Defensive Driving from a FedEx Courier

I can recall when I was 16 years of age and sitting through Driver’s Ed thinking it was such a waste of time. I could not wait to get behind the wheel and experience a sense of freedom that all teenagers long for. Albeit, as I grew up, I realized that one; I needed a little more humility and two, there was a reason for Driver’s Ed. Driving education is imperative. Application of this knowledge is even better and as a current courier for FedEx Express, I can vouch for this. There are many reasons accidents occur but according to several sources online  the number one reason is distracted driving. Amongst this are other preventable reasons such as reckless driving and speeding.

I have worked for FedEx for two years now. Each new hire has to go through their driver’s education class before they are able to drive for the company. Safety habits are instilled in us from the get-go. We are taught such things like to signal our intentions five to seven seconds before we make the lane change and aim high in steering which means to not fix your gaze on the car in front, but to scan the road a quarter mile ahead. We are also told to not be in a rush, which I find ironic because we must keep a set pace that is measured by how many stops we can accomplish in one hour. As well as continuous practice, our manager participates in a company wide safety call each week and discusses those conversations with our team. One major finding is common throughout most of the company’s accidents and that is complacency. Even the most experienced and educated driver can become complacent. They get used to the same truck they drive and the same surroundings they pass by, so they get overconfident. This leads to many collisions both major and minor. I am not saying that you cannot or should not be confident in your driving abilities, however; the trick is to achieve a proper balance of cautiousness and confidence. A constant awareness of your surroundings should be ubiquitous when driving.

I myself am lucky to have never been in an accident, but I personally know others who have not been so fortunate. I have had family and friends who have been through them ranging from the typical fender-bender to more severe events. The traumatic experience of going through a major accident can be costly, both physically and financially. Usually speaking, the general consensus appears to be the fault of one party. That is one person not paying attention or being mindful of others can cause such an unfortunate set of events to unfold. When I asked my family what happened, they had said the other person or themselves were distracted either by their phone or some environmental factor i.e., a nice car pulling up beside them, a pedestrian walking, reading a street sign. Distractions will occur and we all must anticipate them. All it takes is for one second of not paying attention and one can find themself in an accident.

Lastly, and probably the most prevalent cause for distracted driving is the cell phone. These days everybody has one and nobody thinks twice about using it simultaneously with driving. This can be the biggest preventor to accidents if we all simply put the phone down and wait till the vehicle is in park check our phones. A hands-free system such as Bluetooth is a safer option, but it does require us to actively answer or make a call with our hands before it truly becomes “hands free”. We must remember to make an unabated effort to do such tasks when the car is not in motion that way our full attention is on driving while the vehicle is moving. A no cell phone policy while driving has been implemented throughout the FedEx corporation. Any violation of this rule can lead to a quick termination especially when involving an accident. Many other, if not most companies in the driving realm have such rules implemented to ensure safe driving habits. This is not just for the drivers on payroll, but for every other driver on the road. Defensive driving is to ensure we all get home to our loved ones in one piece, and it should not be limited to transportation companies. If we can all agree to focus on driving when we are behind the wheel and leave everything else as second, then we can begin to create a safer driving atmosphere for everyone.