"TRB's Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP) Report 7: Role of Human Factors in Preventing Cargo Tank Truck Rollovers analyzes the causes of the major driver factors contributing to cargo tank truck rollovers and offers safety, management, and communication practices that can be used to help potentially minimize or eliminate driver errors in cargo tank truck operations. The report focuses on three areas of practice--rollover-specific driver training and safety programs, the use of behavior management techniques, and the use of fitness-for-duty management practices--that could have long-lasting benefits for motor carriers of all sizes across the tank truck industry."--Publisher's description.

Because of the significant number of heavy truck-related fatalities and the significant role of fatigue in such accidents the Board initiated this study of single-vehicle heavy truck accidents to examine the role of specific factors such as drivers' patterns of duty and sleep, in fatigue-related heavy truck accidents and to determine potential remedial actions. The purpose of the Board's study was to examine the factors that affect driver fatigue and not the statistical incidence of fatigue. The study analyzes data from 107 single-vehicle heavy truck accidents in which the driver survived. Volume 1 of the study contains the Board's analysis of the data and its conclusions and recommendations. Volume 2 of the study contains the summaries of the 107 accidents. The safety issues discussed in the report are (a) the factors that affect fatigue-related accidents; (b) the adequacy of the Federal Highway Administration's hours of service regulations; and (c) the adequacy of truckdrivers' understanding of the factors affecting fatigue. Safety recommendations concerning these issues were made to the Federal Highway Administration, the Professional Truck Driver Institute of America, the American Trucking Associations, Inc, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the National Private Truck Council, the Independent Truck Owner Operators, the Owner-Operator Independent Driver's Association, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the National Industrial Transportation League.

The objective of this report is to identify known relationships between commercial vehicle safety and crash causation factors and to prepare a synthesis of safety implications of oversize/overweight (OS/OW) commercial vehicles. This information can be used to support commercial vehicle enforcement and permitting practices and justify expenditures and investments on size and weight enforcement to enhance safety. In producing this report, insight was gained into the impacts of truck size and weight (TSW) regulations through three case studies. The state of practice in estimating large truck crash rates is complicated because of the many configurations and the wide range of possible weights for any particular configuration. This report highlights four primary findings regarding the contributions of OS/OW to commercial vehicle crashes found by its researchers.