North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives’ Job Training & Safety (JT&S) team recently introduced a new safety program that promotes defensive driving among cooperative employees in an effort to prevent driving incidents and increase highway safety.
The “You D.R.I.V.E. Defensively” program emphasizes five principles that are key to defensive driving: Distraction, Reaction, Involvement, Vision and Equipment.
“Each of these principles play an equally important role in protecting our employees and making the highway a safer place,” said Farris Leonard, manager of JT&S Field Services. “This program builds on our ‘I WILL’ safety initiative, which aims to make safety personal, create an emotional impact and emphasize personal accountability every day.”
Employees who attend the program sign a Certificate of Commitment stating: “Beyond attendance ‘I WILL’ promote, apply and practice the defensive driving principles of ‘DRIVE’ in an effort to make the highways safer.”
Along with this, each cooperative vehicle will display a decal that lists out the five DRIVE principles to remind employees to drive defensively and to emphasize the cooperatives’ commitment to safety on the roadways.
Defensive driving and heightened driver awareness is especially important this time of year as students return to school.
“Drivers need to be aware of bus traffic, frequent stops and more activity along the roadsides,” Leonard said.
The Bus Safety graphic below details when traffic may lawfully pass a stopped school bus.
