Commercial Vehicle Driver Training: Improving safety and raising drivers’ comfort through knowledge
Who amongst us hasn’t tensed up hearing the approach of a large commercial vehicle while riding our bikes? The noise, vibrations, and a gust of wind caused by a bus can be highly unnerving. It can also be deadly. Two weeks ago in North San Jose, a person biking was struck and killed by a commercial vehicle. Police are still searching for the unknown commercial vehicle & driver for this incident (for more information please refer to our blog). This is why SVBC coordinates and delivers Commercial Vehicle Driver trainings on an annual basis.
Last week, part of our SVBC Programs team met and presented our Commercial Vehicle Driver training to bus drivers for six commercial transportation organizations within Santa Clara County. The Commercial Vehicle Driver training offered by Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition provides information on best practices for driving large commercial vehicles when sharing the road with bicycles and pedestrians. Large companies in Silicon Valley (e.g. Apple, Google) require their sub-contractors to undertake this yearly Commercial Vehicle Driver training.
Every year, we emphasize to participants the key takeaways of this training are improving safety for all road users and raising drivers’ comfort through knowledge. We also cover bicycling rules of the road, common causes of bicycle/vehicle/pedestrian conflicts, anticipated bicyclist behavior in various situations, Bay Area-specific cases, and maneuvering skills for optimum predictability and collision prevention. If your organization is interested in undertaking Commercial Vehicle Driver training or learning more about SVBC’s other offered workshops, please check out https://bikesiliconvalley.org/programs/ or contact us directly.
A special thank you to Ann Jasper, for spending her last 2 days (at SVBC) with Allison & I out in the field, presenting and continuing to build a great rapport with these amazing commercial drivers.
We hope you have a safe, comfortable and enjoyable holiday season.
Best wishes,
The Programs Team