Single Vehicle Logging-Related Traffic Crashes in Louisiana from 2010-2015

ABSTRACT

Objectives: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), highway transportation crashes are the number one cause of fatal occupational injuries in the United States. The rate of fatal crashes in logging far exceeds the average annual rate for all sectors combined, yet few studies examine logging-related transportation crashes, and little is known about factors influencing the frequency of these crashes. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with fatal and nonfatal injuries among drivers involved in a single vehicle logging-related crash in Louisiana.

Methods: All crashes involving a single logging vehicle from 2010 to 2015 were extracted from a dataset provided by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Descriptive statistics were computed to characterize crashes by person, vehicle, and environmental factors. A multiple logistic regression model was constructed to identify variables associated with driver injury (fatal and non-fatal).

Results: There were 361 crashes involving a single logging vehicle from 2010 to 2015 in Louisiana. Variables associated with driver injury included no seat belt use (OR = 3.23; 95% CI = 1.47–7.10), a violation issued for careless operation of the vehicle (OR = 3.23; 95% CI = 1.40–7.46), a harmful event classified as cargo or equipment loss or shift (OR = 2.47; 95% CI = 1.27–4.82), and a harmful event classified as the vehicle running off the road to the left (OR = 2.29; 95% CI = 1.12–4.70).

Conclusion: Injury prevention efforts in the logging industry in Louisiana, including commercial vehicle licensing procedures, could benefit from additional driver training to improve crash avoidance skills and careless driving, seat belt use, and methods for securing loads.

KEYWORDS:

• Logging
• motor vehicle crashes
• occupational health

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development for assistance with providing the data used in this analysis, as well as assisting with data clarification questions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This review was supported by CDC/NIOSH under Cooperative Agreement No. [U50 OH07541] to the Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention, and Education at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler. Additional support was provided by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) under Grant No. [K01 NS099343].  Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC/NIOSH or NIH/NINDS.