BISC West 2023

Tuesday, November 7

Session: Distracted Driving

Speaker: Gary Vorce, National Interstate

Distracted driving is leading us backward.  We continue to stay near 40,000 road deaths in the US despite safer cars, better roads, and improved emergency services.  There is 50 years of distracted driving work showing phones impair driving.  This talk will review those studies, briefly, but the focus will be on why we can convince ourselves to ignore compelling data and place ourselves at risk.  The talk will examine the value of immediate information, the disconnect of risk and behavior, and the “grand illusion” we call human perception.  The talk will conclude with a discussion of how we might tackle this problem to improve safety for all who use our roads today.

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Session: Driver Retention and Hiring Best Practices, Using Driver Training Best Practices to Improve Fuel Mileage & Operational Excellence

Speaker: Jeff Brown, Idaho National Laboratory & Jeff Shanker Black Tie Transportaiton/Blue Diamond Transportation

Drivers are the life blood of every transportation company. Learn how to avoid turnover by preparing your drivers for what it is like to drive professionally. We will discuss how to inform your new hires, in a positive way, about being away from home, long hours, breakdowns, accidents, upset passengers, being on call, and dealing with family emergencies when on the road, to improve new hire retention. How to make driver on-boarding training changes that can improve fuel mileage down the road. This basic role in motorcoach operations is a must-see for every new safety director.

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Session: NTSB Update (Tentative Pending Federal Budget Restrictions/Government Shutdown)

Speaker: Michael LaPonte, National Transportation Safety Board

The National Transportation Safety Board is one of the agencies that initiates a post-accident investigation following a fatal accident and makes recommendations to the industry as well as the government on what steps can be taken to avoid similar accidents in the future. What lessons can we learn from recent fatal motorcoach and school bus crashes? Find out at the next presentation by the NTSB.

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Session: CVSA Update 

Speaker: John Amestoy, Department of Public Safety/Nevada Highway Patrol and Jim Fraley, Department of Public Safety/Nevada Highway Patrol

Each year, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) reviews, modifies and publishes new North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria. The North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria (OOSC) is the pass-fail criteria for safety inspections. The purpose of the criteria is to identify critical safety violations. Those violations can render the driver, vehicle and/or motor carrier out of service until the condition(s) or violation(s) are corrected or repaired. Find out about the latest changes to the criteria, and what to look out for before your next inspection.

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Session: Safety Director 101 - Understanding the Safety Management Cycle

Speaker: Mike McDonal, Saucon Technologies

The Safety Management Cycle (SMC) is a tool is designed to help motor carriers establish and improve appropriate safety management controls, thereby reducing or eliminating violations. A motor carrier can use the SMC at any time; however, it can be particularly helpful to a motor carrier after it has reviewed its violations and crash history on the FMCSA Safety Measurement System (SMS). Applying the SMC is a step-by-step process that looks at “why” the safety and compliance issues are occurring rather than just identifying the violation (the “what”). The tool provides a framework for brainstorming remedies, choosing solutions, and designing and implementing plans to improve the motor carriers’ safety operations. The SMC consists of six Safety Management Processes (SMPs) that reflect the six areas of a motor carrier’s operations. This session will review those principles.

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