How's my driving?

I was riding my bicycle downtown from the Metro Credit Union back to the office along University Avenue when, near the intersection with Euston Street I was passed by a Brinks armoured truck with about 4 inches to spare between me and them. If they’d been any closer to me, I would have been knocked off my bike.

As the truck drove away I noticed at the the toll-free telephone number 1-800-827-SAFE was printed on the back, along with a vehicle ID number of UL524.

When I got back to the office I called the number to report the incident. The call was answered on the first ring, and the operator took me through a questionnaire: what kind of truck was it, what colour, where to the incident occur, and so on. And the end of the call they indicated that the file would be passed on to “the safety director.”

It turns out that 1-800-827-SAFE is operated by Driver’s Alert:

Drivers Alert helps companies manage their fleet safety and vehicle monitoring whether they have one vehicle or tens of thousands, all at one location or with multiple locations in the US, US territories and Canada. There are over 10,000 companies on our vehicle monitoring program and that number is increasing. Our clients include insurance companies, trucking companies, law enforcement agencies, school districts, delivery services, utilities,waste management companies and many more.

While I’m normally not a big fan of 1-800-SNITCH-ON-SOMEONE services, in this case I was happy to have the opportunity to at least record my frustration and know that, even if some infinitesimally small way, I might be making the roads safer for the next bike.

Friday, April 27, 2007 - 2:08pm

Comments

Submitted by Neil Boynton (not verified) on Mon, 2007-05-07 21:39.

I’ve encountered a similar situation in the past week wherein I was driving along I-5 just before Mulkiteo and all of a sudden this huge transport trailer made a suden lane change without any signal and nearly caught my front bumper. At the back of the vehicle was a decal ID showing “Hows My Driving” and the corresponding toll-free number and the website www.1800HowsmyDriving.com At this point my blood was still boiling at the driver for his erractic and negligent driving. After getting the decal info, I called in and reported the driver. The operator was courteous and took all the info that I reported. She then advised me that in order to address the report accordingly I had to provide my name and contact number for the Safety Manager to validate the report. She also informed me that this was an option and not mandatory. But she assured me that no one else would see my data. After hesitating at first, I gave in. She thank me for participating in the program. Shortly thereafter, I received a call from the Safety Manager of Fleetwatch Systems, the company that operates 1-800HowsMyDriving.com and validated the report. Explained that this is procedure they provide for their clients. Within 2 hours I got a call from the transport company that subcribes to the the service and thank me for calling in the report. The Trasportation Manager told me that this is a serious offense and the company does not tolerate this type of driving from their employees and would be dealing with the driver. I was very pleased to know that my comments or complaint did not fall on deaf ears. I too know from my experience that “Hows My Driving” program really works. I just hope more people would use it. Thank you

Submitted by Dave (not verified) on Fri, 2010-07-09 16:45.

Hi you can join this program from free and will give you same benefit. It's Canadian of course,

http//www.HowsMyDriving.ca?