The Benefits of Alternative Compliance in the Trucking Industry

While the national large truck-involved fatal accident rate has been declining for the past 20 years, the raw data indicate that the total number of fatalities has demonstrated a fairly stable trend since 1995. These fatality statistics, while moving in a generally positive direction, indicate that there are additional opportunities for reducing truck-involved fatalities through enhancements to current safety performance programs. Several research analyses have provided evidence that certain non-traditional safety approaches can reduce truck-involved crashes, injuries and fatalities. These “alternative” efforts – strategies that are typically voluntary relative to traditional activities – have given rise to an innovative concept known as “alternative compliance.” The goal of alternative compliance is to improve upon, or in some instances supplant, certain traditional safety management and compliance practices. This research was premised on the hypothesis that, for many carriers, new approaches are needed to address what appears to be a plateau in national safety statistics. Toward this goal, an analysis of potential alternative compliance activities was conducted and each was evaluated in relation to existing traditional compliance activities. Additionally, the research team examined the impacts of traditional compliance efforts on crash and out-of-service rates. A potential application of the research would be to provide a blueprint for a pilot program that identifies and links possible alternative compliance activities with specific safety and/or crash reduction benefits.