LeasePlan USA: No Phones - Period - For All Employees Driving A Company Car
LeasePlan USA, a service provider of vehicle leasing and fleet management solutions, has implemented a new company wide distracted driving policy. Employees are not allowed to use phones or smart devices while operating LeasePlan vehicles - period.
In addition to launching this policy, the company is encouraging all employees to sign a safe driving pledge and inviting family members to commit to safer driving practices.
The company launched this new policy during national Drive Safely Work Week, October 2012. Drive Safely Work Week is the Network of Employees for Traffic Safety's (NETS) annual workplace safety campaign, providing a turnkey way to remind employees about safe driving practices.
According to the World Health Organization, "using a mobile phone while driving, you are approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than a driver who is not using a phone." Moreover, sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent at 55 mph of driving length of an entire football field, blind. Statistics also suggest that talking on the phone while using a hands-free device is not noticeably safer than using a hand-held cell phone.
Those kinds of statistics motivated the company to develop an all-inclusive ban on cellular phones and smart devices while driving. "We weren't willing to wait for one of our employees to become a statistic before we took a firm stance," states Mike Pitcher, President and CEO of LeasePlan USA.
In 2011, the company donated a vehicle to FEAR THIS, Inc., an organization that offers an advanced driver training course that teaches teen accident avoidance skills. Additionally, LeasePlan offers courses with FEAR THIS to LeasePlan employees and their teenage children at no cost.