Waste Industry Risky Driving Behaviors Involve Smoking, Unbelted Drivers

Lytx’s findings include the five risky behaviors seen most often among waste drivers, most improved driving behaviors, and insights on how waste-industry driving habits compare to those of other industries.

This data was captured from fleets of all sizes and types within the waste industry, including recycling, disposal, and sanitation fleets.

The most prevalent risky behaviors in 2019 were:

• Smoking
• Driver unbelted
• Late response (when a driver was not distracted, yet responded late and abruptly to a readily visible risky situation ahead)
• Food/drink observed
• Near collision (unavoidable)

The most improved behaviors from 2018 to 2019 were:

• Late response – improved 20%
• Driver unbelted – improved 6%

How Waste Fleets Stack Up Against Other Industries

Lytx compared the prevalence of behaviors seen in waste fleets against behavior averages of fleets across all of its other protected industries. Comparatively, waste fleets stood out in the following areas:

• Smoking observed 22% more often
• Driver unbelted occurred 22% less often

Common risky driving behaviors observed within a fleet, as well as benchmarking data from fleets both inside and outside of a specific industry, are helpful metrics for understanding industry-specific challenges, guiding safety efforts, and then measuring success.

Waste Collision Insight

Lytx also found 28% of high-impact waste-industry collisions were due to drivers driving too fast for the conditions. When it comes to low-impact collisions, nearly one in four were due to distractions, such as smoking, food and drink, and cell phone/device use. 

To better identify and address top areas of driving risk within their individual fleets, thousands of organizations use the Lytx Driver Safety Program; these organizations experience on average up to 50% reduction in collisions and up to 80% on associated claims costs as a result.