August 3, 2022 | CSD Team

Discover new resources available to help districts train their drivers and monitor their motor vehicle reports

April was distracted driver awareness month. To those districts who have employees who operate vehicles, now is a good reminder to practice safe driving.

Whether its texting, adjusting a GPS, taking a sip of a drink, drivers need to be aware of the consequences. The cost of having an employee get in an accident due to distracted driving is far more expensive than if an employer were to have employers take courses to learn how to drive safely. It is vital for drivers to understand the importance of safe driving.

Just in the year of 2020, around 10,000 crashes were caused by distracted driving in the state of Colorado. Around 90% of drivers in the state of Colorado reported that they have been involved in distracted driving.

In 2020, 3,142 people were in a fatal accident due to distracted driving in the U.S. There are three types of distracted driving; visual, manual, and cognitive.

Visual distraction refers to taking your eyes off the road. Manual distraction is usually when your hands come off the wheel while in motion. Cognitive distraction is taking your mind off driving.

In the state of Colorado, it is illegal for drivers 18 and over to use a cell phone for physical entry. Drivers 18 and over are permitted to use hands free devices to make calls while driving.

Any minor under 18 are not permitted to use cell phones at all. There is one exception for this, being that anyone can use a wireless device for phone calls or to contact public safety during an emergency.

A new senate bill was introduced into legislation in the state of Colorado that restricts all persons no matter what age, from using a cell phone for any reason.

The bill will only allow the use of wireless phones to make calls. This would keep adults over the age of 18, to keep from physically typing in a phone call, and instead, having to rely on the use of hands-free wireless devices.

Drivers that are caught using their cellphone would get a $75 fine and two suspension points on their license. If a driver were to get a second offense, an additional $75 and another point would be tacked on.

There are a couple of exemptions from this proposed bill. First responders, utility workers, commercial truckers, commercial license holders, drivers using their cellphones to report emergencies and drivers who are lawfully parked, all are exempt from this new law.

Member Resources

A great way to keep your employees safe from distracted driving is training your drivers or keeping them informed of distracted driving.

A great resource to use for driver training is our free training platform, Vector Solutions, where you can find multiple courses for driver safety.

Another great way to track the safety of your drivers is using our driver monitoring system provided by SambaSafety. In this platform, you are able to upload your drivers information, turn of monitoring capabilities, and pull motor vehicle reports when drivers receive and infraction or whenever needed.

Please contact us at info@csdpool.org for more information on what SambaSafety or Vector Solutions have to offer.