As companies grapple with the increase in driver risk, auto insurance premiums and costly litigation, they must go beyond merely meeting regulatory requirements to identify dangerous drivers and reduce violations and crashes across their fleets. Risk and safety professionals adopt various driver risk assessment tactics in an effort to gain visibility, ranging from basic compliance to advanced, proactive strategies. We break down a spectrum of these approaches below.
Where Does Your Company Rank in Driver Risk Assessment?
Level 1: Compliance Checker
At the most basic level, compliance checkers ensure adherence to state and federal laws governing fleet driver safety. This includes:
Initial Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) Screenings: Conducting thorough background checks during the hiring process to ensure new drivers have clean records and meet company standards.
Annual MVR Checks: Performing yearly MVR checks to comply with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations and identifying any new violations that may have occurred since the previous pull.
Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) Score Tracking: Monitoring CSA scores and violations through the FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS), electronic logging devices (ELDs) and inspection reports to maintain a baseline level of safety.
Self-Reporting Requirements: Implementing policies that obligate drivers to self-report any violations or crashes, relying on their honesty and diligence to keep records up to date.
While these measures ensure legal compliance, they fall short of providing a comprehensive view of driver risk, leaving companies vulnerable to unreported incidents and undetected patterns of risky behavior.
Download Our Guide | Knowing Isn't Fixing: Proactive Intervention Tactics for Addressing Driver Risk
Level 2: Driver Risk Assessment Specialist
Driver Risk Assessment Specialists build on the foundation of compliance by introducing more frequent checks and technology-driven insights:
Multiple MVR Checks: Conducting MVR checks multiple times a year to catch violations sooner and reduce the lag between infractions and corrective actions.
In-Vehicle Telematics: Installing telematics devices in vehicles to capture detailed data on driver behavior, such as speeding, harsh braking and acceleration patterns. This real-time data helps identify risky behaviors that lead to crashes.
By increasing the frequency of checks and leveraging modern technology, Driver Risk Assessment Specialists gain a more nuanced understanding of driver behavior and risk, allowing for more timely interventions.
Level 3: Proactive Driver Risk Assessment Professional
Proactive Driver Risk Assessment Professionals take a dynamic approach, employing continuous monitoring and automation to stay ahead of potential risks:
Ongoing MVR and CSA Monitoring: Utilizing systems that provide continuous MVR and CSA monitoring, with automated alerts for any changes in driving records and compliance to ensure no infraction goes unnoticed.
Telematics Monitoring: Using advanced telematics monitoring tools that not only collect the ocean of driver behavior data but also interpret it, offering simplified insights and ongoing, automated alerts to identify risky behaviors and trends.
Automated License Tracking: Implementing automated systems to track license status, receiving immediate updates on changes such as suspensions or expirations, thereby reducing administrative burden and improving accuracy.
Claims and Incident Tracking: Keeping detailed records of all claims and unreported incidents involving company drivers, providing a comprehensive view of each driver’s risk profile and helping identify patterns that might indicate underlying issues.
This level of proactive driver risk assessment allows companies to move from reactive to proactive, addressing issues before they escalate and maintaining a higher standard of safety.
Level 4: Master of Proactive Driver Risk Assessment
Masters of Proactive Driver Risk Assessment integrate all available methods into a cohesive, highly efficient system:
Integrated Solutions: Utilizing a single, integrated solution that consolidates all methods of identifying driver behavior, violations and license statuses. This system normalizes all necessary data, providing a 360-degree view of risk across the fleet.
Real-Time Risk Identification: Employing predictive analytics to identify drivers who are at the greatest risk of causing future incidents, allowing for targeted interventions and customized training programs.
Advanced Data Analytics: Leveraging advanced driver data analytics to identify hidden patterns and correlations that might indicate emerging risks, enabling companies to stay ahead of potential issues and continuously improve their safety strategies.
By integrating all these elements, Masters of Proactive Driver Risk Assessment actively manage and mitigate risks within a single solution, significantly enhancing both fleet safety and operational efficiency.
From Compliance to Comprehensive Risk Management
The difference between minimum effort and maximum visibility is stark. Compliance Checkers meet the bare minimum safety standards, often missing crucial risks that only surface during annual checks or through self-reporting. In contrast, Masters of Proactive Driver Risk Assessment employ a diverse toolkit, leveraging a simple but holistic view of risk and enabling real-time, data-driven decision-making.
However, knowing about the risk is only the first step; without the right approach, these insights can't be effectively utilized to enhance safety. To discover the importance of establishing an end-to-end fleet safety program that focuses on both identifying and reducing risk, download our free guide, Knowing Isn't Fixing: Proactive Intervention Tactics for Addressing Driver Risk.
