Through its Alliance partnership with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association (CSDA) has released a Best Practice on two very hot topics — aggressive driving and road rage.
Representatives from the CSDA Safety Committee have worked with OSHA to produce CSDA-OBP-1009 Aggressive Driving and Road Rage, the tenth document to be released by the Alliance since its formation in 2006. It is hoped that the release of this document will help professionals in the concrete sawing and drilling industry avoid confrontations as they travel to and from the jobsite, or during their commute to and from their homes.
“Many CSDA contractors travel around the country in work trucks, and sometimes they and other road users do not understand the extra time needed to maneuver such large vehicles or the distance required to bring these vehicles safely to a stop,” says Kellie Vazquez, chairperson of the CSDA Safety Committee and Board member. “By not understanding these factors, drivers can quickly become aggressive toward each other. In extreme cases, something as simple as not using a turn signal can result in an act of road rage. That is why we felt it was important to educate the industry about how to steer clear of these situations.”
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), aggressive driving behaviors are a factor in up to 56 percent of fatal crashes. When this percentage is applied to the average number of fatal road accidents across the U.S. each year — around 38,000 based on data compiled by the NHTSA — it is clear that everyone should be doing what they can to eradicate aggressive driving and road rage from the nation’s roadways.
CSDA-OBP-1009 details some of the factors that can lead to aggressive driving and road rage, then goes on to explain some of the ways employers and employees can reduce instances of either occurring during their time on the road. This is the third road-related Best Practice released by the OSHA/CSDA Alliance, having previously released CSDA-OBP-1001 Highway Workzone Safety and CSDA-OBP-1007 Distracted Driving. All three documents are available to view or download via the OSHA Alliance page of the CSDA website in English and Spanish.
Download a copy of CSDA-OBP-1009 at the CSDA website, call the CSDA office at 727-577-5004 or email [email protected]. View and download all 10 safety documents at the CSDA website.
