{"id":4521,"date":"2020-03-02T16:24:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T15:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/?p=4521"},"modified":"2020-03-02T16:24:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T15:24:08","slug":"strategies-to-reduce-vehicle-collisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2020\/03\/02\/strategies-to-reduce-vehicle-collisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategies to Reduce Vehicle Collisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strategies to Reduce Vehicle Collisions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Vision Zero is a program that aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries. It was first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, and in the past five years, at least 40 communities in the U.S. have joined the program, according to Leah Shahum, executive director of the Vision Zero Network.<\/p>\n

While Vision Zero programs focus on all traffic fatalities, fleet managers can make a difference by improving driver training, changing the vehicles purchased, and modifying vehicles to ensure that they are safer. Here are some strategies public agencies have implemented.<\/p>\n

New York City\u2019s Fleet Safety Improvements<\/strong><\/h5>\n

New York City is vocal about its Vision Zero policy, enacting strict policies, creating training programs and videos for drivers, adding safety technology and devices, and keeping a public scorecard of its progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been probably the most proactive and ambitious in their vision and efforts,\u201d Shahum said. \u201cThey\u2019re walking the walk, not just talking the talk, and they\u2019ve seen a decrease of a little more than 30% \u2014 nearly a third reduction of traffic deaths in their first four years of Vision Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Keith Kerman, chief fleet officer and Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) deputy commissioner, the city had eight fatal events involving non-emergency response in 2014, its benchmark year. In the next five years, there were 10 in total, or an average of two per year.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s hard for the city to determine which methods have worked best, its numerous initiatives include:<\/p>\n

1. Buying and modifying vehicles for safety<\/h5>\n

With its wide variety of vehicles, New York City is challenged with keeping up with what\u2019s available. \u201cWe are trying to transition the design of our city vehicles as comprehensively as possible to the safest models that exist throughout the entire 30,000-vehicle fleet and literally 160 types of vehicles that we operate,\u201d Kerman said. Something like automatic braking, mandated for light-duty non-emergency vehicles, can\u2019t be implemented the same way for police cars and isn\u2019t yet available for heavy trucks, he explained.<\/p>\n

\"High
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High vision (cabover) trucks and additional mirrors can increase drivers\u2019 field of view. Image courtesy of Volpe Center<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For light-duty vehicles, the city is making sure all new vehicle purchases include automatic braking; so far, 1,700 vehicles have them.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we know from our analytics is that the biggest single cause of injuries and of claims cost is city vehicles rear-ending private vehicles. We hit you, it\u2019s back and neck injuries and suing, and\u2026rear-ending is the most preventable form of collision and crash,\u201d Kerman said.<\/p>\n

In addition, the city is buying, when available, vehicles with backup cameras, backup alarms, power and heated mirrors for weather conditions, and driver alert systems. More than 3,100 vehicles have driver alert systems.<\/p>\n

For heavier trucks, fleet staff is installing side guards, which work as a bumper that prevents pedestrians and bicyclists from getting pulled underneath the vehicle during a collision. Currently, 2,700 vehicles have them, with more being installed every day.<\/p>\n

The city purchases high-vision trucks when they are available. Also known as cab-forward trucks, they allow for better visibility of pedestrians and bicyclists. \u201cWhen you talk about trucks in urban areas, the normal heighted driver may not be able to see for up to 25 feet in a conventional truck, and the conventional truck is essentially where the engine compartment sticks out ahead of the truck. You\u2019re kind of looking at the hood,\u201d Kerman said.<\/p>\n

2. Increasing driver training<\/h5>\n

DCAS has led the training of more than 60,000 city employees in an all-day training course. The department also produced a safe truck driving video<\/a> along with the Department of Transportation, which Kerman hopes other fleet operators, public and private, can learn from as well.<\/p>\n

Shahum added that a training feature the city included that she found particularly effective was showing interviews with people injured in collisions or who have lost loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a way to humanize the issue of traffic safety,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to make sure we\u2019re thinking about these losses of lives not just in terms of numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Installing telematics<\/h5>\n

DCAS implemented real-time tracking on nearly 23,000 vehicles, including just under 11,000 private school buses. Separately, the police department has telematics devices on its approximately 9,000 on-road vehicles.<\/p>\n

Telematics allows managers to track data points such as speed, harsh braking, harsh cornering, acceleration, and more factors that influence safety, allowing managers to help<\/p>\n

employees with bad driving habits improve. The city\u2019s telematics system includes a safety scorecard that tracks these points and more. Kerman said in the first year, drivers received an 83; today, the city\u2019s score is a 93.<\/p>\n

\"Crash
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Crash mitigation strategies include\u00a0installing side guards on trucks to reduce fatalities and injuries due to collisions with bicyclists and pedestrians. Data courtesy of Volpe Center<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Banning cell phone use while driving<\/h5>\n

The city has also banned hands-free phone operation for drivers. \u201cMost states and most fleets bar texting and bar handheld phone use, but then there\u2019s been this kind of blind spot to hands-free or the implicit idea that hands-free is safe,\u201d Kerman said. \u201cWe do not think that hands-free operation makes it safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Tracking Results<\/h5>\n

Kerman said it\u2019s hard to track the results of individual initiatives, as many were implemented at the same time. It\u2019s also hard to track events that were avoided.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you report an averted fatality? The whole idea of a side guard is a child doesn\u2019t go under the tire and die. They just kind of get bumped away from the car and move on. To some extent, we don\u2019t know how many people we\u2019ve saved,\u201d he explained. But the significant reduction in fatalities since 2014 is one indicator that the city\u2019s fleet changes are working. Another is the reduction in crashes per mile, which have decreased or stayed the same almost every year since 2014. Preventable collisions per 100,000 miles involving city vehicles decreased by 21% from 2014 to 2019, while injuries from these collisions went down by 27%.<\/p>\n

On Board with Vision Zero? Here\u2019s How to Start<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Jane Terry, vice president of government affairs for the National Safety Council, said the best way to start with Vision Zero or any safety strategy is to get others on board. \u201cGet a cross-section of their public sector organizations within the city to work together on Vision Zero, including those agencies that have vehicles. That may be a trash service, or utility service, a police department, and others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kerman recommended three projects that he believes deliver the best return on investment:<\/p>\n