1. Managing Motor Fleet Safety Programs: Training for the Safety Director
Unit 6: Accident Analysis and Litigation
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2. Unit 6 Objectives
Identify accident trends based on an analysis of accident data
Identify root causes of accident trends
Recommend appropriate solutions to resolve root causes of accident trends
Determine if the carrier is likely to be found liable in a lawsuit following an accident
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3. The Direct Costs of Accidents - 1
Lost revenue
Vehicle repairs
Towing costs
Cargo claims
Driver medical and worker’s compensation claims
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4. The Direct Costs of Accidents - 2
Liability payments
Equipment rentals
Lost revenues due to disruption in operations
Drug and alcohol screening
Driver delay, pay claims, deadhead
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5. The Indirect Costs of Accidents - 1
Safety department expenses
Excessive depreciation
Legal fines or penalties
Decreased employee effectiveness
Dissatisfied customers
Unfavorable public image
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6. The Indirect Costs of Accidents - 2
Higher insurance premiums
Government reporting costs
Costs of borrowing money to replace or repair equipment
Accident investigation expenses
Employee replacement costs
Litigation expenses
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7. Understanding Accident Trends
Trends are events that happen regularly or often.
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8. Analyzing Data Trends Step 1 - Code the information for each incident
Step 2 - Tally the codes for each factor
Step 3 - Graph each factor
Step 4 - Look for trends
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9. Age Codes
1 —
2 —
3 —
4 —
5 —
6 —
7 —
8 —
9 —
10 — + 60
Codes
Ages
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10. Sources of Root Causes Hiring practices Training issues
Customer service issues
Accountability
Teamwork
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11. Questions to Ask to Identify Root Cause(s) of Accidents
What circumstances allowed the driver to have the accident?
What did we, the employer, do to allow this accident to occur?
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12. Determining Liability
Agency
Negligent entrustment
Negligent hiring
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13. Rebutting Agency
Driver acted outside scope of employment at time of collision.
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14. Rebutting Negligent Entrustment
No employees knew of driver’s incompetence OR
Previous offenses were unrelated to cause of the accident
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15. Rebutting Negligent Hiring
Safety department fulfilled responsibility to contact prior employers and obtained MVR
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16. Litigation Process Pleading Dismissals and judgments before trial
Complaint
Summons
Answer
Counterclaim
Dismissals and judgments before trial
Discovery
Pretrial hearing
Trial/Verdict/Appeal
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17. Questions?
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