NETS 2012 Fleet Safety Benchmark Survey: Top Performing Fleets Review Cell Phone Records of Drivers Following all Collisions
521,000 vehicles, 9.8 billion miles of travel yield road safety best practices
WASHINGTON, D.C. —The Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) 2012 road safety benchmark study revealed that the safest fleets have written policies restricting the use of mobile devices and check mobile phone records after all collisions, regardless of severity. Traffic crashes remain the number one cause of workplace death and injury, costing employers in excess of $60 billion annually, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The 2012 STRENGTH IN NUMBERS®™ road safety benchmarking study is the largest examination of fleet vehicle safety ever conducted by the organization. The latest study involved a collective fleet of 521,000 vehicles and 9.8 billion miles traveled. Nearly 50 percent of participating companies were in the Fortune 500.
Other road safety practices found by the study to be common among the companies with the lowest fleet crash-rates include:
- Tracking completions of on-going driver training on a road safety scorecard
- Conducting commentary drives (ride-alongs) with new-hires and high-risk drivers
- Communicating road safety messages via senior-management presentations at meetings.
All survey responses were reported anonymously, with a number assigned to each company to rank its fleet against other study participants.
NETS’ annual STRENGTH IN NUMBERS® road safety benchmark study includes the collection of miles driven and collisions by type of vehicle and by country. Injury data are collected for the USA and the UK. Respondents also are surveyed on more than twenty-five road safety program elements. Examples include: cell phone policies, training and post-crash review processes and the use of in-vehicle monitoring technology. NETS members, representing the pharmaceutical, electric utilities, oil and gas, insurance, food and beverage and other industries, meet annually to discuss the benchmark results and other key road safety topics.
“Through this benchmarking process, we’re able to learn about common elements among the leading companies and also have the opportunity to network and discuss specific challenges and share successes with other road safety professionals,” said Sandra Lee, Director of Worldwide Road Safety for Johnson & Johnson, and Chair of the NETS Board of Directors. “This is what makes the STRENGTH IN NUMBERS® benchmarking study such an invaluable process.”
About STRENGTH IN NUMBERS®™
The STRENGTH IN NUMBERS® road safety benchmarking study brings together socially responsible companies in a collaborative spirit prepared to compare findings and share what they’ve learned. The program is for all types of companies and organizations— large or small, U.S. or global, public or private. Participants collect standardized data over a 12-month period. Once analyzed, the resulting benchmark report shows how a company compares in terms of crash frequencies taking into consideration road safety policies, driver training programs, crash review practices and more. Members use the annual benchmark report’s results to improve their road safety performance. For more information on the STRENGTH IN NUMBERS® fleet benchmark program or to become a participant, visit the NETS website at www.trafficsafety.org
About NETS
NETS is a 501(c)3 organization, a partnership between the U.S. Federal government and the private sector. The Board of Directors members include Abbott, AmeriFleet Transportation, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, The Coca-Cola Company, Johnson & Johnson, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, Monsanto Company, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Group, Shell International Petroleum Company, B.V. and UPS, as well as federal liaisons from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Established in 1989, NETS is dedicated to improving the safety of employees, their families, and members of the communities in which they live and work by preventing traffic crashes that occur on and off the job. For more information on NETS, visit www.trafficsafety.org or contact jhanley@trafficsafety.org.
