VPSI Local Offices, the VPSI Call Center and the VPSI Home Office sometimes receive calls from other drivers (citizens) or, on a rare occasion, even one of the vanpool passengers. These callers may be reporting  a vehicle operating in a manner that is not indicative of the safe and defensive manner the vast majority of all vanpool drivers practice on a daily basis.

These reports are documented and acted upon by VPSI safety and local office personnel. It is the responsibility of VPSI to quickly contact the Primary Driver of a vanpool group to notify the group of the report and identify who was driving at the time. We then need to talk to the driver, investigate the circumstances and determine if and what corrective action may be needed.

Taking and handling reports from citizens and passengers is one example of the many strategies deployed by VPSI as part of a comprehensive commuter vanpool risk management program. VPSI drivers have a minimum of five years continuous driving experience, are at lease 25 years old and have a safe driving history. Based upon a recent survey, 39% of the drivers had previously had experience driving others in a carpool or vanpool before driving a VPSI vanpool. VPSI also requires drivers to view the award winning vanpool safety video, The Vanpool Difference, before driving a vanpool. VPSI will also regularly screen and recheck the driving records of the vanpool drivers.

We encourage questions or comments on our risk management program. You can email me at andy [dot] bawden [at] vpsiinc [dot] com.

To view the photos and get started, click here.

For the full contest rules and more information, click here. Good luck!

Photo Enforcement Zone

Fuzzy Passenger

]]> http://www.van-pools.com/2010/08/30/caption-contest-2-fuzzy-passenger/feed/ http://www.van-pools.com/2010/08/30/caption-contest-2-fuzzy-passenger/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vanpoolsblog/~3/n4VltBJcIbo/ http://www.van-pools.com/2010/08/30/caption-contest-3-sleeping-jerry/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:45:00 +0000 Van-Pools.com http://www.van-pools.com/?p=4079

Sleeping Jerry

]]> http://www.van-pools.com/2010/08/30/caption-contest-3-sleeping-jerry/feed/ http://www.van-pools.com/2010/08/30/caption-contest-3-sleeping-jerry/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vanpoolsblog/~3/OnCLdczGhXE/ http://www.van-pools.com/2010/08/30/caption-contest-4-mexican-wrestlers/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:44:32 +0000 Van-Pools.com http://www.van-pools.com/?p=4087

Mexican Wrestlers

Vegas Showgirls

View of a building fire from M-10 in Detroit, Michigan.

The above photo was submitted to our Photos Taken From the Road contest. Unfortunately, we couldn’t award everyone an iPad for their photos, but we can feature honorable mentions like this one, submitted by Rob in Detroit, Michigan. He took this photo of the smoke from a burning building last summer traveling on M-10.

For the next couple of weeks, we’ll be featuring some of the top photos submitted to the contest, so be on the lookout for more of our favorite photos from commuters around the country.

Andy Bawden

The session will include an interactive discussion of how to respond to a vanpool emergency and how to reduce the risk of a vanpool accident. The session starts at 3:15 PM on the first day of the ACT Conference, held at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort in Indian Wells, CA.

Jon Martz, ACT Immediate Past-President and Vice President of Government Relations for VPSI, is the primary organizer of the ACT Vanpool Summit, and he encourages all members to attend. Andy or Jon can be reached in Troy, MI at 248-597-3500.

For more information about the 2010 ACT International Conference, visit www.actweb.org.