DIG Insurance & Business Magazine Summer 2018 | Page 26

DISTRACTED DRIVING
BY: NICOLE BRUSHMILLER, CIC, CRM,
SENIOR CLIENT ADVISOR
BY: TRAVIS HINMAN, CRIS,
CLIENT ADVISOR
Eyes On The Road!
How You Can Help Prevent
Distracted Driving Accidents
D
istracted driving is a major
cause of traffic accidents,
whether your business
operates a small fleet of
service vehicles or you are in
the transportation sector. As a business
owner, it is your legal responsibility under
the Occupational Safety and Health Act
(OSHA) to safeguard drivers at work. This
holds true whether or not they drive full
time or occasionally in the course of their
workday. When your employees are behind
the wheel, their safety is your business.
Distracted driving is defined as any
activity that diverts a driver’s attention
away from the road. This could involve
eating your lunch or fiddling with the
radio, but more commonly, it is from the
use of cell phones or other electronic
devices. These activities not only create
a manual or visual distraction but they
also create a cognitive distraction.
Your brain’s primary focus has shifted
from the sole act of driving and is now
being burdened with other tasks. And
the consequences can be deadly.
ACCIDENTS HAPPEN—BY THE NUMBERS
•
Nearly 80 percent of all vehicle
accidents involve driver inattention,
26
according to the Virginia Tech
Transportation Institute.
• In 2016, 40,200 Americans died
in car crashes, according to the
National Safety Council.
• Texting can take your eyes off
of the road for five seconds. At
55 mph, this is the equivalent of
driving the length of a football
field—with your eyes closed.
•
•
During daylight hours, studies
show that 481,000 people are
using cell phones while driving.
Hand-held cell phone use
while driving is highest among
15- to 29-year-old drivers.
STOP! FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS
In most states, the use of hand-held cell
phones is illegal. While employers can
simply say “just don’t do it,” there is more
to talk about and incorporate into your
safety program. A survey conducted by
Travelers Insurance found that only 27
percent of commercial clients were strictly
enforcing their distracted driving policy.
Here are some tips to help you
develop a workplace committed to
preventing distracted driving:
• Prohibit texting while driving
and consider implementing a
“no cell phone use” policy in
your employee safety manual.
• Incorporate safe communication
practices into new-
employee orientation.
• Establish work procedures and rules
that do not make it necessary for
workers to use a hand-held phone or
other electronic devices while driving.
• Set up clear procedures, times,
and places for drivers to safely
text or use other technologies for
communicating with managers,
customers, and others.
• Educate employees to be alert so they
can identify other drivers who are
distracted on the road so they can
maintain a safe distance from those
vehicles. You don’t have to be the
driver on the phone to be involved
in an accident. You could be the
unlucky vehicle hit by that person.
• Eliminate financial incentive and
other systems that encourage
workers to text while driving.