A Profile of Long Distance Truck Drivers: Survey of 615 Drivers, 1976

615 heavy vehicle drivers and 551 other motorists were personally interviewed at roadside restaurants in New South Wales during May 1976. The survey, conducted by the NSW Government, provides background on long-distance truck driver behavior, lifestyle, opinions, and attitudes for control data purposes. A second report planned to analyze relationships between these variables and reported traffic crash frequency.

Use Cases

• Compare lifestyle and attitudes between professional drivers and the general public based on survey responses.
• Analyze the characteristics of a cohesive occupational fraternity based on the reported life style of truck drivers.
• Investigate potential correlations between driver background variables and traffic crash frequency, as intended for a follow-up report.

Strengths

• Includes a comparison group of 551 other motorists for controlled analysis.
• Survey methodology is explicitly described in the accompanying report, including an extensive literature review.
• Data collection via personal interviews likely provides detailed qualitative and quantitative responses.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is from a single month in 1976, which may limit contemporary relevance.
• Row count for the primary dataset is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NSW Government

Collection Method

Personal interview survey conducted at roadside restaurants.

Time Range

May 1976

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-26 16:33:43.809576; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Major roadways in New South Wales, Australia