Texting and driving, a form of distracted driving remains a risky behavior that endangers the lives of employees and other road users, ruins organizational reputation, and disrupts business operations. The vice has brought about serious repercussions, with 3,522 distracted-driving-related deaths occurring in 2021 alone, per The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports.
As it stands, the transportation sector bears the greatest impact of distracted driving, making it important for business owners and fleet managers to manage the growing fleet safety risks.
What is Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving is operating a motor vehicle while engaged in activities that divert your focus from the road.
While most people define distracted driving as texting behind the wheel or other forms of cell phone usage, it goes beyond such behaviors. Here are the main classifications of distracted driving:
- Visual distractions: These are activities that divert a driver's gaze from the road. Examples include sightseeing, looking at a navigation app, or admiring other cars.
- Manual distractions: These are actions that make drivers take their hands off the steering wheel, such as eating or answering a phone call.
- Cognitive distractions: Examples include singing, daydreaming, or talking.
Impacts of Distracted Driving
Distracted driving is associated with physical, legal, financial, and reputational consequences, as explained below:
- Physical impacts: One of the most severe consequences of distracted driving are road traffic accidents. Using mobile gadgets while behind the wheel is particularly dangerous, making it important for business owners and fleet managers to crack down on such behaviors.
- Legal impacts: Drivers who allow themselves to be distracted while driving also expose themselves to substantial fines and driver's license points. Such penalties can be avoided by reinforcing distracted driving policies and undertaking preventative measures.
- Financial impacts: Aside from costs associated with damages and repairs, insurance providers may impose more premiums on vehicle owners when they perceive their vehicles to pose notable risks to others.
- Reputational impacts: Once your motor vehicles become entangled in more than one road traffic accident, your organizational reputation will be affected, eventually harming your bottom line.
The Effects of Distracted Driving on Fleet Management
Although the current digital revolution has increased the affordability and availability of mobile phones in the market, the use of these devices while driving can lead to substantial financial losses and harm a fleet company's operations. It is also challenging to manage multiple drivers simultaneously since distracted driving is a deeply ingrained character that demands continuous supervision and attention.
Fleet management companies can prevent distracted driving by leveraging advanced technological solutions such as video telematics and fleet management software. Integrated video telematics systems combine internal vehicle and video data to offer a holistic view of all driver activities within and around a fleet vehicle. This ensures better productivity, lower supervision costs, improved driver safety, and on-time deliveries.
Fleet management software allows fleet managers to supervise your vehicles from a unified dashboard. This dashboard makes it easier to access real-time insights regarding your vehicles' locations, driver behavior, and operational statuses.
Improve Fleet Safety with Wilmar's Advanced Fleet Management Solutions
If you wish to enhance the security of your fleet, consider working with Wilmar. We provide top-of-the-range video telematics and fleet management software capabilities for clients from diverse industries, including pest control companies, plumbers, electricians and many more.
We are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and are the leading independent fleet leasing and management firm in the Southeast. Wilmar has always and will continue to prioritize the provision of tailor-made fleet solutions that match each client's unique requirements.
