Jared Pridmore and his wife, Amanda are the proud owners of Precision Auto Glass in Conway, Arkansas. Their Safe Fleet story begins when they bought a new van for their growing company.
Amanda, always vigilant about safety, researched the importance of having a partition behind the van’s seats. Jared, after 20 years of driving a van without a partition, felt he didn’t need one. “We are going to order this partition, install it, and THEN you can drive the van,” Amanda declared.
“Of course, I listened to her. We ordered it and waited,” Jared conceded. Until the partition arrived, the van sat unused, a life-saving decision.
Just a few weeks after installing the Heavy-Duty Steel Partition from American Van, a Safe Fleet brand, Jared’s investment and his wife’s intuition would be put to the test.
Jared and a co-worker were inside his van idling in a road construction zone when a drunk driver crashed into the back of their vehicle at a speed between 80 to 90 miles per hour. The impact caused six Auto Glass windshields and all the van’s contents to propel toward the front of the van, where Jared and the co-worker were sitting. The partition absorbed the impact, shielding Jared and his co-worker from the glass and tools contained in the back of the van.
Reflecting on the incident, Jared said, “If we had not had that partition, there’s no telling what would’ve happened. The glass would have definitely been in the front with us. One hundred percent.”
Auto glass, designed with lamination for extra durability and safety, is meant to prevent shattering and reduce the risk of injury during collisions when properly installed on vehicles. As cargo, however, the story plays a bit differently. “Auto Glass will cut you up,” Jared explains and, reflecting on Amanda’s insistence on waiting for the partition to drive the van, he added: “It was a blessing Amanda said, ‘I don’t feel comfortable with this’.”
“If we would not have had that [the American Van partition], we probably would not be here today,” Jared emphasized.
The near-death experience left an indelible mark on Jared’s perspective. He vowed, “I’ll never own another van without a partition.” He now urges everyone, regardless of their business, to have a partition between them and what’s behind them. The American Van partition’s effectiveness in such an event reinforced its significance as a fleet safety tool.
Jared concludes, “I understand why Safe Fleet is the trusted fleet safety expert.”
To watch and hear Jared & Amanda’s story in their own words, click here.
