Title page for ETD etd-11222010-185212

Type of Document

Thesis

Author

Mtoi, Enock Thomas

Author's Email Address

et09j@fsu.edu

URN

etd-11222010-185212

Title

Safety Analysis of Transit Bus Operators: Implications of Service Hours and Fatigue.

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Dr. Ren Moses	Committee Chair
Dr. John Sobanjo	Committee Member
Dr. Yassir A. AbdelRazig	Committee Member

Keywords

Safety Analysis
Service Hours
Fatigue

Date of Defense

2010-10-15

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

This research study examines the safety impacts of the existing operator hours of duty policies in the state of Florida. Thus, this study uses questionnaire surveys, incident data archived by transit agencies and bus driver schedules to determine the relationship between crash involvement and operator schedules.

It is obvious that long driving hours have a potential of causing fatigue, which is known as a contributing factor for collisions. This research examines the influence of bus operator driving hours on the occurrence of preventable collisions by employing data from incident reports and operator schedules to evaluate the correlation between driving hours and operator involvement in collisions. Several methods of analysis including a statistical t-test, a comparative analysis, an overrepresentation analysis, Chi-square analysis and logistic regression analysis are employed.

The results show a discernable pattern of an increased propensity of accident involvement with an increase in driving hours. Based on the analysis, on average, bus drivers who are involved in preventable collisions drive over six hours more than the general bus driver population. According to the findings of this study, it is clear that the present regulation that limits drivers’ on-duty time to a maximum of seventy hours per week needs to be revised.

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