It’s Not Just the Bad & the Ugly: Identifying & Rewarding Good Driving Behaviors

Many carriers have adopted dash cameras and the procedures necessary to counsel, coach and correct drivers that have problematic behaviors. If you are doing this, you are covering the bad and the ugly, but you are forgetting the good.

Catching the Good

When reviewing dash camera footage, it’s important to be on the lookout for good driving actions and behaviors.

Examples would include a driver that did the right thing to avoid an animal hit (stayed under control and used appropriate braking), a driver that saw a car coming for the exit ramp from the far left lane and applied the brakes in time to avoid a crash, and a driver that saw someone coming to a stop sign at an intersection without slowing and applied the brakes in time to avoid the collision.

Keep the Good Going While Stopping the Bad And Ugly

There is a truth to safety management, and that is bad behaviors and habits continue unchecked if not stopped by an outside force, and good ones will end if not encouraged.

How do we stop bad behaviors and bad habits? We need to catch the bad behavior or habit (that is what dash cameras do), counsel and coach the driver to initiate the necessary change, and then continue to monitor the driver to verify the change took place. 

How do you stop good behaviors and habits? By not recognizing them. Therefore, the key to keeping good behaviors and habits in place is encouraging them.

If you have dash camera footage that shows a driver doing something exactly as you want it done or doing something to avoid a crash, immediately reward the driver. This can be done by personally thanking the driver for the job well done, recognizing the driver in front of peers, and giving the driver an award (a certificate, bonus, or gift certificate).

This serves three purposes. First, it will cause the involved driver to continue the good behavior. Second, it will show other drivers in the fleet what is expected and positively impact their behavior. Finally, it will show all of your drivers that the dash cameras are not only used to catch and correct the bad and ugly.

The bottom line is that you should have a procedure for dealing with drivers whose dash cameras have caught them doing the right thing.