On Sunday, The Washington Post published a great piece on the tremendous financial and legal liability employers could face as a result of employee mobile phone use while driving on-the-job.
Reporter Ashley Halsey III notes that it’s no longer a question of if a company will be sued after an employee’s cell phone use leads to a crash, but when.
Writes Halsey, “Distracted-driving lawsuits now are part of the legal landscape, and the lawyers who bring them are increasingly going after the deep pockets of corporations that let their employees talk or text while behind the wheel.”
By now, you’ve probably heard about the massive $21 million verdict Coca-Cola USA is facing as a result of an employee’s cell phone use while driving. We’ve extensively covered similar lawsuits involving employee distracted driving in white papers and on this blog. But Halsey thinks these blockbuster, front-page stories are the exception, not the rule. Many companies facing litigation are choosing to quietly settle out of court – likely to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars – after realizing they are “facing lawyers armed with the smoking gun of cell phone records.” And those records can be equally damning whether or not the phone in question belongs to the employer: “Whether it’s a company car, a company-issued phone or just an employee making a business call in a private car on a private phone, the corporation is within the reach of a distracted-driving lawyer.”
So what should employers do to reduce their risk and liability? Halsey believes distracted driving lawsuits not only “encourage corporate bans on calling and texting,” but also encourage employers to actually make an effort to enforce those policies. Halsey is right on the money – and all of these distracted driving lawsuits show that employers must take proactive steps to promote safe and legal use of mobile devices while employees are driving on-the-job.
Innovative technology to manage compliance with cell phone use policies already exists – take advantage of a free demo to see for yourself how it works.
Today, we published the results of our second annual employee distracted driving survey – and the results are fascinating. 80% of companies now have cell phone use policies in place – up 29% from last year. Here’s what else has changed since our landmark May 2011 first annual survey:
Efforts to enforce written cell phone use policies are increasing: 86% of companies with a cell phone use policy in place take steps to enforce those policies, a 62% increase from 2011, when only 53% reported making an effort to enforce compliance.
Confidence in current enforcement methods is plummeting: Although more companies are taking steps to enforce their written cell phone use policies – only 26% are “very confident” that current enforcement methods are sufficient to modify driver behavior.
Interest in cell phone compliance technology continues to grow:26% of respondents report their companies plan to evaluate phone-based software, cell phone use analytics or in-vehicle cameras within the next twelve months to help manage compliance with documented policies.
For me personally, the highlights included (1) the awesome key note delivered by Derek Leathers CEO of Werner Enterprises, (2) the presentation from John White, President of US Express in which he talked about his company’s efforts to deliver smart-phone-based business applications to help make life easier for employee drivers, and (3) the passionate presentation from Robert Nathan, the smart and talented Gen-Y CEO from Load Delivered.
With regard to ZoomSafer, the conference was a great opportunity to study up-close, and in-person, the industry’s innovative leaders and to reflect on our own evolution as an innovator in the space. So, after spending three days in Princeton, I wanted to take a few minutes and share a summary of my “ALK-induced” thoughts:
The proliferation of mobile smart phones and tablet computers among drivers who hold commercial drivers licenses (CDLs) is a conundrum which requires carriers to find innovative ways to balance productivity and revenue growth with safety, risk management and compliance.
While carriers regularly utilize FCRA compliant services to analyze personal data (MVRs, Drug Tests, Background checks) as a proxy for understanding and managing driver risk — they remain hesitant to utilize similar services to understand and manage driver risk associated with the use of “personal phones” while driving company vehicles.
Truly innovative in some ways — and truly backward in other ways, there is a huge opportunity to deliver new innovation at the intersection of connected vehicles and connected mobile devices — especially if you can leverage a carrier’s invested capital in existing systems.
Coke was not the first, and Coke will not be the last — and the day will eventually come when carriers will be compelled to analyze “employee use of personal cell phones while on the job” much the same way they already analyze “employee use of personal vehicles while off the job.”
As the CEO of ZoomSafer, I can honestly say that it’s been an fascinating ride over the past 3.5 years. Through it all, my partners and I have held firm to our view that commercial fleets will eventually be compelled to invest in cell phone policy enforcement technology to minimize risk and liability stemming from employee distracted driving.
Two years ago, to help articulate our vision, we produced a video dramatizing what could happen to employers if they failed to take the proper steps to promote safe and legal use of mobile phones while employees are driving on-the-job. The video, in my opinion, bears an eerie resemblance to events that unfolded in a Texas court last week, events which led to a $21 million jury verdict in a distracted driving lawsuit against Coca-Cola.
Read this summary of the circumstances behind the Coca-Cola distracted driving crash lawsuit — then watch the video below.
I would love to get your thoughts and feedback about the similarities and differences between ZoomSafer’s two-year-old “What if?” video – and the real-world happenings at Coca-Cola – share your thoughts in the comments.
On Friday, a jury in Texas handed down a $21 million verdict against Coca-Cola for damages arising from an August 2010 distracted driving crash involving one of its employees using a mobile phone while driving.
Here are three important lessons this historic case teaches fleet managers:
When it happens to you, the plaintiffs will sue:Thomas J Henry, the lead plaintiff’s attorney said in a press release, “From the time I took the Coca-Cola driver’s testimony and obtained the company’s inadequate cell phone driving policy, I knew we had a corporate giant with a huge safety problem on our hands.” Furthermore, he said, “I hope the verdict sends a message to corporate America that you can’t have employees on a cell phone and endanger the motoring public.”The lesson is simple: plaintiffs are watching and waiting to sue employers whenever employees crash due to a cell phone related distractions.
A written cell phone use policy is not enough: Coca-Cola’s lawyers argued that its company cell phone use policy, which required the use of a hands-free device when operating a motor vehicle, was consistent with, and in fact, exceeded the requirements of Texas law. The plaintiff, however, argued that Coca-Cola’s cell phone policy for its delivery drivers was “vague and ambiguous” and it certainly wasn’t enforced in any way. Regardless of whether Coca-Cola’s policy was well-documented or not, empirical evidence shows that many employee drivers flout written policies. The bottom line is that written policies alone are not sufficient to change employee driving behavior, and therefore are not sufficient to protect employers from risk and liability.
This isn’t the first multi-million dollar lawsuit resulting from employee mobile phone use while driving – or even the first with a verdict over $20 million. But this case emphasizes just how serious the risk is – and that all employers can be vicariously implicated if they fail to manage and monitor how employees are using mobile devices while driving. Employers who want to minimize liability as much as possible must institute risk management programs to actively or passively enforce cell phone use policies.
On Sunday, The Washington Post published a great piece on the tremendous financial and legal liability employers could face as a result of employee mobile phone use while driving on-the-job.
On Friday, a jury in Texas handed down a