How to improve safety during Distracted Driving Awareness Month
Distracted driving remains a prevalent safety issue, with many incidents each year caused by cell phones and other distractions.
'In bumper-to-bumper traffic the other day, I looked at the car next to me and thought, 'that's a good episode of that TV show,' and then I realized that this person was watching television on their phone while driving in traffic,' Hayes said. 'If I can recognize the show from another car, that just shows how distracting that behavior really is.'
Ultimately, safety is in the hands of every driver.
Until all cars are self-driving, carriers will still need drivers. Even with technology like autonomous trucks, someone will need to be present in those trucks for the foreseeable future.
'Statistic after statistic shows that drivers are the cause of roughly ninety-five percent of accidents,' Hayes said.
More often than not, Hayes says, it's the passenger vehicle that's the primary cause of the accident when it comes to light vehicle/heavy vehicle collisions. 'Either way, it's still people that typically make these things happen,' he said.
When it comes to safety, distracted driving compounds with every other thing that a driver is doing.
'Being distracted while you're in your sleeper doesn't matter, of course, but when you're on a crowded highway going sixty miles an hour and it's raining, every one of those factors makes it more dangerous,' Hayes said.
Distraction erodes all of those skills that a driver should have, according to Hayes. 'The most important thing is to be able to see where you're going and maintain the right space between you and the vehicles around you,' he said.
Every year, the CVSA hosts a program called Operation Safe Driver, which involves focused enforcement over the course of a week in July.
'Many drivers may not appreciate dealing with the extra enforcement, but it's an important cause and encourages safe driving behaviors,' Hayes said.
Last year, between July 7th and July 13th, the CVSA pulled over more than 11,000 vehicles, including both commercial and passenger vehicles.
The most common infraction for commercial drivers was speeding.
'Cutting down on speeding is absolutely the key to maintaining safe roads,' Hayes said. 'Close to 12,000 people die in speeding-related crashes out of the 40,000 who die on the road every year.' *
Speed affects nearly every aspect of road safety – necessary following distance, a driver's ability to react in time, and the severity of an impact.
'Speed is everything, especially when you're driving a commercial vehicle,' Hayes said.
Surprisingly, failure to wear a seatbelt was the second highest infraction found during 2024's Operation Safe Driver.
'A lot of people think that wearing a seatbelt only affects them and their safety,' Hayes said. 'If you're in a collision, though, the thing that keeps that collision from getting much worse is your natural reaction to grab the steering wheel and hit the brakes to get control of your vehicle, which you can't do if you get bounced into your passenger seat,' he said.
'If you've seen videos of crashes from interior cameras, you know that a driver without a seatbelt never stays in that seat,' Hayes said. 'Wearing a seatbelt is not just about your safety. It also can keep other people in your vicinity safer in the event of an accident because you can be in a better position to keep your vehicle straight, steady, and stopped.'
It's also worth noting that not wearing a seatbelt is actually a bigger violation than speeding in many states.
For Distracted Driving Awareness Month, Travelers wants to remind all drivers that their main job on the road is to get their vehicles to their destination safely. 'Any secondary task you have to do is well below that in importance,' Hayes said.
It's vital that office staff participate in avoiding distractions too, says Hayes, because many carriers are far too apt to call drivers while on the road.
'There are many other ways to communicate safely with drivers now,' Hayes said. 'When I started in trucking, drivers would call dispatch twice a day, and somehow the economy still kept turning.'
There is nothing more important than the driver's ability to stay focused on the task of driving, because otherwise too many people can be hurt.
'As an industry, we have to pull out of the sense that we need to be connected at all times,' Hayes said.
From the perspective of safety professionals, according to Hayes, there is still a lot of work to be done.
'I've been trying to find ways to make telematics improve safety since 2009, and I'm still working at it,' Hayes said.
For many carriers, trying to examine and respond to every single alert of a safety issue is impractical. In speaking with one customer, Hayes learned that their fleet received 3,000 alerts every morning between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.
'In a situation like that, it's difficult to know which alerts to look at,' Hayes said. Some carriers, he says, are even concerned that they may be in more trouble if they neglected to address something crucial.
'What we're helping our customers do is focus on something we call 'metrics that matter,'' Hayes said. 'With the wealth of data you get from cameras, telematics, engines and GPS, you can focus on which stats actually make the most impact in safety for you right now, and you can turn that into methods for coaching your drivers,' he said.
Instead of simply reprimanding a driver for an individual incident, for instance, carriers can show them how they compare to other drivers and examine the patterns of what they do right and wrong.
'Don't forget to work with your telematics provider,' Hayes said. 'You don't want to report every minute for every driver. What would be better is to see on a regular basis who is performing and who is not so you can provide a straightforward scorecard and help drivers understand where they are.'
Knowing who to coach and provide feedback to, Hayes says, is a key factor for fleets to improve their overall safety. 'It can be a huge help and a tremendous motivating factor to know that your speed is too high and that you have harsher usage of the brakes than anyone else in the fleet,' Hayes said.
'For the most part, everyone is out there trying to do a good job every day, but we just need information in order to improve sometimes,' Hayes said.
Click here to learn more about Travelers Risk Control.
*Source: https://cvsa.org/news/2024-osd-week-results/
The post How to improve safety during Distracted Driving Awareness Month appeared first on FreightWaves.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13-08-2025
- Yahoo
PCS Software introduces AI intelligence engine Cortex
PCS Software, the creator of an all-in-one transportation management system, has recently announced Cortex, an AI-driven intelligence engine designed to revolutionize freight operations. The new tool is poised to redefine how fleets operate by embedding AI capabilities directly into PCS's Transportation Management System (TMS). As the transportation industry continuously seeks to optimize processes, Cortex promises to turn data into actionable insights, thereby streamlining operations and minimizing manual tasks. 'Our AI strategy is grounded in 25+ years of operational expertise, deep customer insight, and an unmatched understanding of the workflows of carriers, brokers, and shippers—all built into the PCS TMS,' said Mark Hill, CEO of PCS, in a news release. 'We've focused on AI that matters—tools that improve margins, automate busywork, and give fleets that rely on PCS a true competitive edge.' The core of Cortex lies in its seamless integration within the PCS TMS. Unlike standalone AI solutions, Cortex emphasizes a spectrum of cross-functional improvements that encompass dispatch, planning, safety, and driver management. It aims to usher in a new era of efficiency by bolstering several critical areas of operation. Optimization is a primary focus, where Cortex leverages machine learning to refine the most data-heavy and decision-centric tasks, including scheduling and opportunity management. In terms of workflow, the AI cuts down on manual processes, enhancing the capacity to handle multiple tasks swiftly and effectively. Furthermore, Cortex enhances communication by managing diverse types of interactions, facilitating smoother and more efficient exchanges. 'We leaned into AI early—not for hype, but for real results,' said Danielle Villegas, Chief Product Officer at PCS, in a news release. 'Cortex isn't just an add-on or an experiment, it's a competitive weapon that helps fleets do more with less.' The initial modules of Cortex, scheduled to launch this fall, aim to primarily tackle dispatch, routing, and scheduling workflows. These tools promise to equip dispatchers with advanced capabilities to capitalize on opportunities and drive profitability amidst the fluctuating freight market. PCS Software's commitment to empowering transportation and logistics companies is evident through its continual innovation and enhancement of product offerings. Providing solutions that cater to both small and large fleets, PCS is setting a new standard in the industry by bringing enterprise-level technology to all its clients. The post PCS Software introduces AI intelligence engine Cortex appeared first on FreightWaves.
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Yahoo
Waabi appoints Lior Ron as COO amid commercial push
Waabi has announced the appointment of former Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron as the company's chief operating officer. The appointment comes as Waabi prepares for a driver-out milestone by the end of the year, followed by a commercial launch and scaling operations with major partners including Volvo and Uber Freight. 'This really signifies that Waabi is moving from the R&D phase that we were in into commercialization and scale,' Waabi's founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun told FreightWaves in an interview. 'And there is no other leader that I could think of that would be better suited to partner with in this new journey of the company.' The transition is part of a broader industry shift from digital logistics solutions to physical autonomous applications. 'I think of my first decade in logistics with Uber Freight as building the digital infrastructure of the industry, and helping build that. The next decade is going to be about building the autonomy infrastructure of the industry and making that a commercial reality,' Lior Ron told FreightWaves. During Ron's tenure at Uber Freight, he served as founder and CEO, growing the company into an end-to-end logistics platform generating over $5 billion in annual revenue. In his new role at Waabi, Ron will focus on go-to-market strategy, scaling existing partnerships, and bringing new collaborations to the company's portfolio. 'I think for me, it really starts from the deep belief that autonomy is here and the technology is ready, and it's time to scale,' Ron told FreightWaves. 'It's time to actually make this a commercial reality, a solution reality, a supply chain reality that will fundamentally alter the shape of supply chain and logistics over the next decade.' Uber Freight is both a partner and investor in Waabi. 'Uber Freight is a big partner of Waabi. No changes there. We're looking forward to continuing to scale the Waabi driver on the Uber Freight network, and we see a lot of opportunities to continue that collaboration. So this is definitely sort of done in coordination, but it's also a personal choice of mine, because, as I articulated, it's something that I fundamentally believe is the future,' Ron added. Urtasun added, 'We have a partnership with Uber Freight that will continue full steam ahead as well. We'll go to market. It's more than Uber Freight—you know, direct-to-customer is important for us as well. But we fundamentally believe that Uber Freight is a great partner in our future.' The appointment follows several major Waabi milestones, including a strategic partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions and technical breakthroughs in simulation technology. Waabi World, the company's neural simulator, recently achieved a 99.7% simulation realism score, while the company also unveiled Mixed Reality Testing as an alternative to closed-course testing. For the team at Waabi, the timing could not have been better, as both OEMs and autonomous technology companies appear to be converging on timelines for mass production and commercialization over the next two years. The next challenge, and one Ron hopes to tackle, is turning that technology into an operational reality. 'The time to engage on that is now, because that technology is ready. Autonomy is ready for prime time. Driver-out soon. Truck OEMs are ready, and they're all making their own plans on when they're going to start mass production, but it's going to be in the foreseeable near future. So if you're looking at a 12- to 24-month purchasing decision cycle in logistics by big shippers and big carriers,' said Ron. The post Waabi appoints Lior Ron as COO amid commercial push appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Yahoo
Waabi introduces mixed reality testing system for autonomous truck safety
Waabi, an autonomous trucking technology leader, has introduced a new mixed reality testing (MRT) system that transforms the way autonomous vehicles are tested. The technology works by blending physical test environments with sophisticated virtual scenarios. In an interview with FreightWaves, Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of Waabi, recently talked about how this technology creates virtual scenarios for autonomous trucks operating on physical test tracks. 'In the industry, we often talk about driving in the physical world as one type of testing, and we also discuss simulation, where we run scenarios in the cloud at scale,' said Urtasun. 'But one aspect that's discussed less is how safety testing is really done today, and that's where mixed reality comes in.' Traditional safety testing for vehicles has remained largely unchanged for a century. Testing teams bring vehicles to closed tracks and conduct a limited number of scripted scenarios that require complex coordination similar to movie stunts. A downside to this approach is that it yields minimal test diversity, offers poor repeatability and avoids truly dangerous scenarios to prevent damage to test vehicles. It's also expensive. Waabi's MRT system overcomes these limitations by intercepting sensor data from the physical world and blending it with simulation. This creates an environment where autonomous trucks can safely encounter virtually unlimited dangerous situations without physical risk. 'Imagine putting goggles on a self-driving vehicle so it sees things that aren't there but reacts to them,' Urtasun explained. 'Suddenly, you can expose the system to unavoidable accidents and scenarios impossible to stage safely in the real world.' In a blog post, Waabi adds that the technology enables instantaneous creation of complex scenarios including traffic jams, dangerous driving behaviors and unpredictable pedestrian movements. The secret sauce is the use of generative AI and neural simulations rather than traditional physics-based simulation to achieve the required level of realism. This allows Waabi to create thousands of tests as vehicles drive continuously on a test track, generating precise performance metrics automatically. This technology has significantly accelerated Waabi's development process as the company reached feature-complete status earlier this year. Waabi's autonomous system now has all capabilities needed to operate without a human driver. Only Waabi and Aurora have reached this milestone in long-haul trucking. These developments come as Waabi announced back in February a strategic partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions to jointly develop and deploy autonomous trucks. To date, Toronto-based Waabi has raised a total of $280 million, with its most recent round, a $200 million Series B back in 2024, including participation from strategic investors Nvidia, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Scania Invest and Ingka Investments, among others. The post Waabi introduces mixed reality testing system for autonomous truck safety appeared first on FreightWaves.
