Study: Truckers With Three Or More Medical Conditions Are More Likely To Crash

A new study suggests that for commercial truck drivers, having three or more medical conditions is linked to a significantly increased risk of crashing.

The study was performed by researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine with support from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

In a report published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, researchers made the claim that having three or more of certain types of medical conditions caused a truck driver’s chance of crashing to double or even quadruple.

The researchers examined the medical records of 49,464 truck drivers. Taking into account medical conditions that are likely to impact driving ability like diabetes or heart disease, the researchers created a list of 82 truck drivers who had three or more of the flagged medical conditions, putting them at the highest crash risk.

While the average rate of injury crashes among all truck drivers is 29 per 100 million miles, the rate for the drivers in the high crash risk group was 93 per 100 million miles traveled.

Researchers speculate that this could mean that a driver may be able to manage a single medical condition like heart disease without increasing the risk of crashing, but that heart disease plus diabetes and anxiety might be an unsafe combination.

You can access the full study by clicking here.