Driver Safety Incentive Programs That Work...

Just throwing money and / or prizes at drivers

for a safe driving record won't necessarily be

successful in motivating them to continue driving safely.

Automotive Fleet

There is little question that keeping company vehicle drivers, their passengers, and the public safe is the single most important responsibility a fleet manager has. From vehicle selection to specification to policy, safety should be a primary force in decision making. 

One method used by many companies to help make safety efforts successful is implementing a safe driving incentive program. Using various measurements, drivers whose safety records are exemplary are rewarded.

But if the basis for the program is merely “no accidents = cash,” the overall goal of achieving a safety culture among drivers won’t be met. Here are some tips to remember when you want your safety program to have maximum effectiveness.

Incentives: What Kind?

There are a number of incentives that do work and help promote a safety culture:

• Recognition among peers and others. Most people work hard and do their jobs with little fanfare. Publicly recognizing excellence, on a wide scale, is something most people rarely, but would like to, receive.
• Tangible rewards. These can take many forms. Letters of commendation, plaques, and trophies are usually proudly displayed. Prizes, perhaps chosen from a catalog, are sometimes used, as is permitting a driver to upgrade the model or equipment on their vehicle. Combinations of all of these methods are another way to emphasize the safety message.
• Monetary. “Money talks,” as the saying goes, and monetary incentives can help bolster the effectiveness of the program. Monetary rewards don’t necessarily have to be in the form of a check; drivers can have personal use charges suspended or reduced for a set period, or something along those lines — anything that either provides money for a driver or reduces/prevents his or her money from going out the door. 

Employees — and people in general — are motivated in different ways. Some actually crave recognition above money, others want the money. Still others need both. It is easy to provide both recognition as well as some tangible or monetary reward in a safety incentive program, which helps motivate the broadest set of personalities.

Biggest Safe Driving Incentive of all...

You get to do this when you come home.

What and How to Measure

A combination of recognition and monetary/tangible rewards are usually the best way to motivate the largest number of drivers. However, what do you measure, and how do you measure it? “Keeping score” is also an important part of safety programs that work. Criteria should be clear, measurable, and fair to all. 

Fairness can sometimes be tricky to achieve. If, for example, drivers are judged, in part or overall, by chargeable accidents, drivers in congested urban areas are exposed to far more instances in which such accidents can occur (more intersections, traffic controls, and traffic) than drivers in wide-open, rural areas. Then again, rural drivers accumulate far more miles than those in urban and suburban areas where customers are closer together. For that reason, don’t make chargeable accidents the only measurement. Consider using accidents-per-thousand-miles driven, rather than just the number of accidents in a designated period.

Be sure to include violations, too. Assign points to various types of violations — the lowest number for administrative violations (expired registration or inspection), a bit higher for equipment (broken tail light, burned out headlight), higher still for moving violations (failure to yield, improper lane change), with the highest number of points for the most serious violations (speeding, reckless driving, following too closely). Drivers who get DUI/DWI violations shouldn’t be driving company-provided vehicles or, at the very least, should be excluded from the  incentive program.

More on: What and How To Measure, Checking the Program Period and Rewarding Safety

Don’t just throw checks at drivers who manage not to run the company car into a highway underpass. Choose your criteria, measure it, set the rewards, and most of all, communicate with drivers and management regularly.  Have sales managers announce award winners at scheduled conference calls or branch meetings. Highlight the program on the company website. Remember, the purpose of a fleet safety program is as much to foster a culture of safety throughout the organization as it is to recognize individuals. If done right, it works, and will save money, too.

Drive Safely Work Week (October 3-7, 2011)

Getting There Safely is

Everyone's Business

Network of Employers for Traffic Safety

In partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation, we are grateful for your efforts to help combat the epidemic of distracted driving through your participation in this year’s campaign.

Whether we’re the driver, a passenger, a pedestrian or cyclist, there are things we can do in each role to help prevent distracted driving-related incidents. And for anyone willing to set the right example, the opportunities to be safe-driving role models for family and community members are limitless. That’s the premise of this year’s campaign materials and we’re confident you’ll find them to be informative, practical and useful.

The 2011 campaign is focused on the dangers of distracted driving— but not just from the position of the driver. The new materials also help consider the roles and responsibilities of being a safe passenger, pedestrian and cyclist in preventing distracted driving-related incidents. Download 2011 materials for free

FMCSA Launches Surprise Safety Inspections

TheTrucker.com
By The Trucker News Service
September 22, 2011

WASHINGTON — Federal, state and local police began conducting thousands of surprise safety inspections of motorcoaches, tour buses, school buses and other passenger vehicles across the country Friday as the national Motorcoach Safety Summit, sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), kicked off here.

"This summit is about preventing needless tragedies and saving lives," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. "We've seen the horrific consequences when motorcoach companies do not make safety a top priority. With everyone at the table, we can achieve our shared goal of raising the safety bar for the motorcoach industry."
 
The strike force, launched in coordination with today's summit, is part of FMCSA's nationwide Passenger Carrier Strike Force. The two-week inspection sweep will continue through Oct. 7, 2011.
 
FMCSA also announced that it will release a new smartphone application that will empower consumers with quick and easy access to a motorcoach company's safety record before booking a trip.
 
The smartphone application, which will be released in November, will also allow the public to submit any safety violation to FMCSA's National Consumer Compliant Database.
 
During the day-long Motorcoach Safety Summit, safety leaders will discuss DOT's intermodal approach to strengthening motorcoach safety, followed by a panel highlighting the perspectives of individuals responsible for the day-to-day safety of motorcoach passengers, vehicles and drivers.
 
In the afternoon, summit participants will focus on tough safety issues such as how to develop and train professional bus drivers, Hours of Service requirements for passenger buses and effective public outreach tools that encourage consumers to choose a safe motorcoach company, every trip, every time.
 
"Today, we are sending a clear message that safety must be the driving force within the motorcoach industry," said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. "With the robust feedback, ideas and partnerships developed at this summit, we will be better equipped to raise the safety bar and safety culture within the motorcoach industry. The public deserves no less."  Link to Complete Article

Save Lives, Money and Down Time: Setting Up a Program for Investigating Accidents

Accident Preventability Evaluations

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Objective: To reduce motor carrier fleet accident rates by establishing a company standard for safe driving.

Description: A preventable accident is one which occurs because the driver fails to act in a reasonably expected manner to prevent it. In judging whether the driver's actions were reasonable, one seeks to determine whether the driver drove defensively and demonstrated an acceptable level of skill and knowledge.

The judgment of what is reasonable can be based on a company-adopted definition, thus establishing a goal for its safety management programs.

Note that the above definition of preventable accident is focused on the actions of the driver. It is the commonly used definition in evaluating driver performance. A broader definition, which can be used to evaluate the driver's and the motor carrier's actions, is given by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations as follows: Preventable accident on the part of a motor carrier means an accident (1) that involved a commercial motor vehicle, and (2) that could have been averted but for an act, or failure to act, by the motor carrier, or the driver.

The concept of a preventable accident is a fleet safety management tool which achieves the following goals:

• It helps establish a safe driving standard for the driver.
• It provides a criterion for evaluating individual drivers.
• It provides an objective for accident investigations and evaluations.
• It provides a means for evaluating the safety performance of individual drivers and the fleet as a whole.
• It provides a means for monitoring the effectiveness of fleet safety programs.
• It assists in dealing with driver safety infractions.
• It assists in the implementation of safe driving recognition programs.

Questions for Management:

1. Does the company have a program for investigating accidents ?
2. Is there a company accident review committee ?
3. Has the company defined a standard for the safe driving performance of its drivers ?
4. Is the carrier's standard for safe driving performance sufficiently challenging such that it would serve to highlight areas for fleet safety improvement ?
5. Are the drivers instructed as to what the company standard for safe driving is ?
6. Are the drivers instructed about company procedure for evaluating the preventability of accidents?