Injury or death from a workplace vehicle collision can have a devastating impact on the employee's family, coworkers and the city's reputation for years to come. Driving defensively increases everyone's chance of a good outcome. Motor vehicle accidents are the number-one cause of fatalities in the workplace, and cities should make training a priority since many city positions require employees to drive city vehicles. In most cases, the accidents are caused by backing and rear-ending collisions, but it only takes one major injury to change the lives of the employee and residents.
Defensive driving training teaches motorists the practice of anticipating dangerous situations, despite adverse conditions or the mistakes of others when operating a motor vehicle. It offers broadly applicable defensive driving techniques for all drivers, including emergency vehicle operators and individuals with a commercial driver's license.
Risk Management Services loss control staff are certified defensive driving course instructors. The Southeastern Chapter of the National Safety Council's "4-Hour Defensive Driving" course can be presented to any members of SC Municipal Insurance Trust and SC Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund at the members' facilities.
Attendees of this training can receive four hours of continuing education credit from the SC Criminal Justice Academy. It also counts as a core course for the Risk Management Institute.
Loss control staff are also available to present a two-hour driver training that focuses on reducing auto claims. This course helps the learner understand the impact that auto claims has on the auto liability experience modifier and ultimately on the municipality's SCMIRF premium. The course covers basic driving skills, the importance of attentive driving and how to avoid collisions using defensive driving techniques. Attendees of this course are not presented a certificate upon completion and it does not count for continuing education credit.
For more information about scheduling defensive driving training, contact Chris Radcliff, public safety loss control consultant, at cradcliff@masc.sc, John Ciesielski, loss control consultant, at jciesielski@masc.sc; or Bethany Pendley, loss control manager, at bpendley@masc.sc.