Accidents involving university-owned vehicles have cost UCLA more than $2 million over the past five years, a UCLA safety specialist said.
In this period, there have been more than 1,500 traffic accidents involving university vehicles.
Since UCLA is self-insured, the university has had to pay for the insurance costs, said Orlando Terrazas, who works with UCLA Insurance and Risk Management.
To decrease these costs, UCLA Fleet and Transportation began the Be Alert Bruins campaign this quarter to emphasize one of the leading causes of accidents: cellphone distraction.
As part of the program, signs are posted outside of common parking lots with slogans encouraging drivers not to text.
A Facebook group was also created in which students and faculty can pledge not to use phones or eat while driving, said June Dickson, a member of the transportation department.
Although there have been laws passed recently that attempt to prevent the effects that phones have on drivers, Dickson said it remains a prevalent problem.
“Because of the way technology is changing, things are instantaneous ““ you get that urge while driving, you do not want to wait to stop to see who called or texts,” she said.
University vehicles are driven by staff members such as electricians or gardeners, as well as students who participate in off-campus volunteer work like tutoring programs.
Driver distraction often causes incidents like backing up into stationary vehicles or objects.
These are the most common accidents at UCLA, Terrazas said.
Drivers under the age of 20 make up a large portion of drivers at UCLA.
Since they are more likely to get distracted by cellphones than older drivers, this year’s campaign focuses on ways to prevent distraction, Terrazas said.
“You’re more likely to get hurt off the job than on the job, and the leading cause of injury at work is a car accident, so we’re trying to limit these accidents to protect people,” he said.
The transportation department has also increased driver training workshops since 2007 to decrease the amount of accidents.
These workshops, which are mandatory for all drivers of university vehicles, include a video of the consequences of texting while driving, Dickson said.
The video is similar to ones that novice drivers are shown in driving school and depicts a death that results from texting while driving.
Fourth-year international developmental studies student Jessica Cherry took the workshop before driving a university van.
The knowledge that she is responsible for the safety of her student passengers keeps her from texting while driving, she said.
“I can feel five or six people looking at me and judging, so I never text, and if I have to, I ask my passenger seat rider to text for me,” she said.
Since 2007, the average number of accidents that have occurred in university vans have decreased from around five per month to less than three, Terrazas said.