Obesity and Crash Risk in a Population of Tractor-Trailer Drivers

October 30, 2014

About the Presentation

For the past dozen years, a research team based at the University of Minnesota Morris has been working with large motor carriers to analyze driver-level outcomes—such as turnover, productivity, and safety—using a behavioral economics approach. Recently this work has been focused on the relationship between driver health conditions and crash risk.

In this seminar, published work linking obesity to the risk of tractor-trailer crashes, while controlling for variations in operational characteristics, was presented. In addition, an ongoing extension of this analysis to the effects of obstructive sleep apnea on crash risk was briefly previewed.

Webcast

About the Speaker

Stephen Burks is a professor of economics and management at the University of Minnesota Morris. His work focuses on two main research areas: experimental and behavioral personnel economics and the economics of the U.S. trucking industry. Burks is affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany, the Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics at the University of Nottingham, UK, and the Trucking Industry Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology.