Highway safety is not a game show, but, in many ways, truck accidents bear a surprising resemblance to the television game show Jeopardy! –

  • Advance preparation is key
  • The challenges keep coming
  • Wrong responses can bring severe penalties

In the new PrePass whitepaper, “How to Prevent a Truck Crash from Becoming a Catastrophe,” motor carriers will learn that fleets have distinct advantages when truck-involved accidents do occur. Principal among those advantages is that the motor carrier, through its truck drivers, often knows about the accident first and can take photos and gather facts before others — and their attorneys — ever get involved.

Motor carriers also have the ability to quickly bring expertise to the crash site. Those experts, part of the carrier’s “go-team,” can aid the truck driver and thoroughly assess the situation.

After all, if we learn anything from Jeopardy!, it is that the challenges keep coming. Here, truck-involved accidents will happen, even to the best of fleets and the most professional of truck drivers. Advance preparation is the key – motor carriers must have an accident plan in place, with personnel assigned and trained in the proper response. Otherwise, motor carriers could squander their two advantages – direct knowledge of the accident and the ability to bring expertise to the site.

“How to Prevent a Truck Crash from Becoming a Catastrophe” describes the composition and functions of each “go-team” member and the critical communication link between truck driver and fleet dispatcher or safety professional. Communication is important because the truck driver will likely be distracted by the unexpected event.

The dispatcher or safety professional will reinforce the three steps that the go-team should take at the scene of a truck accident: safety first, make critical phone calls, and gather facts, including photos. “How to Prevent a Truck Crash from Becoming a Catastrophe” walks through each of these steps. Motor carriers will also learn the two things not to do at the scene of an accident to prevent a large or “nuclear” verdict.

Truck accidents will happen, but when and where is entirely unknown. That’s why up-front motor carrier preparation is essential to avoid the severe penalties of a wrong response. Read “How to Prevent a Truck Crash from Becoming a Catastrophe” and learn how to prepare for and respond to truck accidents.

The PrePass blog and podcasts are published as a public service of PrePass®, the most reliable and technologically advanced weigh station bypass and integrated electronic trucking toll payment platform in North America. PrePass also includes INFORM™ Safety and INFORM™ Tolling software for improving truck safety scores and lowering toll costs.