Key Skills Your Truck Drivers Should Have in Your Fleet Company

The must-have skills for every driver include good communication, defensive driving, using navigation tools, basic knowledge of road rules, and being able to spot vehicle issues early. With these, you ensure enhanced safety, reduced costs, and more efficient fleet operations.

Truck drivers are the backbone of a fleet company. They’re the link between the company and its customers. They’re directly responsible for delivering goods safely and on time. Without skilled, dependable drivers, your fleet operations face the risk of delays and higher safety risks. This, in the long run, increases the likelihood of financial loss for your business.

According to MiningDoc, skilled drivers maintain higher alertness to avoid fatigue-related accidents and manage fuel use efficiently. This improves safety and reduces costs. Driver skills go beyond just holding a valid driver’s licence. As a fleet manager, it’s important that you know what skills to look out for and which technology can help you achieve a skilled workforce.

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Must-have skills for professional truck drivers

To better help you understand the kind of skills your drivers need, we’ve broken them down into two categories: soft skills and hard skills. Hard skills refer to the technical, job-specific abilities, and soft skills refer to how drivers interact with people or situations. Both skill types can be taught through training.

Let’s have a look:

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Hard skills

• Technical driving expertise
  Drivers need to know how the trucks they operate behave in different conditions. A small delivery van reacts differently to a big semi-trailer. Drivers must know how vehicles respond when they’re empty versus fully loaded. They also need to understand how the vehicles react in the rain or on steep hills. The better your drivers understand your vehicles, the safer they can drive them.
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• Defensive driving
  Defensive driving is all about thinking ahead and reacting fast. Your drivers can’t control what other drivers do, but they can control how they react. When they spot a sudden road hazard, they need to know what to do to prevent accidents. Your drivers must take defensive driving courses. This makes them more alert and saves your business from the costs of accidents.
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• Knowledge of road rules and compliance
  Professional drivers need to know things like speed limits, weight restrictions, traffic signs, and any other special rules that only apply to trucks. Through this, they’ll avoid fines and keep themselves and others safe. Once they fully understand these road laws, they become more responsible and trustworthy.
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• Vehicle safety checks
  It’s important that drivers check their trucks before the start of every journey, and they need to know what faulty signs to look for. Vehicle components such as brakes, tyres, lights, and mirrors must all be in top condition. By checking these things regularly, they can spot small problems before they turn into big ones. These pre-trip inspections ensure safety and help them avoid costly, unexpected breakdowns.
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• Navigation and technology use
  Your drivers must know how to use technologies such as GPS navigation systems and fleet management software. GPS ensures they can follow routes accurately and avoid taking wrong turns or getting lost. This saves time and reduces fuel waste.
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• Time management & reliability
  Being on time is important, but it shouldn’t be at the cost of speeding. Drivers need to know how to balance safety and punctuality. This keeps operations running smoothly and efficiently. When drivers are always on time, they strengthen their trust with customers who count on accurate deliveries, making the company look good.

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Soft Skills

• Communication
  Fleet operations depend on communication. Drivers must be able to keep dispatchers updated about their status. They also need to properly understand instructions and report delays as early as possible. Clear communication helps to avoid confusion and improve teamwork. It also ensures smoother fleet coordination and improved client relationships.
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• Customer service and professionalism
  Drivers are often the face of your company, even if they only interact with clients for a few minutes. How they greet a customer, handle a delivery, or deal with a problem reflects on your company. They must always be polite, friendly, and professional. This shows respect and builds trust. Customers are more likely to come back or leave positive feedback when your drivers treat them well.
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• Problem-solving
  Things don’t always go as planned. Traffic congestion, bad weather, or mechanical issues can slow things down. Your drivers must be able to quickly think of solutions. By solving problems quickly, they keep your deliveries on track and reduce stress for the rest of your team. A driver’s ability to handle unexpected situations makes them invaluable to your company.
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• Stress management and endurance
  Driving for long hours and having tight deadlines can be stressful for your drivers. Drivers must know how to manage the pressure to avoid frustration. This ensures they’re always focused and maintain a high standard throughout their long shifts. It also results in fewer accidents that are linked to stress and fatigue.
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• Adaptability and continuous learning
  The world of fleet driving is always changing. New rules, new technology, and new company policies come up regularly. Drivers need to be adaptable to change instead of resisting it. Whether it’s a new GPS system, a safer driving method, or updated safety regulations, they must always be willing to improve their performance. Willingness to learn shows professionalism and ensures that your fleet remains competitive and compliant.

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The role of technology in developing driver skills

Technology plays a huge role in enhancing the skills of drivers. Traditional driver training methods often limit themselves to reactive measures. This means correcting behaviours long after they happen, which doesn’t always work. However, with the right technology in place, you’ll have a reactive framework in place, which has proven to be more effective.

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Key players in improving professional driving standards—Telematics and AI

• Telematics: The use of telematics in fleet management has been a game-changer. This technology provides you with real-time reporting of driving habits such as speeding and harsh cornering. For instance, telematics can detect when a driver accelerates too quickly. As a fleet manager, you’ll also receive reports of driver actions as they happen. From there, you can tailor the training to focus specifically on that issue.
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• AI technology: Another powerful tool that’s redefining fleet driver training is artificial intelligence (AI). This technology often comes with fleet dashcams. It analyses various unsafe driving habits, like not wearing seatbelts and using cellphones. The cameras then release real-time audible alerts so drivers can quickly adjust their actions on the go.

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Telematics and AI tools can then be integrated into one tool that specifically focuses on driver training. This is what we at Cartrack call a driver coaching platform, where all recorded incidents are turned into insightful data that displays the patterns of each driver and the team.

You can then use this data to send drivers for training based on each incident and have a full record on the platform of training discussions.

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How Cartrack helps you build safer, smarter, and more skilled drivers

Our fleet management solutions help you keep an eye on driver performance so you can identify each driver’s specific coaching needs. It also ensures your drivers are always safe on the road and that your fleet meets compliance requirements.

Here are some of our top features for enhancing the skillset of your workforce: 

• Route optimisation for better navigation
  Our route optimisation software is there to help you plan faster, more fuel-efficient routes for your drivers. Through monitoring historical route patterns, this software ensures that drivers avoid delays.
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  With this easy-to-use system, drivers avoid things like road closures and traffic congestion. Your drivers will better understand these alternative routes the more they use them. This helps them gain better navigation skills in situations where there’s no signal to help.
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• AI Dual Vision camera for driver alertness
  The Cartrack AI Dual Vision dashcam solution ensures that drivers remain aware of their distracted driving habits. This powerful gadget can spot behaviours such as fatigue, cellphone use, and smoking. It then sends out an audible alert so drivers can quickly rectify their actions. You’ll get reports of these actions, which will make it easier for you to spot patterns, address issues, and send your drivers for training.
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• Driver coaching platform
  Training your drivers makes them feel more confident and supported. This develops your team and reduces turnover. For this reason, Cartrack has a driver coaching platform.
  This feature monitors the behaviours of all drivers through reports from our telematics devices and cameras. They can spot repeated offences such as speeding, reckless driving, and even smoking.From there, you can schedule drivers for coaching sessions so they can improve their skills. All discussions of the coaching sessions will be noted on this platform so that other coaches can see what was discussed in previous sessions.

• Driver scorecards
  Rewarding drivers for good behaviour and skill improvement helps boost employee morale. For this reason, we have a driver scorecard program on our platform. This feature rates how well each driver behaves on the road. Now you can reward the ones with the best ratings through incentives or by giving them public recognition.

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Support your team with smarter fleet solutions

Truck driver skills are important for anyone working in the industry. If you’re a fleet manager who’s looking to hire new drivers, it’s important that you know what to look for. It’s also essential that you know the skills your current drivers need to improve on.

Investing in driver training and support brings many benefits to both the company and your truck drivers. Over time, through our technology, you’ll have a culture where people and technology complement each other. This leads to lower costs, higher compliance, and a better reputation for the business. Reach out to us and enhance the skills of your workforce.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a fleet strategy?

A fleet strategy refers to a detailed plan that guides a business on how to manage a fleet of vehicles and assets to achieve a set of business goals. The intended outcomes of implementing a fleet strategy usually involve lower fuel costs, better maintenance scheduling, and improved safety. A good fleet strategy helps the business run smoothly and more efficiently.

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What are the metrics of fleet management?

The metrics of fleet management are the key points that fleet managers can use to measure fleet performance. They include vehicle utilisation rate, driver behaviour, route efficiency, repair turnover, preventative maintenance, fuel consumption, and the Total Cost of Ownership. These are some ways to keep up with all aspects of the fleet and boost profits.

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What is a typical day for a fleet manager?

A typical day for a fleet manager involves anything that aims for the smooth operations of a company’s vehicles. Fleet managers assign vehicles to drivers, track performance, manage paperwork, plan routes, and ensure that drivers adhere to compliance regulations. They’re also somewhat responsible for client satisfaction.

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How does fleet tracking improve safety and compliance?

Fleet tracking improves safety and compliance by providing real-time reports on driving habits such as speeding, sudden braking, harsh cornering, and aggressive acceleration. Each incident is accounted for, allowing fleet managers to intervene and provide each driver with training. Fleet tracking also automates driver working hours, ensuring drivers get enough breaks in between. All this improves fleet safety and compliance.

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What industries benefit the most from fleet management?

The industries that benefit the most from fleet management are transportation and logistics, construction, mining, utilities, e-commerce, and agriculture. These sectors mostly depend on vehicles to move goods from one point to the other or to provide services. Fleet management is there to properly organise all vehicle-related operations, and therefore reduce costs, improve safety, and enhance productivity.

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Ready to take your drivers skills to the next level? Join Cartrack today!