Why Do You Need to Monitor Your Truck Drivers’ Records? 12 Jul 2019

How much do you know about your truck drivers? Are you close enough to talk about their hobbies and family? Maybe you only remember the basics, such as their names and job performance. Whether you notice a little or a lot, there’s one thing you need to know about all your drivers: How safe is their driving?

Keeping up to date on your employees’ driving is your legal responsibility. You need to check their motor vehicle records every year. However, researching your employees’ driving records once a year isn’t enough to keep your business safe. Rather, it leaves a huge gap for bad driving habits to slip in.

In the time between background checks, your employees could run into legal problems. Unsafe driving, car accidents, and other offenses can cause an employee’s license to be suspended or revoked. Months could pass before you become aware of the problem.

If you assume your drivers will report legal problems, you may be disappointed. Research indicates that 20 to 50 percent of drivers don’t self-report violations. Being unaware of an employee’s bad driving prevents you from correcting problems before they spiral out of control.

Drivers with driving violations create issues for you and others. One school bus driver killed a child and a teacher in a car crash because of his unsafe driving practices. Could this accident have been avoided? The driver’s license had been revoked 14 times before that accident. If his superiors had gotten regular updates on his license status, they could have taken precautions before lives were lost.

No one wants to employ unsafe drivers. How can you be sure your employees are responsible drivers all year? Let’s learn how monitoring your drivers’ records protects you and others from bad driving. We’ll also consider how you can monitor records without losing too much cash.

Regular Monitoring Keeps Your Business and the Public Safe

Truck drivers need to be safe on the road. Monitoring records only once a year leaves you vulnerable to months of missed driving violations. Monthly checkups ensure your drivers are safe all year.

Staying up to date on your employees’ records prevents accidents. When a driving record shows serious driving violations, you know you need to take action. Having drivers take a driving class, go to a rehab program, or stop driving will prevent accidents before they ruin your business.

Monitoring reveals more than driving problems. It reminds you when an employee’s license or medical examination is going to expire. Alerting your driver that they need to renew their credentials helps your drivers and business stay legally compliant.

Keeping track of your employees’ records also rewards responsible driving. Having safe drivers lowers your insurance rates, which means you can give good drivers a bonus. Rewarding conscientious driving entices other employees to be more cautious on the road.

Monitoring your drivers protects your business from legal problems and lowers your costs. Checking your drivers’ records is essential, but it’s pricey to run a background check each month. How can you keep track of your drivers’ records without draining your budget?

How Can You Keep up to Date With Your Drivers’ Records?

Monitoring your drivers doesn’t have to be expensive. Programs are in place to help trucking companies research their drivers for a reasonable cost. Here’s how you can monitor your drivers’ records:

• Get a full report of your drivers’ current motor vehicle records. States vary in how far back their driving records go, so aim for getting driving records from the past three years. This copy will serve as your baseline for their future records, making it easy to spot problems.
• Sign up for a monitoring program. Many states have a program that alerts you to changes in a driver’s record. Instead of buying a copy of their records every month, you only purchase them as needed.
• If your state doesn’t offer a monitoring program, obtain a copy of your drivers’ records each month. Even though this is more expensive than a monitoring program, it’ll save your business from dealing with legal problems and high insurance costs.
• Set up processes to deal with problems. Your processes can range from notification emails to rehab and driver’s training. For example, if your driver needs to be reminded to renew their license, you can send them a pre-written notice of renewal.

Monitoring your drivers’ records benefits you and everyone else on the road. Keep up to date on your employees’ driving by following these steps.

Keep Yourself in the Know With Monthly Monitoring

How well do you know your drivers? Whether or not you remember every detail about their lives, you have to know how safe their driving is. Monitoring your employees’ driving records ensures your drivers and your business are safe.

Monthly monitoring protects you from bad driving. Start by getting a full copy of your drivers’ records to have a baseline for comparison. Keep costs down without sacrificing safety by sticking to a monthly monitoring program. Then, create a plan to handle any problems or unfavorable results. With monthly monitoring, you’ll have the knowledge you need to keep your business safe.