April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month

This month, in honor of Distracted Driving Awareness Month, we are helping to share the #JustDrive message.  One second of your attention is all it can take to change a life forever. This is the perfect time for motor carriers and employers alike to reinforce the dangers of distracted driving to their drivers. 

At least 9 Americans die and 100 are injured every day in distracted driving crashes across the country. Items like in-vehicle technologies, cell phones, voice commands, and touchscreens actually pose a threat to our safety.  While they are convenient, they ultimately cause distractions from the road. Research has shown that talking on a cell phone quadruples your risk of an accident, which is about the same as drunk driving.  Your brain can actually miss seeing up to 50% of your driving environment when you talk on a cell phone.  That risk doubles again, if you are texting. 

According to FMCSA regulations, Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) drivers are prohibited from texting or using hand-held mobile phones while in operation of their vehicles.  The rule essentially prohibits drivers from unsafely reaching for a device, holding a phone or pressing multiple buttons.  Violations can result in fines, disqualification and have a negative impact on SMS results. 

It's easy to comply with the rules:

-No Texting

-No Reaching

-No Holding

-No Dialing

-No Reading

Here are some safe driving tips from the National Safety Council as well as a FREE cell phone policy kit. 

Banning Distracted Driving: An Employer's Guide to Protect Employees and Liability Implement a clear policy indicating that the employer does not require employees to answer calls while they are on the road. This includes the employer placing calls to employees while they are driving Encourage your employees to plan their trips to include stops so they can safely return calls and emails. Establish company policy that makes it unnecessary for employees to text while driving to fulfill their job duties. Eliminate any incentives that may encourage employees to text/talk while operating a vehicle. Communicate your state's regulations and associated fines to employees. Encourage employees to sign an anti-distracted driving pledge. Designate company vehicles as "distraction-free zones."