Road Safety
Maintaining
control of your
vehicle
Maintaining control
Truck drivers constantly need to
maintain control, to provide for the
safety of:

–
–
–
the driver,
the product being shipped,
and all the other folks sharing the road.
Road Safety
There are many responsibilities
that come with the privilege of
operating a vehicle on a roadway.
Road Safety
All drivers on the road need to work
together to maximize safe conditions.
Road Safety
This important topic has been studied
extensively. The data can help us
focus on what each of us can do to
contribute to making the roadways
safer.
Road Safety
Studies show:
•Over 90% of all accidents involve
human error (risky behavior, impairment, etc.)
•Less than 10% of all accidents involve
vehicle factors (brake failure, worn tires, etc.)
Road Safety
Risky Behavior:
•Speeding accounts for about 15% of all
driving accidents.
The effect of speed on stopping distance:
Whenever speed is doubled, it takes about four times as
much distance to stop, and your vehicle will have about
four times the destructive power if it crashes.
AAA Foundation
Road Safety
Risky Behavior:
•Driving in blind spots
CUTTING IN FRONT CAN CUT YOUR LIFE SHORT
If you cut in front of another vehicle, you may create an
emergency-braking situation for the vehicles around you,
especially in heavy traffic. It takes a large vehicle twice the
time and room to stop as it does a car.
Road Safety
Risky Behavior:
•Driving in blind spots
Side blind spot: If you can't see the driver's face in their
side mirror or window, they can't see you and may not
know you're there.
Front blind spot: Make sure that you can see the entire
front of the vehicle in your inside rear-view mirror before
you pull back in front.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP-NIUL6LzY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jma5ZVzEQD0&feature=fvw
Road Safety
Risky Behavior:
•Driving in blind spots
Road Safety
Impairment takes on many forms. Here
are a few examples:
•Under the influence of drugs or alcohol
•Drowsiness
•Driving while talking on the phone
•Driving while texting
Road Safety
Impairment:
Under the influence of drugs or alcohol:

40%
About
of traffic deaths are
attributed to drunk driving.
Road Safety
Impairment:
Drivers with
a blood alcohol level of 0.10 are
6 to 12 times more likely to
get into a fatal crash or injury than drivers with
no alcohol.
Road Safety
Impairment:
Sometimes a person could be under the
impression that they are more sober. For example, drinking coffee can
decrease drowsiness, and the drinker might mistakenly believe that they
are more sober. The
person is still impaired for the
purposes of driving, as their coordination and
reaction time are still affected by the alcohol.
Eating various dehydrated and salty products such as crackers, chips
and pretzels may settle the stomach allowing the driver to feel more
sober when, in reality, they are simply keeping their blood sugars from
crashing.
Road Safety
Impairment:

US Department of Transportation
estimates 40,000 injuries per year due
to effects of drowsiness,

and
150 fatalities.
Road Safety
Survival times for humans:
 No food—3 to 4 weeks
 No water—3 to 4 days
 No shelter—3 to 4 hours
 No sleep at the wheel of a vehicle—
3-4 seconds
WorkSafe Western Australia
Road Safety
Impairment:

20%
More than
of traffic fatalities
of teens between 16 and 19 years old
occurred while the driver was texting or
talking on a cell phone.
Road Safety
Impairment:

Studies say that drivers using phones
are four times as likely to cause a
crash, about the same likelihood as if
they were drunk .
Road Safety
Impairment:

Studies also show that hands free
devices do not help, in fact, they may
worsen the situation because the driver
is under the impression their behavior
is safe.
Road Safety
Impairment:

Texting while driving increases the risk of a
crash or a near-crash
23.2 times
greater than a non-distracted driver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGE8LzRaySk
Road Safety
Impairment:
A
2009 experiment with Car and Driver magazine
editor Eddie Alterman took place at a deserted air strip
showed that texting while driving had a greater impact
on safety than driving drunk.
While legally drunk, Alterman's stopping distance from
70 mph increased by 4 feet; by contrast, reading an email added 36 feet, and sending a text added 70 feet.
Road Safety
Another way to look at it—look at three
factors that affect total stopping distance:
–
Perception distance

–
Reaction distance

–
About ¾ second, equals 60 ft. at 55 mph
About ¾ second, equals 60 ft. at 55 mph
Braking distance

About 4 ½ seconds, equals 170 ft. at 55 mph
Add it up: 290 ft., about the distance of a football field
Road Safety
Assuring a safe start:

–
–
–
Check yourself. How is your attitude? Are you
rested? Feeling well? Are any phones in the
car put away?
Fasten your seatbelt.
Look around, check traffic, and focus on the
roadway.
Summary


All drivers on the road need to work together
to maximize safe conditions
Speeding, driving under the influence of
drugs or alcohol, drowsiness, driving while
talking on the phone, and driving while
texting are major contributors to traffic
accidents and fatalities.
Summary

We can all work together to make the
roads safer.
Reflection


Truck drivers and other drivers look out for you,
how can you look out for them?
When you or someone in your family drives a
car, what can you do to avoid becoming a
potentially dangerous factor for other drivers?