Driving Distractions Kill
April is Driving Distraction Awareness Month. Cell phones are the hot topic — texting while driving is illegal in many more states this year. Distracted driving accounts for approximately 25 percent of all motor vehicle crash fatalities. At the time of fatal crashes, teens have been the largest age group that reported being distracted while driving. Driver distraction is reported to be responsible for more than 58 percent of teen crashes.
But for professional drivers, hand-held cell phones have been illegal for several years. Most companies ban their use, and have a zero-tolerance policy in their driver safety training program.
Distractions Are More than Phones
Other companies may feel like they’ve earned top marks for safety by banning phones. But you know the truth: distractions come in many more flavors than just Apple. (bada-bing!)
- Food or drink
- Radio or dashboard
- Rushing
- Paperwork
- Anger or frustration
The D in D.E.F.E.N.S.E. is for Distractions
The first lesson in our newly revamped defensive driving suite, PRO-D.E.F.E.N.S.E., is about distractions. In fact, the it was the huge increase in distractions for modern drivers that first inspired our safety experts to re-think defensive driving and help fleets reduce commercial vehicle liability on modern roads.
Isn’t Distracted Driving Awareness Month a great time to start your fleet on online defensive driving courses? We recommend one per month — frequency of training is the No. 1 correlation to safety!
Easy Customization: Communicate Your Cell Phone Policy
Do you have a specific cell phone policy that you want to add to the Distractions course? ITI can add to or edit sections of standard courses — just ask your ITI Client Services rep about hosting or editing a course for your team.
Give our Client Success team a call anytime at 360-576-5976, Option 4, or click here to email us.
PRO-D.E.F.E.N.S.E. Lessons for Medium-Duty Trucking Now Available
Our first iteration of PRO-D.E.F.E.N.S.E. was for heavy-duty, Class 8, articulated trucks. We’ve now added versions of the courses for use by drivers of box trucks and for drivers of light-duty vehicles, too.
This means using different angles, talking more about urban driving, and using more “crowded environments” in which smaller trucks tend to operate.
More Resources About Driver Distractions:
- PRO-D.E.F.E.N.S.E: https://www.instructiontech.net/online-fleet-training/pro-defense/
- Whitepaper explaining PRO-D.E.F.E.N.S.E concepts: http://hub.instructiontech.net/pro-defense
- Training to Avoid Driver Distractions: http://blog.instructiontech.net/blog/2015/12/training-to-avoid-driver-distractions
