Food Truck Seatbelt Safety Reminder

No one wakes up thinking they will lose a loved one in a food truck crash that day. But every day about 100 people die in vehicle crashes and more than 1,000 suffer life-changing injuries. Imagine running as fast as you can; into a wall. You’d expect to get pretty banged up. Do you think you could stop yourself if the wall suddenly loomed up when you were two feet away from it? This is exactly the situation you face when the front of your food truck hits something at only 15 miles an hour.

Food Truck Seatbelt Safety Reminder

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fatal occupational injuries resulting from transportation incidents and homicides by occupation totaled more than 1,766 deaths a year result from occupational transportation incidents. That number is more than 38 percent of the 4,547 annual number of fatalities from total occupational injuries. Fatal transportation incidents were lower by 10 percent in 2013, but still accounted for about 2 out of every 5 fatal work injuries in 2013.

After hearing of a Florida food truck employee losing her life in an accident we thought it would be a good time to share this reminder.

Almost every state has put in place regulated seatbelt use for food trucks. Everyone on your food truck staff must has to wear a seatbelt while traveling in your food truck. Air bags also help reduce injury in crashes, but only when used with seat belts.

According to the CDC, seatbelts reduce deaths and serious injuries by about 50 percent. That alone should be incentive enough for food truck owners to mandate that anyone traveling in their food trucks must buckle up. Unless you happen to operate in New Hampshire, which doesn’t have seatbelt laws for adults, you and your staff have to buckle up to follow the law.

Fewer injuries and deaths are all great reasons require your food truck staff to wear seatbelts. If your food truck truck doesn’t have seating for everyone on the staff (most trucks only have two seats), have the rest of your team meet you on location so they are able to maintain seatbelt safety in another vehicle.

The Bottom Line

Driver safety is very important. When you or a staff member is behind the wheel of your food truck, your actions will affect you, others in the car, and anyone else who happens to be on the road near you.

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By Richard Myrick|2017-09-28T09:10:56-04:00Sep 28, 2015|Under the Hood|

About the Author: Richard Myrick

Richard Myrick is an architect by degree (Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan) who began his career in real estate development and architectural planning. In September of 2010 he created Mobile Cuisine Magazine to fill an information void he found when he began researching how to start a mobile hotdog cart in Chicago. Richard found that there was no central repository of mobile street food information anywhere on the internet, and with that, the idea for MCM was born. Richard also wrote the "Running a Food Truck for Dummies" available in bookstores everywhere and Amazon. You can reach out to Richard by email at: [email protected].