Automobile Deaths, Injuries Are Rising Rapidly: A Changed Direction in Infrastructure Bill Offers Hope
May 7, 2022 - While the Infrastructure Act was primarily intended to deliver big money to the states for the improvement or repair of crumbling roads, bridges, pipelines, internet broadband access and power grids, it also contains little-noticed sections designed to implement a reduction in the rising toll of automobile crashes, deaths and injuries.
The infrastructure bill includes such safety issues as improved headlights, updated back-seat safety standards, new front seatback standards, incorporation of crash avoidance technology in all new cars, and new federal hood and bumper standards.
While the vehicle safety provisions may appear to be a modest part of the new law, we should celebrate that the often deadlocked Congress passed legislation that can have a major impact in reversing the shocking increase in vehicle crashes and in the lives lost or forever changed on our nation’s roads.
Effective Communication for a Safer Workforce
By Ed Dubens, CEO/Founder of eDriving, a Solera company
“The effectiveness of communication is not defined by the communication, but by the response,” is a quote attributed to Milton Erickson, a late American psychiatrist and psychologist.
Why is this relevant? Because it perfectly describes what happens if fleet operators don’t communicate effectively, they don’t get the response or results they want.
Effective communication is one of the key elements of a successful driver safety program. But what constitutes effective communication?
Jeep Owner Drops Off Car for Oil Change, Ends Up Fighting $15M Lawsuit
May 6, 2022 - The owner of a stick-shift Jeep handed the keys over to a Jeep dealership for a routine oil change. A teenage dealer employee who reportedly wasn't licensed to drive and didn't know how to operate a stick-shift attempted to move the owner's Jeep, when it lurched forward with enough force to kill a nearby service technician.
Because of the way the law works with regard to the legal principle known as vicarious liability, the family of the service tech isn't suing the dealership—they're suing the owner of the Jeep. Anything a driver does with an owner's vehicle, it's still the owner's responsibility.
IIHS Eyes Higher-Speed Test for Automatic Emergency Braking
May 5, 2022 - Now that nearly every new vehicle comes with automatic emergency braking (AEB), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is looking for ways to encourage even better systems that can prevent more severe front-to-rear crashes that occur at higher speeds.
In the new study, IIHS Senior Research Scientist David Kidd found that only 3 percent of police-reported rear-end crashes happen at low speed limits. Increasing the speed of the IIHS test to 35-45 mph would make it relevant to more than 10 times as many police-reported rear-end crashes.
Based on Kidd’s findings, IIHS plans to conduct research tests on six vehicles equipped with different front crash prevention systems at speeds up to 45 mph. Tests will also be conducted using different types of passenger vehicles and other vehicles like a motorcycle and various sizes of trucks as the stationary vehicle.
Fleet Management Could Change More in the Next 10 Years Than It Has in the Past Century
Industry expert Paul Lauria shared his take on a rapidly changing fleet industry recently at The Fleet Success Summit in Phoenix.
