Tunde Odesola
The global fatality wrought by the rampaging coronavirus epidemic notwithstanding, truck drivers in the United States of America did not change the way they commute to the workplace.
A Professor of Transportation and Environmental Health, Alabama A&M University, Jacob Oluwoye, stated this in a research paper titled, Truck Drivers Commuting to Workplace Under COVID-19 Circumstances: A Case Study of Alabama State.
Specifically, Oluwoye noted that truck drivers in selected US counties did not change how they commute to work, despite the spread of the pandemic in the country.
The researcher expressed the need for the development of road safety strategies in checking the surge of the epidemic.
He stressed the need for collaboration between town and gown with a view to collecting data and ensuring road safety measures among truck drivers during the pandemic.
He said, “Collaborative efforts by researchers, public and personal sectors are going to be needed to collect data and develop truck drivers’ road safety strategies in reference to the new reality of COVID-19.”
Giving a background to the research, Oluwoye recalled that the deadly disease broke out in Wuhan, China, last December, adding that there was no cure or vaccine for the disease yet.
Oluwoye, who is of the university’s Department of Community and Regional Planning, College of Agricultural, Life and Natural Resources, said the viral disease had changed learning, healthcare delivery and economies across the world.
“The general purpose of this study is to explore truck drivers’ views regarding commuting to the workplace under the COVID-19 circumstances of selected counties in Alabama,” he said.
The professor said that semi-structured interviews were conducted with truck drivers during the research.
According to Oluwoye, 50 truck drivers completed the survey used in the research, adding that the information generated from the research was stored on Survey Monkey servers within the Center for Urban and Rural Research, Department of Community and Regional Planning, Alabama A&M University.
He said 94 percent of truck drivers residing in Jefferson County provided information, while another four per cent of the respondents provided information on commuting to their places of education such as lecture room, production site, among others.
The research shows that 92 percent of the truck drivers reported no change in how they commute during the global pandemic, while eight percent indicated changes in their means of transport.
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