By Art Liggio, Chairman, Driving Dynamics
July 25, 2022
From a safety perspective, the goal of seeking “Understanding” is to transform a driver from an “Unconscious Incompetent” to a “Conscious Competent.” I’ll get to this in a minute but first, we all know that our national crash statistics, including fatalities, are rapidly getting worse. So, what’s going on?
Depending on who you talk to or the research you examine, you quickly come up with a multitude of answers identifying the issues that are contributing to this dilemma. Fleet and safety professionals have been actively pursuing and implementing fixes, but it always seems, especially in recent years, that it’s difficult to push through and obtain tangible, lasting results.
If you look at most of the initiatives to lower crash rates, there is a fundamental component to these solutions that is missing. For drivers to achieve better performance behind-the-wheel, they first need to experience— and actually be confronted with, and objectively understand their driving deficiencies. Most drivers today, even with the prolific use of telematics, access to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and more, remain Unconscious Incompetents.
Here’s the important premise to all of this. The only way to get good at something is to understand how bad you really are. How does a driver actually come to grips with his or her true level of under-performance? Well one way, not advisable, is to experience a crash. Even with this experience, most drivers tend to blame the “other guy.” Nothing learned.
There is a better solution. Experts in the field of instructional design have determined that the most effective and efficient learning process to achieve tangible results in the area of understanding, is to first, experientially move a person from an Unconscious Incompetent up to a Conscious Incompetent.
To help drivers get good by seeing their deficiencies, training professionals employ “learning moments” that are performed in a safe, controlled environment Here drivers experience conditions and situations that lead to light-bulb moments. Through the objective review and discussion with a training professional, drivers realize and come to grip that there are better ways to safely operate a vehicle.
This self-realization creates the emotional and logical capacity of the individual to change habits and upgrade skills to be safer. With proper, continued guidance, the driver is receptive to becoming a Conscious Competent. Achieving this level of self-realization ensures safety performance remains a high priority. Receptivity to other safety initiatives provided by fleet operators, such as telematics, etc. are embraced and used to enhance long-term, personal safety goals.
Gaining understanding also applies to those in charge. A properly structured advanced, safety performance behind-the-wheel course employs the process described to take drivers through a journey to become Conscious Competents. Credentialled, experienced safety instructors; high instructor to student ratio; safe, controlled driving environment; instructionally designed curriculum that includes key learning opportunities along with advanced vehicle control techniques and behavioral challenges with hours of practice —all of these are earmarks of a properly designed driver safety program which produces a fleet of well-trained, competent drivers. How well does your current program stack up to these standards? If your crash rates are telling you that you have too many Unconscious Incompetents in your driving team, it may be time for an upgrade of your services.
