $2,315,000 Equipment 2,453,000 Training 527,000 Testing 793,000 Towing 558,000 Subtotal $6,646,000 Sanctioning Administrative review $67,000 Administrative hearing 436,000 Judicial hearing 762,000 Subtotal $1,265,000 Publicity campaign $3,000,000 Total $10,911,000 According to Table 2-11, there are 457,500 commercial vehicle drivers (assuming that each vehicle has one driver) involved in 441,500 annual crashes or an average of 1.036 commercial vehicle drivers per crash.
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From page 196... ...
67,000 Crashes 68,300 Crashes 0.05 hr Roadside Jr Interviews 0.95 hr Field Hospital Tests for Evidential impairment Tests (3,360)
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From page 197... ...
185 would be needed to see that the 18,300 injured persons (457,500 x 0.04) are escorted to the hospital, to obtain the test results, and to complete a report.
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From page 198... ...
186 estimate from Justice Expenditure and Employment) are on active duty and that only one-third of the force is on duty at any one time (i.e., 69,000 divided by three 8-hr shifts)
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From page 199... ...
187 drivers would require an administrative review at a cost of $25 per review. Half of the cases would require a subsequent administrative hearing at a cost of $324 per hearing.
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From page 200... ...
Appendix G Cost of Traffic Delays Caused by Accidents A potentially significant item that is often omitted from estimates of accident costs is the value of time lost in traffic delays. The reduction in capacity and the resulting traffic delay that accompany most urban freeway accidents lead to losses of efficiency that cannot be measured directly, because the amount and value of lost time must be estimated for all motorists involved in the delay.
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From page 201... ...
TABLE 0-1 VALUE OF TRAVEL TIME Value of Time Value of Time Weighted Average Occupants per Hour per Hour Percentage Value of Time per Purpose of per - x per Occupant = per Vehicle of Vehicle Hour per Vehicle Vehicle Tnpa Vehicle' ($)
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From page 202... ...
190 TIME LOSS Few studies have estimated the loss of time of motorists involved in traffic delays caused by accidents on urban interstates and freeways. The most frequently cited study, developed from a daytime accident log kept by Houston police in 1968 and 1969 on a 6-mi section of the Gulf Freeway, found that the average freeway accident took 45 min to clear and investigate (Goolsby 1971,41)
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From page 203... ...
Traffic Delay Savings at Alternative BACs 191 BAC Limit Total No.
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From page 204... ...
Study Committee Biographical Information M
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From page 205... ...
193 Beard was Assistant Professor of Physiology at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, then became an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and later Professor of Psychiatry there. He has published more than 80 articles, including 11 chapters dealing with the pathophysiology of acute and chronic alcoholism.
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From page 206... ...
194 GERALD J FRIEDMAN, a physician, is Medical Director for United Parcel Service.
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From page 207... ...
195 Traffic Law Enforcement and Adjudication Committees for the National Safety Council, and the Fourth Vice-President of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.
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From page 208... ...
196 Council of Canada and with the Southern California Research Institute. She has done extensive work and written papers on the effects of drugs and alcohol on driving performance.
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From page 209... ...
The Transportation Research Board is a unit of the National Research Council, which serves the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. The Board's purpose is to stimulate research concerning the nature and performance of transportation systems, to disseminate the information produced by the research, and to encourage the application of appropriate research findings.
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From page 210... ...
Transportation Research Board National Research Council 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.
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Key Terms
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