Driving a commercial vehicle has more safety challenges than a typical desk job. Fleet managers need to familiarize themselves with common safety concerns affecting their drivers. This allows them to implement solutions and strategies to improve safety for drivers and other motorists. The following are the most typical safety issues fleets can expect to encounter:

  1. Distracted driving. Everyone knows distracted driving is a problem. Yet it’s still one of the most common reasons for accidents and other transportation issues. Are you familiar with the various types of driver distraction and how to avoid them? What about your fellow drivers?
  2. Other motorists. Even if a driver follows all safety procedures and avoids distractions, other drivers can affect their safety. Other motorists may be distracted themselves or make risky decisions such as cutting off a commercial vehicle. This behavior can also cause drivers to forget their own training and respond by making risky decisions themselves. No one is immune to frustration so it’s important for fleets to include a human factors section in their safety training.
  3. Fatigue. Many make the erroneous assumption that fatigue is something an individual can power through with enough determination. In reality, driving after prolonged periods without sleep is equivalent to driving while intoxicated. After 21 hours of no sleep, a driver’s reaction time, awareness of his or her surroundings, and ability to make decisions is the same as an individual with a blood alcohol level of 0.08.
  4. Shortchanging or foregoing a pre-trip inspection. Several factors can affect the thoroughness of a pre-trip inspection. A driver may feel rushed or bad weather may tempt the driver to hurry through the inspection in favor of getting warm. Whatever the reason, pre-trip inspections are vital to identifying safety concerns and addressing them before they cause problems.
  5. Not adapting to changing environments. Several factors can transform a typical delivery into a dangerous one. A sunny day can become a rainy one, a rainy day can shift to a wintry mix, and other accidents on the horizon can affect roadway safety. While many drivers pay more attention when a drive starts out in less than ideal conditions, many struggle to make this mental adjustment if conditions change mid-drive. If drivers don’t adapt to external changes, they can’t make the necessary behavioral adjustments to maintain maximum safety.

Identifying drivers who struggle with these unsafe behaviors can be tricky. This is why DriverCheck offers a telematics tracking solution to provide data on driver behaviors such as speeding, hard braking, and more. It can also provide maintenance alerts to assure vehicles are always in the best working condition. Contact us to learn more about how we can help make your fleet safer.