Townsend’s Safety Driving Initiative

Campaigns around driving safety have been ongoing for years. Some related to drinking, others to the use of cell phones, but no matter the number of campaigns that are out there trying to create awareness around the issue, distracted driving continues to be a problem.

 What does this have to do with what we do at Townsend Corporation, you must be thinking. Earlier this year, Townsend Corporation updated its Safe Driving Policy. We had one goal in mind: encouraging zero accidents while on the road. We did this because we are aware that companies with large fleets like ours are particularly vulnerable to distracted driving given the number of fleet vehicles, their size, and their regular use on the job.

Safety is our primary company value; we owe it to our employees and to our employees’ families to foster an environment where everyone goes home safely every day. Never with the intention of judging or reprimanding our employees, our main focus has always been making everyone aware of their own driving habits, so they can be safer for themselves, their families and the general public.

Distracted Driving: An Issue on The Rise

 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 9 people are killed each day in the United States and more than 1,000 are injured in crashes that involve a distracted driver.  

When talking about distracted driving, these are divided into 3 categories: visual, manual and cognitive. And what’s the common denominator between all of them? The use of cell phones for texting or scrolling social media feeds. These statistics prove that a lot of work still needs to be done and we wanted to make sure we were doing our part as a corporation that takes safety seriously.

Safety Driving: The Townsend Approach

The word policy tends to come with a negative connotation. When implementing a new policy, awareness and education are of the essence. Both are key to help employees understand the reasoning behind the policy and how it impacts their day-to-day.

From a tactical approach, we invested in technology that could help us monitor driving behavior. We had previously installed GPS in all vehicles and are now adding camera systems on all fleet vehicles. These technologies are valuable in identifying when driving behaviors need to be addressed. This is still a work in progress, as we haven’t completed all the installations, but what we’ve done so far has shown us how employees adapt to this new reality. Also, during the last months, we have been able to recognize and celebrate positive driving behaviors, one of our major goals with this policy. We not only want to track what needs improvement but also encourage the positive.

Outlining from the beginning what we consider safe and what we expect from our drivers has been important to set expectations. This policy does not only apply to the driver, but the passenger plays a big role as well. Passengers are encouraged to limit conversations, be an observer for the driver, and tell them when they are being unsafe.

Driving Tips to Keep in Mind

This platform provides me an opportunity to share some driving tips. Safe driving applies to everybody and we all have to do our part.

●      Always use Hands-Free Phone Use: Hands-free technology is awesome, but you’re still on the phone… and distracted. If the conversation is going to take long and is an important one, hold it off until you are no longer behind the wheel.

●      Stop and Pull-Over: If the conversation can’t wait until you are no longer driving, the safe thing to do is to pull off the road and park to continue the call. This allows you to focus on the conversation without putting yourself or others at risk.

●      Drive EXTRA Defensively: You can be a victim of distracted driving even when you are driving safely. Be on the alert for what others may do or not do when they are distracted. The need for defensive driving is greater than ever.

Are you implementing any safety policies for employees? I’d love to hear more about them!

For more safety driving tips, don’t forget to follow Townsend’s social media pages!