Fleet Safety Programs: The Secret Sauce For Success

By Jenny Shiner, GPS Insight

For today’s organizations, having a fleet safety program is a top-of-mind concern and there’s little wonder why. Safety impacts almost every aspect of fleet operations from driver health and morale to uptime to liability exposure – all tied directly to the company’s bottom line.

Even with its prioritized status, many fleets still have accident rates that are in double digits – with the national average at 20% and some industries, such as pharmaceuticals, posting even higher percentages.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT FOR THESE CRASHES CAN BE QUITE HIGH WITH THE AVERAGE COST OF A FLEET-RELATED ACCIDENT AT $70,000 – TWICE THE RATE FOR ANY OTHER TYPE OF ON-THE-JOB INJURY.

In extreme cases, liability exposure could climb into the millions and include national (negative) publicity about the event, which could have long-term effects on the company’s ability to generate revenue.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) estimates that 94% of all traffic collisions are a result of driver error, with many of those a result of distracted driving. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that nine people are killed and 1,000 are injured every day due to distracted driving-related collisions.

The solution? A very special secret sauce that involves a few ingredients. Part of it comes from telematics technology. It can help fleets monitor, identify, and correct the underlying causes that lead to increased risk, crashes, and liability to exposure – driver behavior. But there’s more to this that goes beyond the use of telematics.