At Transervice, we place a great deal of emphasis on safety, and it's something I’ve talked a lot about in this space. It is one of our core values, and I believe it is ingrained in our corporate culture.
Therefore, I was somewhat surprised to see the results of a survey from Teletrac Navman that found that 70% of businesses have been affected by incidents of distracted driving.
A couple of items to note. The report was called the Global Distracted Driving Report, so it was not just focused on North America. The report said information was gathered from fleet professionals but did not specify if those were truck fleet professionals or if the respondents included automotive fleet professionals. Regardless of those factors, the results of the survey are disturbing.
I suppose it is not surprising that 68% of survey respondents said that mobile phone use was the main cause of driver distraction, but 48% cited eating and drinking as a cause, and 32% mentioned fatigue.
I think all of us need to continue to work on solving the distracted driving problem, and we must do so on a number of fronts.
We can invest in technologies like driver-facing cameras, apps that block phone use, and digital coaching apps. While advanced driver assistance systems won’t prevent distracted driving, ADAS alerts drivers to impending issues and in some cases intervenes to slow a truck down in order to avoid an accident.
See also: Fleets Explained: What is distracted driving?
Our efforts to curb distracted driving should not overlook driver coaching and rewarding drivers for safe driving practices. To begin with, fleet managers need to ensure that their distracted driving policies, including mobile phone use, are clearly spelled out. Drivers need clear guidance as to where the fleet stands on mobile phone use, and they need to know what the consequences are if they are found to have violated the fleet’s “no mobile phone use” while driving policy.
This message needs to be delivered from the highest levels of the organization, but it’s also a good idea to have your drivers with the safest driving records talk to new drivers or to periodically speak at a drivers’ meeting. Sometimes we learn best from people who are in the same position we’re in, so fellow drivers with safe driving records can be a strong tool to leverage your efforts to reduce distracted driving.
It can be more difficult to deal with some of the other causes of distracted driving like fatigue and stress, but you can encourage drivers to self-police and not drive when they are tired or during times of undue stress.
Distracted driving has very serious consequences. We all need to be vigilant about investing in technologies that can help manage it, as well as setting and enforcing policies that demonstrate our commitment to safety.
