Fleet accidents are on the rise.
Trucker deaths are at the highest level in more than three decades. Various factors can cause fleet accidents.
Poorly maintained roadways, for instance, can cause accidents in a variety of ways, mostly because these roads create a huge hazard for truck drivers. A trucker, in many instances, may attempt to avoid a certain situation, such as pooling water or a pothole, which could cause a serious accident.
Ideally, the government should keep on top of roadway maintenance by performing repairs, applying rubberized bitumen to prevent further deterioration of the road and acting on damaged road reports as soon as possible. These repairs, however, take a while, so truckers have to be extra careful when they hit the road.
As a fleet manager, you need to make road safety a priority. Fleet accidents can be costly for any business, as they can cause litigation that often ends with hefty compensation to the injured truck drivers and victims.
Instead of facing these implications, you should take proactive measures to cut down the likelihood of accidents.
Here are a few strategies that you can implement to minimize fleet accidents:
1.Establish a Road Safety Program
Professional fleet managers must understand that truckers are essential assets to an organization. So, you need to set an effective road safety program to help save the lives of your fleet drivers and bolster their overall productivity.
Your road safety plan should take into account all factors that can place the lives of your drivers at risk of an accident. This includes habits that can impact safe driving like reckless driving and weather changes. Come up with a good fleet safety program that encourages truckers to practice defensive driving habits and mitigate dangerous behaviors, such as hard braking and speeding.
You should also establish a safety culture in your team to show that you treat safety seriously in your organization. Your fleet management team should motivate them to practice road safety and set a good example for truckers.
2.Control Fatigue Among Truckers
Fleet drivers can cause accidents when they’re fatigued. Drivers who feel exhausted will not be able to successfully make the right judgments while driving and assess road situations effectively, resulting in accidents.
As a fleet manager, you should create and implement a fleet accident management program that instructs your fleet drivers to work only when they’re fresh and fit.
Begin by assigning your truckers deliveries or tasks that they can accomplish on schedule.
Next, make sure that all drivers adhere to hours of service (HOS) regulations. This way, they can refrain from spending too much time behind the wheel.
On top of making your fleet safer, this will help you avoid monetary penalties for non-compliance.
If your fleet drivers find that they do not have sufficient time to make deliveries for their customers, hire more truckers and bump up the size of your fleet to meet the demand. Assigning your truckers more work on a tight schedule can result in fatigue or burnout, which raises the likelihood of accidents. As much as possible, allow your fleet drivers to choose the shifts they want to minimize accidents due to fatigue.
3.Invest in Telematics
The right technology can make life a lot simpler for fleet managers. If you have not begun using telematics technology in managing your fleet, you’re missing a lot. There are plenty of tracking accident detection systems on the market today that you can use to keep an eye on your truck drivers.
When you use the best fleet tracking software, your drivers will be able to minimize distraction and obtain useful information and insights to keep them safe on the road.
Use telematics to identify problematic drivers in your organization who are consistently demonstrating dangerous driving behaviors and hold them accountable for their actions. Install reliable fleet trackers on the vehicles, so that you can gather data on safe routes, idle time, braking, and hard acceleration. You can use the data you collect to offer training or coaching to those who require improvement.
When you fully understand the behavior of your truck drivers, you can quickly cut down road accident rates by making sure that your team adheres to the fleet policies of your organization. Using fleet accident management software in your business will help you spot drivers with poor driving habits, so you can retrain them (or fire them if they are unable to improve) and enhance your safety record.
Every effort is worthwhile when promoting road safety for your fleet, as this can save you from major headaches in the long run. Make safety a habit for your truckers, instead of just an obligation.