Take it to the Street

By Beth A. Block

Many new cars and trucks these days come standard with all sorts of safety features. Cameras and sensors cover all 360 degrees around a vehicle. In theory, the driver of one of these “smart cars” should be aware of not just the road immediately ahead of them, but also what is behind them, what’s in their blind spots, and any potential hazards.

With all this technology designed to protect us, why are roadside fatalities still not declining? The problem is the human element.

I bet we’ve all seen the following while driving:

• A semi truck drifting out of its lane on the highway
• Drivers looking at their cellphones instead of the road
• Drivers yelling into their phones
• Drivers ducking below the window and fishing around on the floorboard (presumably to find a dropped cellphone)

In January of this year, I was on my way to catch a red-eye flight when I saw a truck weaving across four lanes. The truck didn’t just swerve once and correct its course. It veered from the far-left lane to the far-right lane four times in a three-mile stretch. As it made its back-and-forth trip across the lanes, it also came dangerously close to tipping over.

I was concerned for my life, so I dropped back far enough to have plenty of time to stop in case it did crash. This story isn’t unique — I’m sure you all can share similar anecdotes. Distraction, aggression and rage are driving behaviors you see every day.

More of us have a longer work commute than in days past. This means that we’re spending more and more time on the road. The number of unsafe and distracted drivers is outpacing what technological safety advancements can keep up with.

The National Safety Council polled drivers across the country. The findings are not surprising, but they are scary: 47 percent of drivers said they were comfortable texting while driving, 10 percent of drivers said they had driven while drunk and 25 percent of drivers said they were comfortable speeding on residential roads.

This norm has a price — in lives and dollars. There’s no price that can be put on a human life, but the monetary cost is telling enough. Auto crashes cost Americans $432.5 billion in 2016. That is roughly half the cost of Social Security benefits annually.

You and I end up paying for that. It’s pushing up rates on our personal auto insurance and commercial auto insurance. It’s hitting us in the wallet, whether or not we’re directly responsible.

As I researched these statistics, I asked myself a serious question: “Do I have any of these driving behaviors?” I can tell you that even with my risk awareness, I’m not perfect. I have room for improvement.

I also think about my employees’ driving behaviors. As a business owner, I’m responsible for my employees’ driving when they’re working. What can I do to make sure they are paying attention when they drive?

I have added sensors to my commercial vehicles. These sensors collect data about the time of day my vehicles are on the road, as well as acceleration and braking behavior. All this data helps me figure out which drivers need more training. I can also figure out which employees shouldn’t be driving for me.

You can use those sensors in your personal car, too. Many auto insurance companies change your premiums monthly based on your driving habits. The better you drive, the less you pay.

Why does all this matter to you? Two reasons:

First, you’re out on the roads with all those people: truckers who have been at the wheel for too long with too little sleep, people who are paying attention to their phones and not the road, people who are comfortable tearing through a residential area at 60 miles per hour, and people who suffer from chronic road rage. These drivers are killing people every day.

Second, insurance companies are trying to keep up with paying for all those claims. The only way they can do that is to raise everyone’s insurance rates — including yours. These rates are rising faster than they have for a decade.

Protecting your life and your wallet means you’ve got to push back. Change your own habits. You won’t be perfect. But you will make a difference.

Beth A. Block can be reached at (800) 225-0863 or [email protected].