Course Description

Why your Drivers Need this Course

Consider these alarming statistics:

• Employers can expect to pay $24,000 or more when an employee has a traffic accident involving injuries.
• In just one year, U.S. companies spent some $9 billion for medical care resulting from auto crash injuries.
• Employers spent another $9 billion on life insurance, disability payments, and sick leave for crash victims.
• In total, U.S companies spent $230 billion last year on vehicle collisions.
• In 2003, there were more than 11 million traffic accidents across the U.S., resulting in 2.9 million injuries and more than 40,000 deaths.

The high cost of unsafe driving practices is a significant concern for fleet operators. Employee driving safety courses can help to reduce the potential for injuries and lower the financial risk of on-the-job accidents. Driving safety courses can also decrease insurance premiums, Worker's Compensation rates, and administrative expenses.

The Driver Safety Course from DDC USA Fleet.com covers defensive driving techniques, strategies for hazardous driving environments, and the effects of drugs and alcohol on driving safety. Drivers gain practical knowledge and skills that prepare them to respond effectively to unpredictable or dangerous situations.

What will our Driving Safety Course do for your Employees?

DDC USA FLEET.com has designed a course that:

• Meets the training needs of drivers who operate noncommercial fleet vehicles.
• Changes drivers' attitudes, thus saving lives and reducing the frequency and severity of collisions.
• Provides maximum flexibility for employees to take the course on the Internet, anywhere and anytime.
• Enables employees to take the course at their own pace- in one sitting or over an extended time period. Students may log in and log out as often as they wish.
• Documents all student progress, including attendance and test scores, using a database that supervisors can access and report on.

The driver safety course is divided into 12 sessions and takes about 5 hours to complete. Students must pass a comprehensive final exam at the end of the course in order to receive a completion certificate.

Traffic Laws and Procedures

Helps employees understand the what and the why of driving laws and procedures, and motivates them to voluntarily comply with laws.

Alcohol and Traffic Safety

Explains how alcohol and drugs affect driving and highway safety, emphasizes the need for greater awareness of the risks of drinking and driving, and describes the psychological and physiological effects of alcohol.

Physical Forces that Affect Driver Control

Helps employees understand physical forces that influence a driver's control and the performance of the vehicle, including speed, acceleration, deceleration, brake and accelerator control, traction, wet roads, and basic physics of driving.

Perceptual Skills

Shows how the factors of perception-visibility, hearing, and feeling-affect driver performance. Also helps drivers develop skills in managing time, speed, and space; establishing and maintaining safe following distances; driving with added loads; and reacting safely.

Defensive Driving Strategies

Demonstrates how employees can use the concepts of defensive driving to reduce the likelihood of crashes, injuries, death, and economic loss. Drivers learn how to be prepared during travel, handle hazards, use the IPDE strategy, and respond to other drivers on the highway.

Driving Emergencies

Employees learn how to identify common driving emergencies and take the proper action. Emergencies covered include front-end, rear-end, and side collisions; off-road recovery and paths of least recovery; and mechanical malfunctions, such as tires, brakes, steering, power, lights, and skids.

Occupant Restraints and Protective Equipment

Helps drivers understand the reasons for having and using vehicle occupant restraints and protective equipment, including legal requirements for using safety belts, air bags, child seats, headrests, and motorcycle helmets. Also covers the active and passive operational principles of safety restraints and how safety belts, air bags, and motorcycle helmets protect people in a collision.

Special Skills for Difficult Driving Situations

Identifies special conditions that affect driver and vehicle performance, and provides techniques for safe driving on expressways, in cities, and during inclement weather.

Avoiding Parking Lot Collisions! New for 2005

Preventing Backing Collisions New for 2005

Tracking and Progress Reporting

Using the Web-based management tool included with the course, fleet administrators can track driver training and monitor student progress. The tool allow administrators to set up both trainee and administrator accounts, track participation in the course, send out e-mail notifications, and request reports.