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Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Practices. Topic 57-13. Practices to Improve DOT Employee Vehicle Safety and Reduce Workplace Driving Incidents

BACKGROUND - 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. OBJECTIVE - 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. Information to be gathered includes (but is not limited to): (1) DOT organizational and structural characteristics that may influence training or safe driving enforcement (permanent or temporary employees; union or non-union workforces; contractors or non-contractors); (2) Agencies that supervise the training or safe driving enforcement (for example, human resources in the DOT, or a statewide agency; a centralized, semi-centralized, or decentralized DOT); (3) Employee characteristics and classifications (tenure of employees, contract employees, or supervisory capacity); (4) State DOT use of safe vehicle technologies (e.g., vehicle monitoring systems); (5) Components of an employee driving training program; (6) Existence of employee driving metrics (e.g. telematics, etc.); (7) How telematics data are used for employee engagement and driving training; (8) Existence of agency practices for installing or requiring safety equipment on fleet or contracted vehicles to protect vulnerable users (e.g. policies for side guards, mirrors, and backup cameras, procurement policies for selecting smaller vehicles, etc.); (9) Incentives (e.g., total score awards), disincentives (e.g., zero tolerance policy) used related to employee driving behaviors; (10) Benefits and challenges of employee driving programs at different stage; (11) Implementation and evaluation strategies for employee driving programs; and (12) Written policies and procedures for employee driving programs. Information will be gathered through a literature review, a survey of state DOTs, and follow-up interviews with selected DOTs for the development of case examples. Information gaps and suggestions for research to address those gaps will be identified. Information sources (partial): (1) Dadi, G. D., Sturgill, R. E., Jr., and Ramadan, B. 2023. NCHRP Synthesis 608: Practices to Motivate Safe Behaviors with Highway Construction and Maintenance Crews. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board. https://doi.org/10.17226/27176. (2) NCHRP Synthesis 20-05/Topic 56-10, “Practices to Reduce Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs) for State DOT Employees.” https://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5721. (3) Dadi, G. B., Sturgill R. E., Jr., Zamaan Al-Shabbani, Z., and Ammar, A. 2022. NCHRP Synthesis 591: Use of Safety Management Systems in Managing Highway Maintenance Worker Safety. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board. https://doi.org/10.17226/26672. (4) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Compliance, Safety, and Accountability Program: Driver Safety Education Center. https://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/yourrole/drivers. (5) Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Guidelines for Employers to Reduce Motor Vehicle Crashes. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/motor_vehicle_guide.pdf. (6) Smith System. Employee Vehicle Crashes: By the Numbers. 2020.

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  • English

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01972944
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
  • Contract Numbers: Project 20-05, Topic 57-13
  • Files: TRB, RIP
  • Created Date: Nov 26 2025 5:42PM