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People who are driving as part of their work duties are an important road user category. First, workers themselves are at risk of road traffic injury. Contributing factors include fatigue and long work hours, delivery pressures, distractions from mobile phones and other devices, lack of training to operate the assigned vehicle, vehicle defects, use of prescription and non-prescription medications, medical conditions, and poor journey planning. Death, disability, or injury of a family wage earner due to road traffic injury, in addition to causing emotional pain and suffering, creates economic hardship for the injured worker and family members that may persist well beyond the event itself. Employers are in a unique position because they can use the employer-employee relationship as leverage to complement and enforce government policies that require safety belt use, prohibit impaired driving, and prohibit mobile-phone use and other forms of distracted driving. Safe-driving policies implemented in the workplace can promote safer driving away from work. In addition, employers, as purchasers of large fleets of vehicles, can spur improvements in vehicle safety, and encourage development of road safety capacity and legislation in the local areas and countries in which they operate, thereby improving road safety for all. Research examining motor vehicle crashes has focused on topics such as driver fatigue, medical conditions, distracted driving, biomechanics, vehicle engineering, collision warning systems, stability control, naturalistic driving data and the potential relation these factors have on the crashes. Various interventions from researchers studying driver behaviours have focused on vehicle monitoring devices, seat belt controls, behaviour interventions and obeying safe driving practices. ==Crash data and data sources== Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are consistently the leading cause of work-related fatalities in the U.S. A total of 8,173 workers died in work-related MVCs on public highways from 2003 to 2008, representing 24% of all work-related fatalities for the period. The annual average fatality rate was 0.9 deaths per 100,000 workers. Workers employed in the trucking industry accounted for the greatest number (2,320) and highest rate of highway transportation deaths (19.6 per 100,000 workers). Other U.S. industries with high fatality rates due to work-related MVCs were logging (11.7 per 100,000 workers), wholesale distribution of petroleum products (8.6), waste management (8.5), support activities for mining (7.9), and taxi and limousine services (6.8). The majority of work-related MVC fatalities occurred among occupants of trucks (67% of deaths), especially tractor-trailers (34% of deaths). Nearly half of all fatalities were collisions between two or more vehicles (49%), and 19% were non-collision incidents, especially jack-knifed trucks and overturned vehicles. These statistics include only drivers and passengers in motor vehicles; U.S. data do include MVCs occurring off public highways, as well as fatalities of pedestrian workers, but these are not presented here. However, U.S. data on work-related fatalities do not include motor vehicle crashes while commuting to or from work, nor do crash data systems for the general population identify commuting status. The source of the data discussed above is the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), a program managed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) with data provided by state agencies. CFOI is the most comprehensive surveillance system for work-related injury fatalities in the U.S. Multiple data sources are accessed to compile data, including death certificates, OSHA reports, workers’ compensation reports, police reports, and media accounts. Cases are deemed to be work-related upon confirmation by two independent data sources. CFOI combines strong methods for case ascertainment with detailed information on worker demographics and company characteristics. However, because CFOI must capture information on all kinds of occupational fatalities, it provides little detail on circumstances and risk factors specific to MVCs. A national surveillance system based on police crash reports provides more detailed information on circumstances and contributing factors for fatal MVCs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) collects comprehensive data on the crash, the vehicle, the driver and other persons involved. However, FARS identifies work-related fatalities only through the death certificate, which often does not fully ascertain work-related fatalities. Nor does FARS categorize fatally injured workers by industry or occupation. U.S. data on nonfatal work-related crashes are limited. Through a sample survey of employers, the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), BLS generates annual estimates of nonfatal occupational injuries by variables such as industry, source of injury (e.g., a motor vehicle), body part(s) injured, age, and median lost work days. SOII provides little incident-level detail that can help to guide MVC prevention initiatives. Further, because SOII does not cover certain worker groups such as agricultural workers on farms with fewer than 11 employees and the self-employed, it undoubtedly underestimates the number of work-related MVCs and other events. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Work-related road safety in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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