Why a Road Test?

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My football playing days are well in the past – the far, distant, fading past. However, I remember as if it were yesterday. When we were not functioning as a team, eleven of us not functioning as one – focused on one goal – winning. It was back to the basics on Monday. Trying to destroy the blocking dummies, the tackling dummies, and push the “sled” 15 yards down the field with four overweight assistant coaches as extremely noisy passengers. The goal is no longer winning the game; it is getting to the destination safely. The team is our driver resource. The basics are the principles of defensive driving and we are the noisy assistant coaches. Conducting a road test for every hire/contract is the opportunity to observe the basics of driving. Mirror usage, roadway position, driving technique, observation skills – it is surprising how many times after going under an elevated structure marked ‘clearance 13’9″ that the individual taking the road test cannot tell you the clearance or what other potential hazards had been driven past in the last 2 blocks/miles. The road test is not to determine “CAN they drive the truck,” it is to determine “HOW they drive the truck.” Even if it is a contractor or an independent owner operator, it is still your liability insurance, your cargo coverage, your safety record, and your responsibility to ensure that the applicants are qualified. Road tests provide insight into what information and/or training should be presented during your orientation program so that the employee/contractor who drives out of the terminal yard area is better, safer, and more qualified than the applicant who drove into the terminal yard area. Road tests can be a”gold mine” of information for safety personnel. They can also be perfunctory or non-existent. Safety begins with the individual who sits behind the big desk on the top floor. But it is materialized by the person behind the little desk, covered with stacks of papers and folders, a door that never seems to stop swinging open and shut, and a constantly ringing phone.