Study Explains All The Crappy Drivers

A recent study by the Alberta Motor Association Foundation For Traffic Safety had me scratching my head and being a little more vigilant in my defensive driving:

• 89% of Alberta drivers on the road today couldn't pass the written Learner's test if they had to write it today.
• 82.3% of survey participants reported having more than 10 years experience

Umm, that's not good news. That means that 89% of your drivers, driving their own vehicles and likely some company vehicles couldn't pass the Learner's Permit Written Test.

How about over the next week or so, you ask each of your drivers on-staff to take the Class 7 Driver’s License Free Online Practice Test Questions. I jumped the gun a little on a few questions and didn't think them through and scored a 94%. What would happen if, for just a moment, one of your people jumped the gun and wasn't thinking clearly about what they were doing in the moment?

Let's make sure that basic safety is instilled. Don't ever assume that your people know the rules of the road just because they have a driver's license already. A lifetime of bad habits can make a bad driver forget the rules.

Self Absorbed Drivers and Optional Signal Lights

Spend a little time in malls these days and you will no doubt hear it too: the cacophony of whiny children crying when they want something, crying when they are denied something, crying because it gets them attention. See the parents of children trying to control their kids (or not) at Starbucks as they attempt to enjoy their lattes while their kids, who need constant stimulation, get bored with a grown-up's coffee shop.

It exactly the way the parents of these children were raised too. They were told they were special and that the world revolves around them. Now they drive. Now they influence how their kids will drive. There are no consequences when they see their kids behind the wheel with phone glued to their ear, or worse, texting while they drive.

Signal lights have become an option in cars or maybe it just seems that way since it's impossible to signal a lane change while holding a phone in your left hand. Courtesy for other drivers is not taught. Hell, courtesy for others is not taught to these little self-absorbed teen and twenty-something drivers who have never been given consequences.

Perhaps mandatory sentences of one year license suspensions to any driver caught texting while driving and perhaps 3-5 demerit points to the parents of new drivers (under 21). Safety on the road is EVERYONE's responsibility, especially the parents of new drivers. Maybe it's time to get tough to ensure parents get their priorities straight, intervene and force courtesy and safety in their children and stop being so self-absorbed themselves.

If it were a job-site and a worker was injured due to the negligence of another worker, that second worker would face charges. So should parents of cell-phone-talking and texting teens while they drive.

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Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Texting While Driving? Wake Up!

This is a video that every single person who believes they can text while driving needs to see. Make sure you get this video into the hands of your children and all teens and early 20's people. This video is disturbing ... be warned.



Safety Attitude includes making sure you look out for the people who don't bother to look out for themselves. As the video shows, one person texting can have dire consequences for others.

Tell me you won't hear, "I want Mommy to wake up," after you're done watching this video.

Getting To Zero Means Getting Tough

Zero is a real possibility in safety. In fact, many companies are achieving zero right now. If others can do it, why can’t you?

The truth is that in order to achieve zero, companies, supervisors and VP’s of Safety are going to have to become vigilant and make the tough decisions. It’s not going to be easy to do it until you figure out where the hazards and job site issues come from in the first place.

Work sites are safe. It’s people who screw them up. Have a look at the following list and tell me it’s not people who screw things up:

• Park an unsecured piece of equipment where it shouldn’t be.
• Leave an extension cord running across the ground with no markings.
• A quick trip up the ladder to fetch something – no need to tie-off.
• No need for a seat belt since I’m still in the yard and not on the road yet.
• No need for a truck walk-around – I did it fifteen minutes ago.
• Maybe I should have adjusted the side mirror when I was stopped – oh well.

You getting my drift here? If it weren’t for people, everything would be exactly where it’s supposed to be. Of course, if it weren’t for people, nothing would ever get done. So there’s the conundrum.

It’s your people who give you the safety record you have. Your results on the job are the direct result of the line you take with those who do the job. The more vigilant you become in instilling a Safety Attitude, the more your results will improve.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: What’s the difference between a driver who’s been drinking and a driver who’s exhausted? Sit in the passenger seat and you’ll figure out the answer – not much. So why do you allow your people to come to work after being out all night? What about letting them work hung-over? What about someone popping cold pills that make them drowsy? What about a parent who spent most of the night at the hospital with a sick child?

Are these people alert and ready for whatever happens or are they barely conscious? Could they be considered a hazard on the job? Fatigue and impairment cause accidents both on and off the job.

Do you ever wonder why Cops park a block away from the bar at eight o’clock in the morning? It’s to catch the driver retrieving his car who, although he seems coherent, is still over the limit to drive. And you’re going to let him work?

There are no more reasons and excuses for not achieving zero. If your crew knows that they are going to lose a day’s pay for showing up hung-over, sleep-deprived, stuffed full of cold medications or trying to hide the fact that they’re still drunk, then my guess is that they wouldn’t show up that way at all. People rise to level of expectation. But if you don’t impose any consequences for being impaired, then your safety record will just have to suffer the consequences alone.