TRUCK2018 - Day 1 - 1300 - Michael H. Belzer
Agenda Session
Overtired, Overworked, and Underpaid: How Competitive Pressure Leads to Safety Problems and What to Do About It
Speaker
Michael Belzer
Wayne State University
Abstract
Speaker Bio
Dr. Michael H. Belzer is Associate Professor of Economics at Wayne State University, teaching labor economics, industrial organization, macroeconomics, and transportation economics. He founded the Transportation Research Board Committee on Trucking Industry Research and served as chairman for 13 years, serving now as an Emeritus member of the Committee. He is a past member and Friend of the Committee on Freight Economics and Regulation and the Committee on Truck and Bus Safety.
Dr. Belzer serves as an expert resource for numerous government agencies, and private sector firms and organizations. He has served on the National Occupational Research Agenda / National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Transport Sector Council since 2006, advising NIOSH and other researchers on commercial motor vehicle driver safety and health issues, and was reappointed to this committee for the third decade of NORA. He served on the Committee for Review of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study (The National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences) from 2000 through 2003, and also served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) and Transportation Research Board (TRB) Expert Panel on the Review of the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) Program of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which produced the volume Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement (http://www.nap.edu/24818; 2017).
Dr. Belzer is author of Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation (Oxford University Press, 2000) as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles and studies on trucking industry economics, labor, occupational safety and health, infrastructure, and operational issues. His most recent papers include “Why Do Long Distance Truck Drivers Work Extremely Long Hours?” (with Stanley A. Sedo), published by The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 29(1), 59–79. doi:10.1177/1035304617728440 (https://goo.gl/M5Xx47); and “Work-stress factors associated with truck crashes: An exploratory analysis”, published by The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 9(3), 289-307. doi:10.1177/1035304618781654.