April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, a time for all drivers to evaluate their driving habits to ensure they’re driving as safely as possible. West Bend has many resources dedicated toward preventing distracted driving. Our initiative, West Bend Focus, includes videos and articles with useful information and real-life stories about how distracted driving has affected lives. This initiative to help keep drivers safe on the road is a collaboration of our experts in Claims, Underwriting, and Loss Control. Visit the Focus page to learn about the three types of distracted driving, distracted driving statistics and laws, tips to ensure drivers aren’t distracted by pets and passengers in their vehicles, and much more.
The National Safety Council (NSC) also provides many resources for this month, such as a Just Drive pledge, posters, and a social media kit. Additionally, the NSC has a training course for fleet drivers, to ensure they’re also aware of the dangers of distracted driving. It’s important for all drivers to commit to driving without distractions, especially employees who drive for work purposes. Fleet managers must provide their drivers with training to combat distracted driving and monitor their drivers to ensure compliance with company policies and procedures. Company policies and procedures should clearly prohibit common distractions while driving and should include what consequences drivers will face if they are caught driving dangerously.
In a world full of hard-to-resist distractions, from cell phones to food to passengers, driving distraction-free can feel impossible. But when we stop to consider the life-altering consequences of a serious car accident, removing distractions becomes critical. All drivers and passengers on the road deserve to get to their destinations safely. By pledging to eliminate distractions while driving we can all do our part to keep everyone safe.
