CEI is reaching out to its more than 100,000 DriverCare™ fleet customer drivers with a high-impact video warning about the dangers distracted driving. It is featured in this week’s Fleet Management Weekly.
The video is the latest addition to the library of driving safety lessons and videos available through its DriverCare fleet safety and risk management service. It was released in recognition of the naming of April as “Distracted Driving Awareness Month” by the National Safety Council.
The highlight of the 5-minute video, “Distracted Driving: An Accident Waiting to Happen,” is the tragic story of Casey Feldman, 21-year college senior who was killed by a distracted driver while walking across an intersection to her summer job in Ocean City, N.J. in 2009. The production incorporates a video from Distraction.gov featuring interviews with Ms. Feldman’s mother and friends, several of whom admit to having driven while distracted themselves. “What will it take to change the way we drive?” Casey’s mournful mother asks in the video.
CEI’s new video opens with an appeal to avoid distracted driving from Brian Kinniry, CEI’s senior manager of risk and safety services. Among the facts he cites:
• Some 500,000 Americans are injured or killed every year in accidents caused by distracted driving.
• In addition to texting and talking on a cell phone while behind the wheel, distractions include such seemingly innocuous actions as eating and drinking, adjusting a vehicle’s sound, heating or cooling system controls, grooming, reading a map and focusing on a satellite navigation system.
The video was produced by CEI Studios, a new unit at the company’s headquarters in Trevose, PA, created to provide customized video content for its customers. “Having this new video production capability is making a real difference for our customers,” Mr. Kinniry said. “There’s no doubt that driver compliance increases when you provide customized content that speaks directly to them in their workplace.”
