Next time you are waiting at a red traffic light have a look around at what other drivers are doing. How many are going through on a red light or blatantly holding a mobile phone to their ear? How many drivers tailgate you each day? How many drivers choose to drive over the speed limit?
I am not thinking about drivers who make mistakes. After all, there is no such thing as a perfect driver and everyone of us will make mistakes. That is part of being human. Although, this does not mean that we should not strive to be the best we can and learn from our mistakes.
However, what is the difference between making a mistake and going through a traffic light controlled junction just as it changes to red or habitually going through on red? For example, have we gone through a red light because we failed to anticipate it was going to change and we know we should have held back and prepared to stop. Perhaps we were using hands free and were distracted. In which case we can think about how we manage hands free calls. Perhaps we were tired. Maybe we can think about planning in more breaks, better route planning or more effective scheduling of meeting times so we can reduce time spent on the road.
Perhaps the rules do not apply to us? Are we bothered it is a red light? Am I bothered about the speed limit? Perhaps hands free calling does not distract me? May be other road users are the problem?
As an employer, how do you know which type of driver you are employing? A driver who is human, makes mistakes and tries to learn from them to make sure they do not happen again. Or, have you employed the driver who believes every other road user is the problem?
Accidents do not just happen. There is a sequence of events which come together. For example, one day the driver who always chances going through on a red light meets another driver doing the same.
How could you use driver on road risk assessments or on line risk profiling to help you select the best drivers or maintain standards? How well do you monitor your drivers’ performance?
How do you manage your organisational road safety? Are you a chancer?
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