Something different for the Orkin Man!

We have all seen those crazy TV commercials with the Rat jamming out in the living room, or the cockroach trying to deliver a pizza, which is promptly followed by the “Orkin Man” who keeps the unwanted pests away.   Orkin spends a lot of money on advertising their brand and it is clear they want that brand safeguarded.

I was following an Orkin truck today and Orkin has a rather novel approach to their employee’s driving their vehicles, one they have obviously put thought into and they apparently have taken some steps to make sure those employees who are in the business of driving and driving company vehicles, are doing so safely.   It is a rather different approach to employee driving safety, but I imagine it is effective.

Outside of the standard, “How’s my driving” sticker with the 800 number (have you ever tried to call one… try sometime, it can be an adventure!) there was another sticker, a large yellow and black sign with the word CAUTION spelled out inside of it.   Below this sticker was writing in red, which simply stated, “Warning, this vehicle cannot exceed 70 MPH.”

I had never noticed it before, but clearly Orkin is focused on limiting not only the number of accidents they incur, their liability to vicarious liability and negligent entrustment claims, but they are focused on eliminating the main factor in accidents, speed.

I am not sure if they are governing the vehicle, similar to what is done to certain luxury imports, to prevent the vehicle from traveling more than 70 MPH, or if the sticker is just a sticker, but the point is, they are focused on ensuring the drivers around their company vehicle covered in logos, know the vehicle in front of them can only travel at a certain rate of speed.

Speed, outside of increasing the severity of the injuries associated with an accident, also impacts reaction time.   By making a vehicle governed, Orkin has limited their exposure and those who are in the business of driving can only do so at a certain speed.   Orkin, is doing their best to ensure they have no unwanted pests in their corporate fleet.

DefensiveDriving.com, can help assist any fleet driver training or corporate driver training program with its online driver safety programs, and we applaud Orkin for their unique approach toward ensuring their drivers safety!