Federal regulation allows truck drivers to use sleeper berths toaccumulate eight hours of off-duty rest in two separate periods. because sleep disruption may cause fatigue and deterioration of performance, a study was conducted to evaluate the association between sleeper-berth use in two periods and tractor-trailer driver fatality. using bureau of motor carrier safety reports, crashes that resulted in tractor-trailer driver fatality were compared with property damagecrashes. after adjusting for confounding variables by logistic regression, tractor-trailer driver fatality was found to be significantly associated with sleeper-berth use in two shifts (odds ratio . 3.05). statistically significant but weaker associations were found between driver fatality and rural district, night driving, gross vehicleweight of 72000 pounds or more, single-vehicle collision, intercitytrip, and employment on an occasional basis.(a).
Abstract