Seat belts? Never heard of them.
Driving safety is a serious issue, especially among companies with employees on the road. According to the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among workers in the U.S. There are lots of different tactics to stay safe on the road: safe driving tips, defensive driving, safety courses… but we often forget the first step; something we learned before we ever got behind the wheel of a car: buckling our seat belt.
It’s a simple task, one that should happen without even a thought. For whatever reason, though, people often either forget or choose not to do it. It may be simple, but buckling your seat belt can be the difference between life and death. According to the CDC, drivers and front seat passengers who wore seat belts reduced their risk of death in an accident by 45% less likely to die in an accident, and sustaining a serious injury by 50%.
Despite their life-saving potential, seat belts are often neglected. According the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), over 10% of Americans failed to use their seat belt in 2018 – 32.7 million Americans taking an unnecessary risk with their health and safety.
Employee Seat Belt Initiative: NETS & NHTSA
2 Seconds 2 Click
With this information in mind, the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS), in conjunction with the NHTSA, developed the 2 Seconds 2 Click toolkit “for employers to establish or enhance employee safety belt initiatives within their organization”. NETS says, “It takes about two seconds to buckle your seat belt to reduce your chances of injury or death in a serious traffic crash by nearly half. There is no better return on investment.”
NETS recognized that safe driving starts with this oft-forgotten task. This helps brings down costs – car crashes cost employers more than $47 Billion in 2013. More importantly though, it allows your employees to get home safely. If you have an interest in promoting safe driving among your employees, check out the campaign materials here.
What Next?
As we’ve said, buckling your seat belt is an important step in vehicle safety – but it’s just the first step. In the event you’re in an accident, you’d want to have a seat belt on, but you’d obviously rather avoid the accident in the first place.
One of the leading causes of car accidents is distracted driving. The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million accidents a year, and 1 in 4 accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving. Answering a text message takes away your attention for about five seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that’s enough time to travel the length of a football field. This is incredibly dangerous, and that’s assuming you aren’t speeding, not to mention the fact that it takes at least one hand off the steering wheel. One of the most dangerous things you can do is check your cell phone in traffic, and yet, this is common occurrence while we drive.
At TRUCE, we value driving safety. That’s why we developed our Contextual Mobile Device Management (CMDM) software – so employees everywhere can avoid distracted driving.
By being able to restrict device usage only while in a moving vehicle, allowing access to approved apps and functions, TRUCE can help stop distracted driving in its tracks. If you’re looking for a way to help your employees avoid getting in an accident or moving violation, and to save lives, check out how TRUCE works.