ADS Logistics Supply Chain Management Blog

What Sank the Titanic? A Lesson in Truck Driver Safety

Part of a continuing series on Professional Truck Driving by Kevin Mullen, Director- Safety at ADS LOGISTICS CO, LLC

What sank the Titanic?  Strange question for a trucking Safety column?  Perhaps not so strange.

It’s common knowledge the Titanic struck an ice berg and sank.  But whose fault was it?  Fault (preventability) is a question we deal with frequently in Safety.  Did the Titanic strike the ice berg or did the ice berg strike the Titanic?

We know the captain was made aware of the ice bergs.  We know he should have reduced speed in order to give the crew more time to detect and avoid them.  But we also know the ship was considered unsinkable and he was under pressure from the cruise line to make it to New York on schedule.  Sound familiar?

As drivers you become aware of dangerous conditions on the road that are perhaps not evident to our customers or even our Driver Managers (Dispatchers).  Not the least of these are your physical (fatigue) and mental condition as well as road, weather and traffic conditions.  Perhaps you know you need to slow down, increase your following distance or even find a truck stop to lay up for a few hours while you get some rest or while crews plow and treat the roads.  But you think you’re unsinkable.  You trust your driving skills.  But what about the ice bergs (four-wheelers)?

Ice bergs don’t cause accidents.  Ice bergs (and four wheelers) are a fact of life and we, as professional truck drivers, are solely responsible (like the captain of the Titanic) for deciding whether to continue full speed ahead or apply caution and common sense and slow down or lay up.

It is for this reason that the American Trucking Association (ATA) and National Safety Council (NSC) guidelines for determining accident preventability do not permit us to consider weather as a mitigating factor.

The captain of the Titanic should have slowed down and given himself a margin for error.  As professional truck drivers you too must slow down or stop when in your sole judgment it is prudent to do so.  The consequences of plowing ahead in bad weather and road conditions are all bad.  We’ve already had too many accidents this winter, some caused by out-of-control “ice bergs” and some our fault but all expensive.

Slow down!  Lay up if necessary… and keep Dispatch advised of your status!