Drive Focused, Drive Smart and Get Home Safely

The theme for this year's Drive Safely Work Week is "Drive Focused, Drive Smart, and Get Home Safely."  Studies have found that distracted driving is the number one cause of vehicle crashes, accounting for 80% of crashes and 65% of near-crashes.  Work-related traffic crashes continue to be the number one cause of work-place fatalities, with more than 1,300 fatalities in 2007 or nearly four every day.

You can distribute the attached self-assessment to all your employees to help them determine if they are at risk of being a contributor in a distracted-related crash.

There are four types of distractions you must be aware of:

• Manual      involves touching something, like dialing a phone or changing radio stations.
• Visual        involves looking at something, like a phone display or a billboard.
• Auditory     involves listening to something, like a conversation or music.
• Cognitive   involves thinking about something.

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These actions distract you because your mind is working hard to coordinate them instead of remaining focused on the driving task.  This slows your ability to respond to changing conditions, and diminishes your control over the vehicle, thus making you four times more likely to be involved in a crash.

Share this message with all your employees today.  Remember:

• Crashes that are the result of inattentive behavior are predictable, preventable and within the driver's control.  They are not accidents.

• When you're behind the wheel, you're coordinating the actions of your hands, feet, eyes, ears, and body movements while deciding how to react to what you see, hear, and feel in relation to other vehicles on the road with you.  Adding non-driving tasks to the already demanding task of driving is never a good idea.

• Remember they'll do what you do.  Even if the kids are far from the driving age, demonstrate now the behavior you'll expect later from them.  Set the right example concerning the use of mobile phones and texting while driving and always be mindful of your precious cargo.

Drive safely!

Michael Nischan, CDS; Loss Control & Safety Consultant
NATMI Instructor; michael.nischan@mccart.com
678.475.5720 office 678.938.2012 cellular
The McCart Group / An Assurex Global Partner