Effectiveness of an intervention to reduce accidents in bus drivers

Background Medical incapacity at the wheel is a small but significant factor in accident causation. To mitigate against this, in July 2017 a UK-based bus operator changed its medical assessment policy, requiring all future medicals to include a request to the General Practitioner (GP) for information about any conditions in the medical record which could affect fitness to drive. Aims To evaluate the impact of the change in policy on accident rates. Methods Accident data were obtained over a 5-year period, with information on age and length of service of drivers, from three bus depots. Monthly accident rates, before and after the change in policy were compared with the Wilcoxon matched pairs test, and a line of best fit/R2 obtained via a scatter graph. Results Although a general downward trend in accident rates was seen, there was no statistically significant difference between the overall accident rates in the 12 months before and after the policy change in July 2017 (P-value = 0.519, significance level P < 0.05). Conclusions The downward trend in accident rates observed over the study period could not be attributed to the change of policy. However, this intervention warrants further scrutiny due to the potential consequences of passenger service vehicle accidents. Evidence suggests that professional awareness of the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency fitness to drive standards can be limited, so requesting GP input into driver medicals may raise awareness of these standards from an occupational health perspective.