Safety is always a top concern for fleet owners given industry trends showing year-over-year increases in crash fatalities that involve large trucks and with the prevailing headwinds of accident litigation.
When accidents involve large trucks, the plaintiff’s counsel often uses the Reptile Theory approach to litigation to chase higher verdicts.
“With this approach, the counsel tries to paint defendant motor carriers, among other things, as failing to take reasonable steps to train drivers,” said J.W. Taylor, owner of Taylor & Associates, a transportation-focused law firm based in Winter Haven, Fla. “Properly documenting training and continuing education can be helpful in combatting these tactics.”
This week, several technology providers announced new products and integrations designed to help motor carriers better document their training processes and more fully utilize driver safety information to reduce risk.
Photo-documented training
Instructional design and learning company Luma “Brighter Learning” released a new camera-based authentication process for online driver training.
Authentication has always been a concern in distance education from online college courses to state certification exams. The stakes are higher in the trucking industry, and fleets that lack definitive proof of driver training events could potentially lose millions in accident lawsuits.
