Have you ever sat on a three-legged stool with just two legs? Didn’t work out so well, did it? The same outcome befalls fleet managers that don’t use technology for driver policy enforcement and to enforce the elimination of distracted driving in a motor vehicle or a commercial motor vehicle.
The stool has three legs for a very good reason. Each leg accepts an equal and balanced amount of the weight it supports and each leg is equally important and useful. You just shouldn’t rely on two alone. The same is true for your company driving policy.
Training Is a Start
The classic approach to eliminate distracted driving, reduce risk, promote safety and increase safe driving is to focus on education. Having proper training programs for your drivers, holding regular safety classes to focus on the dangers of texting and driving, alongside a published company policy prohibiting the use of cell phones while the vehicle in motion, are all important first steps. They also are not enough and the department of transportation provides evidence through distracted driving statistics showing the huge contribution it has to the dangers of highway safety, traffic crashes, public safety, traffic and moving violations.
Laws Are Important
Governments and law enforcement have gotten into the act and brought on a second and important leg with compliance regulations and laws to protect public safety and highway safety from drivers that are operating a commercial motor vehicle while distracted from their mobile phones. This is also a useful and purposeful second leg to the stool, though it relies on law enforcement agencies and police officers to police the drivers and too often, they can’t be everywhere and distracted driving is at epidemic levels. Even with laws and the ability to enforce them in place, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, self-reported distracted driving has risen more than 30% since 2013. Compliance regulation, laws and law enforcement officers are simply not enough.
Technology Is Key
Just like a two-legged stool, relying on education, laws, and law enforcement officials alone is failure. Drunk Driving doesn’t stop solely because of education and the speed limit isn’t obeyed solely because of a sign on the road. So why would your driver policy be any different? The only way this stool stands up is if companies bring in technology and risk management solutions to combat this growing business problem. Having businesses adopt technology platforms that can control policy settings dynamically on the phone while the vehicle is in motion, coupled with robust management console control and reporting of the system, is the only way to truly eliminate distracted driving. Those combination of features and capabilities in such a technology gives you a complete and total driver policy enforcement solution.
Are you sitting on a two-legged stool? Add the third leg with TRUCE today!