For years’ safety managers have relied on insurance and state crash report data to influence the way we train and hold drivers accountable. Because this information was mostly post incident, it was always a reactive response, often to undetected behavioral traits of the operator or conditions outside the operators control. DUI enforcement has always been deployed where fatal crashes had occurred, and after the fact. We design and reconstruct roadways after too many crashes. Look at many of our intersections today, lessons learned have made roadway improvements to make our highways safer.
Over a 40-year period from 1963 to 2007 we saw over 41,000 fatalities per year with 11 of those years over 50,000 fatalities. The highest was 54,589 in 1972. During the most recent periods from 2009 to 2014 the average was over 32,000 fatalities per year. Take any of these numbers multiplied by 6 members of the immediate family and double that for closest friends. The total impact of those loses can never be measured. With over 40 years invested as a safety manager, I have seen some exciting new ways to train new and veteran drivers of commercial motor vehicles. Today’s technology and analytics have taken training to an all-new level. In the past we have discovered reoccurring behavioral traits post-accident often costing lives’, loss of good employees, eroding the profit margins of otherwise good companies.
Train your management team to effectively communicate with your employees to promote improvement. Let’s learn to become proactive and provide positive re-enforcement. Over the years I have promoted trained managers to conduct driver observations. To provide positive input while coaching better behavior and reducing risky acts. On a good day the manager could inter act with 4 maybe 5 of the drivers assigned to that manager. Today a manager could see videos from the group of drivers identifying those requiring coaching while receiving information about their top performers and routinely rewarding the best drivers in the fleet. Post-crash investigation has changed. We all have heard people complain “Cameras are Everywhere”. That’s OK until you need one to protect your driver and company from false litigation. Many lawsuits are looking for a nuisance value settlement. When the physical evidence is not clear and eye witness testimony is confusing or challenged for one reason or another. Big and small companies often suffer the consequences. In most cases of false litigation, the owner could have out fitted the entire fleet with technology. If your company does have liability, it’s better to learn early as opposed to months later after expensive discovery and legal cost.
Today and in the future professional drivers will be harder to find and even harder to retain. Providing the very best equipment and training is a part of the true cost of doing business. Technology helps with driver retention and gives the supervisor the ability to pin point the driver’s specific training needs while rewarding the positive’s. It’s easy to keep busy and do what you have been doing while working hard. Let’s work smarter together.
What’s in Your Cab ?
—Larry Stone, Director of Training and Public Relations, AWTI 3rd Eye, Mobile Vision
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