Features
13 Apr 21

Tips to reducing accidents in your Latin America fleet

There are several ways for fleet managers to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) in their fleets, one being the reduction of accidents, a strategy that not only cuts costs but reduces the possibility of injuries and even deaths.

To start off, provide your drivers with safe driver training. While providing live face-to-face classes is ideal, setting up online classes enables multinationals to train significantly more drivers at the same time and at more flexible time schedules. Recently, the latter has had more precedence owing to the restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While some fleet management teams have opted to develop these courses inhouse, there are many that hire out companies which specialize in accident control and driver risk management. Among those providing courses in Latin America are multinationals eDriving and Cepa Safe Drive

"It is well known that 94% of crashes are caused by some kind of driver/rider error, but when you look behind the actual event into the “causation contributors”, cognitive distraction in particular is the biggest challenge facing Fleet, EHS, Risk and Operations Managers today,” eDriving CEO Ed Dubens told Global Fleet.


Ed Dubens (source: Handout)

As for CEPA, it looks at everything from a Bio-Psycho-Social perspective, meaning that the company pays attention to the evolution of human beings and aligns their decisions with their values. “Through this, safety not only becomes a priority to them but also holds intrinsic value,” says CEO Rosina Cammarota.

Rosina Cammarota (source: Handout)

Another way to reduce accidents is to know the best routes to take. Many roads in Latin America are in precarious shape. When you combine that with the torrential rains that hit from time to time, avoiding these routes is of utmost importance. Make sure to inform your drivers appropriately.

Simply using mobile apps like Waze and Google Maps could help but there are several software solutions that go hand in hand with fleet management platforms. If you have contracted a vehicle leasing or fleet management company, make sure to find the solution that fits your needs.

Finally, we cannot go without mentioning the need to select the appropriate vehicles for your fleet. While it is true that some accidents may be hard to avoid, having a car that has been tested for safety could make the difference between life and death.

One way to measure this is to filter your selection by way of the Latin America and Caribbean regional car safety assessment program Latin NCAP which gives ratings from 1-5 stars (five being highest) for both child and adult passengers.

One rule of thumb, for some companies, is to have at least a four-star rating in both, but it really depends on your management approach. Among the cars receiving top marks (five stars in both) in the latest tests in 2019 are listed below.  Keep in mind that, in wake of the global health pandemic, no new crash tests were published in 2020.

2019 Crash Test Results (5 stars in both child and adult safety)

Make

Model

Type

Airbags

Toyota

Corolla

compact hatch

seven

Toyota

Hilux Double Cab

pickup

seven

Toyota

SW4

SUV

seven

Toyota

RAV 4

compact SUV

seven

Volkswagen

Tiguan

SUV

six

Volkswagen

T-Cross

compact SUV

six

Volkswagen

Jetta

sedan

six

Volkswagen

Vento

sedan

six

Chevrolet

Onix

subcompact hatch

six

Chevrolet

Onix Plus

compact sedan

six

Seat

Terraco

SUV

seven

source: Latin NCAP

Authored by: Daniel Bland