As long as a human is sitting behind the wheel, opportunities for mishaps will crop up. Throughout any distance of a journey, a driver may confront several risks in any scenario. That’s where the crucial idea of driver safety comes in.
Utility hauling should place even greater attention on this. Utility haulers are often traveling long distances with heavy loads, compounding the risk. Add in the potential for a driver to not take mandated breaks or push it too far and you have a recipe for disaster.
Driving is not often given the appropriate weight of responsibility. Drivers must make critical, fast-paced decisions. Due to this, safe driving often means having to avoid unsafe drivers. Truck drivers are only half of the equation on the road, the other cars and trucks are there as well.
While it isn’t possible to control the actions of other drivers, there are steps drivers can take to mitigate risk on their own. Let's dive more deeply into truck driver safety and what it means for utility hauling before hitting the road.
What Driver Safety Means
Driver safety goes far beyond the certification requirements of drivers. True driver safety encompasses speed limits, weather conditions, other drivers, and the many other factors that make driving dangerous.
For utility hauling, driving can be even more dangerous, further emphasizing the need for safety. Distracted driving, monitoring blind spots, and using a cell phone can have deadly consequences. Operating a large truck requiring wide turns and added stopping distances presents even more safety challenges.
If you’re hiring a truck driver, they will all at least meet Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. This set of requirements represents the minimum needed to safely operate on the highway. While it’s an important backbone of the industry, it leaves a lot of room for error.
Why it is Important?
In general, driver safety is important because driving is a series of high-speed decisions. Driving down the highway and spotting something on the side of the road may leave you only seconds to decide if it’s in your lane.
Telling when a situation calls for a response is difficult as well. A driver turning on their blinker while you’re in their blind spot may mean you have to react or it might just be preliminary.
These decisions are everywhere on the road and the wrong choice on one of them can lead to grave outcomes. While this is true for all drivers, utility haulers have extra concerns to factor in.
Depending on the specific need, this may involve heavy or oversized cargo. Observing the regulations of the Safety Administration from above will only go so far in ensuring a safe journey. The driver must also take safety steps on their own.
How Driver Safety Helps
Observing the appropriate driving tips can help to ensure a safe and uneventful trip. The two main things that driver safety practices aim to accomplish are:
Prevent Injuries and Death
Even though fewer people drove in 2020 because of the pandemic, it was the highest year on record for fatalities. Every year, between 20 and 50m people worldwide suffer non-fatal injuries. Safe driving helps to curb this.
Following the standards of safety inherently means less room for dangerous driving. This might include rest requirements to prevent fatigue, not driving over the number of hours allowed, and more. When drivers don’t take the responsibility of their driving into their own hands, the roads are much more dangerous.
Prevent Accidents
Any number of safety protocols could make a case for preventing accidents. Distracted drivers are more likely to take their eyes off the road and end up in fatal crashes. Following key safety strategies outlined by the department of transportation for commercial motor vehicles can help prevent crashes involving truck drivers.
Here are some ways driver safety helps prevent motor vehicle crashes and other accidents:
The maintenance and upkeep of your truck mean a lower chance for engine or part failure while driving.
Taking mandated brakes and driving for appropriate amounts of time lead to a lower chance of falling asleep at the wheel.
Keeping the appropriate stopping distance from the car in front of you leads to fewer rear-end collisions.
Preventing accidents also goes a long way in ensuring that the products reach the utility worker as needed. When hauling utilities, a delay or issue in delivery can be catastrophic to the course of construction.
Finding Safe Truck Drivers
There is no shortage of truck drivers to sort through before you find the one that’s right for you. To answer this problem, many companies that are “trucking companies” act more as a dispatcher. After receiving your call, they will pair you with a truck driver or company to meet your needs.
The problem with this is that there is no way to tell what type of driver you will get. Even if you manage to have a decent conversation with them, too many variables are at play. For this reason, many choose to go with asset-based trucking companies like Blackwood Resources.
These are the companies that own their own equipment and hire their own employees. This typically makes them a better option for more sensitive payloads like utility hauling.
The Standards of Blackwood Resources
Save yourself the hassle of vetting numerous companies by starting your search at Blackwood Resources. Our asset-based trucking company upholds the highest standards of training and safety to make sure your utilities get to their destination on time. We adhere to all of the key distracted driving laws and focus on safety culture.
Our certified women-owned business has been building a track record of success since our inception in 2017. The commitment of our company has always been to maintaining exceptional equipment and staff. Investing heavily in the drivers that we bring on the team is what sets us apart from the rest.
Success for us begins with treating our employees like family. A team member that is well taken care of will always be a safer driver and have better customer service. One of our proudest accomplishments is the 98% driver retention rate that we have. This means you can count on us for safe highway practices.
In addition to the trucking services we offer, we also do self-unloading. This means that you don’t have to worry about hiring additional help on the day of arrival.
Contact us online or call us today at (812)676-8770 to start the conversation on your utility hauling needs. Our dedication to a problem-solving attitude means we can accomplish your hauling needs!