The Golden Rule In Trucking Safety
The Golden Rule In Trucking Safety
If you ask experienced truck drivers what the golden rule of trucking safety is, you'll get a number of particular replies – keep your speed down, keep your following distance, monitor your mirrors, etc. - all of which are right and all of which are extremely important.
But they're also quite particular, and none of them will get you to safety by themselves; you'll need all of them.
So, to simplify things, let's reduce this topic to a single point that applies to all aspects of safety.
There is only one golden rule: do not hit anything.
Isn't it simple and obvious?
Wrong.
Why would I bother to make a point about something as basic as "don't smash into anything"?
Simple - because it isn't always so straightforward or evident to us.
We all get caught up in the wrong priorities from time to time: making as much money as possible, getting to the customer on time no matter what, finding a place to pull over as soon as possible because we're hungry or need to use the restroom, getting out of rush hour traffic we've been stuck in for two hours (it's really rush hour traffic), and so on.
We're sometimes completely sidetracked by other essential things in our lives, such as disputes with our loved ones, a sick family member or friend, being late for our home time and desperate to get home, being behind on our bills and having to figure out our money, and so on.
Keeping Your Mind on Track
It's not that some of us aren't concerned about safety; we all are.
However, with so much going on in our lives, it can be difficult to maintain safety at the forefront of our minds.
I don't believe that most accidents are caused by careless drivers.
I believe they are the result of people becoming distracted from their first goal – safety – and making driving judgments based on the wrong priorities.
That's why staying safe over time is so difficult – it requires a lot of mental discipline not to lose sight of safety when life is so hectic.
You must maintain your attention and prioritize your tasks.
It's a lot simpler to say than it is to do.
Patience, Focus, The Big Picture, and Long Term
Warren Buffet, one of the world's wealthiest individuals and most successful money managers, lived by one golden rule: make all of your financial decisions pay off in the long run.
To put it another way, don't make financial decisions that will benefit you today but will harm you later.
You will accumulate riches if you continually focus on long-term gains over time.
You'll be broke a few years down the road if you trade long-term gains for short-term gains. The same may be said for trucking safety.
Maintain your focus on the long-term goal of a spotless safety record.
It's not a big deal if you're late for a load.
It's hardly the end of the world if you arrive home a day or two later than planned.
If you're tired of sitting in Atlanta traffic and want to start moving again, don't worry; it will pass.
Your driving record, on the other hand, will not pass muster; accidents remain on your record indefinitely.
And that's providing no one gets hurt.
There's no need for us to go there.
You're well aware of the dangers.
Ask Yourself Why You Are Doing Something
Hundreds of times a day, we make judgments such as which lane to be in, whether to pass this guy or not, whether to pull out now or wait a minute, whether to keep driving even though I'm weary to get there on time, and so on. Are you making these decisions based on keeping your safety record clean, or are you making them based on how you feel right now and what you want right now?
We're constantly "playing the odds" in life.
What are the possibilities that this will end badly, we reason?
The majority of the activities we do on the road will go smoothly 99.9% of the time.
Even doing the incorrect thing can have a positive outcome.
When you're making hundreds of judgments a day over the course of years, and you account in all of the elements that will effect the outcome of each one, taking chances and playing the odds will make your last decision that, 01% of the decisions that end badly. One horrible ending is one too many for all of us.
Get It Right, Every Single Time
You must never put your safety in jeopardy.
Some people apparently believe that they will never be hurt.
Most people tend to think that bad things can happen to them, but they are unlikely to do so this time.
To be blunt, there are graveyards, courtrooms, hospitals, and unemployment lines full of people who have made these assumptions one too many times.
I despise the thought of being a downer, but the situation is so terrible, and one time is enough.
"Am I doing this with my long-term aim of a perfect safety record as my top priority, or am I taking a chance and playing the odds?" ask yourself every time you make a decision out there.
Make all of your selections with the simple goal in mind of "not hitting anything."
Everything else, such as being late, waiting an extra minute before pulling off, arriving home a day late, and following a slower vehicle on a two-lane highway, will fade away as if they never happened.
Accidents aren't going to happen.
So be focused and don't make compromises, because the odds will always be stacked against you.
Post was last modified: March 23 2022 19:06:41
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