Stephanie Baker

A Survey of Light-Vehicle Driver Education Curriculum on Sharing the Road with Heavy Vehicles

INTRODUCTION Light-vehicle driver education programs that contain content about sharing the road with heavy vehicles may be helpful in reducing future light-vehicle/heavy-vehicle interactions. However, the extent of curricula in the United States including such content is unclear. METHOD Researchers developed an online survey targeted at instructors/administrators of state driver education programs to identify curricula addressing heavy vehicles and to determine perceived effectiveness. RESULTS Ninety-one percent of respondents indicated that the light-vehicle driver education curriculum they teach/administer included a component covering how to safely share the road with heavy vehicles (82% perceived this component to be effective). DISCUSSION Although a large proportion of these programs included a component on how to safely share the road with heavy vehicles, participants indicated there may be room for improvement. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY Participants recommended that future improvements to driver education programs include updated materials and student hands-on experience with heavy vehicles.

Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety

This report was developed to support improved bus procurement by public transit agencies, focusing on the bus operator workstation component of a bus. The project was designed to assist transit agencies and bus manufacturers in integrating improved and emerging technologies into current procurement practices and improving bus operator workstation design across the transit industry. The final deliverables for the project include this report, supplemented by six tools. The report provides an overview of the structure and content of the research, defines the role of each key stakeholder in the procurement process, and presents two types of training needed to support a well-prepared procurement team that includes bus operators trained in their ergonomic needs. The report also presents important computer-aided design (CAD) and human modeling simulation models, now integral to modern bus procurement. Six appendices present detailed research results that complement the research report. The report is supplemented by three organizational tools and three design guidance tools that can be used by transit agencies during bus procurement. The organizational tools support the improvement of the bus procurement process and training for participants. The design guidance tools support current bus design technology. In updating the bus operator workstation guidelines, the research team sought to align the new tools, such as the Bus Operator Workstation Feature Guideline and the three-dimensional (3-D) Bus Operator Workstation Engineering CAD Model, with processes and practices now common in the commercial bus and truck industry. To assist in the communication of bus operator workstation requirements with individuals who are not trained in expensive and difficult CAD software, a Bus Operator Workstation 3-D PDF Model also was created. The six organizational and design guidance tools can be accessed from the report webpage at www.trb.org by searching “TCRP Report 185”.