If you manage a fleet, it is critical to protect both your vehicles and your drivers. This is why ensuring fleet safety is so important. There are several ways you can improve safety while reducing the potential for accidents.
Using Telematics
Telematics technology offers real-time insights into the status of various vehicles. That way, you can create the best improvement plans so your drivers will change their behavior accordingly. You can use this tech to determine everything from speed to acceleration to braking speed. Depending on the technology you choose, you can even determine whether everyone in cab is wearing a seatbelt. And some can also prevent phones from receiving texts or calls while driving. Others detect whether or not there is any motion in the vehicle. You can also find AI dash cams that offer real-time incident detection and preventive in-cab coaching. These can protect your drivers while lowering business costs. They are a great tool to pinpoint incident details when they occur.
Creating a Safety Policy
Having a good safety policy will ensure your drivers are put first. It is best to limit how many hours they drive each day and have a plan in place. No matter how much safety training you have them do, if they can’t see far enough ahead, it will not help them. Have specific policies, such as what their vision needs to be at in order to drive. You might want to include the consequences of things like DUIs, suspended licenses, and what will happen in case there is a collision. You will also want to outline the disciplinary action that will happen as a result of poor vehicle care and other issues. Everyone should sign the policy after reading it. Make sure you remind them of the policy on a regular basis.
Prioritizing Safety
It’s a good idea to be thinking of this from the moment you select your vehicles. For example, will you need to get snow tires or ensure your vehicles have emergency braking. Consider each feature when you are getting the vehicles for your fleet. Don’t be tempted to skimp on a feature that could prevent a collision in the future. It is equally important to keep up with regular, preventative maintenance. Trying to reduce costs by skipping this maintenance will not save money in the long run, even if it saves money now. Not performing this maintenance can cost you a lot of money in the long run, and it can be dangerous. Ensure each vehicle gets inspected regularly, and keep up with any recalls. Doing so will ensure the fleet is safe and effective.
Rewarding Safe Behavior
It is a good idea to have some type of rewards program, so you are not just punishing negative behavior. By rewarding good behavior, you will offer drivers some type of incentive to start to work towards. You will begin to notice the repeat behaviors of genuine people and gain insight into the person behind the paycheck. That can reduce your accident rates. You could offer things such as safety bonuses, better vehicle equipment, or certain payments. You could also offer more paid time off from work.
