Road Safety Week

21 May 2021

How Long is Too Long?

As many organisations know a key concern for our drivers is fatigue when driving long distances. The increasing risk of pushing for those extra kilometres by skipping much needed breaks sometimes ends in fatality.

A study done by the NZTA in 2019 concluded that: “In 2019, fatigue was a contributing factor in 17 fatal crashes (6 per cent of all fatal crashes), 85 (4 per cent) serious injury crashes and 491 (5 per cent) minor injury crashes.” And around 25% of all road fatalities in NZ are work related out of about 350 each year.

GetHomeSafe Works with EROAD to provide organisations a variety of features such as GPS tracking, check in timers and Journey Management, to help the individual lone drivers as well as the team leaders to have a system to make sure all the safety procedures are followed up.

Here are some proactive steps to avoid fatigue such as:

  • plan meetings or events to start later and end earlier to accommodate

staff travelling long distances to attend allow time for meal breaks and rests

  • stop every 2–3 hours for a break
  • maintain the inside of your vehicle at a moderate temperature, too warm and you may doze off
  •  getting plenty of sleep before a long journey

 

Planning your journey with GHS

GetHomeSafe’s Journey Management Solution allows you to plan and request approval for tasks from Team Leaders before starting. Team Leaders can review, approve or decline tasks, and include comments where necessary. This can be crucial to Drivers in your work place as it schedules time during the work day to take a break and not over fatigue and force them to push those extra kilometres.

The benefits of using GetHomeSafe’s Journey Management Solution include:

  • The ability to plan and request approval for tasks before they are undertaken
  •  Requesting/reviewing tasks via different channels anywhere with an internet connection
  •  Viewing journey details (including and recommended travel information) ahead of time
  •  Access to a detailed log of all requested, approved and declined tasks
  •  Making sure you and/or your colleagues get home safely

 

The Limit might not always be the safest speed

Speed Is the Main Factor in every crash. Speed affects the severity of all crashes. Even when speed doesn't cause the car crash, it’s is the key determinant whether anyone is killed, injured, or walks away unharmed from that crash. Changing conditions can increase road risk, so adjusting speeds accordingly will help keep all road users safe.

Many Drivers Don’t realise that they can be driving unsafely at the speed limit as the speed limit is the maximum speed you can drive to the conditions which means that it may not always be the safest. This is where the concept on #love30 comes from for Road Safety Week as a statistic done by the NZTA found that 80-90% of people hit by a car going 50km/h would be fatally injured whilst.

21 May 2021