Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/303000
COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | MAY 2014 53 W hile the pay and prestige for truck drivers and professional athletes may be worlds apart, both professions share some things in common. Bad performance and split-second decisions can cost thousands, even millions, in damages in the form of lost revenue, accidents and injuries. Like athletes, drivers need the right blend of knowledge, skills and awareness to perform at a high level day in and day out. Athletes have more time and resources to analyze film, practice and prepare, but for a trucker, every day is game day. Advancements in technology now make it possible to build and sustain driver training and awareness. When behind the wheel, drivers can receive instant alerts for risks in their environment. Safety systems also can take control of braking and throttle systems to prevent crashes or at least mitigate their severity. A growing number of fleets also use video-based event recorders and risk management systems for a more holistic view of driver performance, improving their ability to coach and train drivers and achieve better results. Some technology, especially video-based recorders or "dashcams," can be difficult to sell to independent-minded drivers. It may take time, fleets say, to counter driver percep- tion of a loss of privacy with tangible benefits. One strategy to speed acceptance is to take advantage of another trait drivers share with athletes: the will to win and do their best. MERITOR WABCO Meritor Wabco offers several types of integrated vehicle and driver safety products. Over time, the company's anti-lock braking system has been installed on nearly 8 million trac- tors and trailers. Its Roll Stability Control system has been installed in 250,000 vehicles since 2004, and today about 50 percent of vehicles on the road have it. In 2008, the company released a new collision mitigation We went from nonacceptance to 360-degree acceptance. – Tom Halpin, transportation safety manager, Buzzuto's CAN TECHNOLOGY MAKE DRIVERS PERFORM LIKE PRO ATHLETES? BY AARON HUFF