Opinion: 4-Wheel Drivers Also Need Safety Training
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By Jeff KapsVice PresidentNational Distributors Inc.As I review crash-related death and injury reports year after year, I am astounded by the tolerance of the American people for the mayhem on our highways. In 2005, an average of some 119 people died each day in motor vehicle crashes — one every 12 minutes — for a total of 43,443 people. From 1995 through 2005, 465,422 people died in motor vehicle crashes and 34,248,000 people were injured.
Think about it. If we were killing 40,000-plus people in airplane crashes each year, nobody would be flying. We would have grounded all aircraft until safety could be restored. The same would happen in any other situation I can think of, except, of course, our right to kill and maim each other on our nation’s highways.Statistics show us that the vast majority of crashes involving private vehicles and commercial vehicles are the fault of the person driving the private vehicle. Why is that? Why would a professional driver have fewer “at-fault” crashes than an individual driving a private vehicle? After all, professional drivers cover more miles, frequently drive in unfamiliar surroundings and often drive larger and heavier vehicles. Why don’t the professionals have more “at-fault” crashes than the drivers piloting private vehicles?I think the issue is training. A professional driver is constantly and rigorously trained to be safe. He or she is required to obtain a commercial driver license and testing also is a requirement of the state the driver is licensed through. It’s a fact that commercial drivers have ongoing training and education to help them operate in a safe and professional manner. Much of this training is provided by the company the driver works for. In fact, most companies spend a tremendous amount of time and money in the safety training of their professional drivers.The point is that all this training does make for a safer driver. I don’t think we’ll ever find anyone who says safety training is a bad thing. But if we all agree that safety training is a good thing for our professional drivers, what would be wrong with requiring safety training for the general driving public? Granted, most people have to take some form of training to obtain their first driver’s license. But from that point forward, usually no additional training is required. I’m 44 years old and haven’t been required by the state of Indiana to have any additional training for my operator’s license since I was 16.Here’s the scoop: If we want to save lives on our nation’s highways, we need to get serious about training. Everyone who operates a vehicle in our country should be required to take an eight-hour safety course every year. There are a lot of excellent programs already in existence, administered by third-party providers. The National Safety Council’s Defensive Driving Course and the Smith System are two excellent driver safety and improvement programs already widely used in professional circles; they could easily be expanded for the general population.This annual training would help keep safety in the minds of all drivers who operate on our roadways. These courses also teach advanced techniques of motor vehicle operation many people may never have been exposed to before. These techniques, which would help people to operate in a safe and defensive manner, would save a lot of lives. I have not yet mentioned the second part of this equation — law enforcement. Serious violators must be dealt with swiftly and severely. If someone poses an imminent threat to the safety of others, he or she should not be licensed to operate a motor vehicle. People who operate vehicles under the influence of drugs or alcohol must suffer severe penalties for doing so. These penalties must include jail time for repeat offenders. It is imperative to keep these people out of motor vehicles. The same goes for repeat offenders for other serious driving offenses, such as speed contests and other types of reckless driving.The bottom line is simple: Let’s train people to be safe. People who refuse to drive safely, intentionally endangering others, must have their driving privileges revoked. Proper training and enforcement are the keys to saving lives. You can bet your life on it.I challenge each of you reading this to start talking to your lawmakers about this. They already know this is the right thing to do; getting them to act on it will be the tough part. We have created a culture in which death by auto is somehow acceptable. We must change that culture to one in which serious automobile crashes are less frequent and less severe. The life you save may be your own.National Distributors Inc. is a carrier and logistics firm with headquarters in Sellersburg, Ind.This opinion piece appears in the Jan. 15 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
By Jeff KapsVice PresidentNational Distributors Inc.As I review crash-related death and injury reports year after year, I am astounded by the tolerance of the American people for the mayhem on our highways. In 2005, an average of some 119 people died each day in motor vehicle crashes — one every 12 minutes — for a total of 43,443 people. From 1995 through 2005, 465,422 people died in motor vehicle crashes and 34,248,000 people were injured.
Think about it. If we were killing 40,000-plus people in airplane crashes each year, nobody would be flying. We would have grounded all aircraft until safety could be restored. The same would happen in any other situation I can think of, except, of course, our right to kill and maim each other on our nation’s highways.Statistics show us that the vast majority of crashes involving private vehicles and commercial vehicles are the fault of the person driving the private vehicle. Why is that? Why would a professional driver have fewer “at-fault” crashes than an individual driving a private vehicle? After all, professional drivers cover more miles, frequently drive in unfamiliar surroundings and often drive larger and heavier vehicles. Why don’t the professionals have more “at-fault” crashes than the drivers piloting private vehicles?I think the issue is training. A professional driver is constantly and rigorously trained to be safe. He or she is required to obtain a commercial driver license and testing also is a requirement of the state the driver is licensed through. It’s a fact that commercial drivers have ongoing training and education to help them operate in a safe and professional manner. Much of this training is provided by the company the driver works for. In fact, most companies spend a tremendous amount of time and money in the safety training of their professional drivers.The point is that all this training does make for a safer driver. I don’t think we’ll ever find anyone who says safety training is a bad thing. But if we all agree that safety training is a good thing for our professional drivers, what would be wrong with requiring safety training for the general driving public? Granted, most people have to take some form of training to obtain their first driver’s license. But from that point forward, usually no additional training is required. I’m 44 years old and haven’t been required by the state of Indiana to have any additional training for my operator’s license since I was 16.Here’s the scoop: If we want to save lives on our nation’s highways, we need to get serious about training. Everyone who operates a vehicle in our country should be required to take an eight-hour safety course every year. There are a lot of excellent programs already in existence, administered by third-party providers. The National Safety Council’s Defensive Driving Course and the Smith System are two excellent driver safety and improvement programs already widely used in professional circles; they could easily be expanded for the general population.This annual training would help keep safety in the minds of all drivers who operate on our roadways. These courses also teach advanced techniques of motor vehicle operation many people may never have been exposed to before. These techniques, which would help people to operate in a safe and defensive manner, would save a lot of lives. I have not yet mentioned the second part of this equation — law enforcement. Serious violators must be dealt with swiftly and severely. If someone poses an imminent threat to the safety of others, he or she should not be licensed to operate a motor vehicle. People who operate vehicles under the influence of drugs or alcohol must suffer severe penalties for doing so. These penalties must include jail time for repeat offenders. It is imperative to keep these people out of motor vehicles. The same goes for repeat offenders for other serious driving offenses, such as speed contests and other types of reckless driving.The bottom line is simple: Let’s train people to be safe. People who refuse to drive safely, intentionally endangering others, must have their driving privileges revoked. Proper training and enforcement are the keys to saving lives. You can bet your life on it.I challenge each of you reading this to start talking to your lawmakers about this. They already know this is the right thing to do; getting them to act on it will be the tough part. We have created a culture in which death by auto is somehow acceptable. We must change that culture to one in which serious automobile crashes are less frequent and less severe. The life you save may be your own.National Distributors Inc. is a carrier and logistics firm with headquarters in Sellersburg, Ind.This opinion piece appears in the Jan. 15 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
