As a fleet manager or fleet owner, your drivers are one of your most valuable assets. While many fleet companies emphasize cost reduction through operational processes, the importance of improving driver safety cannot be overstated. As a result, ensuring the safety of your fleet drivers should be a top priority for fleet companies in every industry.
Your fleet drivers’ safety and driving habits play a critical role in keeping your business running, but how do you create a safety-first culture amongst your drivers? In this article, we’ll discuss several ways that you can promote and improve driver safety within your fleet. Continue reading below to learn more and discover how TCS Upfitting can help improve your fleet driver safety with our vehicle upfitting services.
5 Ways to Improve Fleet Driver Safety
When employees spend a significant amount of time behind the wheel as part of their job, safety becomes a primary concern. Not only do accidents cost your company money in terms of employee downtime and the expense of replacing or repairing damaged vehicles, but keeping a bad driver on the road can expose your business to additional liability if a severe accident occurs.
Creating a comprehensive fleet safety program is one of the best ways to improve fleet driver safety. Let’s look at several ways you can improve your driver safety culture across your entire fleet.
Maintain a Strict Driver’s Safety Policy
When drivers spend a significant amount of time on the road, there are numerous occasions where they might engage in other activities while driving. However, these activities can result in severe consequences for your business.
Aside from adhering to your state’s driving laws, it’s critical to emphasize and enforce strict driving safety policies within your fleet company. This policy includes the strict enforcement of seatbelt use, no cell phone use, zero-tolerance drug/alcohol policies, and other driving safety policies. Any violations of these driving safety policies should be reprimanded and documented in the employee’s personnel record.
All policies and procedures should be documented and communicated to employees. This policy should also be documented, communicated with, and signed by your drivers and senior management and reviewed with your employees on a regular basis to ensure they understand the newly implemented traffic safety policies, procedures, and expectations.
Additionally, include a written statement in the driver safety policy outlining your company’s commitment to reducing traffic-related accidents, injuries, and deaths.
Use Real-Time Monitoring
Another thing to consider to improve driver behavior is to transform collected data into actionable insights. Using real-time monitoring allows you to inspect the areas of your business that require the most assistance and use your data to strategize safety measures to address any issues or concerns.
Real-time monitoring makes it easier to monitor your drivers while they’re on the road and improve their training by focusing on the issues that need to be addressed. With real-time monitoring, you can also track all the routes of your fleet drivers and their vehicles’ acceleration, braking, and driving speeds.
Furthermore, suppose a driver is driving erratically, in the wrong lane, or failing to maintain the proper distance from other vehicles. In that case, an alert can notify the driver and management to keep track of their driver’s behavior and break bad driving habits before it’s too late.
Invest in Ongoing Driver Training
Another effective way to manage fleet driver safety is to invest in the ongoing training and education of new safety policies and best driving practices. Even the most experienced drivers benefit from ongoing training and education to improve their safe driving habits and create a safety-first culture.
During these training sessions, make sure your drivers understand their impact within the organization and teach them the critical practices they need to reduce risks and accidents from occurring. Additionally, be sure to show your drivers the dangers of unsafe driving and encourage them to improve their performance.
Incentivize Your Drivers
Incentivizing drivers to pay more attention to their driving behaviors on the road is one of the most effective ways to improve your driver’s safety while on the road. A small token of appreciation for your drivers who have gone a specific amount of time without a driving incident can help keep safety at the forefront of your mind, protecting your drivers and your bottom line.
It never hurts to incentivize drivers to achieve a good driving safety record. Designing a driving program that offers incentives to improve driving habits is relatively easy to create and has the potential to improve driving and regulatory compliance among your entire staff. Incentives may include bonuses, additional vacation time, vehicle or equipment upgrades, and more.
Maintain and Upgrade Your Fleet Vehicles
Vehicle maintenance should always be prioritized by businesses with commercial fleet vehicles. Routine maintenance protects your investment in the vehicles, prevents breakdowns, and reduces downtime, but it can also help your drivers avoid unnecessary accidents.
The first step in this process should be to create a preventive maintenance schedule based on the manufacturer’s recommendations. Be sure to maintain proper tire inflation, regularly change the oil, and inspect or replace brake components and all safety equipment to ensure each component performs according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Lastly, if any of your fleet vehicles need an upgrade, consider working with a fleet vehicle upfitting service to install various components in your fleet vehicles that will improve their functionality and assist your drivers in maintaining a safe driving record.
Learn How TCS Upfitting Can Improve the Safety of Your Fleet Drivers
Regardless of how many vehicles your business has on the road, fleet driver safety is critical in ensuring the ongoing success of your enterprise. To create an authentic safety-first culture, fleet managers should continue investing in their drivers and their vehicles. Doing so can add up to significant results.
At TCS Upfitting, we’re dedicated to providing our customers with superior fleet vehicle upfitting services that meet their business’s unique needs and requirements. Our team of specialists understands the value of high-quality craftsmanship and remains committed to meeting and exceeding the safety standards of every industry. With our vehicle upfitting services, you can be sure your fleet drivers are always prepared for the road ahead.
To learn more about our fleet vehicle upfitting services, contact TCS Upfitting today to speak with an expert and find out how we can help you improve driver safety within your fleet.