How Does Your Company Handle Distracted Driving?

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How Does Your Company Handle
Distracted Driving?
Rick Cates, CDS, CDT, Vice President
Workforce Strategies, Marsh Fleet Safety
How Does Your Company Handle
Distracted Driving
Rick G. Cates – CDS, CDT
Vice President, Marsh Risk Consulting
Burlington, NC

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3 things you will leave this session with:
• Understand fully the impact of distracted
driving – what is the research showing?
• How to educate your leadership on the
components needed to reduce loss and injury.
• How to improve the safety of your associates,
whether in a company or personal vehicle.
Distracted Driving – A Loss Epidemic
• Vehicle collisions - #1 cause of workplace fatalities and a
leading cause of workplace injuries.
– 24% of all fatal occupational injuries.
– Averaging $150,000 in injuries.
• Distraction-affected crashes account for:
– 10% of all fatal crashes.
– 18% of all injury crashes.
– Ages 20-29 most often involved.
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Source: NHTSA Traffic Facts
June 27, 2017

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Distracted Driving – A Loss Epidemic
• Majority of the recent nuclear verdicts (large auto liability
settlements) involved some form of distracted driving.
• November 2011 – new rules implemented restricting the
use of hand-held phones while operating commercial
motor vehicles.
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What Is Distracted Driving
“Distracted driving is any
activity that takes your eyes
off the road, your hands off
the steering wheel, or your
mind off your primary task of
driving safely.”
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Three Main Types of Distractions
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8 June 27, 2017 Source: Erie Insurance

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Top Ten Forms of Distractions
1. Fatigue/inattention/daydreaming
2. Personal communication devices (talk/text)
3. Exterior objects, persons, or events
4. Vehicle occupants
5. Items introduced into the vehicle (GPS,
music, paper)
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62%
12%
7%
5%
2%
Source: Erie Insurance
Top Ten Forms of Distractions (cont.)
6. Eating and drinking
7. Adjusting audio or climate control
8. Using vehicle integrated devices (seats,
mirrors, etc.)
9. Interacting with pets or removing insects
10. Smoking
10 June 27, 2017
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
Source: Erie Insurance

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What We Recognize Via In-cab Video
Distracted driving observed in about 20% of
risky events captured.
11 June 27, 2017 Source: Lytx
Impact of Distracted Driving
Your Exposures
• Vicarious Liability: When the employer is held liable for
harm done by an employee acting within the scope of
employment.
• Negligent Hiring: If the employer failed to properly train
the employee on avoiding distracted driving, failed to
properly supervise the employee, or failed to perform
adequate research when hiring the employee, the company
could be liable.
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Impact of Distracted Driving
Your Exposures (cont.)
• Negligent Entrustment: If the employer had reason to
know that the employee would likely be driving while
distracted, the company could be liable. If the employee
regularly made calls or texts while on the road, for
example, as a typical method of conducting business, and
then one of those times caused a crash, the company could
be found to be at fault.
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Impact of Distracted Driving
Your Exposures (cont.)
• Dangerous Instrumentality: Similar to the previous
doctrine, this says basically that as long as the employee
caused an accident, the employer is to blame.
• Reputational Risk: Your company’s image is at risk when
involved in such a claim.
• Fines: FMCSA commercial drivers – employer fines $11,000
and driver fines $2,750.
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Impact of Distracted Driving
Legal Exposures (nuclear verdicts)
• 2003 – Stockbroker making cold calls while operating personal vehicle ($500K).
• 2008 – Paper manufacturer associate using a cellphone while driving ($5.2M).
• 2009 – Truck driver checking messages on cellphone ($18M).
• 2010 – Cable company technician texting while driving (undisclosed
settlement in excess of eight figures).
• 2012 – Soft drink sales representative speaking on hands-free phone ($24M).
• 2014 – Large retailer’s fatigued truck driver rear ends a van in a construction
zone ($??).
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Measures to Eliminate Distraction –
Related Loss or Injury
Risks Associated With or Without Written Policies
• No policy demonstrates no controls.
• Studies show nearly 86% of companies have policies
regarding mobile device use while driving, although few, if
any, have procedures in place to enforce them.
• Training and accountability are a must!
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Measures to Eliminate Distraction –
Related Loss or Injury
Distracted Driving Policy Elements
• Top 10 distractions.
• Training.
• Operations compliance and support.
• Monitoring compliance.
• Must be in a position to “Walk the Talk” (comply with your
distracted driving policy)!
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Measures to Eliminate Distraction –
Related Loss or Injury
“An Alert Driver Is a Safe Driver”
• An average distraction consumes 4-5 seconds (dial phone,
read text message, program GPS, read a short paragraph,
etc.).
• It requires approximately the length of a football field to
stop a vehicle traveling at 65MPH, which equates to
approximately 4 seconds under ideal conditions.
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Measures to Eliminate Distraction –
Related Loss or Injury
“An Alert Driver Is a Safe Driver” (cont.)
• Proven fact – humans cannot multitask!
• Driving requires your undivided attention.
Space + Focus = Collision Free Driving
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Measures to Eliminate Distraction –
Related Loss or Injury
How to Establish a Good Defense
• Implement a comprehensive distracted driving policy.
• Adjust your operations to conform with your policy.
• Train drivers, managers, and staff on your policy.
• Persuade drivers to pledge to drive distraction free.
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Measures to Eliminate Distraction –
Related Loss or Injury
How to Establish a Good Defense (cont.)
• Implement processes which monitor adherence to your
policy.
• Comprehensive behavioral driving training.
• Reinforce desired behaviors.
• Consider the use of advanced technologies.
• Eliminate the risk!
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How to Improve the Safety of Your Employees
Advanced Technologies – Cell Blocking Devices
• “We can’t count on people always doing the
right thing,”
• What about cell blocking technologies?
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How to Improve the Safety of Your Employees
Vehicle Telematics
• Capturing vehicle performance and movement
data.
• Means of monitoring driver behaviors.
• Harsh braking/rapid deceleration, stability
control, high speed cornering, evasive
maneuvering, etc.
23 June 27, 2017http://www.zenrin-datacom.net/en/business/tracking/images/index_il01.png
How to Improve the Safety of Your Employees
Advanced Technologies – Event Recording
Devices
• You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
• Once captured on video and coached,
behavior change is dramatic… and is easily
measured.
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11 companies
showing decline in
distracted driving
over the last 14
months using video-
based solution.

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How to Improve the Safety of Your Employees
Advanced Technologies – Advanced Driver
Monitoring Systems
• Monitors eye movement.
• Identifies distraction prior to a triggering event.
• Seat vibration, audible sound, video capture,
immediate notification.
25 June 27, 2017 Source: Seeing Machines
How to Improve the Safety of Your Employees
Advanced Vehicle Technologies
• Stability Control – roll-over prevention.
• Lane departure warning.
• Adaptive cruise control.
• Forward collision avoidance.
• Blind spot monitoring.
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How to Improve the Safety of Your Employees
Customized Safe Driver Training Program
• Your people, vehicles, exposures, and past
experiences.
• Classroom instruction coupled with in-vehicle
exercises.
• Orientation, on-going, post-event remedial, and
annual recertification training initiatives.
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Driver Awareness Resources
• National Safety Council
– Focused Driver Challenge.
– Cell phone policy kit.
– Posters.
– Fact sheets.
– Infographics.
– Webinars.
– Newsletters.
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Source: National Safety Council.
http://www.nsc.org/learn/NSC-Initiatives/Pages/distracted-driving-
awareness-month.aspx?var=homepage3
How to Improve the Safety of Your Employees

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How to Improve the Safety of Your Employees
Make It Personal
• Letter home to families.
• Get their children involved.
– Company shirts.
– Safety calendar.
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Your 3 Session Takeaways
• Distracted driving is a leading contributor to
vehicle collisions.
• A strong distracted driving policy is needed
that can be engaged/managed/reinforced.
• Integrate technology and training to foster
your vehicle operator’s safety.
June 27, 2017

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How Does Your Company Handle
Distracted Driving
Questions
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