Prescriptive regulation of hours of service is the norm for control of fatigue in drivers of heavy vehicles in most developed countries. In many cases, the origins of current prescriptive regulations had more to do with industrial relations issues or protection of government owned rail operations against competition from a rapidly developing road transport industry than with notions of road safety. Since the initiation of prescriptive regulation, and particularly in recent years, understanding of the nature and causes of fatigue has grown. Little of this increased understanding has yet been embodied in regulatory approaches to the management of heavy vehicle driver fatigue. The purpose of this paper is to explore options for medium term improvements in fatigue regulation, through application of current understanding of fatigue causation. (A)
Abstract