The Benefits of Distracted Driving Software Solutions

On a basic level, distracted driving means driving while not paying full attention to the road. Straightforward, right? Then why is it so hard to eliminate? Reducing distractions is especially hard when cell phones are like a distracting passenger that won’t leave you alone. *poke poke*

Phone calls, text messages, and notifications demand our attention every time our vehicle is in motion. Did you know that employees who drive notice a digital distraction every 6.2 miles? For an organization of 1K associates who each drive 16K miles a year, that means 2.58 million pings annually put them at risk for a distraction-related crash. 

If your business is trying to protect your deskless workforce, distracted driving software solutions can help.

Here are the five main reasons to implement distracted driving software solutions in your company:

1. Distracted Driving Software Save Lives

Human life is precious, and preserving it is at the top of the list. TRUCE customers say time and time again that their first priority is that their employees come back home every day safely. The same goes for the people in the communities they serve. The federal government reports that more than 3,100 people are killed on U.S. roads every year in distracted driving crashes.

What does this mean for fleet managers? Employees who use their cell phones while driving expose themselves to considerable safety risks. This applies not just to commercial drivers, but also to employees whose work involves driving (salespeople or service technicians).

Motor vehicle crashes are the #1 cause of work-related deaths and account for 24% of all fatal occupational injuries. Driver distraction, in particular the use of cell phones, is a factor in these fatal crashes. This includes hands-free devices. Per the National Safety Council, hands-free devices do not eliminate the cognitive distraction of conversation.

Thankfully, distracted driving software ensures safe driving by giving businesses control over employee mobile device use. Sophisticated distracted driving solutions, like Contextual Mobility Management (CMM), read what’s happening around a worker in real time. Context – and your company policy – informs what mobile apps and functions employees access and when. When it’s safe, CMM restores access. This offers employees seamless protection during their entire workday.

2. Safe Driving Saves Money

Reducing Liability:

Employers need to anticipate what they may face in today’s courtrooms. Juries are delivering harsh penalties for negligent driving behaviors like calling on a cell phone or texting while driving.

On-the-job distracted driving crashes are costly to employers, incurring costs of more than $24,500 per property damage crash and $150,000 per injury crash. Meanwhile, insurance costs increase as well. No other single event could do more damage to the growth of your business than action or settlement due to a distracted driving claim.

Distracted driving software solutions address this financial risk and liability. First, software can serve as an engineering control for distracted driving. It automatically suppresses unsafe digital distractions – removing the risk and reducing the likelihood of a distracted driving crash. Second, showing well documented, consistent safety efforts can help defend companies against nuclear verdicts.

Maintaining a Good Reputation:

A business risks losing 22% of annual sales when a customer finds negative reviews about them on the first search results page. In addition, social media provides consumers with multiple platforms to document risky driving behavior. Innovative technology solutions can foster a culture of safe driving and safeguard a company’s reputation.

3. Distracted Driving Prevention Improves Efficiency

Distracted driving accidents can put fleet vehicles out of use, prevent job-critical tasks from getting done, and harm employees. Technology can enforce a company’s driver safety policies automatically, protecting vehicles and drivers at scale. For example, TRUCE distracted driving software reduced annual crashes by almost half within the first year. 

Outside of safety, distracted driving software solutions create a distraction-free work environment that translates to higher quality work. A Corporate Director of Transportation & Safety Training using TRUCE shared that employees now “focus on the job they’re driving to. They’re able to plan better, job briefings were better, and the work was better and more executed.” 

4. Distracted Driving Software Is User-Friendly

A common challenge for leadership is doing more with less: less time, less money, fewer resources. Software solutions help reduce the need to police driving behavior day to day, but how easy are they to manage? In the case of TRUCE –

• A team of change management experts helps you launch the platform. This includes training, communications, installation guidance and ongoing support to help achieve maximum ROI. 
• The platform supports iOS and Android devices, delivering the same quality user experience regardless of the environment. TRUCE works across all vehicle types, mobile carriers, and mobile device platforms.
• It is configurable at a driver level, enabling different employees to have different protection settings on the same account.
• Company’s can deploy TRUCE through a company’s existing Mobile Device Management (MDM) System or you can use TRUCE’s MDM. 
• TRUCE has been optimized for deployment across businesses of various sizes and industry types. Its use cases even extend beyond distracted driving.

5. Distracted Driving Technology Helps Companies Follow the Law

Federal agencies have passed a joint law that prohibits commercial drivers from using mobile devices while operating commercial vehicles. Additionally, the number and severity of local and national laws and penalties associated with driving distraction are expected to rise. 

How can businesses combat the changing legal landscape? It starts with developing policies that exceed existing regulations. Then they must support these policies with software solutions designed to eliminate distracted driving. Companies that introduce proactive solutions now will be in a better position as laws change, become more stringent, or are more strictly enforced. 

Easy-to-use distracted driving software can become a key tool in protecting employees and the communities in which they operate. It also prevents revenue loss, boosts efficiency, and keeps businesses legally compliant. Safety, then, is a pretty good business.