By Mike Hitchcock, Lead ICSA Safety Consultant
Have you ever wished you could see into the future? What would you do or change? How would you manage your business if you could predict the future? If you knew the odds of being involved in a crash, what would you change? If you operate a small fleet, how would you use that information to select your drivers?
Here are some interesting facts from American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) for you to consider. Even if you are a single truck operator, knowing these facts and changing your driving behavior can reduce your odds of being in a crash. ATRI created a crash predictor using data from thousands of truck-involved crashes and this is what they found:
Source: https://truckingresearch.org/2022/10/predicting-truck-crash-involvement-2022-update/
Violations ranging from failing to obey a traffic warning light to following too closely predict the chances of being involved in a future crash. In comparing this study to several others, the five behaviors highlighted in the chart above have consistently been strong indicators of future crash involvement.
As a business owner, you reduce your odds of having crashes by carefully considering these violations when reviewing prospective drivers’ records. If current drivers have a past history of such violations, you can help change the future for them with remedial training that starts with sharing this data with them.
Lastly, ICSA offers great safety training courses on our website https://safecarriers.org behind your member login. From our Model Safety Plan to FirstGear Online Driver Training, these safety courses are available to members at no cost.
(Editor’s NOTE: We are sorry to announce that Mike will be retiring from ICSA effective October 1, 2023. As our lead safety consultant, Mike has been the linchpin of our member safety programs and the overseer of our SmartDrive event recorders and TADTS drug testing requirements. He will contract back to ICSA for a few hours per week and will continue to author Coaching Corner for us. Best of everything, Mike!)
Every year, TAT (formerly called Truckers Against Trafficking) honors a member of the trucking, bus or energy industry, whose direct actions help save or improve the lives of those exploited or prevent human trafficking from taking place, with the Harriet Tubman Award
Bob Costello has indicated that the freight market has improved – but very slowly – since January. It must be said that ATA’s indices are dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot rates.
Now, however, with Republican control of both houses of Congress and the White House (and, some say, the Supreme Court) I am optimistic that trucking will get a fairer shake than it has during Biden’s term in office.