Lorry driver's time habits in work and their involvement in traffic accidents
HAMELIN
Type de document
COMMUNICATION ORALE SANS ACTES (COM)
Langue
anglais
Auteur
HAMELIN
Résumé / Abstract
Using representative samples of all drivers operating in freight transportation, we have been able to describe, first, the sociological features of lorry drivers, second, the process of formation of this group and, finally, their work conditions. They are, in many ways, similar to other blue collars. The analysis of career evolution shows the existence of social processes of selection where some people leave this sort of work whereas others stay in it but try to improve working conditions by migrating to firms offering better salaries and/or easier situations ,as usual durations and rhythms of work are known, it is therefore possible to calculate the risk exposure to road accident involvement (according to the time at which the drivers are at the wheel and in relation to the amount of work already carried out) and to compare it, using a representative sample of the drivers involved, to the time features of the driver's activities prior to the accident. This allows us to show that the risk of involvement in an accident increases with the number of hours carried out and according to the time at which the drivers are at the wheel (at the end of a normal working day and at night). But the relations between the durations or the work periods and the accident risk are not homogeneous for different types of drivers. Younger drivers and those in the Transportation Branch are exposed to ; higher global risk level but, apparently, they find various resources to -fight against fatigue for the most dangerous threshold periods. Thus we should ponder upon physiological mechanisms , on 'the one hand, and acquisition modes of know-how which may make up for fatigue, on the other'
