By Matthew Betz, Vice President Business Development, Fleet at Motus, LLC
“It’s not the stress that kills you, it’s our reaction to it” – Hans Selye
Most people, and certainly all of those involved in fleet, know the dangers of driving while impaired. And most people recognize major causes of impairment to be things like alcohol and drugs. Not as well understood is the driving impairment caused by stress. And according to major studies, stress can cause distraction equal to, or greater than an intense phone call. This creates an atmosphere where poor decisions, road rage and crashes become more likely.
Sources of stress
When we think about sources of stress for the Modern Mobile Worker, it’s easy to understand how major life events like a death in the family, divorce or other personal problems can create short term stress that carries over into our work life. In addition, work related sources of stress, like corporate mergers, a need for higher sales numbers, or sales call quotas can create an atmosphere of stress that is much longer lasting. All of this means that as fleet professionals we need to be aware of the stressors and do whatever we can to reduce them.
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