By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU
Most, if not all, of the systems in this program check the Motor Vehicle Records of their employees each year. Of course, MVRs must be checked for all Commercial Driver’s License holders each year. In addition, many systems have decided that it just makes good sense to check MVRs for all of their drivers, not just the CDL drivers, and they request MVRs for everyone that may drive a business vehicle regardless of license type.
So, since you spend the time and money to check these records, what value do they provide you? At Synebar, we believe that you should treat the annual MVR as just one step on the way to achieving the goal of selecting, monitoring, and retaining safety drivers. The MVR is just a means to the end, and not the end itself. To explain what that means this article has been adapted from work done by Synebar’s founder, Dean B. Wisecarver. As you will see, making effective use of the MVRs is key to achieving the goal of finding, training, and keeping safe drivers.
How should I use MVRs effectively?
To address the issue of “effective” use, it is best to review how MVRs should and should not be used.
MVRs should NOT be used:
- To assess overall driving ability and performance, especially for employees with job duties that routinely require them to operate motor vehicles on your company’s behalf.
Safe driving is a job performance issue. As such, it should be managed as any other area of an employee’s job performance -- through regular observation by a supervisor, with appropriate feedback intended to reinforce good performance and to help improve less than good performance. In fact, direct and regular observation and feedback on an employee’s driving performance is the single most effective way to encourage and sustain safe driving.
MVRs are lagging indicators of performance, providing information that is late, old, possibly inaccurate, and not specific to the poor driving behaviors and habits that may result in violations and accidents. Supervisory observations are leading indicators that provide timely, immediate and accurate information about how well an employee actually operates a vehicle, follows policies and laws, adjusts to changing conditions, demonstrates close attention to details, etc. -- all things that are far better indicators of good performance than how many accidents or violations have occurred. Making the effort to do direct observations and provide immediate feedback also sends a powerful message: Management cares enough about my ability to drive safely to pay close and regular attention to how well I drive! - To establish which employees must participate in remedial driver training classes or other forms of instruction.
Driver training courses are designed to modify a driver’s performance while driving. The degree of behavior modification that results from such training depends on many complex factors, including driver attitude, reinforcement from others (especially supervisors), and the driver’s clear understanding of and willingness to apply the concepts in the material presented. In short, such training is only effective when the student accepts the information as useful. If a driver has been singled out for what appears to be a form of punishment (forced to attend a remedial driving course), how receptive a student do we really believe he will be? He’ll probably go to the training to keep his job but it’s fairly certain he’ll be doing so begrudgingly rather than in a receptive frame of mind, and his future behavior behind the wheel isn’t likely to be modified in a positive way. Using MVR information in this way probably does more harm than good. It may cause all employees to begin seeing any kind of driver training a “punishment.” - To determine the disposition of safety incentives (if any) or for determining preventable/non-preventable status after accidents.
If your company has a safety incentive program or a driver review program based on intra-company preventable/non-preventable assessments, each on-the-job accident should be reviewed without regard to what ends up showing (or not showing) on an MVR. As I stated above, the information in a MVR is late and perhaps not accurate or specific enough to use for these important programs and may even undermine the credibility of such internal programs.
MVRs should be used:
- As opportunity to talk to each employee about his/her driving performance regardless of what the report indicates.
Above, I mentioned a highly important signal management can and should send to all employees that drive on company business -- Management cares enough about my ability to drive safely to pay attention to how well I drive. While I also said that MVR data is not the best indicator of driving performance, it is a necessary one and should be used to send signals of management’s interest. Unfortunately, managers typically only comment to an employee on the results of a MVR when there is bad news. Clean (or relatively clean) MVRs are typically just filed away without comment.
If the ultimate goal is to encourage and sustain safe driving performance, why not share the results of MVRs with every driver, especially those with clean records? In fact, you can change an employee’s entire perception of MVRs away from a dark, almost secret activity aimed at digging around in a person’s personal background into a much more positive and legitimately business-oriented activity by reviewing each report directly with the employee as soon as it comes in. If it’s clean, it becomes a great chance to compliment and reinforce the employee. If it has some items of concern, it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate you want to help and work with the employee to improve, not just criticize. Either way, reviewing the reports with each employee sends that important message: Management is paying attention and cares about my driving ability.
By the way, as an employer, obtaining MVR information to be used in managing your employees falls under the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Complying with this Act requires your company to reveal to employees that you are gathering information about their personal driving record and to inform them of their right to review and question such information. Since they have the right under the Act to see the information you receive anyway, why not be proactive and simply share the information with employees every time, as suggested above? - To do the USDOT-required annual driving record reviews for all heavy vehicle (CDL) drivers.
If you have drivers that operate vehicles over 26,000 pounds GVW (or vehicles designed to carry over 15 passengers, regardless of GVW) and hold Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDL), you are required under USDOT rules to maintain driver qualification files for each. One aspect of these qualification files is documentation that the driver’s driving record has been reviewed at least once each year and that the review determined that the driver is or is not still qualified to operate the heavy vehicle.
The driving record review consists of two essential elements:- Obtaining the MVR from the state that issued the CDL and
- Asking the driver to write down any violations or accidents he has had over the last 12 months, and date and sign the listing attesting to its accuracy.
- To assure that all vehicles used for the company’s business are being operated by employees that do not pose an unreasonable risk to the public.
If your company expects to have employees driving vehicles on public thoroughfares to conduct business on behalf of your company, it has a duty to assure as much as reasonably possible that these employees will not pose a danger to others. Allowing a driver with a history of violations and accidents to operate a vehicle for your company’s business would be viewed as a failure to meet this duty and would likely negatively affect any determination of negligence and liability arising from an accident. - To assure that all vehicles being used for the company’s business are being operated by employees with valid drivers licenses.
The issue here is very much the same as the item immediately above. Your company has a duty to assure that employees that drive vehicles on public thoroughfares are eligible to operate a motor vehicle in your state. Unless your employee tells you his/her license has been revoked or suspended, the regular MVR check may be the only way you find out before the employee has an accident.
How can my company obtain MVRs?
- Via specialty vendors that provide such information.
There are hundreds of specialty vendors that offer this service. Most offer easy ways to order and receive reports, usually via telephone or the Internet. Some vendors offer a broader range of information such as background checks, credit histories, education confirmation, etc. In most cases, these vendors cost a bit more than the option immediately below but they generally make the entire process easier for their clients. - Directly from state Departments of Motor Vehicles.
Virtually all states now offer easy ways to request MVRs directly from their Departments of Motor Vehicles. Most provide some form of Internet access for ordering, which greatly speeds things up and facilitates payment of their fees, which are generally less than using one of the vendors mentioned above. You should note that some states require special certifications (mostly related to meeting the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act) from employers that wish to use their ordering services. You will need to check with the individual state authorities to find out.
How much will it cost?
This is not an easy question to answer because the base fees charged by the various Departments of Motor Vehicles varies rather significantly by state. Plus, the vendors fees (added to the DMV’s base fees) also vary from company to company and often depend on the volume of reports you order and whether the MVR is just one report you request in conjunction with other background information reports.
However, a very general estimate is $4 to $14 per individual report, depending on the state. The average is around $8 when you order directly from the DMV and about $10 through a vendor. The Internet is a fast, easy place to shop for this service and will yield better cost information for you and your specific state than I can provide here.
One final and important note.
Your company should not rely on insurance agents, insurance companies, or vehicle leasing agencies to routinely provide MVR information. As an employer, you are likely to use MVR information to make decisions that directly affect your employees financially, such as hiring, work assignments, pay increases, and promotions. Using the information gathered from outside agencies in making these types of decisions makes your company subject to all of the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Insurance companies and agencies are not expected to use the information in this way so they are not subject to the FCRA provisions and, thus, should not routinely share MVR information with you even as their insured client. Doing so without making arrangements to meet FCRA provisions may put both parties in violation of Federal rules, not to mention making both parties vulnerable to lawsuits from employees that feel they have been treated unfairly.
(NOTE: Under the FCRA rules, anyone giving out/providing MVRs to employers is considered a Credit Reporting Agency. Under these same rules, there are specific requirements placed on CRAs, such as providing additional information to the employers about the use of the reports. Thus, insurance agents that share MVRs on individual employees on behalf of their clients are, indeed, violating FCRA provisions unless they also follow the requirements placed on all CRAs.)