Staying Safe on the Road This Holiday Season With all the cheerfulness of the holiday season, the transportation industry is at full force with shipping and delivering all those holiday packages and groceries along with fuel and medicine. This presents drivers with additional challenges with more deliveries and increased traffic on the road — along with tighter delivery times, longer time behind the wheel, and heavier congestion on the roads and highways. Additionally, drivers must take into consideration the deteriorating weather conditions. This can lead to the driver being rerouted, which causes shipment delays and increases operational costs for the motor carrier. Roads are more dangerous during the holiday season due to societal pressure of “being ready for the holidays.” These expectations cause motorists to increase their speed and become more distracted by using their cell phones, eating in the car, looking in the mirror and interacting with passengers. There is a 10% increase in speeding events before Christmas, with a 32% spike in crashes on Christmas Day. Hazardous weather plays a part in this with 65.5% of Christmas Day crashes occurring on wet, snowy or icy roads. To stay safe, it is important to maintain focus on the road and prepare for both the holiday season and the winter weather. 26 | Kentucky Trucker
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