2022 journal article
Safety challenges experienced by driver license examiners and related safety measures
SAFETY SCIENCE, 154.
author keywords: Occupational Safety and Health; Traffic Safety; Injury Prevention; Traffic Crashes; Workplace Safety; Road Safety; Safety Measures
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
(Web of Science)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: July 5, 2022
Driver license examiners serve as the “gatekeepers” to the world of driving. These examiners administer driving tests and issue driver licenses to prospective drivers that demonstrate driving competency. Unfortunately, this community of workers is vulnerable to experiencing safety incidents as they test prospective drivers with limited driving proficiency. Understanding the safety challenges these workers experience professionally is fundamental to identifying and adopting relevant safety measures. Towards achieving this goal, interviews were conducted with driver license examiners in North Carolina to compile the safety challenges they professionally experience. Additionally, safety management measures that they adopt regularly and others that they recommend for possible future adoption were gathered. The reported safety challenges include prospective drivers reporting for testing and retesting without sufficient training, the existence of communication and language barriers, prospective drivers adopting driving customs learned in other countries, and experiences of entering unclean vehicles. Safety measures that the driver license examiners adopt regularly include the use of widely adopted terms and hand gestures to overcome communication challenges, being prepared to take control over the vehicle steering, encouraging prospective drivers to hold the learner’s permit and gain additional experience, and others. Suggested safety measures for possible future adoption include empowering examiners to terminate the test when appropriate, enforcing a limited wait time following the issuance of a learner’s permit prior to attempting the driving test, and the regular adoption of contactless testing methods popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study findings can be leveraged to enhance the safety of driver license examiners.