Test-Driving Your Drivers

One of the most important elements of a fleet safety program is the initial driver evaluation ride. It gives you insight into the skills your prospective driver has now and, just as important, how you should follow up with coaching should you bring the driver on board.

It’s true that conducting a pre-hire ride that you can use as a basis for future training takes time, patience, and thoughtful consideration. But the paybacks in safety are huge. Here are some ideas to help you.

1. Just Do It. Even if you don’t have the staffing to conduct the test yourself, you can contract the job to a third party. Consider using a truck driving school you trust or a safety consultant who offers in-vehicle driver skills evaluation. Third-party evaluations are often more objective than your own, since they are independent and free from any internal pressures to get the seats filled.

2. Plan, Plan, Plan. You want an opportunity to test a driver’s skills in urban, highway, and city traffic, and certainly, you want to see how the driver handles backing and other vehicle manoeuvres. Plan a prescribed route that will encompass all of the above. You also want a set route so the evaluator will spend less time giving directions and deciding where to go. Furthermore, he should have a written form with a checklist of what the test will entail. Again, the idea to let the evaluator focus all his attention on the driver’s performance.

3. The Pretrip Counts. Before you even pull away, the driver should be expected to pretrip his unit. Use a pretrip checklist and closely evaluate whether the driver is truly competent in this area. If not, plan to provide followup training if the candidate proves to be a solid performer. If your driver candidate shows no indication that he’s going to perform a pretrip, stop him right there and tell him pretrips are mandatory.

Next, I would expect the driver to check and adjust seats, mirrors, and familiarize himself with the dashboard and instrumentation. No professional would simply get behind the wheel in an unfamiliar truck and just pull away. This would compromise both the driver and the driver evaluator’s safety.

4. On the Move. Let’s get to the actual driving. A driver needs to ensure that two basic elements exist at all times while driving: good visibility and space around his unit at all times. This requires planning, observation, hazard-recognition skills, the knowledge to determine the defence, and allowing time to make correcting adjustments.

How do you evaluate these? I watch to see if a driver understands and works to position his vehicle in traffic so that a safety zone or a space cushion is created, and more importantly, that this space cushion is maintained at all times. Here’s what I look for:

* Following distance. A vehicle collision happens when two or more vehicles try to occupy the same space at the same time. The best way to avoid this is to maintain proper following distances. What’s proper? Some recommend that you allow “X”-amount of vehicle lengths of space between vehicles depending on speed, while others recommend using time as the determining factor.

Any method a driver uses to create a safety cushion in front of his vehicle is OK with me, as long as the cushion is big enough and maintained.

Maintaining proper following distance is a vital safety skill, and it’s the No. 1 topic on all follow up coaching rides and as an on-going safety meeting topic. If you can read the provincial motto on the plate of the car in front of you, fail the candidate.

* Vision and visibility. Part of maintaining a safety zone is proper mirror use. A driver who is in the habit of making regular mirror scans is actually improving and expanding his field of vision.

Moving eyes ensure maximum peripheral vision, allowing a driver to pick up more information-a vehicle creeping into his blind spot, for example-and we know that information is critical to making informed decisions. I’ll even time the mirror scans during the ride.

You should also be asking what the driver is seeing in front of him, so you can determine if he is actually looking far enough ahead. A safe driver is a psychic: he needs to be looking into his future. I want to see a driver looking ahead several blocks in city traffic and up to a half-mile ahead while travelling at highway speeds.

* Easy outs. Vision and space go hand in hand. Watch to see if a driver allows others to block his forward view. Does the driver compensate to maintain an excellent field of forward vision?

If a driver can see ahead and around their vehicle at all times, then he can anticipate danger and risks developing. With proper following distances established, he’ll have time to adjust, avoiding panic manoeuvres or worse, a collision.

Does the driver position himself in traffic so that he has an easy “out” in the event that someone cuts into his lane? The options are limited-ask yourself, should the unexpected happen, can the driver easily move to his left? Move to his right? Can he stop in time? Does the following distance he established allow him to slow down or speed up?

Another key safe driving technique I look for is the “brake-and-a-horn-cover” move. Once a driver sees a slowdown ahead, he needs to get off the accelerator and place his foot over the brake. I call this a brake cover, and it improving reaction time if a brake application is actually required. In heavy traffic, a horn cover never hurts, either. A friendly tap can, in many situations, prevent an accident from developing.