The NATSO Foundation recently launched its third online course in the “How Truckstops Help People” educational series titled “How Truckstops Help Drivers in Distress.”
The 30-minute course is designed to promote highway safety by teaching truckstop owners, operators and employees how to assist someone who may be experiencing physical, emotional or financial distress at their location.
Whether it’s placing a call to emergency services, helping a driver who is unable to continue on in their capacity as the operator of a vehicle or making drivers aware of resources available to the truck driving community, truckstops and travel plazas have an important role to play in helping drivers experiencing distress.
The goal of this training is to standardize the ways in which truckstop employees respond to drivers in distress so that the truckstop and travel plaza industry can respond consistently and proactively to customers who need help.
“Anything that distracts a driver from the primary task of driving significantly increases the chance of a driver being involved in a crash,” said NATSO Foundation Chairman Jenny Love Meyer. “Truckstop and travel plaza employees have the ability to help drivers manage or eliminate driving distractions before they are on the Interstate.”
After completing this course, truckstop owners, operators and employees will be able to:
- Understand some of the common forms of distress;
- Identify signs of distress;
- Understand the risks associated with driving while they’re in distress;
- Assist someone in your location who may be experiencing distress.
Did You Know?:
Research shows that a driver who is worried, upset, frightened, angry or depressed exhibits distraction levels similar to someone driving while using a cell phone or under the influence of alcohol.
Research has proven that drivers in the grip of negative emotions experience dimmed
or impaired observation and reaction times; fail to recognize critical situations such as the
abrupt slowing of traffic; and lose the ability to perform key driving skills that require
precise timing.
- Would you know if someone was exhibiting signs of a heart attack or other life-threatening problem? It’s critical that truckstop employees understand the warning signs that someone is in imminent physical danger. The faster that you recognize someone is in physical distress, the faster you can help them to seek urgent medical care.
- While determining whether someone is experiencing emotional distress may be a little bit more difficult than determining physical distress, assisting a driver experiencing emotional distress is just as critical to highway safety. Many may not realize that stress and emotions can have a significant impact on a driver’s ability by distracting him or her from the primary task of driving.
- A key part of helping someone in a critical situation is knowing where to help them find resources. This online course contains the names of several charitable organizations that might be able to provide assistance if someone in your location is experiencing emotional or financial distress.
“How Truckstops Help Drivers in Distress” marks the third online learning tool in a suite of four courses designed to help teach members of the truckstop and travel plaza industry how to respond to requests for help from people in need of assistance in various life-threatening scenarios.
The first two modules titled “The Role of Truckstops in Combating Human Trafficking” and “How Truckstops Help the Homeless” launched in 2016. A fourth course planned for the “How Truckstops Help People” series will focus on how to help drivers during a natural disaster. Courses are available on the NATSO Foundation’s learning management system free of charge and can be accessed at
http://www.natso.com/onlinelearning. Users unsure of their NATSO website log-in or in need of an account can contact NATSO’s Manager of Travel Plaza Member Services Kimberly Roberts at 703-739-8573 or kroberts@natso.com.
The NATSO Foundation developed its online learning initiative in an effort to strengthen the nation’s truckstop and travel plaza industry by delivering comprehensive educational and safety training materials to truckstop owners, operators and employees.
Photo credit: Bigstock
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