While the frequency of vehicle crashes is down in North America, the claims costs associated with individual accidents continue to increase significantly. Hub’s Steven Bojan takes a look at this disturbing trend.
In Canada, negligent entrustment is a relatively new tool for plaintiff attorneys to increase demands in vehicle crash litigation. This strategy has been used successfully in the United States for a number of years and is now spreading through the provinces. The plaintiffs are basically saying that the owner of the vehicle had a significant responsibility to ensure that the driver of their vehicle was safe.
Further, the litigation notes that the organization had exercised a reasonable amount of care in selecting or allowing drivers that would be expected to operate their vehicles in a safe manner.
While there is no crystal ball that can tell a fleet manager whether an employee will be a safe driver, there are many tools available to assist with making an educated assessment. Additionally, all organizations that utilize vehicles should be communicating their expectations of how their drivers should conduct themselves on roadways. To ensure that a commercial/business fleet has done its due diligence to maintain a safe operation, it must take a systematic approach to safety.
New hires and existing drivers should be screened to identify at risk individuals through the use of a number of tools. These include but are not limited to: reviewing driver abstracts, conducting pre-hire and ongoing-driving reviews, remotely tracking key safety metrics on vehicles, regularly reviewing the condition of company vehicles and holding drivers accountable according to fleet safety policies.
Because people do not turn on and off the way they drive when they punch in, reviewing the driver abstract provides critical data for previous violations and driving history. Drivers with severe or multiple violations will usually exhibit these same behaviors in the future. Before a driver is allowed to drive for the company, it is a best practice that they receive a road test of some sort in a vehicle that is similar to what they will be operating.
Drivers should also receive education at the time of hire on safe driving techniques and company expectations as to how their vehicles are to be operated. Follow up education must be provided on a regular basis and be documented. Drivers that have been identified as deficient in some way need to undergo remedial training and face disciplinary measures if they do not improve.
Safety training for drivers has never been more robust. It is a best practice to tailor training to the type of operation and safety issues common to the fleet. Many fleet operations today have regularly scheduled safety meetings or use some form of computer based training. There is tremendous pressure on all business vehicle fleets from the public, the government, and their customers to be safe.
It is important that the safety message goes beyond following the rules of the road and talks about how defensive driving is a cornerstone of operations.
Communicating this message is done through both words and actions. Drivers need to know that they are the captain of their ship and should not operate in an environment such as inclement weather or extended hours that they feel is unsafe. Supervisors must continually talk about safety and the responsibility that every member of the organization has to the motoring public.
The goal is to not have any crashes and have drivers leave work in the same condition than they started their day. If an unfortunate vehicle collision were to occur, the company should be able to say that it did everything within its power to prevent the occurrence.
