May 2021 Newsletter: 1 Year = 365 Opportunities for Safety

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Follow His Lead

When I speak with human resources professionals or business leaders about road safety, I like to use visuals to keep everyone entertained and engaged. One of the PowerPoint slides I regularly share includes a quote that will challenge you to be more like Kevin Begnaud, a loss prevention representative with The Gray Insurance Company, which serves the greater Houston area.

You may be familiar with this quote: “When you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” I usually ask, “How’s that working for you?”

Some pretty smart people have uttered those words, including Albert Einstein, Henry Ford and Mark Twain. Begnaud, a pretty smart individual in his own right, called me recently to explain how he tapped into free resources provided by the Our Driving Concern Texas Employer Traffic Safety Program to lead some of his clients through a different kind of driver and transportation safety training.

Instead of relying on old methods, he was looking for a new way to liven up his presentation. So, he visited the Training Center page on our website and accessed our e-learning games. The next thing you know he was using “gamification” principles to motivate his audience and enhance learning retention. Begnaud told me he received positive feedback after a number of people played our safety games in a group setting that day, including Impairment Jeopardy.

I’m hopeful when you hear this story you, too, will be willing to change things up on occasion. We developed our e-learning games to be used individually. He created a group activity. I view his adaptation as an example of how a learning session can be impactful and enjoyable, particularly when the whole room participates.

That reminds me of another quote I often share, this one from Ben Franklin: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” So true, no matter your age. This may be one of my new favorites!

Get everyone at your location involved in road safety. Try our free micro-learning. We have five short lessons in the portal on our website. They cover topics that challenge all employers:

  • Aggressive driving
  • Distracted driving
  • Drowsy driving
  • Impaired driving
  • Passenger restraint

When your employees complete all five lessons and pass a brief final quiz, they are presented with a certificate of completion. Think of this exercise as a way to keep driving safety top of mind. Or, as Ben Franklin also said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

Include education and training about the importance of sharing the road.

Share the Road

During the pandemic, we learned new ways to stay connected, and we learned to be flexible as our routines were altered by work-from-home orders. When people ventured out, many chose to ride bicycles instead of using public transportation. In fact, there appeared to be a bicycle shortage; many had trouble finding bicycles to purchase.

Those with bikes are still riding today in the new normal. Some are your employees, some are school teachers and others are couriers bringing goods and services to your location. Still others are riding because they are looking for health benefits or seeking to reduce their carbon footprint.

A comprehensive workplace driver and transportation safety program includes education and training about the importance of sharing the road. The goal for employers is to reduce costs resulting from crashes, protecting the bottom line and the potential impact on productivity and insurance rates and to keep employees and their family members safe.

Bicyclists – just like pedestrians and motorcyclists – have rights on the road. But that doesn’t mean they can weave in and out of traffic or ignore stop signs and traffic lights. Bicyclists must follow the rules of the road, just like motorists.

An estimated 80 million bicyclists are sharing U.S. roads. In crashes with bigger, faster-moving motor vehicles, bicyclists almost always lose. In fact, 1,089 bicyclists died in motor vehicle-related crashes in 2019, according to Injury Facts, and another 308,604 were injured. Distraction can be deadly for both the driver and the bicyclist.

Research indicates bicycle fatalities involving adults (20-and-older) have tripled since 1975. May is National Bicycle Safety Month. Talk about sharing the road, watching out for vulnerable road users, avoiding distraction and being aware while you drive or ride on a bicycle. Get tips to share in a safety talk or post on your company’s intranet site:

NHTSA

National Safety Council

Texas Department of Transportation Videos

We all have to decide that every life matters – that these daily fatalities and injuries are simply not the norm – and work together to change behavior to make our streets safer. Studies show it can take an average of 66 days to form new habits. You can relate this to the challenge of buying a new piece of exercise equipment. You start with good intentions, but in order to achieve all of your fitness goals, you have to make exercise a priority and stick with it over the long haul.

We invest our time in what we determine to be a priority. The same goes for safety. Make time to talk about sharing the roads so you can take your transportation safety program to that next level.