Your fleet of cars, vans or trucks is a valuable asset to your business. Each one is like a silent employee. They get a lot of work done, but we don’t necessarily notice them until something goes wrong. To avoid breakdowns and crashes, a fleet manager needs to be proactive on all fronts.

Maintain the Vehicle

Manufacturers provide a maintenance schedule with each vehicle. Even if the vehicle isn’t used regularly, if it reaches the age milestone noted in the schedule, that maintenance is needed. Of course, mileage is even more important than vehicle age when it comes to how frequently a maintenance item should be performed. 

A car that isn’t regularly serviced is a wild card.  There could be problems with the alignment, steering, suspension or transmission that will affect how it responds to the driver’s commands. It could lose power in an intersection, leaving your driver vulnerable to a direct hit.  A defect in the power steering system might make it follow the wrong path on a turn. In busy traffic, a few feet in either direction can be the difference between a good day and a bad accident.

Watch Over the Tires

A busted tire interferes with a driver’s mission. It often puts them in danger beside the road or, worse, in it. This is reason enough to watch over tires. If your vehicles are often parked off the pavement, you may want to invest in some composite access mats to protect the tread.

Poorly inflated tires also affect how well the car can respond to steering cues and gear changes. A bad tire makes acceleration difficult.  The tires are causing drag against the driver’s intentions. This, in turn, chips away at the wheel alignment. This leads to problems with steering and suspension. It’s a fast and furious domino effect unless it is caught and corrected.

Train Employees in Appropriate Use of Automotive Technologies

Each driver should be trained and tested in how best to use the smart devices on new cars.  This is especially important given the complexity of today’s dash entertainment systems.  These are designed to help the driver focus on the road, but the systems aren’t very helpful if the driver is confused about how to take or make phone calls, how to ask for messages or how to dictate messages.  Furthermore, never assume that an employee can switch from one brand of vehicle to another and still understand the touch screen. 

Likewise, protective devices such as lane keepers and automatic braking do reduce accidents in theory. However, they rely on the driver’s understanding of and response to the device. This may mean training drivers to understand what these devices can and cannot do. 

They need to understand the limitations of these devices.  Furthermore, they need to know the best way to program them, when necessary. For instance, they may want to set a system to one-car length between the vehicle and the leader car.  It is wiser to have that set to three car lengths.  

Create a Safety Program

It’s right and proper to instruct your employees in the best safety practices for the vehicles they are driving. This is a no-brainer when you have a fleet of Ford F150s that pull loads every day.  However, many managers neglect training if driving is incidental to the employee’s job. That’s why you should take training a step further by creating a safe driver program.  

This is more than explaining how to stay out of harm’s way. It should reflect a company culture that cares as much about the employee as the mission.  For instance, they should know that being late is better than speeding. They should know that keeping both hands on the wheel and eyes on the road is more important than checking their phone for messages while driving.

These measures should have the added effect of improving efficiency for your drivers. Every avoided crash or missed fender bender helps them stay on track. Your paperwork and stress should go down as they enjoy safer drives everyday.