Resources for Driver Training

Safe driving encompasses a variety of practices according to Paul Porter, EMC Senior Engineer. The following are items on the top of his list:

• Maintain safe speeds
• Keep a safe distance using the 3-second-plus rule
• Avoid distractions both inside and outside the vehicle
• Make proper turns
• Avoid driving left of center
• Yield right of way
• Wear seat belts
• Adapt to driving conditions such as rain or snow
• Keep vehicles in good driving condition
• Become familiar with and adjust the vehicle's controls before starting any trip
• Watch out for other drivers and roadside dangers

Paul stresses the importance of your company's driver training program including details on all these issues. "Safe driving is a complex system with components that must all sync together to keep everyone on the roadway and their vehicles safe."

While your company surely has other sensitive safety issues to stay on top of, safe driving practices are critical. He says, "There is a huge amount of liability involved with having company drivers on the road. Poor practices can lead to lawsuits, fines and higher insurance costs, as well as potential injuries and deaths." He recommends reviewing the SuperVision white paper, Negligent Entrustment: The Risk of Overlooking Driver Safety, for statistics and solutions.

How to Change Driving Behavior

Research shows that changes in driving behaviors and habits occur with continuous reinforcement. Paul recalls one peer-reviewed study that concluded drivers who did not take part in driver safety training were, over a 10-year time frame, 8 times more likely to be involved in an accident and 10 times more likely to be arrested for a moving violation when compared to drivers who did participate in such programs.

Paul considers the resources below valuable in developing, strengthening and maintaining your driver safety program:

• EMC's Loss Control Website

  The website has an entire section on driver safety, including templates, videos, online training modules, safety briefs, forms, tech sheets, posters and more. "These resources are available free of charge and cover topics and details we believe answer common questions while also touching on other topics where we see knowledge is lacking," Paul says.

• National Safety Council Driving Course

  The program Paul offers is the National Safety Council's 4-Hour Defensive Driving Course. The Council also offers other safe driving resources under the "Road Safety" dropdown. Included is a free of charge, downloadable safe driving kit.

• Fleet Regulatory Agencies

  Refer to, and keep up with changes in, DOT and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations and incorporate those details into your program. The FMCSA website has a variety of safety resources under the "Safety" dropdown.

• SuperVision

  EMC maintains a relationship with SuperVision, a real-time driver monitoring service with access to changes in state motor vehicle records. With these records, SuperVision helps companies stay on top of employee violations and license status changes. The alerts provided by SuperVision can be used to require refresher driver training or to exclude a driver from your authorized driver list.