Great West Casualty Company Blog

 

With the advent of more and more technologies competing for our attention, it is becoming more difficult for humans to sift through a swarm of distractions and focus on those items that are worth paying attention to. For motor carriers, whose survival hinges on preventing crashes, driver distractions and inattention are not new. They are old enemies. Preaching to drivers to pay attention and focus on the road ahead is nothing new, yet preventable crashes still occur, leaving a motor carrier’s management team members scratching their heads in frustration. One solution, and arguably the solution to the distracted driving problem, is simple mindfulness.

On April 23, 1910, in Paris, France, Theodore Roosevelt delivered a speech that would come to be known as “The Man in the Arena.” In his address, Roosevelt touched on the courage it takes for a person to lead, to stand up, and to be a target for failure and ridicule in the face of progress. Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood...who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

Have you ever run a report and questioned the results? You may have looked at the report, noted something about the data didn’t look right, researched further, and realized the data was bogus.

In today’s trucking environment, where high-dollar litigation has become the norm, driver managers are tasked with an ever-increasing burden to ensure drivers conduct themselves in a safe manner. This is quite challenging since drivers are out of sight most of the time, but technology is catching up to the trucking industry, and motor carriers should be happy about that. Sitting drivers down in front of safety videos is one of the least effective ways to change their behavior. For adults, it is best to show them their performance gaps (i.e., bad fuel economy, moving violations, etc.) and help them find solutions on their own. A proven way to do this is to combine technology and coaching.

Great question! Unfortunately, there’s not a magic pill to resolve this issue, but motor carriers would be wise to consider retention solutions from the driver’s perspective if they hope to remain competitive and limit the business interruptions caused by driver turnover. Below are the American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) critical issues in the trucking industry for 2018; on this list, you can see that drivers and motor carriers do not share the same concerns. This difference in views is important to point out because if a motor carrier wants to attract and retain quality drivers, it needs to create a culture and work environment that addresses driver concerns.

There is nothing worse for a motor carrier than receiving a call that one of its drivers has been involved in a crash. Everything stops as you react to the situation and start gathering details about who was at fault and whether the driver could have prevented the incident. While drivers are ultimately responsible for the decisions they make behind the wheel, the root cause of a crash could run deeper. There could be mitigating factors within management’s operational control that are contributing to losses – or worse – have lulled the organization into a false sense of security if a loss has not occurred yet.

Great question! Engaging and managing a geographically dispersed workforce is a challenge most motor carriers struggle with, especially those trucking companies that utilize over-the-road drivers who may not see their home terminals for weeks on end. This is an issue that is expanding beyond drivers, though, as more and more companies are weighing the risks and benefits of utilizing remote employees.