3 Easy Tips to Improve Fleet Driver Safety

You might have planned for everything, from the road conditions to the cargo and vehicle maintenance. However, even your best plans can be undone by the behavior of your drivers.

Improving driver safety has to be a top priority for your fleet. This will not only help reduce the likelihood of on-the-road accidents, but it will also improve productivity and save your business money.

In order to get started, here are three easy-to-implement tips that will help boost fleet driver safety:

1. Hold your drivers accountable
One of the first steps on the path toward a safer fleet is accountability. According to Automotive Fleet, this has to go hand-in-hand with training.

“For example, how can you hold a driver responsible for a hit-from-behind collision if that driver was not aware of proper techniques that can be used to maintain a safe following distance?” Phil Moser, vice president of Advanced Driver Training Services, explained to the news source. “If a driver receives safe driving instruction, criteria for driver accountability can be established. Accountability is crucial in creating a safe driving culture within any organization.”

In order to hold your drivers accountable on the road, make sure you educate them on the proper safety methods.

2. Improve your hiring process
Having the right employees in place will make your job as a fleet manager much easier. With that said, you need to focus on your hiring practices. Automotive Fleet explained that new hires can be particularly risky. When you bring on drivers, make sure they are properly trained and up-to-date on all your safety policies. Emphasize “safety first” with all new hires.

3. Offer safety incentives
Finally, you can offer incentives to your drivers who are safest on the road. A separate article from Automotive Fleet explained that this was a tactic employed by Safelite Glass, which used a fleet of service vans. The drivers were eligible for rewards assuming they had an incident-free driving record. You can provide a year-end bonus for the safest drivers, or offer smaller, monthly incentives for safe behavior.

While you have a wide range of duties, planning for safety has to be near the top of your list. Safe drivers are crucial for a productive, cost-effective workplace, and overlooking this aspect could lead to a wide range of problems.