Knowledge is PowerThe ABC’s of Driver Safety Training

automotive fleet & leasing association white paper series • Volume 24

As a fleet or safety manager, you already know that 95% of your drivers practice safe driving, while the other 5% are at high risk to cause your next at-fault crash. After reading our first two White Papers in this series, “Enlist the Aid of ‘Road Warriors’ to Help Predict Your Next Crash” (White Paper Volume One, Number One) and “Solving the Driver Identification ‘Accident Waiting to Happen’ Dilemma through Technology” (White Paper Volume One, Number Two), you know that at-fault crashes are both predictable and preventable. Using the Best Practices we’ve outline in these previous White papers, you are empowered by the knowledge of which drivers in your commercial fleet are most likely to have your next at-fault crash, but what do you do? This third and final paper in the series is designed to help you better understand the options that are available to you as a means of preventing at-fault crashes from happening.

Driving is a learned patterned activity. Do you remember the first day you sat behind the wheel of a car and felt the power of putting that key into the ignition? How about the first time you turned it on? What a blast! Perhaps, like me, a frazzled parent sat beside you in the front passenger’s seat, telling you what to do. Next thing you know, you’re trying to back out of the driveway – preferably without taking mailbox with you! That day is truly one of life’s major milestones. What a feeling of power.

At first, you are so careful. You obey all of the rules of the road. You never drive over the speed limit, always come to a complete stop at a stop sign, and use your turn signal. At last you pass your driver’s test and get your first real taste of freedom – your name imprinted on your state-issued driver’s license. Free at last!

Then what happens? Time passes; you get comfortable behind the wheel. You wonder why the bad drivers are always ahead of you. You pass them, giving them that “I hate you side-long glance” and quickly cut them off to make your point. You can see there isn’t any traffic coming, so why should you come to a full stop at the stop sign? In time, you realize you can actually save time by applying make-up, shaving, eating, talking and/or texting on the phone while driving.

Let’s face it. Over time, you develop bad driving habits. And so do millions of commercial drivers. Speeders tend to speed,

tailgaters tailgate and red light runners run red lights. The more often the speeders get to their destination quickly, and tailgaters get the vehicle in front of them to pull over – so they can speed by, no doubt – the more frequently they will engage in these behaviors. Soon the driver doesn’t go anywhere without speeding – whether or not there is a need for speed. If a driver engages in an unsafe act repeatedly, it becomes a driving behavior pattern – especially if these unsafe acts don’t, at that moment, result in a crash. But over time, the odds WILL catch up, and a crash WILL result. These repeated unsafe behaviors have the potential to cause a crash, and so we appropriately label them all as ‘near misses’.

A corporate client, Brain Clark, Senior Specialist EHS&S of Scotts LawnService (Scotts Miracle-Gro Company), uses the Driver’s Alert drivers observation program whereby neutral third parties (other motorists) call a designated number and report erratic driving behaviors. He recently made this point: Repeat offenders accounted for 41% of the total driver observation calls for 2008 and 50% of the repeat offenders had 3 or more unsafe driving calls in 2008. Alarmingly, 100% of their drivers who received 4 or more calls had an accident. Armed with this information, he was able to construct policies that resulted in dramatic decreases in their crashes, costs and liabilities.

Drivers in commercial fleets interact with thousands of people every day – some directly and some indirectly. Since they are driving your vehicles, they represent you to the community at large. You have a vested interest in the driving behavior of your employees for several reasons.

If you can change bad driving habits into good driving Ö safety practices, you can reduce your at-fault accidents, which will reduce your out-of-pocket expenses and insur- ance premiums.

25% of on the job fatalities are a result of a driving acci- Ödent, making it the leading cause of death in the work-place at a cost to corporations of more than $60 billion per year (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Two groups are the primary cause of on-the-job accidents: Ömales under the age of 25 and untrained drivers of any age (BLS).

Knowledge is Power: The ABCs of Driver Safety Training

Provided by www.driversalert.com

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Crashes are very costly in terms of lives, time, property Öand equipment. The average cost of a low-end fender bender property-damage-only crash is $15,000. A crash involving a straight truck will cost within $50 - $60,000, personal injuries can soar into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a fatality can be a multi-million dollar cost to a company (per the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration).

There are also indirect costs of a crash, which are Öexcluded from these cost estimates, such as damaged goods, down-time and replacement of vehicles, administrative costs, mental health care costs for crash victims, cargo delays, earnings lost by family and friends caring for the injured, etc.

Anyone who sees your signage on a vehicle recognizes Öthat driver as a member of your company. Having safe and courteous drivers on the road serves as an effective public relations message regarding your company. It is quite simply good for your corporate image.

Developing good on-the-job driving habits will have Öspillage over to your employees’ personal lives, making them safer drivers when they are on their own time. This safe driving will further protect your most valuable asset – your employees – no matter if they are at work or at home.

Hopefully by now you’re convinced that you should train your drivers. When should you do it? Best practices indicate three points of training: upon hire, annually thereafter and for cause, meaning if there is a MVR review change or a near miss; training should be immediate and incident specific.

What is the preferred method of training? In the world of commercial driving, there are four common options: ride-alongs, simulators, traditional classroom, and online training. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of each method of instruction.

ride-Alongs A ride-along is an arrangement wherein a trained driving supervisor spends a shift (or other set amount of time) in the passenger seat of a company vehicle, observing the driving behavior of a commercial fleet operator. During the time your boss is sitting in a seat next to you for the expressed purpose of observing your driving, aren’t you going to be on your best driving behavior? You probably haven’t driven that safely since

the day you sat behind the wheel for the first time. While this is an effective teaching technique for a novice driver, it is only effective for the commercial driver on the actual day of the ride-along.

This one-on-one observation is very costly in terms of the use of management’s time. It also doesn’t give a true indicator of the actual driving behaviors of the commercial driver. It isn’t what you see that day but what you don’t see on the other working days of the year that will reflect your driver’s true driving patterns. Commercial drivers are very experienced and comfortable at the wheel, which may lead to sloppy and distracted driving behaviors. In fact, 60% of fleet accidents are caused by distracted drivers.

siMUlATors Driving simulators are used for training in driver’s education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. Research indicates that driving simulators are an excellent practical and effective educational tool to teach safe driving techniques for all drivers. There are various types of driving simulators that are being used, such as train, bus, car and truck simulators. They are particularly helpful in training in critical driving conditions, analyzing driver behaviors, responses and performances, and evaluating a driver’s performance in handling different controls. For example, a simulator is ideal for teaching reaction times while being in a safe and controlled environment. It is an expensive training option better suited for novice drivers or training commercial drivers on a new piece of equipment. For all other training of experienced drivers in a commercial fleet, it is not the most effective method of teaching since actual “on the job” driving behaviors will probably NOT be evident during a simulated driving experience.

TrAdiTionAl ClAssrooM This method of education is often called “lecture,” and is a method that is familiar to most of us because it is the way we were taught in school. Typically, an instructor will stand before a class and present factual information for the students to learn in a direct, logical manner. During a lecture, an instructor is the central focus of the information transfer with control over what is being taught in the classroom because he/she is the sole source of information. Lectures are a straightforward way to impart knowledge to students quickly. Usually, very little exchange occurs between the instructor and the students. Lectures are useful particularly for large groups, and students who are auditory learners find that lectures appeal to their learning style.

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Lecture is sometimes augmented with discussion, which involves the students, at least after the lecture. Students can question, clarify and challenge the lecturer. Lecture can also be interspersed with discussion, but time constraints may affect the opportunities for discussion. Plus, the effectiveness of the discussion is connected to the appropriateness of the questions.

Lecture is also sometimes supplemented by video, another one-way teaching method. While solving the issue of consistency of message and perhaps being entertaining, there is no interaction. Disinterested parties may actually sleep through it. There are several challenges of traditional classroom education for commercial drivers: ensuring the consistency of the message due to a variety of presenters, a lack of flexibility in scheduling and the cost. Students strong in learning styles other than auditory learning will have a harder time being engaged by lectures and many may find it boring, causing them to lose interest. Students may not feel that they are able to ask questions as they arise during lectures and teachers may not get a real feel for how much students understand because there is not that much opportunity for exchanges.

online In recent years, online training has gained great momentum. Online training is a web-based solution that is available on-demand and provides 24/7 Internet browser-based access; meaning that the training can be taken anywhere anytime there’s a PC with Internet access. It provides great flexibility in scheduling across multiple locations and is easily tracked by employee to account for absences due to vacations, sick leave, etc. It is an interactive method of instruction as drivers are engaged in the process and administered tests for comprehension to proceed through the various parts of the training module. It can also deliver an immediate, incident-specific message. For example, if a driver is in an accident while running a red light, there is a specific training course, which will address this unsafe driving behavior.

From a manager’s perspective, this is the preferred method of instruction. The upfront cost to implement is lower and the benefits are big:

Always available with the power-on of a PC (regardless of Ö shift or location)

Across the board implementation (experienced drivers, Ö new hires, contractors, etc.)

Training documentation is automatic (reports are stored Ö electronically and updated in real-time)

Every driver participates (learn at your own pace with Ö forced interaction to proceed through the training materials)

Comprehension tests are customizable and verify Ö knowledge gained

Scheduling is effortless Ö

Streamlines and automates paperwork. Ö

now ThAT YoU Know The ABCs in TrAining, whAT’s The “Z” in TrAining for CoMMerCiAl fleeT drivers? A recent report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, concluded: “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” (New York Times, August 19, 2009) Most of the comparative studies of teaching from 1996 to 2008 were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military. During this 12-year period, there were 99 studies in which quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. On average, online students ranked in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. While a modest difference, it is statistically meaningful. We recommend online training as the best way to cost effectively and efficiently train commercial drivers.

CoMMerCiAl driving BesT PrACTiCes TrAining oPTions In addition to all of the previously mentioned benefits, on-line driver safety training enables both proactive and reactive training.

For example, you can proactively train your entire fleet on one aspect of driving that appears to be a common driving mistake. You can also assign a complete commercial driver safety training library of courses to a new hire on the first day on the job.

Likewise, you can train an individual driver reactively on a specific behavior after he/she had a near miss or crash. When combined

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with a driver observation program, online training provides a Best Practices blended approach to managing your fleet more effectively. Let me explain…

A driver observation program enlists the aid of millions of other drivers on the road, who call a designated number to report unsafe driving behaviors in real-time. Driver observation calls are highly correlated to the likelihood of a crash by a specific driver. This driver observation call reporting becomes, in essence, an “early warning system.” Each call should be digitally recorded and human-verified for accuracy. Every verified motorist’s call is then sent in a fully integrated driver observation call report that includes a digital .WAV file and all pertinent driver observation details to the fleet manager or supervisor within minutes of the call being received. The driver observation report automatically assigns online driver training, which is specific to the type of unsafe driving behavior that has been reported. This training should help correct the unsafe driving behavior and help prevent an at-fault crash.

Best practices in reducing at-fault crashes require several critical components working together in an integrated and accurate system. Call validation, comprehensive and integrated reporting, and the ability to provide effective and immediate corrective training that is driver specific combine to dramatically reduce at-fault crashes and costs, while saving lives and property.

For more information, please visit www.driversalert.com.

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