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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Practices. Topic 57-13. Practices to Improve DOT Employee Vehicle Safety and Reduce Workplace Driving Incidents



</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2630484</link>
      <description><![CDATA[State department of transportation (DOT) employees spend a significant amount of work time behind the wheel in a variety of light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle crashes cost employers $60 billion annually in medical care, legal expenses, property damage, and lost productivity. Research notes that driving is the leading cause of workplace deaths and results in 1.95 million workdays being lost each year. It identifies distracted driving, speeding, and failure to wear a seat belt as common contributing factors to motor vehicle crashes and injuries. 

A number of fatal incidents have occurred involving vehicles running off the road or backing up. Some state DOTs use defensive driving, seatbelt use incentives, driver agreements, or other driver improvement training to improve education, awareness, and skills, but issues remain. As state DOTs continue to explore opportunities to improve their agency’s safety performance, a synthesis that captures initiatives regarding employee vehicle safety can inform the national audience about this impactful area.

The objective of this synthesis is to document state DOT practices regarding employee driving and vehicle safety programs for state DOT employees. An important focus of this synthesis project will be on proactive policies and processes aimed at reducing incidents attributed to actions or behaviors of state DOT employees.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 26 Nov 2025 17:42:49 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2630484</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Handbook for Implementing Traffic Safety Programs in the Workplace</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2394422</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Traffic crashes are a leading cause of workplace injuries and deaths. Total injury costs in 2021 were estimated at $498.3 billion. 

Feelings of safety and security are influenced by workplace culture. Similar to programs through which employees receive information on how to lower blood pressure as a risk factor for heart disease, the workplace can be an effective conduit to share traffic safety information with employees, with the goal of reducing traffic crashes, deaths, and injuries. 

State highway safety offices (SHSOs) have an opportunity to work with employers to help achieve statewide traffic safety goals. However, a gap exists in information regarding effective traffic safety programs delivered in a range of workplaces. Research is needed to fill this gap. 

The objective of this project is to develop a handbook for practitioners to implement scalable traffic safety education programs in a range of workplaces (e.g., both where driving is and is not a primary employee task, both public-sector and private-sector employers, various types of vehicle fleets, and a range of employee staff sizes). ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2024 15:23:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2394422</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Increasing the Recognition and Support of Employer-Provided Commute Benefits Via
Best Workplaces for Commuters</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1501523</link>
      <description><![CDATA[NCTR’s theme is to make public transportation and all other travel choices, safe, effective, efficient, desirable, and secure.  This project focuses on increasing the desirability, effectiveness, and efficiency of employer-provided commute benefits (e.g., transit subsidies, telework, etc.) by providing national recognition in a membership-based program – Best Workplaces for Commuters (BWC) within the NCTR National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse.  

Changes in fares paid by commuters can improve transit’s desirability, effectiveness, and efficiency. TCRP Report 107 Analyzing the Effectiveness of Commuter Benefits Programs (Transit Cooperative Research Board, 2005) found that lowering the cost of transit via employer-provided commute subsidies increases transit ridership and attracts commuters who drive alone. The same report found that "Transit benefits programs can make up a substantial portion of systemwide ridership and revenues. Employer transit benefits programs can make up a substantial portion of total transit agency ridership and revenues. Among the agencies interviewed, employer programs contributed 5 to 25 percent of total transit riders and 5 to 40 percent of customer revenues."      

While the impacts can be significant, access to these benefits is very limited. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 7% of civilian workers have access to subsidized commuting (transit) benefits.  (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017) Increasing the number of employers that provide transit and vanpool subsidies and/or provide commute friendly services such emergency ride home, bicycle lockers, etc. is an effective strategy for increasing use of transit, ridesharing, etc.   
Helping the employers and the agencies that promote transit and all other travel choices is what the Clearinghouse and BWC is all about. They do this by providing technical assistance and recognition to those BWC employers-members such as Florida Hospital, IBM, Seattle Childrens Hospital, U.S. Geological Survey, Fairfax County, and Yale University. Through webinars, case studies, online knowledge base, e-newsletters, and listservs, they seek to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the TDM and transit industries' outreach efforts as well as support continuing growth among employer commute programs.  As evidenced of its growing popularity and recognition of BWC, the BWC website has about 20,000 users and 100,000 page views per year.    

Finally, this project will be leveraged with $20,000 in program-generated income from the BWC workplaces.  CUTR has operated Best Workplaces for Commuters since 2007 and has leveraged NCTR funding to obtain over $132,000 in cash payments over that time.  Most of this income is from employer-paid membership dues at $230 per year that meet the National Standard of Excellence.     

]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:00:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1501523</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Guidance for Employer-Based Behavioral Traffic Safety Programs for Drivers in the Workplace</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1492251</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Workers may drive motor vehicles as their main jobs or as incidental to their main jobs, but in either case, traffic crashes are the leading cause of workplace fatalities. In 2016, there were 37,461 fatalities on roadways in the United States (NHTSA, February 2018). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of annual workplace fatalities rose for the third consecutive year in 2016. The most common fatal events resulted from work transportation incidents, which represented 40% of workplace fatalities in 2016. On-the-job vehicle crashes have devastating effects on workers and their families, communities, and businesses. In 2013, motor vehicle crashes cost U.S. employers $25 billion—$671,000 per death and $65,000 per nonfatal injury (https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/motor-vehicle-safety.html).
 
While engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency response efforts have significantly reduced traffic-related fatalities in recent decades, road user behavior remains the most common risk factor associated with traffic crashes. Many organizations implement wellness programs in the workplace to encourage healthy behaviors such as smoking cessation, increased physical activities, healthy eating, and managing chronic conditions in order to improve worker health, lower insurance rates, and employee time off work for sickness and injuries. Some organizations have implemented behavioral change programs aimed specifically at increased employee seatbelt use and other safe driving practices.  Research is needed to assess the success of such programs and determine what elements of these programs, and other behavioral change programs have the greatest likelihood of changing driver behavior and safety culture in the workplace.
 
The objective of this research was to (1) document the components of existing U.S. and international employer-based behavioral traffic safety programs (e.g., traffic safety citizenship, safety culture and climate, incentives) for workers who operate motor vehicles for any part of their job duties; (2) use behavioral change theory to identify the essential components of the programs; (3) identify and describe measures of program effectiveness; and (4) develop guidance that incorporates the essential components necessary to plan, implement, and evaluate an employer-based behavioral traffic safety program. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 19 Dec 2017 14:50:29 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1492251</guid>
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