When you own a business with a fleet of vehicles and drivers, you need to ensure that everyone is safe. Otherwise, your business will not be able to be perform the way that it should. However, safety is not just for the success of your business, it can also help with your fuel consumption, so you can keep your costs down.
Here are some tips for focusing on fleet safety.
Make sure that your drivers know how important safety is to you
Your drivers need to understand that you won't tolerate bad driving. Not only is it unsafe for them, it could harm the vehicle and drive up your costs.
Accidents are going to happen when you have a lot of vehicles and drivers on the road, however, by driving safe, they are less likely to be involved in one. They can't change how others drive, but they can get away from unsafe drivers so that they can get where they need to safely.
Monitor those who are using too much fuel
If you notice that one or two of your drivers are using a lot more fuel than the rest, it may be sign that they are not driving as safe as they should be. Aggressive driving (hard breaking and fast acceleration) will decrease your fuel efficiency. You should talk to those drivers and work with them so that they are safer drivers.
Have a safe driving course
It may be helpful to have a safe drivers course that any driver must take before they get behind the wheel of company vehicles. If needed, any driver that is using too much fuel (and may be driving unsafe) can retake the course at any time.
You may also decide to have all of your drivers re-take the course if they have been with you for a few years. There is no harm in refreshing their memories!
Reward safe drivers
Many business owners find ways to reward their drivers. They may give out gift cards for drivers who haven't been in an accident in a certain amount of time. For those who change their ways and decrease their fuel consumption, you may reward them in other ways.
These rewards are little ways to show your drivers how important safety is to you. They can also push your drivers to do better for you.
Maintain your vehicles
Not only will this help with fuel efficiency, it will keep your drivers safe, allowing them to do their jobs. Monitoring tires, changing oil and air filters, maintaining windshield wipers and fluids, and other maintenance will also show your drivers how important safety is to you.
Before safety can be important to anyone else, it has to be important to you. You need to focus on safety so that your drivers stay safe and are able to do your job. An added bonus is that you could save some money in fuel!
To do this, you need to make sure that your drivers know and understand how important safety is. By having a safe drivers course, they will realize that you are serious. If you are worried about someone's fuel consumption, you should pull them out of the vehicle and make sure that they are driving correctly. They could be driving aggressively and unsafe.
By taking unsafe drivers out of the truck, you are reiterating how important safety is to you. You can also do that by making sure that every vehicle is safe to drive.
Contact us to help you manage your fleet. We would be happy to discuss your fleet analysis to ensure that your fleet is as safe and effective as possible.
