As a tow truck driver, you need to be prepared for anything. Recognizing hazards and having the time to react to them is crucial. Inadequate evasive action can be a real issue because it basically means that the tow truck driver doesn’t act quickly enough to avoid a danger. This can cause a car accident and accidents mean tow truck insurance claims. We’ll explain what inadequate evasive action is and how you can avoid it.
What is inadequate evasive action?
As we mentioned above, inadequate evasive action is when a driver can’t or doesn’t have enough time to react to a hazard. That can mean not braking soon enough if traffic slows, failing to brake to avoid a danger, not steering safely around a threat, or having to swerve suddenly to evade another vehicle or object.
How you can give yourself enough time to act
1. Watch for brake lights.
Pay attention to the actions of vehicles in front of you. By looking a few vehicles ahead and watching for brake lights, you’ll have a head’s up that traffic is slowing and you’ll be able to either decelerate or come to a halt safely. Try to look about fifteen seconds ahead to give yourself lots of time to evaluate the situation and react.
2. Understand reaction time.
When you see a hazard and recognize that you need to slow or stop, it can take three-quarters of a second for your foot to get the message from your brain that it needs to switch from the gas and press on the brake. That may not sound like a lot of time, but a tow truck traveling at 45 miles per hour can cover about 50 feet in that three-quarters of a second.
If you’re following too closely or not watching the cars ahead of you, that 50 feet might mean that you can’t bring the truck to a halt safely if there’s a hazard or if traffic stops. That’s why it’s important that your full attention is on the road – distracted driving comes with many dangers. Give yourself as much time as possible to react to unexpected surprises on the road.
3. Be a defensive driver.
Being a defensive driver means staying alert and scanning for hazards. There are three steps to defensive driving: seeing the danger, developing a plan, and acting on the plan.
The first part is recognizing a danger on the road. Seeing the danger as early as possible gives the driver more time to take evasive action. That means drivers need to scan the road and the area around them.
Then the driver has to come up with a plan to avoid the hazard. The more time they have, the safer that plan can be. So, again, taking action means being alert for danger.
Lastly, the driver has to act. If the driver fails to act or does not act quickly enough, they can cause an accident. The goal of defensive driving is to avoid that.
Inadequate evasive action and tow truck insurance claims
Knowing how to take evasive action to prevent accidents can help you avoid tow truck insurance claims. By driving safely and avoiding accidents, you can help keep your tow truck insurance rates down. Accidents can make your rates go up because they make your business more of a risk to insure. So – understanding evasive action means fewer accidents, which means lower tow truck insurance rates. Recognizing dangers and taking appropriate evasive action also means that you’re safer on the road. It’s important to not be distracted as you drive and to practice defensive driving.
If you want to save money on your tow truck insurance rates, we can help you do that. Our team of transportation insurance experts are pros at helping tow truck businesses just like yours shop for their insurance rates and save money on their tow truck insurance. All you have to do to get tow truck insurance quotes is fill out our online form or give us a call – either method of communication is fine with us.
Source:
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/driver-safety/cmv-driving-tips-inadequate-evasive-action
