With an estimated 15.5 million trucks operating daily on roads in the United States, it’s important to keep your drivers safe (TruckingInfo.net). Training drivers to be safe and careful while delivering loads is key to growing your trucking business, as it can impact your company’s finances, fuel costs, and truck maintenance expenses.

Here are just a few of the trucking safety challenges for commercial drivers. Even if they seem routine or predictable, it’s important to make sure your drivers remember them.

Large Blind Spots

Limited visibility calls for extra caution in passing and being passed by other large vehicles on the road. Large trucks also need to maintain a longer following distance so they can see all of the vehicles behind them. Cars are often ignorant of the blind spots that trucks have, so it’s up to truck drivers to be vigilant about spotting where cars are moving. Extra side mirrors can be helpful in improving visibility.

Long Stopping Distance

Trucks traveling 65 miles per hour take up to two football fields to stop, so it’s important to have a ‘buffer zone’ in front to protect your drivers and your trucks. The more following distance in front of the truck, the more time drivers have to correct or slow down if other drivers cut in or stop suddenly.

Limited Maneuverability

The turning radius for a truck is 55 feet, so check for smaller vehicles that try to get by when you’re turning. Be aware of the impact a truck makes when accelerating, stopping, and maneuvering between lanes or making a turn. Slowing down significantly for curves and ramps is also a key point to remember – especially with a truck’s higher center of gravity.

Incentivize Safe Driving

To help ensure safe driving, many trucking companies offer small bonuses for driving without any speeding tickets or other citations for a certain period of time. By monitoring driving records – something you’re most certainly doing already – you can identify which drivers have earned bonuses or other rewards for their compliance.

The Financial Benefits of Safe Drivers

Training your drivers for better safety provides benefits not only for drivers, but for your trucking company’s finances.

• Reduced incident rates decrease crash-related liability costs
• Leveraging safety ratings to retain and hire more drivers
• Better productivity by keeping drivers on the road
• Lower insurance costs

Safe driving is good for your reputation, your finances, your drivers and their families. Additional FMCSA tips for CMV drivers can be found at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/ourroads/tips-cmv-drivers.

 

 

 

One of the top issues in the trucking industry is the much-discussed shortage of qualified drivers; a shortage that continues to plague the industry. The American Trucking Association (ATA) estimates a shortage of nearly 50,000 drivers, and projects that the shortage could increase to 175,000 by 2025 (2017 ATA study). Due to the driver supply shortage, demand for drivers continues to increase rapidly.

Here are some of the top recommendations of how to increase your driver retention:

1. Set Preferred Schedules 

Find ways to keep drivers’ schedules manageable, keeping them home when possible. If you can provide drivers with more at-home days between runs, or adjust schedules to give them different routes they prefer, invest in those changes to give drivers their desired schedules. It’s important to be honest and clearly state expectations from their first day, so that drivers know their projected schedules and don’t get random changes down the road.

2. Connect with Your Drivers

By forming a drivers’ community with your business’ social media channels, you can create a place for drivers to connect. Post topics that matter to drivers, to gain their interest and their trust. If they feel you are working on ways to improve their livelihood — rather than only posting ads and recruitment offers — you can foster their loyalty.

3. Solicit Driver Feedback

You can institute scheduled surveys to get feedback from your drivers, listen to their suggestions, and gather data. Employees feel empowered when they feel their feedback makes a difference in the policies or the practices of the business. When drivers do leave, conduct an exit survey or interview to find out what motivated their departure. Take steps to improve the conditions they reveal, and examine what you can do make other drivers want to stick around.

4. Establish Feasible Bonuses

 Have your financial department or other resource help you determine the cost of hiring and training drivers. Then resolve to put those turnover costs into some type of financial incentive or bonus to help you keep the drivers you have. Many companies reward drivers for safe driving, on-time delivery performance, and more. The ATA found that trucking businesses offered an average bonus of $979 to attract qualified drivers to their fleet, and offered an even larger bonus ($1,143) to retain them in 2016.

Try assessing your current offerings and find ways to keep your best employees. This month, our Facebook and Instagram accounts will feature additional articles and ideas to maintain your driving workforce.