In addition to driving up your safety score, involvement in certain key traffic violations has been shown to be a precursor of traffic crashes.
By Mike Hitchcock, ICSA Safety Consultant
After reviewing massive amounts of truck traffic citation and violation data and subsequent crashes involving the drivers cited in the data review, an American TransportationResearch Institute (ATRI) study showed that drivers cited for these specific traffic behaviors are at highest risk of a future crash:
When a driver receives a citation and/or is convict-ed for one of these behaviors, the likelihood of a future crash increases from 325% for reckless driving down to 91% for failure to stay in the proper lane. Moreover, the study also showed that drivers who had been involved in a prior crash were 87% more likely to get in another crash. Other crash probabilities are detailed in the chart below.
From “Predicting Truck Crash Involvement—2018 Update” - American Transportation Research Institute
Fleets and drivers don’t need to accept these statistics as the inevitable consequences of operating commercial vehicles in today’s traffic environment. On the contrary, other ICSA safety experts and I have used this data to raise drivers’ awareness of how such violations and convictions put them at greater risk for a crash. Raising awareness is the first key step to improving driver behavior on the road.
We also strongly believe in using technology to improve safety, especially forward-facing in-cab cameras. This is why ICSA requires its Platinum-level members to install cameras in their trucks if they wish to be covered under our insurance offerings. We then are able to re-view videos that show a hard stop or other sudden traffic maneuver and use our knowledge to coach fleets and drivers on steps to take to reduce such incidents and—ultimately– to prevent future crashes.
As a start, we suggest copying the chart and posting it where you and/or your drivers can refer to it on a regular basis. We also recommend you contact ATRI and request a copy of the full report—which has some very useful information beyond simply the crash predictor data.
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.