This post was originally published in the August 2018 edition of Truck News
Twenty percent. That’s the impact on fuel efficiency that
can be attributed to a drivers actions behind the wheel.
The thing is, we don’t invest twenty percent of our training
time and training dollars teaching drivers to be fuel efficient. This is short sighted
because the benefits of training drivers to be more fuel efficient goes beyond
simple cost savings.
A search of “fuel efficient driving techniques” on the
internet will bring you a host of results with five techniques being
predominant. I found this list on the Government of Canada, Ministry of Natural
Resources website. (www.nrcan.gc.ca)
1.
Accelerate gently
2.
Maintain a steady speed
3.
Anticipate traffic
4.
Avoid high speeds
5.
Coast to decelerate
Any professional driver will
recognize that this list of techniques is directly related to another list of
techniques, the Smith System of Defensive Driving. Ninety five percent. That is
the percentage of collisions attributable to driver error.
1. Aim
high in steering
2. Get
the big picture
3. Keep
your eyes moving
4. Make
sure they see you
5. Leave
yourself an out
A defensive driver is a safe driver
is a fuel efficient driver. So why don’t we focus more training time on this
relationship? It doesn’t require any capital investment in additional equipment
or technology. All it requires is the will to spend more time with the people
that matter, drivers.
When we spend more time with
drivers we discover that professional drivers understand the techniques and
possess the skills. Knowledge isn’t the issue.
The real challenge is getting drivers to buy in. Because fuel efficiency
and road safety is far more about the right attitude behind the wheel than it
is about skills training.
So what affects our attitude as
drivers? I know my fellow truckers can list off dozens of hard issues that affect
our mindset as we navigate our rigs down the road but if I were to single out
one factor that we all share and has the greatest impact on our attitude behind
the wheel it would be time.
Time comes in to play in every
aspect of a driver’s day. Drivers are judged on how efficiently they make use
of their time for pick-ups and deliveries. A driver’s time is governed by
roadside enforcement and internal audits. Drivers can be penalized if they do
not take the time to chart their time accurately throughout the day. Time is a
source of pressure and anxiety for truckers. Time is something truckers never
have enough of.
It is the time crunch we face
behind the wheel every day and its resulting anxiety that fuels impatience.
It’s that lack of patience that leads to speeding, following too closely, hard
acceleration & braking, distracted driving (multi-tasking while driving),
and aggressive driving to “make up” some time.
Road rage is a direct result of a driver’s lack of patience that leads
to anger and the resulting disregard of all the techniques that support road
safety and fuel efficiency. So you see the paradox. On one hand drivers are
expected to slow down and take the time to do the job right but on the other
hand drivers are expected to hurry up and be cost effective. Messaging is mixed
and inconsistent depending on who is doing the talking. Enforcement, carriers,
shippers, and receivers all have a different stake in the game. They all need
to focus on the fact that their common denominator is the driver.
It makes me crazy when I read op-ed
pieces about improving fuel efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and
improving road safety that only give professional drivers a cursory mention.
Collisions are a result of driver error 95% of the time. A drivers actions
affect fuel consumption by 20%. Drivers should be the primary focus of industry
training but we are not. We need a fresh approach.
Is it that difficult to understand
how important it is to invest in deep training for drivers?
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