Article created for the digital issue of
NATSO surveyed professional drivers to learn more about how they make maintenance decisions and the steps they take to keep drivers safe on the road.
As part of the survey, respondents could provide open-ended answers, and many cited preventative maintenance and pre- and post-trip inspections as top priorities. Tire management was also listed as a critical element of preventing problems later.
Company drivers said they draw on remote diagnostics, thorough pre- and post-trips and regular maintenance to prevent issues. Similarly, leased owner-operators said they try to keep up with regular maintenance and fix any little things at home before they become major issues out on the road.
Drivers, as well as fleet owners and managers, are always working to prevent unsafe emergency roadside repair situations.
Some roadside best practices shared include:
- Carry a sign that says, “emergency scene ahead.” Drivers can place it 100 yards before the site when they pull up on a truck.
- Place extra lights and strobes on the repair trucks to make sure the truck and the technician are visible.
- Create a checklist for technicians to complete prior to leaving for a road call to ensure they have all of the equipment they need. Necessary equipment could include jack stands, cones, and a vest.
- Use emergency lighting, cones and triangles to help improve safety.
- Ensure the technician has personal protection equipment—gloves, safety glasses, proper footwear, gloves, etc., as well as wheel chocks, jack stands, proper cleaning and inspection equipment, and calibrated torque wrenches.
- Once in the bay, employees can set up aviation wheel chocks around the left front steer tire of the vehicle, which will raise the vehicle in the air preventing the customer from leaving before an employee has removed the wheel chocks. The procedure ensures that the jack isn’t left under the truck and lets the technician stand in an area where he or she can ensure the overhead is all the way up and hasn’t stopped.
For truckstop and travel plaza operators, safety is paramount. In roadside repairs, the conditions are less than ideal because it isn’t a controlled environment.
// This article was created for Stop Watch magazine, the magazine of the NATSO Foundation. The NATSO Foundation is the research, education and public outreach subsidiary of NATSO, Inc. The NATSO Foundation provides programs and products to strengthen travel plazas’ ability to meet the traveling public's needs through improved operational performance and business planning. Visit www.natsofoundation.org for more information. (Donate to the NATSO Foundation here.)
Subscribe to Updates
NATSO provides a breadth of information created to strengthen travel plazas’ ability to meet the needs of the travelling public in an age of disruption. This includes knowledge filled blog posts, articles and publications. If you would like to receive a digest of blog post and articles directly in your inbox, please provide your name, email and the frequency of the updates you want to receive the email digest.
