Sponsor
Oregon Department of Transportation
First Advisor
Dr. Jason C. Anderson
Date of Award
Spring 6-18-2024
Document Type
Project
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Civil & Environmental Engineering
Department
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Subjects
Injury severity, truck crashes, COVID-19, policy, freight, motor carrier
Abstract
At the start of the pandemic the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued declaration No. 2020-002 which included a long list of goods given temporary emergency relief (deregulation) from national statutes 49 CFR Parts 390-399 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations that oversee trucking. In particular, this granted emergency relief from Title 49 CFR § 395.3: maximum driving time for motor carriers or their drivers, regarded as hours-of-service (HOS), and subsequently further expanded to include short-haul trips, adverse driving conditions, break requirements, and sleeper berths. Regulations which play a crucial role in establishing the safe operation and management of motor carriers, their drivers, and the public.
The consequences for these suspensions of regulations from a safety standpoint are not fully understood. The research presented here endeavors to provide insight into these motor carrier regulation relaxations from a safety perspective by assessing crash proportions and modeling injury severity. Oregon crash data from 2019 through 2021 (before, during, and after COVID) was used for analysis. Proportions tests indicate statistically significant differences between time periods for various crash-related factors, while the injury severity models suggest contributing injury severity factors were also different among time periods.
Recommended Citation
McKenzie, William B. III, "Modeling Injury Severity of Truck-Involved Crashes Under COVID-19 Regulatory Changes" (2024). Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports. 64.