While it may not seem like it, delivery drivers have relatively dangerous jobs. They spend their days driving on unsafe roads where numerous accidents are reported every day. These accidents lead to injury and are sometimes fatal in addition to increasing delivery costs. Delivery companies have to protect their drivers, other motorists, and their vehicles. Keeping drivers safe and decreasing accidents is the best way of doing so. Here are some ways they can keep their drivers safe while reducing costs.

Hire Safe Drivers

Hiring safe drivers is one of the best ways of keeping drivers in your company safe. Start by ensuring the driver has a safe driving record. The Department of Motor Vehicles can provide you with a motor vehicle report for a specific candidate so you can see how they have been in the past.

Next, you should ask about their experience driving for long hours as you would working as a delivery driver. Driving for a few hours a day is very different from driving the long hours delivery drivers do.

Maintain Your Delivery Vehicles

Every delivery company should keep a strict maintenance schedule for all their vehicles. Vehicles in good working order are less likely to break down or cause accidents. A study by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that 2-5% of all vehicle accidents are caused by mechanical issues.

Tracking a vehicle’s maintenance record, ensuring you know the condition of all your delivery vehicles, and ensuring they are taken in for services when required can help reduce this risk.

Let Technology Help

We use technology to improve safety in a lot of industries which means delivery companies can use it to ensure driver safety. It all starts with keeping an eye on your drivers. If your drivers know data about how they drive and their safety is being recorded, they are much more likely to drive safely.

Additionally, solutions like Geotab that provide driver tracking, reporting, and safety reporting tools can help companies enhance their drive coaching and training strategies. Drivers can know exactly what they are doing on the road that can lead to unsafe situations and thus be helped to learn to avoid doing these things.

The use of dashcam footage can also help identify issues on the road thereby allowing the company and its drivers to rectify them.

Reduce Driving Hours

It might not seem economical to reduce the number of hours your drivers are on the road as that means you have to hire extra people. However, a sizable number of accidents are caused by drowsy or tired drivers. Reducing driving hours can reduce this risk by ensuring your drivers are in the best conditions to drive every time they are behind the wheel.

Also, use technology to help you schedule deliveries. Sometimes companies fall behind and feel like their drivers have to get on the road to ensure a timely delivery no matter how long they have been driving. Scheduling software can stop this from happening.

Driver safety is crucial for delivery companies. There is liability associated with drivers getting into accidents, not to mention the physical, emotional, psychological, and medical costs associated with accidents. Keeping your drivers safe, therefore, benefits both employees and the company.