Safety Training

Safety Training

Driver Safety Training Can Save Lives and Money

Most safety training coordinators or directors in the business world are focused on workplace safety, such as meeting State regulations to minimize risk of injuries on the job. Some examples of this might be chemical safety training in a plant or fire safety training, etc. One area of safety training that has been neglected, but is as important as any other training out there today, is driver safety training.

Traditionally, driver safety courses were used by individuals that got traffic tickets, and needed to take a course to have the ticket dismissed. Others would take a course for individual auto insurance premium discounts. Today, businesses are starting to understand the value of driver safety training, using these same driver safety courses (a.k.a. defensive driving) that have been previously used by individuals, to effectively train their employees to help prevent and minimize losses as a result of traffic violations and accidents.

Especially for those businesses that own, lease, or rent vehicles for employee use, driver safety training is vitally important. Unfortunately, most businesses only require company drivers to take a driver safety course after they received a ticket while operating a company vehicle on the job. This is like icing a pulled muscle, rather than stretching to prevent it. Why not effectively train all company drivers in the techniques of defensive driving and proper driver safety principles before violations and accidents occur? The potential losses for businesses are monumental. When a company looks carefully at it, one traffic accident in a company vehicle can cost thousands of dollars. There are the financial losses associated with property damage, vehicle replacement or repair, and health insurance costs. Not to mention the productivity losses that result from not having a valuable employee on the job working. The other important factor to consider is that any claims made to your insurance company can have an effect you in premium costs come renewal time. There are research proven effective driver safety training courses available today, that can help in this area. These great courses, when offered for safety training prior to a driver going on the road, can help prevent these costly mishaps from occuring, which in turn saves a company money.

Not everything can be prevented, but why not do everything to help prevent rather than train after something has happened? This is the way things are moving toward in business today. Take a second to think about the loss control data and insurance plans for your company. If your company's experience rating has not improved over the years to help save at renewal time, driver safety training can help. If your company's insurance claims or vehicular violations per 10,000 miles driven has not improved, then drive safety training can help.

Don't think of driver safety training as something that is only done after a violation or accident. Be proactive and help prevent the potential losses before they happen by offering effective safety training to all employees drivers before they get on the road. You will be happy you did.

To learn more about a research proven effective driver safety training program that can be offered in the classroom as well as on the internet, logon to www.drivertrainingassociates.com

Texas defensive driving

Texas defensive driving

What do you do after you get a ticket?

Most drivers request to take a Texas driver safety course, also know as Texas defensive driving course. By taking a TEA approved Texas defensive driving course you will have the ticket removed from your record, which will keep your insurance premiums from increasing and will keep you from having to pay the fine to the court. You still will be responsible for paying the court fee (usually around $90 depending on the court), but in the long run it definately pays to take defensive driving.

Where should you take a Texas defensive driving course?

More often that not, when you appear in person at the court house to formally request to take a Texas defensive driving course, the court clerk will tell you that you can look in the yellow pages, or you can go to a video rental store (that I refuse to name). The best option is to take a course over the Internet. This option is normally not mentioned, but it is the best available way to take a course today, in my opinion. With the video or DVD rental, you only have a few days to complete the course and take the test. The court will give you 90 days from the day that you request to complete the course. On the Internet you can take a Texas defensive driving course at your own pace, with a unique username or password that allows you to access the course anywhere you have a connection to the Internet, and the course will pick up right where you last left it. It is only way to do it!

How long is the course?

Any Texas defensive driving course must be 6 hours in length. Again, the great thing about the Internet courses is that you can accumulate those 6 hours, rather than having to sit in a classroom with strangers listening to a lecture on a Saturday for 6 straight hours.

How do I notify the court when I finish taking defensive driving?

After you complete a 6 hour Texas defensive driving course, you will be mailed a certificate of completion from the course provider. You can have your certificate express delivered by most providers as well for a small fee. Normally for ticket dismissal, you will recieve two copies. One is for you to send to the court, the other is for you to send to your insurance companies. Most insurance providers will offer a defensive driving discount (normally 10%), so check with your agent. Make copies of both certificates and mail the original to the court where you got your ticket. Sometimes, you will have to get you driving record as well. This can also be done online at www.texasonline.com.

That is it! You will be done before you know it. My only other recommendation is don't wait until the last minute, or you will have to take the course all at once and you will not be able to take advantage of the benefits of taking an online Texas defensive driving course. Good Luck!