The Trucking Fleet Safety Blog

At the heart of every shipping fleet are the drivers who transport goods from Point A to Z. These highly-skilled, attentive and conscientious individuals are the reason why products make it to store shelves and shops across the country. It’s a shame, then, that this sector is experiencing a bit of a trying time. Recent news reports indicate new applicants are few and far between and those who do make it into the industry aren’t staying long. For those who prioritize fleet driver safety or are considering a fleet management firm to help with day-to-day tasks, it’s time to recognize those behind the wheel. After all, nothing gets done unless these men and women take to the open road and make it back safe and sound.

According to a September 2018 article from Business Insider, a bill recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would change the minimum age for interstate trucking drivers from 21 to 18. As the text of the bill claims, “This is more important than ever right now, as America has a 51,000 truck driver shortage, up from 36,000 short in 2016.” If passed, it would also mandate the completion of 240 hours of “on-the-road experience” as to boost skills. Wise as that training may be, Business Insider points out that the average trucker is currently 55 years old and retirement looms for many. With time on the job comes enhanced safety and experience. “"There really isn't any question that younger drivers are going to be more likely to crash and more likely to be involved in serious crashes," the president of a drivers’ association told the news outlet.

From the perspective of a fleet risk management company -- and many other trucking companies, as the article points out – it’s just too risky. What should be done, and what a fleet management firm regularly offers, are fleet driver safety courses and driver recognition programs. The courses are both video and web-based print communications that convey the latest industry standards so that your trucking fleet is up-to-speed on changing norms. Online fleet driver safety modules will also allow drivers to test their newfound knowledge so that it becomes, if you’ll excuse the pun, reactionary motor skills. For those who start meeting new expectations, making deliveries on time and avoiding any on-the-clock accidents, a fleet management company is happy to offer incentives and recognition for exemplary drivers.

Driving is dangerous business and when it literally is your business, you expose yourself to the risks at a higher rate. Whereas morning and afternoon commuters are merely going from home to work and vice-versa, delivery drivers are making dozens of stops during each and every shift. All of that movement adds up to an increased likelihood of fender-benders – or worse. According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT), there are approximately 37,000 accident-related fatalities annually in the U.S. That’s a tragic outcome and it’s one of the factors that spur fleet accident management firms to work harder. These types of operations not only strive to educate drivers about common risks, but help owners and operators alleviate in-house concerns through outsourcing internal work to commercial fleet services.

It’s hard to downplay the economic costs of motor vehicle accidents. Per ASIRT data, “road crashes cost the U.S. $230.6 billion per year or an average of $820 per person.” A fleet risk management firm, which shipping companies can hire for a variety of other essential oversight services, looks to keep costs down to an absolute minimum through a variety of training initiatives. These include training, recognition and communications efforts. There’s no denying the benefits of streamlined accident documentation when it’s time to call the insurance company. This works both ways, as there will certainly be times when one of your fleet’s vehicles is involved in an accident and your driver wasn’t at fault. It helps to have commercial fleet services on your side to handle insurance claims while you keep track of your company’s product leaving the facility. Additional accident-related offerings from a fleet risk management company include online driver safety policy modules as well as training videos and lessons to keep all workers on the same page.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), 2016 saw roughly 4,440 large trucks and buses involved in fatal crashes and that’s a 2 percent spike over data from the prior year. It’s impossible to know when an impaired driver is going to get behind the wheel, cause an accident and stop your operations in its tracks. What owners of delivery fleets can do, however, is hire fleet accident management firms that spring into action during times of immediate need and help handle the fallout of every unexpected accident. The net result is peace of mind for these delivery operations that depend on getting goods to customers on time – every time.

Anyone who owns a vehicle for personal use can attest to the cost of keeping it on the road. We’re not talking about filling up at the pump, either. Regularly-scheduled preventative maintenance can include oil and oil filter changes, swapping of belts as well as new tires. Of course, these are the jobs we can expect and save funds for. It’s the unexpected and immediate work that can really hit where it hurts – the wallet. Even minor fender-benders can require replacing exterior parts and failing to keep up with typical automotive care can spell disaster for motor components. Nowhere is this more true than trucking and delivery industry. That’s why fleet management services are quickly becoming a valuable resource. With a company that dedicates itself to helping shipping companies keep tabs on their vehicles and drivers, the local owners and operators will have more time to concentrate on logistics and not organizing trips to the garage for pressing repair work.

According to a recent article on TruckingInfo.com, it costs $23,000 to keep current on maintenance and repair on a 2012 model-year “sleeper” tractor trailer. With timely advice from a fleet management company, you could reduce that eye-popping total to about $2,000. This would be accomplished by investing in a newer 2019 model-year vehicle. As the article states, shorter vehicle life-cycles can yield long-term savings. “When fleets adopt a three-year life-cycle for their trucks, replacing with new technology in year four, they realize a savings of $42,830 in [maintenance and repair] calculated in years four through seven when compared to a fleet driving the same truck for the full seven years.” Not only will having more recent models of vehicles on the road help with fleet safety, but you’ll see fewer trips to the garage thanks to more current components under the hood.

Fleet management services are all about helping fleet owners run a company while the drivers and vehicles are looked after by a fleet management company. For those who’ve taken this route and seen increased fleet safety as a result, it’s easy to point to driver monitoring, decreased insurance costs, better yields from selling off older vehicles and overall accident prevent as positive points. However, the only way to achieve all off this and more is to retain a fleet management company to oversee your over-the-road needs. According to the TruckingInfo.com article, there’s a certain “tipping point” where “a truck reaches economic obsolescence and costs more to operate than to replace with newer equipment.” With fleet management services on your side, you can see such hassles on the horizon and steer clear.

Driving for a living is a dream for some. Your office is unconventional, your day-to-day is always different and the scenery you see plus people you interact with are equally varied. In some respects, delivery drivers have a “blue collar” day job that is as exciting as they come. On the other hand, spending hours on the road during the day and night can be a tall order. Driving is statistically shown to be one of the most dangerous things you can do and given that delivery drivers cover vast distances, the stakes are raised. With that in mind, owners of shipping fleets and other trucking companies may want to invest in fleet risk management services as a way to mitigate future headaches and financial obligations. That’s because these third-party companies have the management skills and training programs to ensure fleet safety is a priority. In this article, we’ll explore tips for drivers and shipping fleet operators who devote their days to getting goods and services to clients.

According to TruckAccidents.org, 13 percent of the roughly 15 million trucks on the road today are larger “big rigs” and tractor trailers. The website also states that 75 percent of all accidents involving these large commercial trucks “are caused by drivers of other smaller passenger vehicles, rather than the truck driver.” Despite the fact that the crash was no fault of the fleet driver, accident management services are still essential for a fast recovery of funds and operations. That’s because companies like CEI Network, for example, can offer the skills of its talented quality control department as physical damage appraisers review accidents involving your delivery vehicles. The outcome of those appraisals will include estimates from in-network repair shops so the cost of parts and labor is reduced. With the services of a fleet safety company on your side, you’ll even be able to use temporary rental vehicles as a replacement for the delivery car or truck that’s undergoing repairs in the shop.

Statistics from TruckAccidents.org show that the vast majority of truck accidents do not result in any fatalities. That’s great news for motorists, truck companies and fleet risk management companies alike. Still, the fact that these accidents continue to occur means driver safety training courses are sometimes in order. By retraining a fleet safety company to conduct accident management tasks, you can also use web, video and print training materials to improve on-the-road performance. This step, while it may seem small at the time, is sure to pay off when accident rates at your delivery company are reduced.

One of the most important issues you will face when you operate a fleet of vehicles is fleet safety training. This is so important because it not only protects your drivers but also your product, your bottom line, and your reputation. You want to hire the safest drivers out there for your fleet. You can also ensure that your current drivers are safety oriented by providing training on a regular basis.

Driver Simulator:

With technology these days you can purchase a driver simulator for your company. These simulators can be brought to your company and used by drivers whenever they are required to go through training. The simulators are pretty lifelike and will put drivers in some very intense situations to prepare them for the real world.

Driver Training Course:

Some of the largest companies in the world that have massive fleets will utilize driver training courses to train their drivers. These courses can be created by the company and built on their property or they can send drivers to private courses for their training. Driver training courses put the drivers behind the wheel of real vehicles and on real roads with real dangers.

Rewards Program:

An excellent way to preach fleet safety training is to create a rewards program for your drivers. Reward drivers who go a certain length of time without an incident, ticket, or other safety violation. You can reward drivers with gift cards, cash prizes, tickets to the movies, extra time off and plenty of other items.

Offer In-House Classes:

Driver safety training does not just occur behind the wheel. It can also occur during in-house classes. You can bring in an expert from OSHA or another agency that can teach road safety classes to your employees.

Fleet safety training is an important topic for your company. It can help prevent injuries and save you money.

Shipping fleets keep the world as we know operating like a well-oiled machine. That’s mainly because owners and operators of said fleets are keeping tabs on their own well-oiled machines among other logistical concerns that keep shelves stocked and deliveries on schedule. According to recent industry and media reports, there is no shortage of developments that could change the way these essential companies operate and chief among them are insurance policies. According to a 2017 article from The Wall Street Journal, there’s an effort under way to let insurance companies keep very close tabs on the activities of trucking companies. Per the report, trucking firms could lose their insurance as the number of accidents that their drivers are involved in increase. To tackle accident management, there is the option of hiring an outside fleet management company to help you keep tabs on drivers and shipments. Given that the report notes an uptick in on-road accidents caused by novice drivers and cell phone use, there’s nothing wrong with bringing aboard a little bit of extra help.

The insurance industry shifts raised a few eyebrows, as Construction Equipment magazine points out in an Oct. 30, 2017 article. While these industry insiders note that “usage-based insurance” isn’t anything new, one of the newer approaches is installing a device inside a vehicle to keep better tabs on its behavior and whereabouts. We’re not here to debate merits of this; rather this is a good opportunity to explore how owners of shipping operations can prepare for such a mandate. By hiring a third-party company that can handle driver metrics, safety training and accident management, you’ll have an all-around more efficient operation. For example, fleet management companies will work hard to gauge fleet risks and driver safety while slashing accident rates. This multi-faceted approach combines a driver file, their performance data, driving infractions, predictive analytics and other measurements that can help determine possible risk. Better yet, these proactive steps gives shipping fleets a chance at combating claims of negligence should one of their drivers be involved in an accident. That’s because you’ll be able to point to all the preventative measures taken to train drivers.

It’s all about harnessing “big data” to improve safety, economics and operations. This all-encompassing approach to helping shape a safer company could be something that insurance companies take a look at should the policies explored by The Wall Street Journal ever come to pass. However, it’s also just best practices for business owners who want their drivers to be safe and operation to be dependable.

A fleet telematics system is a program that connects all the vehicles of your company’s fleet to the main dispatching location. Most fleet telematics systems come with digital mapping so that vehicles can be tracked geographically in the event of a dispatching issue, theft, accident, rerouting, or any other problem that could arise. Today, we will discuss the importance of fleet telematics to your company.

Schedule Maintenance

If there is anything you should do with a telematics system it is schedule vehicles in the fleet for maintenance. The right telematics system will be able to alert you to issues with each vehicle or provide reminders as to when the vehicles are due for regular maintenance.

Locate Vehicles

If you’ve had trouble in the past with vehicles disappearing for hours on end without communication from the drivers, then a fleet telematics system will benefit your company. This system will be able to track your vehicles using GPS. Knowing where your vehicles are at all times helps to lighten your stress, make dispatching easier, and reduce downtime for all of the drivers.

Understand Activity

A fleet telematics system will also be able to help you understand the activity of every vehicle in the fleet. This includes unauthorized use of a vehicle outside of company time, if a vehicle is stuck in traffic, if it has been involved in an accident and much more.

Manage Fuel Costs

Quite possibly one of the most overlooked benefits of a fleet telematics system is that it can help your company manage fuel costs. You will be able to dispatch a vehicle that is in close proximity to a job or pickup location already on the road instead of a vehicle from your office that might be miles away.

Take a look at what a fleet telematics system can do for your business and consider installing one soon.

Fleet safety is a critical topic that should be discussed at your company often, whether your fleet consists of cars, trucks, vans, or a mix of all three. Companies that utilize a fleet must do everything possible to maintain the safety of their drivers, loads, and all those on the roads around the vehicles. Here are some important elements that should be included in your company’s fleet safety program.

Identify All Drivers

Your company must identify all of its drivers when a fleet is in operation. There might be drivers who strictly drive for your company using a corporate-owned vehicle. There also might be drivers representing your company using their own vehicle or a rented vehicle.

Screening Drivers

The screening process for new drivers should be thorough in an effort to find the safest ones for the job. Whether you hire drivers on a rolling basis or only when there is an opening, every potential driver should go through the same screening process.

Training

Training is an often overlooked part of fleet safety. Training can be provided in different forms, including pamphlets, hands-on, software, video tutorials and more. All drivers should be required to go through a training course prior to being activated by your company. You might also want to consider an annual re-certification based on your own requirements.

Managing Accidents

Accidents will occur. There’s no doubt about it. Even if you have drivers with excellent records, there are bound to be accidents and the chances will increase the more often your drivers are on the road. Your fleet safety program should manage accidents as they happen in a better effort to mitigate issues.

Policies and Procedures

All policies and procedures should be written and documented at the office. These documents should be shared with all drivers so they can read and learn before hitting the road for the first time.

The Trucking Fleet Safety Blog

Fleet Safety Companies Can Help Reduce Accident Rates, Resolve Post-Crash Issues

significance ofFleet Safety Training

Fleet Owners Should Address Accident Management Before Insurance Becomes A Concern

Importance of Fleet Telematics

Important Elements of a Fleet Safety Program