Safety is what keeps fleets thriving in today’s competitive environment. However, even though safety is every fleets’ number one priority, the rate of fatal crashes involving commercial vehicles has steadily increased since 2009. The reason why is obvious: a booming economy. As the economy recovered from the recession in 2008, more people starting ordering goods, resulting in more trucks delivering cargo. The more vehicles there are on the road, the more likely there is to be an accident.
While passenger vehicles are far more likely to cause accidents involving commercial vehicles (75% more, in fact), there are truck driver behaviors that are more likely to result in a fatal crash. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), those behaviors include:
- Speeding
- Distracted Driving
- Ignoring Right of Way
- Impairment
- Limited Visibility
- Careless Driving
- Fading Into Other Lanes
- Disobeying Traffic Signals
- Not Maintaining Proper Following Distance
- Overcorrecting
The most recent hard numbers (2016) for fatal crashes involving large trucks and buses show an increase of 2% from the previous year. Since 2009, fatalities have shot up an astounding 29%. The good news is that the 4440 recorded deaths from 2016 are still 15% less than the industry peak of 5231 in 2005. Even so, every fleet should aim to improve their safety to combat driver deaths totaling in the thousands.
Understanding and eliminating these behaviors are key to reducing traffic fatalities and keeping commercial drivers safe. If your fleet struggles with any of the above behaviors, DriverCheck can help. Our How’s My Driving? Program helps identify dangerous driver activities and provides training opportunities to mitigate them. To learn more about improving your fleet’s safety, contact us today.
