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Commercial truck drivers with three or more medical conditions double to quadruple their chance for being in a crash than healthier drivers, reports a study led by investigators at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

The findings suggest that a trucker’s poor health could be a detriment not only to himself but also to others around him. “What these data are telling us is that with decreasing health comes increased crash risk, including crashes that truck drivers could prevent,” says the study’s lead author Matthew Thiese.

Thiese notes that keeping healthy can be tough for truck drivers, who typically sit for long hours behind the wheel, deal with poor sleeping conditions, and have a hard time finding nutritious meals on the road. The rate of crashes resulting in injury among all truck drivers was 29 per 100 million miles traveled. For drivers with three or more ailments, the frequency increased to 93 per 100 million miles traveled, according to Thiese. 

Considering that occupants of the other vehicle get hurt in three-quarters of injury crashes involving trucks, it’s in the public interest to continue investigating the issue, says the study’s senior author Kurt Hegmann, M.D., M.P.H., director of RMCOEH. “If we can better understand the interplay between driver health and crash risk, then we can better address safety concerns,” he says.