How Your Public Safety Agency Can Improve the Traffic Safety of Police Officers

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Did you know that auto collisions are the second highest cause of death of law enforcement officers on the job? The only thing that surpasses it is gun violence. With so many hours spent in the mobile office, it’s no wonder that car accidents are an issue. But what can be done to prevent this? Public safety agencies are beginning to implement training initiatives that target these four behaviors related to collisions.

Seat Belt Use

Many officers are taught not to wear seat belts on the job so that they can be free at a moment’s notice, in case of an ambush. However, the lack of seat belt use makes even small accidents potentially fatal. To improve your officers’ traffic safety, encourage the use of seat belts at all appropriate times. Training can be given to educating officers on how to quickly and safely remove a seat belt while keeping their guns hand-free.

Unjustified Speeding

When out on the open road, it’s been found that many public safety officers get carried away and drive at dangerously high speeds when it isn’t necessary. To combat this, a public service agency in Orange County, California, started printing out reports each day that detailed when each vehicle was tracked going over 90 MPH. If unjustified speeding is identified, the offending officer has a conversation with his superiors about the dangers of speeding. With this initiative in place, speeding reduced significantly overall, ensuring that the officers were safer on the job.

Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is another common cause of car accidents among police officers. It’s is not surprising, given the amount of gear that officers have to navigate through in their mobile office. In order to help prevent distracted driving, upgrade your public safety vehicles’ police console accessories to keep everything organized and non-distracting. Even subtle changes such as moving the computer higher to keep officers’ eyes up can make a huge difference. Installing a police console and police console accessories will also help optimize the vehicle for each officers’ operational needs, reducing the amount of distraction experienced on the road. Troy Products offer dozens of stellar customizable console accessories to create the mobile office as comfortable, safe, and productive as possible for your agency.

Cell Phone Use

Using a cell phone or any handheld device while driving is illegal country-wide due to the dangers associated with it. Cell phone use is one of the leading causes of auto collisions both within the police force and in general. Educate your officers on cell phone use, and restrict the use of cell phones unless they’re in a no-radio area or in an emergency.

If you want to optimize your public service fleet to ensure your officers’ safety, Troy Products has everything you need. From police consoles to police command posts and from police vehicle cargo storage to police weapons vaults, we manufacture everything needed to keep your public safety officers safe, comfortable, and functional. Give us a call at (800) 700-8769 or fill out our online contact form to learn more about our products or to get started with a custom order.