Time is Ripe to Rethink Our Driving Habits

During the height of the pandemic, many who traveled considered open roads as an open invitation to speed and push safety limits. No doubt, a few stories in the news caught your attention, like the one involving three men who reportedly drove from New York to Los Angeles in under 27 hours. To cover that distance in that amount of time, they had to average more than 100 mph.

Speeding was one of the biggest contributing factors to the increase in traffic fatality rates even as vehicle miles driven decreased. Now, as traffic patterns return to normal, the question to ask yourself is this: How does that reckless open-road mindset translate to the present day?

What can employers do to promote safe driving behaviors? The answer: provide continuing education and ongoing safety training, and adopt safe driving policies to protect employees and their family members.  That’s more than 10 crashes every day.

Speeding:

• Increases the force of impact on collision and therefore increases the severity of injuries
• Reduces time to react
• Increases stopping distance

Take action to drive change.

One idea to ramp up safety efforts at your workplace: Get our Safety Huddle sheet and deliver a ready-made safety talk (5-15 minutes):

• The Speed Limit is Not a Suggestion

We offer Driver Behavior Micro E-Learning modules on our Training Center page that cover:

• Aggressive driving
• Distracted driving
• Drowsy driving
• Impaired driving
• Seatbelts

Micro-learning is the process of delivering bite-size content to users. Studies show this approach can increase retention rates and are more effective for those with a short attention span.

Driving is risky, but understanding how to mitigate these risks will help keep your employees safe, both on and off the job.