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Better wages cut crashes, says stud
Page 10
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• by Miles Brignall Hauliers looking to reduce their vehicle accident rates should pay their drivers better wages, according to a new study just released by an American academic.
Professor Michael H Belzer and his research team at Wayne State University, Detroit, have just published their report Paying for Safety which claims that every extra 10% invested in driver compensation is rewarded by a 9.2% fall in the number of crashes.
The study, which only looked at the American trucking industry, suggests there is a direct link between a recorded decline in wages between 1992 and 1997 and the 20% increase in the number killed in crashes involving trucks that occurred during the same period.
Belzer also says the link between pay and crash rates is particularly marked among drivers who are paid by the mile as drivers on the lowest rates work extra hours to make up their earnings.
Some of the most interesting facts were the variables that he had to strip out of the figures he analysed. These are: • Driver crash risk decreases with age until the driver reaches 41 years of age, when the effect changes direction. A driver that is 20 years old has a crash risk similar to that of a driver 62 years of age.
• Non-married drivers are safer.
• Longer length of employment contributes to safety.
• Drivers are safer in winter.
• Last Tuesday (15 Octcberi saw the International Transport Federation's annual 'Fatigue Kills"' day which incorporated events all over the world. The Transport and General Workers Union distributed leaflets at a number of truck stops across Sussex and Kent, including Clacketts Lane and Ashford Truck Stop. The coordinated activity is intended to encourage more transport workers to join the union and to provide information on the European Working Time Directive on the 48-hour working week.