Fleet Advantage safety committee offering insight, education on Class 8 safety specs

June 22, 2016

Fleet Advantage, a provider of business analytics, equipment financing, and lifecycle cost management, has established a safety committee dedicated to providing insight and overseeing critical safety-related programs for the fleet transportation industry and Fleet Advantage clients.

The Fleet Advantage Safety Committee includes tenured transportation professionals with specific experience to advise fleet managers on various safety-related topics. The committee was launched in coordination with the National Safety Council’s National Safety Month, which is observed in June and focuses on reducing injury and death at both distribution and maintenance facilities and on the highways.

Members of the Fleet Advantage Safety Committee include:

• Mike Spence, CTP--senior vice-president, Fleet Services--oversees the entire committee

• Terry Clouser, CTP—vice-president Fleet Services--will focus on safety of vehicles currently in service

• Sandy Rosenfeld, CTP--safety and operations manager--will focus on CSA compliance, facility and on-road safety

• Stephen Katona, CTP--director of purchasing--will focus on new truck safety specifications and education 

• Luis Herrera, CTP--asset disposition sales--will focus on safety inspections of used trucks to the secondary market

Safety has always been a major issue for the transportation industry. Today, new mandates, laws and initiatives have been enacted to keep our drivers, distribution and maintenance facilities safe and to protect the general public against on-highway crashes. The safety committee will help organizations comply with the new regulations and will include methodologies and location visits to insure CSA compliance.

Fleet Advantage has historically offered data analytics and business intelligence that help industry professionals increase efficiencies and reduce costs. However, this data can also be used to identify opportunities to address driver safety awareness and increase safety efforts throughout the organization.

According to the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) the average cost per Class 8 crash was $11,861,000 for fatality; $595,000 for injury; and $86,000 for property damage (per truck/incident costs). Citing industry statistics that older vehicles typically have a higher fatality crash rating and fewer of the modern safety features, and require more maintenance and repair, this approach to safety aligns with the Fleet Advantage philosophy of ‘newer is better,’where newer model trucks that are equipped with the latest safety technologies will positively impact the bottom line with proactive prevention and resulting in fewer accidents and on-highway break-downs.

Fleet Advantage's Safety Committee will also provide education to the general public through an ongoing series of blog articles, white papers, videos, and more. For more information, please visit Fleet Advantage's dedicated resource portal on safety the Fleet SafetyEDGE.