Safety is, and always will be, the highest priority for Lily Transportation. Whether it’s our comprehensive Driver Safety Program—which includes bonuses for drivers who demonstrate exemplary safety on the road—or our meticulously maintained equipment, everything we do is based around safety.
To help our drivers keep themselves and the people they share the road with, as safe as possible, Lily Transportation has curated a truck driver safety checklist. This ever-evolving truck driver checklist is designed with the sole goal of ensuring that safety is of the utmost importance every single day. Here are some of the truck driving safety tips and practices our truck driver safety checklist focuses on:
1) Check the Weather Conditions
Whether you’re driving a 16-wheeler cross-country or simply visiting your parents in the next town over, you should always check the weather conditions before hitting the road. Weather is infamously unpredictable, so even the most prepared drivers aren’t immune to surprise, but looking ahead is a crucial first step for any trip.
This rings especially true in the winter months, where the weather conditions can be difficult and unruly. Lily Transportation knows how tricky winter trucking can be, which is why our truck driver safety checklist and processes include safe operating practices (and training) as well as onboard safety equipment in all of our vehicles.
2) Inspect (and Clean) Your Truck
Another thing every driver should do before getting on the road is to inspect their truck. This means checking your tires (especially during the winter, where freezing temperatures can cause problems for tires that aren’t adequately inflated) and checking the truck for anything out of the ordinary.
Are all the doors closed and latched securely? Is your battery fully charged? How does your radiator look? How about the truck’s belts and hoses? Do you have an engine block heater on hand to make sure the truck doesn’t get too cold overnight?
Every truck driver safety checklist should also involve assessing how clean your truck is. If it snowed recently, for example, then you may need to remove snow from the top of the truck, so it doesn’t come flying off on the road, causing a safety hazard for other drivers.
3) Double-Check Your Fuel
Regardless of how long (or not) your upcoming trip is, it’s always crucial to check (and then double-check) your fuel levels as part of your truck driver safety checklist. And if you’re driving into cold weather, then you’ll want to consider using blended fuel, especially when your truck uses diesel fuel, which can turn into a frozen “slush” in freezing temperatures.
To counteract this, American Trucker says, “to use winter blend fuel with a high cetane rating and add anti-gel additives at each fill-up.”
4) Stock Up on Supplies
Making sure your truck is operating at peak efficiency and safety is one thing, but making sure that you as the driver are also being taken care of is another, equally important, thing altogether. You can have the safest truck ever, but if the driver behind the wheel isn’t prepared for the open road, then safety can take a nosedive.
This is why Lily Transportation makes it a priority to educate our drivers on the kind of supplies they’ll need to stock up on. Whether it’s snacks like fruit, nuts, and other healthy meal options, or an emergency safety kit with all the tools they’ll need, “just in case,” we’re firm believers in the age-old saying, “you can never be too careful.”
Lily not only follows safe hiring practices by running the appropriate background checks and testing, but we also take it a step further by providing consistent hands-on training to make sure all our drivers are fully-equipped with the skillsets they’ll need.
In addition, our trucks are either new or late-model vehicles (typically less than 2 years old) that are equipped with the latest safety technology in the industry including crash avoidance and lane departure in addition to Lytx Dash Cams for our entire fleet.
