Enhancing Trucker Safety and Health: Key Considerations

Truck Drivers’ Winter Driving Safety

When the cold weather arrives, your trucking company may need to take extra precautions to ensure winter truck driving safety, assist drivers in avoiding accidents, safeguard the company truck fleet, and keep company drivers and others on the road safe. Even if your company already provides rigorous driver training and protects itself with a comprehensive Truck insurance policy, it’s critical to take extra precautions when winter weather poses a risk. Fortunately, using defensive wintertime techniques, avoiding potential legal ramifications, and keeping your drivers safer than you think may be easier than you think. Here are six important winter driving safety tips that your trucking company can put into action right away.

Drivers should be reminded to use key defensive driving strategies at all times

When the weather turns cold, snowy, and icy while your company’s drivers are on the road, defensive driving becomes more critical than ever. If your drivers haven’t had a refresher on safe driving techniques in a while, you may need to remind them to:

Allow enough of room between their truck and the car in front of them, and don’t merge in front of huge, heavy vehicles.
Before changing lanes, check their blind spots and keep below the truck speed limit.
Use your turn signals and headlights at all times.
They must keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the steering wheel at all times.
If the weather conditions are too risky, use runaway ramps, slow down, and pull over.
When they’re in the vehicle, they should always wear a seatbelt.

Drunk or otherwise impaired driving should be treated as a zero-tolerance policy

Impaired driving is dangerous at any time of year, but the risks are amplified when it occurs during bad winter weather. That’s why you should always have a zero-tolerance policy for drivers who are inebriated or otherwise impaired. This means that if one of your drivers is caught driving while inebriated, his or her job will be instantly terminated. The following are examples of possible termination offenses:

In some cases, driving while sleep-deprived is permissible.
Driving when inebriated is illegal.
Driving when inebriated is illegal.
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs

Maintain a clean fleet of vehicles and eliminate seasonal driving hazards

Sleet, snow, frost, and other winter driving hazards can all accumulate on vehicles, obstruct sight, and put your drivers and others on the road at risk. It’s critical to keep your vehicle fleet clean over the winter and endeavor to eliminate as many hazards as possible. Your chauffeurs should:

Always keep vital safety items in the vehicle, such as jumper cables and ice scrapers.
To avoid damage and deterioration caused by dirt, salt, and other elements, wash the truck frequently.
Check that the defoggers and central heaters are in functioning order.
To create a safer and more comfortable driving environment, vacuum the interior, disinfect and dust all surfaces, shake out the rugs, add air fresheners, and remove out unneeded clutter.
Remove snow off the truck and remove ice from the windshield using a shovel.

Provide drivers with winter training to help them avoid blind spots and other hazards

Providing additional wintertime training to all drivers is one potentially effective method your firm might help enhance safety standards company-wide. This training can assist your drivers in avoiding blind spots and other potential traffic hazards. It’s possible that your organization will desire to:

Encourage drivers to obtain or refresh their certificates so that they are aware of the most common road hazards.
Give drivers advice on how to avoid collisions caused by common causes like blind spots, excessive speed, and driver weariness or inattention.
Ensure that all staff receive further training.
Provide optional training programs with incentives or winter bonuses for those who participate.

All company vehicles should be equipped to handle long-distance driving in the winter

It’s also critical to equip all corporate vehicles to perform long-distance journeys in the winter, in addition to providing vital wintertime skills and information to company truck drivers. Your supervisors should do the following to help you achieve this goal:

Ensure that the radiator and cooling system are in good working order.
Make that the brakes are in good operating order.
Examine the battery thoroughly.
Ensure that all fluids are fully refilled.
Check to see whether the oil and/or antifreeze need to be replaced.
Keep a spare set of tires, including winter tires, in the car.
Make sure the wipers are working.

Encourage your drivers to practice self-care and healthy habits on a daily basis

Finally, your organization should urge all truck drivers to adopt healthy habits and take care of themselves on a regular basis. A weary, dehydrated, hungry, or distracted driver, especially during the winter, can be a severe hazard on the road, therefore be sure your drivers are:

Sleeping for eight hours or more every night
To avoid tiredness, take frequent pauses while driving.
Staying away from their phones and other sources of distraction
To keep bright and attentive on the road, eat healthy snacks throughout the journey.
Water and other liquids, such as tea or coffee, should be consumed in sufficient amounts.
Knowing how to spot indicators of tiredness or highway hypnosis and when to pull over to the side of the road is essential.

These six vital suggestions will help your trucking firm get on the right track if it’s seeking for simple ways to incorporate cold weather safety practices. Supplementing your company Truck insurance coverage with crucial safety measures can prove invaluable, whether your goal is to decrease legal obligations, avoid potential accidents, or limit other typical seasonal concerns. You can distribute this list to your truck drivers and begin adopting some of these suggestions to assist improve winter driving safety at your company.

Royalty Truck Insurance Services is a company that specializes in truck insurance

Royalty Truck Insurance Services was founded in 1999 and specializes in commercial truck insurance. We have grown into a well-known and well-managed truck and transportation insurance brokerage. Our goal to give unsurpassed service is a defining feature of our company. We go above and beyond what you would expect from an insurance brokerage. Royalty Truck Insurance can provide you with lightning quick truck policy estimates, customer service, insurance certificates, and coverage adjustments thanks to state-of-the-art technology. For additional information, call 866-989-8998 today!