Commercial Vehicle Work Zone Safety
Let’s Talk Numbers. 5% versus 33%.
On the subject of commercial vehicle work zone safety, there is quite a difference between those two percentages. But let’s look at a different scenario, and weigh those numbers against each other in terms of odds at a casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. We hope you’ll pay attention to your odds when your hard earned money is on the line.
All the casinos in Las Vegas play a lot of different games with all sorts of odds ratios to attract the most people possible. Regardless of the odds, different people play their favorite game because they think that they will be the one person to beat those odds.
Have you ever noticed while walking through a casino there are normally a lot of people playing the slot machines. By far the worst odds in the entire establishment. What is it that drives people to play these gambling games that almost guarantee a loss? The ringing bells and flashing lights? The fancy graphics?
GREED (and Perhaps Laziness)
The allure of the mega jackpot with the least work possible. There is literally no thinking necessary to play a slot machine. Just load it up and press go. The comfy seats…the free drinks…just zone out and press away.
Now if we use our rational minds one would never choose to play a game if you only had a 5% chance of winning that game, especially if there’s another game at the casino that offers a 33% chance of winning. Of course, everybody would undoubtedly go with the 33% odds. This is where the greed comes in. Playing roulette or blackjack doesn’t offer a HUGE jackpot. The enticement of just pressing a button and cashing out HUGE is too much. Blackjack requires thinking and knowledge of the game.
There is another, and arguably much more important, way of looking at the difference between these to percentages.
Commercial Vehicle Work Zone Safety Violations Are Disproportionately High
Large trucks make up 5% of all the traffic on the roads in the United States of America. In other words, a relatively small number of vehicles on the roads are large trucks, just like yours. Now we have to look at the fact that 33% of all fatal crashes involve a commercial vehicle in work zones; this presents a serious safety issue.
Read that again: ONE in THREE crashes with a fatal outcome involve large trucks just like yours. That is quite an astonishing discrepancy.
We can look at this simply as the following. If all things are equally distributed (which they are not, but for illustration purposes) we would expect the number of fatal crashes involving large trucks to be 5%. However this isn’t the case, the actual number is 33%. That is 6.6 times greater than we should expect.
Totally unacceptable. If this doesn’t at least make your eyebrows raise, you might need to reevaluate your safety standards. That is why we want to dedicate this article to informing our readers about commercial vehicle work zone safety tips.
Here Are a Few Commercial Vehicle Work Zone Safety Tips to Help You Beat the Odds When Operating on the Road
1. Use all available resources to research your route and keep an eye on updates to your route. Use alternate routes to save time and to keep out of hazardous construction zones.
There are plenty of good options available for commercial vehicle operators when preparing their truck routes. You can find a number of apps that will help you strategize and effectively plan your route. These apps will help identify road hazards
Spending just a few minutes checking your route before each drive will save you time and minimize risk.
2. Stay EXTRA focused! While in operating a commercial vehicle in a work zone it is critical to practice this safety measure. Put all distractions aside (cell phone, radio, burger and fries). Pay extra attention to road signs, speed limits, and watch out for road workers on the side of the road.
3. SLOW DOWN. Give workers extra space and be prepared to stop.
4. Merge to the open lane as soon as possible, being extra aware of your blind spot.
5. Keep EXTRA DISTANCE when operating a commercial vehicle in a work zone. Safety first! Rear end collisions are one of the most common crashes to occur.
(FMCSA)
Be careful out there.
Don’t become a statistic.
Learn about our services on our services page.
Hear what all our customers are saying on our Google review page.
Still have questions? Give us a call at 1-877-405-5003.