Being human means that we are all unique. This uniqueness makes life interesting and varied. However, it can also mean that some individuals are more at risk than others when driving.
When driving we can revert to type. For example, an aggressive person may demonstrate aggressive behaviour when driving following a triggering event. The driver sees red mist because the vehicle in front is being driven within the speed limit when the road is clear. The red mist results in tail gating the other driver, flashing headlights and gesturing. Perhaps the driver goes onto overtake when the road is not clear?
Being human means that some of us will be aggressive, risk takers, overconfident or not confident, easily distracted or on task, moody, sad, happy, stressed, calm patient or impatient and so on.
Accidents do not just happen. There is a sequence of events which leads up to them. This sequence can be broken or added to at any time.
For example, constantly being late and always speeding to get to work or appointments becomes a problem when you meet other road users doing the same thing. The sequence of events come together as you both approach a set of traffic lights. One driver goes through just as the lights have changed to red the other moves off on red/amber before the lights change to green and the vehicles collide.
The sequences of events could have been broken if both drivers had obeyed the traffic lights, looked into the junction to make sure it was safe to enter, set off earlier for their journey or been aware of their environment and other road users.
The sequence of events could also have been broken by thinking about previous near misses. For example, you drive through a red light. However, the other driver breaks the sequence of events because they check the junction and notice you have gone through on red, they stop and avoid a collision. You realise it was a near miss and take time to reflect upon why you went through on red. For example, distracted, driving too fast, chanced it because you were late or in a mood.
By reflecting you learn what went wrong and what you could do better next time to avoid the same situation. For example, you focus upon the driving task and will deal with work stress when you get to work, drive within the speed limit, set off earlier or anticipate when the lights are going to change and plan to stop.
Perhaps being human means that you will make mistakes when driving but you will also reflect and learn from them. Remember, there is no such thing as the perfect driver. All of us are still learning every day.
Perhaps being human means that you will always take risks, be aggressive and do not have the self awareness to be able to reflect and learn from experiences of self and others. This is high risk because as a driver, you are adding to the sequences of events which could lead to an incident.
High risk requires strong leadership and effective management to identify the drivers who represent the highest risk to your organisation and to proactively focus your resources upon this group. For example, by providing support, learning and development opportunities or using disciplinary procedures to manage the risk or to dismiss the risk.
The problem is, for most of us, when we are driving nothing ever happens. For example, if we always speed, tailgate others, drive aggressively, take risks to get to our appointments, drive exhausted because we never stop over and set off in the early hours, always on our mobile phone or hands free, never journey plan because we always just manage to get their on time, drive when we are ill, take new medication which makes us feel poorly, not declare medical conditions, never have eye sight tests, park where we want to and nothing ever happens or we never caught.
How do you manage your driver’s behaviour and risk taking? What are your warning markers or red lines? What are your policies and procedures for managing your at work drivers?
NOW THINK!
What culture do you have? Approachable and proactive or it will never happen to us?
What support do you provide for your drivers?
What training have your drivers and management team received from your company since passing their driving test?
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