Pulling driving privileges from fleet drivers is not one of the more exciting duties of a fleet manager, but it is an absolute necessity at times.
Pulling driving privileges from fleet drivers is not one of the more exciting duties of a fleet manager, but it is an absolute necessity at times.
When vehicle operators are not driving safely or have bad habits behind the wheel, it puts your employees, other drivers on the road, and your company or organization at extreme risk.
“Drivers are a key link to the success of many organizations, so revoking privileges isn’t an action to take lightly,” said Bill Schankel, CAE, Interim CEO for NAFA Fleet Management Association. “This action may affect a driver’s livelihood, however poor safety practices can affect other drivers on the road, and those impacts can be tragic.”
A variety of factors can influence whether a driver may be permitted to operate a vehicle. Certain types of moving violations, driving under the influence, too many violation points in a set period, and even non-driving matters such as licenses revoked for lack of child support payments are all examples of situations which may call for disciplinary action. It’s imperative that an organization monitor for all of these situations to develop a clear picture of its drivers.
When evaluating if you should suspend driving privileges from a driver, it is important that you collaborate with other departments in your organization or institution, such as risk management, human resources, and legal.
Here are six steps to follow if you need to suspend a driver’s driving privileges:
- Standard operating procedures (SOPs) must be in place, vetted, and approved by all departments of concern.
- Next is educating and sharing the SOPs with all employees that will be operating fleet vehicles, as well as with the supervisors responsible for those drivers.
- Keep accurate records on drivers. Running motor vehicle record (MVR) checks before granting privileges, and routinely once a year, is important to determine your drivers’ driving habits. When driving complaints are received, extensively document any information you have on the complaint, actions taken, and the driver’s response.
- Have facts, not fiction or assumptions, about your driver and/or the situation. Depending on the situation, telematics can be a huge assistance to management in assessing unsafe driving situations. Depending on the telematics product your fleet uses, you can gather valuable information such as location, speed, hard acceleration, and fast braking, just to name a few.
- Notify the driver’s supervisor, or other responsible people, of the situation to make him or her aware. This allows the proper oversight personnel to be made aware that there could be something more to the situation, such as other unsafe behaviors in other aspects of the driver’s job.
- Collaborate with human resources and the driver’s supervisor to determine if it is mandatory for the driver in question to operate vehicles, or if the driver can be reassigned to other duties to stay employed. Once any court cases or situations are investigated, such as an Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) charge, then the driver may potentially be reinstated.
These six steps can reduce the liability to both you and your organization, while collaborating with other departments through the process will provide you with support.