Here are some tips and ideas you could incorporate into your training, in the event of a truck accident: • Take pictures, of where the vehicles were left. • Try to work in a landmark like a power pole, bridge, or road sign. • Start taking pictures of the full accident scene at 50 feet away, then move closer in…
COMMERCIAL VEHICLES – IS THE STATED AMOUNT IMPORTANT? When you’re coming up on your yearly commercial auto renewal, a good insurance broker is going to ask you to review your Power Units and determine whether the stated value for each power unit is accurate? In a total loss/wrecked truck situation, the insurance company will look at your stated amount and the actual cash value…
Do I need trailer interchange coverage on my policy? This entirely depends on what shipping companies you plan to work with and whether you’ll be pulling your own trailers or the shipping companies. One of my appointed carriers, Great West Casualty, has some really great coverages for trailer interchange agreements. Under a trailer interchange agreement, the shipping company’s coverage must be equal to your company’s coverage, as Physical Damage coverage will…
If It’s Not Documented, It Didn’t Happen We meet with many fleet and safety managers who are boastful about their safety programs. However, when an insurance loss control representative asks for documentation to back up the good story, the evidence is scant. This is exactly what plaintiff’s attorneys love—a fleet with a weak driver training documentation system. Increasingly, insurance companies…
Great West to Host Trucking & Economic Update Webinar On June 23, 2021, Great West Casualty Company is proud to present its latest GPS webinar featuring Bob Costello, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of International Trade Policy and Cross-Border Operations at the American Trucking Associations. As chief economist, Bob manages all of ATA’s collection, analysis, and dissemination of trucking…
Time To Beef Up Your Unsafe Driving Policies Operation Safe Driver Week 2021 To Focus on Speeding The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is promoting the 2021 Operation Safe Driver Week from July 11 – 17th this year. Safety-focused fleet managers should already have unsafe driving policies and procedures in place, but it’s critical that drivers understand that speeding, following…
Worried About a DOT Safety Audit? Wait Until Freight Brokers Jump Into the Audit Game. The dreaded DOT safety audit. It’s enough to strike fear in the hearts of many hardened fleet managers. However, there may be a new player in the safety audit game—freight brokers. A bi-partisan bill introduced in Congress would allow freight brokers to establish safety standards…
Use ETHOS to Help Understand HOS Violations Commercial truck insurance underwriters scrutinize the Hours of Service (HOS) score, as an elevated score has a strong correlation to crashes. It’s important that fleet managers continually train their drivers on HOS rules. Fortunately, the FMCSA recently launched the Education Tool for Hours of Service (ETHOS) to help break down various types of…
Unauthorized Passengers—Know Who’s Riding Along With trips that last from a few days to weeks at a time, the average truck driver spends a considerable amount of time away from home. While each driver deals with it in his or her own way, for many, bringing loved ones along for the occasional trip may seem like the perfect idea. Unfortunately,…
Road Check 2021 Is Over—But Don’t Lose Focus on OOS Violations We hope that your fleet survived Road Check 2021 with clean inspections! That said, well-run fleets will monitor CSA violations year-round and have an action plan for preventing OOS issues. Your ISS and CSA scores have a significant effect on your commercial truck insurance rates, so it’s critical to…