DISTRACTED DRIVING
Ben Shew
Executive Director
Office of School Transportation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=jqBlL4Wujkw
Texting While Driving
Safety is Our Business
• The School Bus is safe
• Pre-trip
• Post-trip
• Bus Operators are safe
• Well trained
• Physically fit
• Mentally alert
Safe Operators
• This year WV had no student deaths
• Fewer serious accidents
• Nationally there is a concern about
distracted driving
– Distracted Driving includes:
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Use of electronic devices
Eating and drinking
Conversations
Fatigue
Safe Operations
• Driving while distracted is a factor in 25 percent of
police reported crashes
• Distracted driving injures 330,000 people every year
• Behavior Increased Risk
• Texting
23 times
• Reaching for a moving object
9 times
• Driving drowsy
4 times
• Looking at an external object
3.7 times
• Reading
3.4 times
• Applying makeup
3 times
FMCSA Regulation
Docket No. FMCSA-2009-0370 final rule
• Prohibits testing by CMV drivers
including school bus operators
• Waiver for government operated school
buses drivers
• Not exempt from CDL disqualification by
State
• Web access: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rulesregulations/administration/rulemakings/final/TextingBan-Final-Rule-plus-OST-press-release.pdf
WV Cell Phone and Electronic
Device Policy
• Cell phone and other electronic communication
devices
• Cell phone usage while driving are being compared to
DUI
• Policy 4336 - 13.20 Cellular Phones
• 13.20.1 The use of cellular phones or other
portable electronic devices – even those equipped
with hands-free devices – while driving is
prohibited
• 13.20.2 The use of cellular phones while
supervising the loading and unloading of students
is prohibited.
• 13.20.3 If communication with the Transportation
Department is necessary, the bus must be stopped.
Electronic Devices
• Distraction from cell phone use while driving (hand
held or hands free) extends a driver's reaction as
much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the
legal limit of .08 percent. (University of Utah)
• The No.1 source of driver inattention is use of a
wireless device. (Virginia Tech/NHTSA)
• Use of, or reach for, an electronic device made the
risk of crash or near-crash event 6.7 times as high
as non-distracted driving(VPI)
• Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount
of brain activity associated with driving by 37
percent (Carnegie Mellon)
Texting
• It takes your eyes off the road for an average
of 5 seconds.
• It's like driving after having 4 bottles of beer.
• It makes you 23 times more likely to crash.
• "This equates to a driver traveling the length
of a football field at 55 mph without looking
at the roadway," Virginia Tech found.
Another Consequence
Oak Hill, Ohio School Bus Driver
Terminated for Texting
Driver Fatigue
• National Transportation Board (NTSB)
• “Fatigue can impair a person behind a wheel
much like alcohol or other drugs. We must
ensure that as much as possible is being done to
protect our transportation system from the
insidious effect of human fatigue.”
• Fatigue Quiz (True or False)
• Coffee overcomes effects of drowsiness
• I can tell when I’m going to sleep
• Rolling down the window or singing will keep me
awake
• You can stockpile sleep on the weekends
• Most adults need only 5 hours of sleep
• A microsleep lasts 2 seconds
Driver Fatigue
• Sleepiness Impairs Performance
• Slower reaction time
• Even small decrements in reaction time can have
a profound effect on crash risk, particularly at
high speeds
• Reduced vigilance
• Performance declines, including increased
periods on non-responding or delayed
responding
• Deficits in information processing
• Processing and integration info takes longer, the
accuracy of short-term memory decreases and
performance declines
Driver Fatigue
• Crash Characteristics
• They occur normally at night or mid-afternoon
• Crash likely to be serious
• Driver does not try to avoid crash
• Crash occurs on high-speed roadway
• Risks for Drowsy-Driving Crashes
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Sleep Loss – 7 to 8 hours of sleep
Driving patterns – Changes in normal habit, 3 hrs. or
more driving increases risk.
Use of sedating meds – Meds have been provided to
counties
Untreated sleep disorders – sleep apnea and narcolepsy
Alcohol – 20 % of fall-asleep crashes involve alcohol
Driver Fatigue
• Behavioral Interventions
• 15 to 20 minute nap
• Consuming caffeine – min. 2 cups only
effective for a short time
• Physical discomfort
Driver Fatigue
•
Driver fatigue
• Policy 4336 is similar to FMCSA’s Hours of Service Regulations
• 14.2 Be eligible to operate a school bus without a minimum of
six (6) consecutive hours of off duty time, for proper rest
between the conclusion of the previous day’s regularly
scheduled afternoon run and immediately prior to the
beginning of the next day’s regularly scheduled morning run.
Also:
• 14.2.a. More than 10 hours following 8 consecutive
hours off duty; or
• 14.2.b. For any period after having been on duty 15
hours following 8 consecutive hours off duty
• 14.2.c. No school bus operator shall drive a passengercarrying commercial motor vehicle, regardless of the
number of motor carriers using the driver's services, for
any period after:
• 14.2.c.1. Having been on duty 60 hours in any 7
consecutive days if the employing motor carrier
does not operate commercial motor vehicles every
day of the week; or
• 14.2.c.2. Having been on duty 70 hours in any
period of 8 consecutive days if the employing motor
carrier operates commercial motor vehicles every
day of the week.
Sleep Apnea
•
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) a driver having Obstructive Sleep
Apnea (OSA) precludes an individual from obtaining
unconditional certification to drive a commercial motor
vehicle(CMV). However, it should not exclude all
individuals with the disorder. An individual with an OSA
diagnosis and is receiving positive airway pressure (PAP)
may be certified to drive if that individual meets the
following criteria:
• Be referred to a clinician with relevant expertise
• Adequate PAP pressure established through one of the
following means:
• An in-laboratory titration study
• An auto-titration system without an in-laboratory
titration
Sleep Apnea (cont’d)
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Individuals with OSA who have been treated with PAP may be
certified if they have been successfully treated for a minimum
of 1 week
• Successful PAP treatment is defined as follows:
• Demonstration of good compliance with treatment
• Resolution of excessive sleepiness when driving
Individuals with OSA who are treated with PAP must
demonstrate compliance with treatment and this must be
documented objectively
• Compliance is defined as using PAP for the duration of
total sleep time.
• Optional treatment efficacy occurs with seven hours or
more of use during sleep; however, four hours of
documented time at pressure per major sleep episode
is minimally acceptable.
• Based on current standards of practice, and
acceptable CPAP use is at least 4 hours of use per
night on at least 70% of nights.
Why
You may ask why do we have these
requirements when we are exempt from
federal regulations
• It is the right thing to do for the safety of
the students
• It is the “best practice”
• We are exempt because we are the safest
form of transportation and we police
ourselves
Questions??