Smith Organization Driving: 5 Keys To Truck Safety

Truck driving rubber is something every truck driver thinks near, but how do you put what you lot've learned near it into practice? Equally professionals, we have the responsibility to non only learn truck driving safety, but too to employ any resource we tin to reduce the chance of accidents and protect ourselves and the motoring public.

Harold L. Smith, a Earth War Ii veteran who served in the U.S. Navy, reached this conclusion decades ago and founded the Smith System® driving schoolhouse in 1952. His primary complaint was that parochial driving schools taught drivers but how to mechanically operate vehicles in general, non how to bulldoze safely by avoiding accidents using a infinite cushion.

Today at PAM, we follow Smith's trademarked v Keys — relevant to truck driving safety as well as general route rubber — to stay condom out at that place.

THE 5 KEYS TO SMITH System DRIVING

Using the mnemonic "All good kids like milk" is a good way to recollect the "A," "G," "Grand," "Fifty" and "Grand" of Smith's 5 Keys:

  1. A im Loftier in Steering®
  2. G et the Large Picture®
  3. K eep Your Eyes Moving®
  4. Fifty eave Yourself an Out®
  5. Yard ake Certain They Meet You®

1. Aim High in Steering

Maintain eye lead time: Look ahead a minimum of 15 seconds. At 25 mph, that may be a city block; at 60 mph, it's a quarter of a mile. Scanning the road this far ahead gives you more information with which to make decisions. When dealing with hills and curves, be sure to adjust your speed accordingly, equally you never know what's on the other side.

2. Get the Large Picture

Go along a vii-second minimum following distance: Select a fixed object ahead and count "1,001, 1,002, i,003," etc., until y'all reach that landmark. That is your following distance. Scan mirrors every 5–8 seconds — at highway speeds, the landscape of traffic and terrain changes quickly. Don't be defenseless off guard; scan those mirrors.

three. Keep Your Eyes Moving

Avoid focusing on whatever 1 object for more than ii seconds: Can't remember the final exit—or the last few miles, for that matter? You've been on autopilot! Distracted driving — daydreaming or thinking about things other than the job at hand — can be a recipe for disaster. Continue your eyes moving!

4. Leave Yourself an Out

Think "space cushion": Anticipate potential hazards and be sure to set yourself up with a way out. Don't look until the last minute to try to maneuver into a better position, or you may get stuck in a bad spot.

5. Make Sure They Come across You

Straight center contact with other drivers, using your headlights or flashers, and of grade a curt blast of your city or air horn will help y'all communicate with other traffic and brand certain they run into you!

Stressing the Point

Driving a truck is stressful. Stress increases fatigue, prevents high-quality sleep, and can adversely affect your conclusion-making skills. It increases your blood force per unit area, which carries the risk of hypertension, stroke, and a handful of other scary and deadly ailments. Studies have shown that just climbing into the driver's seat tin can raise your blood pressure by several points. Being stressed out backside the wheel can and does pb to aggressive driving.

But it doesn't have to be that style. Using the Smith System to practice truck driving safety and create infinite around your truck can actually reduce your stress levels! Jim Smith, senior vice president of grooming for the Smith System, puts it this way: "The stress relief we talk nearly is one of the results of gathering information early. With space and time on your side, you have more than time to see, recollect and do.

"Life behind the wheel for a Smith System commuter is no longer a series of last-second decisions, similar it is for the people effectually usa who are fighting their way to their next destination . . . With their advanced viewing skills, Smith Organization drivers see issues well ahead. With that information at a distance, there is infinite to think in, and plenty of time to react."

Dollar Signs

Let's switch this around for just a minute and think about your equipment. By driving aggressively, you are actually increasing wear and tear on your drivetrain and braking system and significantly reducing your MPG. For you, this means more reanimation; higher fuel, repair, and maintenance costs; fewer miles; and, ultimately, less coin in your wallet. Keeping in mind rules about truck driving safety such equally the v Keys will help you keep more of your hard-earned dollars.

Back the Truck Up!

If y'all aren't using the Smith System when backing up, y'all should be. Beginning thing to remember: Don't support if you don't take to! Whenever possible, utilize pull-through parking. Only if you exercise have to back up, be certain to utilise GOAL: Become out and look — often. You can't go the big picture without doing a complete walk-around. Continue items like collapsible fabric cones, hats, flashlights, etc., in your truck that you can utilise equally markers when executing difficult backing procedures, especially at night. Picket out for Dumpsters or yellow bollard poles, equally they seem to exist mutual out-of-nowhere culprits.

Truck Driving Safety for All

Clark Greyness, PAM Transport's vice president of driver resources and compliance, has this to say about the Smith Arrangement's value for promoting truck driving prophylactic: "My goal has always been to observe a style to jump-starting time their training by giving new drivers the same tools and techniques used by veteran drivers. When I was researching ways to accomplish this back in the 1990s, I was so impressed with what I saw when I came beyond the Smith Organisation and felt it would evangelize exactly what it promised.

"The program is genius in its simplicity. Harold Smith distilled the human behaviors that led to accidents and established simple methods drivers tin can use to avoid accidents. For drivers to see, call up, and react is key to keeping them safety on the road. The Smith System had already been proven successful around the world for over forty years, and after taking the training, I understood why."

Next time you head out, don't forget your keys—the Smith System's 5 Keys to driving safely. At PAM, we help our drivers master the 5 Keys, because commuter safety is always a top priority. If yous're fix to drive for a company that puts rubber first, come across our available jobs today.

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