Driving Change in Trucker Safety: A TCCM‐Based Synthesis and Conceptual Framework for Understanding Truck Collision Risks

Truck‐involved collisions represent a critical occupational hazard for commercial drivers, contributing to elevated rates of severe injuries, fatalities, and significant economic disruption across the freight industry. Despite extensive research, existing findings remain fragmented, as most studies focus on isolated risk factors rather than exploring how multiple elements might interact to influence collision outcomes for truck drivers. This systematic literature review (SLR) synthesizes findings from 98 peer‐reviewed empirical studies published from 2014 to 2023, applying the theory, context, characteristics, and methodology (TCCM) framework to categorize and critically analyze key risk factors. A new conceptual framework was developed to depict two levels of empirically supported relationships: overarching factor‐to‐outcome effects and more granular subfactor interactions. Results revealed important interactive effects among driver behaviors (e.g., fatigue and substance use), vehicle characteristics (e.g., truck configuration and weight), environmental conditions (e.g., weather and visibility), and roadway and collision attributes (e.g., road geometry and collision type). This integrated approach clarifies fragmented evidence, identifies critical research gaps, and highlights the complex, multidimensional nature of truck collision risk. The findings also offer transportation policymakers and safety planners an evidence‐based tool to prioritize high‐impact risk factors, design targeted interventions, and develop predictive safety models.