Beyond Technology: Why Human Behavior Holds the Key to Safer Fleet Operations
In today's fleet-management world, we're surrounded by impressive safety technology. From telematics that track every driving behavior to advanced systems that can literally take control of a vehicle to prevent accidents, we've never had more technological support for safety.
So why are traffic fatalities and risky driving behaviors still increasing?
The National Safety Council reports a troubling 30% increase in traffic fatalities from 2014 to 2022. Meanwhile, Lytx®, the leading producer of video telematics, released its recent State of the Data report showing that driving risk actually increased again from 2022 to 2023, with cell phone use, speeding, and following too closely remaining persistent problems.
As it turns out, even the most sophisticated technology has a critical blind spot: human behavior.
The Limitations of Fleet Safety Technology
Most fleet safety programs rely on two main strategies:
- Root Cause Analysis (Think Telematics)
Telematics helps us identify what happened: the speeding, the hard braking, the phone use. But it struggles to uncover why drivers make these choices. Without understanding the motivations behind behaviors, we're left treating symptoms rather than causes. - Engineering Controls (Think ADAS)
Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) create technological guardrails by alerting drivers to dangers or even intervening to prevent crashes. These systems work wonderfully . . . when used as intended. But as anyone who's disabled an annoying beeping sensor knows, humans are remarkably creative at circumventing safety features they find inconvenient.
Both approaches offer valuable safety benefits. But they miss something essential: the complex reasons why people choose risky behaviors even when they know better.
The Missing Piece: The Human Element of Safety
Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) addresses what technology alone cannot—the human element of safety. Instead of focusing solely on what happened, BBS helps identify the true root cause-- why people make unsafe choices in the first place.
Here's what makes BBS different:
- It recognizes that unsafe behavior rarely stems from ignorance or not caring, which is why simply retraining drivers often fails to create lasting change.
- It investigates the external pressures that influence behavior such as time constraints, performance expectations, or efficiency demands.
- It creates solutions that directly address these underlying factors.
Think about it! Do sanitation workers stand on the back of garbage trucks because they don't know it's dangerous? Of course not. They do it because it's the most efficient way to complete their route quickly. The behavior makes perfect sense in context.
Similarly, a driver might speed not because they don't value safety, but because they're trying to avoid rush hour traffic that would delay them getting home to their family or meeting their delivery quotas.
How BBS Produces Better Safety Results
BBS isn't just theoretical; it works. A comprehensive analysis of BBS implementation across 73 facilities found a 26% safety improvement in the first year and an impressive 69% improvement by year five.
Why such strong results? Because BBS creates lasting change by addressing the real reasons behind risky behavior, rather than just telling people to "be more careful" or relying solely on technology to enforce rules.
Using Behavior Science to Improve Fleet Safety
Ready to enhance your fleet's safety approach with behavior science? Here's how to start:
- Look beyond the behavior to its causes. When you see speeding in your telematics data, don't just focus on the violation. Ask, “What's motivating this? Is it schedule pressure? Route planning issues? Unclear expectations?” The same behavior might have different causes in different regions or among different driver groups.
- Design solutions that address these specific causes. If drivers speed to avoid rush hour delays, maybe the answer isn't more speeding warnings. Instead, the solution might be adjusted schedules or route planning. If following distance is the issue, perhaps the solution involves delivery expectations or time-management training.
- Measure, adjust, and keep improving. Implement your targeted solutions, measure their impact, and be ready to refine your approach based on results. Safety is never "done.” Safety is an ongoing process of improvement.
Combining Technology and Behavior Science
To be clear, we're not suggesting you abandon technology. Telematics and ADAS are valuable tools in your safety arsenal. We're advocating a more complete approach that combines technology with a deeper understanding of human behavior.
Technology tells us what's happening. Behavior science helps us understand why it's happening and how to change it. Together, they create a comprehensive safety approach that can truly transform your fleet's safety culture.
Discover Why Technology Alone Won’t Fix Risky Driving
Download our free white paper to learn how behavior-based safety fills the gaps technology can’t—and what really drives lasting change behind the wheel.