1. Investigating Motorist Observation Reports

2. Introduction Why investigate reports?
Motorists call in reports about incidents that are “extraordinary” – they were either frightened or irritated by what they observed.
This type of situation, even if there was a misunderstanding, leaves a strong impression on public perception of your firm, and may be a signal of underlying issues with your driver’s habits.
As a supervisor/manager, you are ultimately responsible for your employee’s actions. If there are concerns raised about their on-the-road performance, you have a duty to investigate to determine whether follow up interventions are needed to prevent a re-occurrence.
Most importantly, firms that routinely investigate ALL reports and provide refresher training document significant reductions in collisions.
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3. Introduction Why investigate reports?
Your investigation helps establish the facts and eliminate “opinions”
You want to hear your driver’s side of the story (it may tell you more about your driver’s skills and understanding of road safety practices)
Your investigation will enable you to determine whether further follow up is needed
may lead to follow up intervention in the form of training – knowing what happened helps select the appropriate training mechanism and program
Your investigation may uncover trends or patterns that are common to other drivers in your fleet
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4. Connection Between Multiple Reports & Crash Rates?
Based on studies of Motor Vehicle Report (MVR) data, most safety experts agree that as a driver accrues more violations and/or crashes, their likelihood of continued violations and crashes increases.
A recent study of over 540,000 commercial drivers’ records, conducted by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI – found that the occurrence of a single moving violation dramatically increases the likelihood of becoming involved in a crash (in the time period following the receipt of the ticket).
From their study:
“The four convictions with the highest likelihood of a future crash are:
improper or erratic lane change;
failure to yield right of way;
improper turn; and
failure to maintain proper lane.
When a driver receives a conviction for one of these behaviors, the likelihood of a future crash increases between 91 and 100 percent.”
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5. Connection Between Multiple Reports & Crash Rates?
Our Motorist Observation Reports, while not the same as a ticket received from a patrol officer, do highlight the same types of behaviors.
It is reasonable to assume that there may be a correlation between the receipt of multiple MORs on a specific behavior such as failure to maintain proper lane spacing, and a subsequent crash – if there were no intervention by management to change the driver’s habits on the road.
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6. Steps to Consider
Once a report has been received, confirm the identity of the driver who was operating the vehicle at the time the incident occurred.
Most fleets don’t permanently assign drivers to specific vehicles. If your fleet does assign vehicles, then this step is a snap.
In the event that vehicles may have more than one driver on a given day, our report includes time and location details that may help narrow the search.
Once you’ve confirmed the driver’s identity, you might:
Check to see if they’ve had prior reports, tickets or crashes
If yes, will this report require the review of a safety committee or other group?
Check to see when they will be available to discuss the report details and participate in no-fault, cursory safety training.
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7. Steps to Consider There is a lot of information on each report
Our database will include your vehicle’s information: unit number, decal number, plate
Our Customer Service Representatives will solicit as much information about location, conditions and details as possible without jeopardizing the safety of the motorist (ie. if they are calling on a cell, etc.)
Based on the conversation with the motorist, one or more “categories of behavior” will be assigned: weaving in traffic, improper passing, tailgating, etc.
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8. Steps to Consider Contacting the Motorist
Sometimes it may be helpful to contact the motorist who made the report.
Not all motorists want to be “involved” beyond the initial report, but when possible we get contact information.
For security reasons we don’t publish that information on our reports, but authorized supervisors may request that we send out contact information by (we can’t release it by phone except in true emergencies).
The motorist information must be safeguarded and never shared with the affected commercial driver.
Many motorists will provide additional insights and want to know that the report is being investigated in order to provide training or other compassionate intervention for safety’s sake.
You may want to thank them for taking time to make a report. This puts them at ease and helps convey your concern about the situation without defensiveness.
Be prepared for the conversation with your questions ready to go.
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9. Steps to Consider Review the recording
When a report describes a truly unusual circumstance, our staff can playback our recording to help provide insight into the motorist’s initial description.
Under advice of counsel, and to protect your rights, we don’t release or distribute our work product (the recordings) unless it is an emergency
Review the safe driving fact sheets that accompanied the report
Are the actions described in the report similar to those outlined in the training sheets?
Has your company recently conducted driver training on these types of issues?
If your driver needs additional training sheets, you can get them at the SafetyFirst web site (power points, word documents, Ten-Minute Training Topics, etc.)
Get ready to talk to the driver and offer him/her any assistance warranted to help them stay safe.
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10. Where Can I Get More Help?
SafetyFirst employs a team of dedicated professionals to help you make the program a success.
Every client has a dedicated point of contact at SafetyFirst
Our operations center manager and her supervisors are available during normal business hours (Eastern Time Zone)
Special Account Executives and Account Managers are on staff to assist our multiple location accounts.
You can contact us by calling our toll free number –
We also have many resources available at our web site –
Client Reference and Support Library
Published Safety Articles
Technical Presentations
Ten-Minute Training Topic Archive
Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Ad-Hoc Report Creator
Specialty Reports and Download Center
1/2/2019
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