When you google “Top reasons for bus accidents,” you don’t see statistics, accident types, or studies on risky behaviors. You see over 100 articles from law firms. The plaintiff attorneys are always in the background waiting for their next big case.

If you have transit or motorcoach operators, you need effective strategies for reducing accidents and injuries. It’s not just because you want to avoid a nuclear verdict. It’s because you care about saving lives.

As common as accidents and injuries are in your industry, you’re not hopeless. Accidents are always preventable. We’ll share with you crucial safety tips, messages, and ideas that will prevent accidents, save you money, and save lives.

What Causes Accidents?

If we want to prevent accidents, we need to understand why they happen. It all boils down to people.

Accidents aren’t caused by bad weather, faulty vehicles, or poor road conditions. Yes, those can all play a factor, but at their core, accidents are caused by people. A 10-car pile-up in a snow storm didn’t happen because there was snow. It happened because people didn’t drive at a safe speed.

The fact that accidents are caused by people is actually a good thing. That means accidents can be prevented.

If you want to reduce your accidents and cost of loss, you need to focus on unsafe behaviors. Specifically, you need to focus on reducing the unsafe behaviors that cause your most common and costly accidents.

That’s where these four safety tips come in.

4 Crucial Safety Tips

Certain unsafe behaviors are more likely to cause accidents. Take speeding versus texting and driving. Yes, going over the speed limit is unsafe and illegal, but it’s not nearly as dangerous as driving distracted.

What we mean to say is, you’ll get the most “bang for your buck” when you focus on reducing the unsafe behaviors that either cause the most serious accidents or lead to accidents most frequently.

As a quick note, if you’re looking for the best way to teach these four safety tips to your drivers, check out The Bus Safety Course. The Bus Safety Course is world-class online defensive driver training for transit and motorcoach operators.

You can try it for free at this link.

Use LLLC

LLLC (pronounced triple-el-see) stands for Look Ahead, Look Around, Leave Room, and Communicate. The LLLC Four Principles to Driving Safely are the building blocks for preventing accidents. Every driver should know them.

Here’s what all of your drivers need to know:

• Look Ahead 15 seconds to avoid surprises
• Look Around by changing your point of focus every 2 to 3 seconds and checking your mirrors every 5 to 8 seconds
• Leave Room on all six sides of your vehicle (in front, to the rear, to the left, to the right, above, and below).
• Communicate with your signals, lights, and horn. Use 3 to 5 flashes of your turn signal before taking action.

If you want to learn more about our LLLC Defensive Driving Certification, check out this link.

Maintain a Safe Following Distance

One of the most common and deadly accidents related to buses are rear-end collisions. These accidents are nearly always caused by the driver failing to maintain a safe following distance.

Maintaining a safe following distance is one of the easiest things your drivers can do to reduce their risk and prevent accidents. They should always have at least a five-second following distance in normal, dry conditions.

Those five-seconds are crucial to having enough time and distance to come to a safe stop.

Of course, if there’s inclement weather or poor visibility, your drivers will need to leave even more room in front of them.

Look Ahead For Intersections

Intersections are the most dangerous driving environment we face. The NHTSA reports that almost 40% of accidents happen at intersections.

Intersections are dangerous because of all the variables. There are changing traffic patterns, other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. All of these variables make it easy to miss something.

However, like we said above, all accidents are preventable. For preventing accidents at intersections, that starts with Looking Ahead.

Your drivers need to Look Ahead 15 seconds as they approach an intersection. As they Look Ahead, they need to scan the area for risk such as:

• Turn only lanes
• The status of the light
• Other vehicles
• Pedestrians & cyclists

No matter what they see, they need to cover their brake and be prepared to stop.

Always Use GOAL Before Backing

Backing accidents are one of the most common accidents for bus drivers. They usually involve striking a fixed object, but sadly, they can involve striking a pedestrian.

As common as these accidents are, they’re easy to prevent. Your drivers just need to remember GOAL: Get Out And Look.

Before they back, your drivers must always get out and look all around the bus. They should check on all six sides, including above and below. Then, if they see any risk, they can avoid it.

The Easiest Way to Train Your Bus Drivers

If your drivers follow these four safe driving tips, your accidents will significantly reduce. That means you can improve efficiency, reduce cost of loss, and save lives.

Of course, you might be wondering, how should I teach my drivers these? After all, you’re running around putting enough fires out as is.

There’s an easy solution: The Bus Safety Course.

The Bus Safety Course teaches your drivers all of these safety messages. Best of all, it includes access to your own learning management system. You’ll be able to assign courses, track progress, and upload your own content all in one place.

If you want to start reducing accidents and injuries at your company, try The Bus Safety Course out for free.