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Lessons Learned:
Preventing Construction Vehicle Accidents

by Frederick C. Clark, ARM
Vice President

In many respects construction vehicles have the same type of accidents as those of other commercial vehicles — rear-end, sideswipe/lane change, head-on, intersection, rollover, backing, hitting a fixed object and so on. A review of the accidents experienced by construction company vehicles showed a high number of incidents of rear-ending another vehicle and sideswipe/lane change collisions. These collisions have high severity potential; injury and damage tends to be significant. Also common are construction vehicle collisions at uncontrolled intersections (no sign or signal) and while maneuvering in the yard as well as crashes at construction sites.

Be Proactive!

What can we do to anticipate the causes of these accidents and prevent our construction vehicles from being counted in these statistics? We can use resources such as the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s (USDOT FHWA) “Commercial Vehicle Preventable Accident Manual” which suggests potential causes and countermeasures in their prevention guide. Proactive drivers should be aware of these accident causes. Management should use this information to evaluate accidents to implement countermeasures for prevention of future accidents.

Below and on the reverse side are causes and countermeasures for rear-ending the other vehicle and sideswipe/lane change collisions from the prevention guide:

REAR END COLLISIONS

Potential Causes:

Driver Aggressive or reckless attitude and illness or fatigue
Driving Task Following too closely and inattention or drowsiness

Countermeasures

Anticipate hazardous situations and adjust driving behavior to compensate. Know how to safely control lane use and lane change situations -- yours and the other driver. Use common sense and regulatory compliance to recognize fatigue and illness to restrict driving.

Management should:

  1. Periodically have a qualified person ride along with the driver to evaluate their defensive driving habits.
  2. Make sure drivers understand that driving defensively is important.
  3. Train drivers in safe lane changes.
  4. Make sure drivers understand that most lane change accidents result from following too closely.
  5. Make sure drivers recognize that even common situations such as stopping can be hazardous.
  6. Teach drivers the concept of “preventable accidents.”
  7. Implement an accident review program that classifies accidents as preventable or non-preventable.
  8. Establish strict rules and procedures that don’t allow fatigued or physically unqualified drivers to drive.

Drivers should:

  1. Learn to recognize hazardous situations.
  2. Assume that the other driver will make errors.
  3. Adjust speed, position, direction and attention to be able to maneuver safely if a hazard develops.
  4. Maintain a safe following distance.
  5. Not change lanes into a blind spot. There may be slower or stopped vehicles in that lane.
  6. Scan thoroughly and far enough ahead to be able to react safely to approaching situations.
  7. Maintain good sleep habits.
  8. Not drive when drowsy.
  9. Drive only when physically able.

SIDESWIPE/LANE CHANGE COLLISIONS

Potential Causes:

  • Driver Lack of skill
  • Driving Tasks Wandering over lane marker
  • Failure to anticipate lane merges
  • Failure to signal
  • Poor mirror adjustment
  • Failure to scan space to the sides

Countermeasures

Anticipate hazardous situations and adjust driving behavior to compensate. Know how to safely control lane use and lane change situations -- yours and the other driver. Anticipate and avoid hazards involved in passing.

Management should:

  1. Periodically have a qualified person ride along with the driver to evaluate their defensive driving habits.
  2. Make sure drivers understand that driving defensively is important.
  3. Train drivers in safe lane changes.
  4. Teach drivers the concept of “preventable accidents.”
  5. Establish an accident review program that classifies accidents as preventable or non-preventable.
  6. Train drivers to perform safe passing procedures.
  7. Periodically observe drivers performing safe passing procedures.

Drivers should:

  1. Learn to recognize hazardous situations.
  2. Assume that the other driver will make errors.
  3. Adjust speed, position, direction and attention to be able to maneuver safely if a hazard develops.
  4. Maintain a safe following distance.
  5. Not change lanes into a blind spot. here may be slower or stopped vehicles in that lane.
  6. Scan thoroughly and far enough ahead to be able to react safely to approaching situations.
  7. Signal your intention to pass.
  8. Make sure no one is passing you before you pass.
  9. Not get in a race or take chances if the other driver speeds up.

Maintenance Checks

  1. Assure full view adequate mirrors.
  2. Repair broken or loose mirrors.
  3. Replace burned out or broken tail, brake and turn lights.

Frederick Clark has a BS degree in Chemistry and over 30 years of experience in the safety, health and environmental field. He has gained expertise in many aspects of personal and fleet safety and loss control management. He serves the fleet safety needs and distribution-related needs of clients by providing training, assessments, risk analyses, and other loss prevention programs.

XL Environmental • Risk Control Division • 520 Eagleview Boulevard, PO Box 636, Exton, PA 19341 • Phone: 800-327-1414 • Fax: 610-458-7285 • xlenvironmental.com

XL Environmental is a division of XL Specialty Insurance Company.

 
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