fleet driversDriving in a fleet is no small task as the commercial fleet accident rate is as high as 20 percent. That’s one in every five, and that makes it a challenging task for any fleet manager to see their drivers to safety. Driving is already dangerous but for long distances with long hours on the road, it gets to be even more so. If you manage a commercial fleet, read on to learn five ways to encourage safe driving among your fleet drivers.

1. Train Fleet Drivers for Dangerous Weather

Fleet drivers drive long distances across all sorts of terrain environments. Across the country, different types of severe weather threaten drivers, including rain, sleet, and snow. One of the best ways to keep your drivers safe is to train them on how to prepare for and drive safely in these weather conditions. Keeping an eye on weather patterns can also be a good way to reroute around bad storms.

2. Use Dash Cams to Promote Safety

As a fleet manager, video dash cams are one of the best ways to monitor drivers. A dashcam allows you to catch bad habits and unsafe driving while training and in post. Drivers tend to drive more carefully when they know they’re being watched. In fact, fleets have seen fewer accidents since implementing fleet tracking software for monitoring driver behavior.

3. Put Together a Rest Stop Plan

One great habit of safe drivers is creating rest stop plans ahead of time. Sleep is important to functioning properly, and driving while tired is a big cause of car accidents. Unfortunately, it’s easy to drive until you’re tired without realizing it and end up with a while to go before you find a rest stop. Planning breaks, especially at rest stops, will ensure that drivers are fully rested and able to drive safely.

4. Encourage Maintenance Checks

When managing a fleet, an important element to include in training is maintenance checks. From something as simple as needing an oil change to having worn down breaks, not staying up to date with your vehicle’s needs is dangerous. Make sure your drivers perform thorough maintenance checks frequently to catch problems in advance. This will keep your trucks – and workers – in good shape.

5. Implement a Penalties and Reward System

With all behaviors, driver safety included, punishments and rewards work well to stop and promote the behaviors you want. Develop a penalties and rewards system to discourage bad driving habits and encourage safe ones. Teach these behaviors and how the system works during training. If drivers know that they will be penalized for driving a certain way, they’re less likely to do it. Meanwhile, incentives go a long way when giving drivers a goal and helping them to enjoy their jobs more.

Protect Your Fleet Drivers Today

As the manager of a fleet, the safety of your fleet drivers comes first and foremost. It can be a scary thing to have someone’s life in your hands, but as long as you follow the five tips in this article, you’ll be well on your way to training very safe fleet drivers. If you do run a fleet, be sure to check out our commercial fleet tracking system to help promote safe driving.