Zonar Offers Practical Tips, Resources and 1:1 Guidance for Fleets and Commercial Vehicle Drivers During the Covid-19 Crisis

Seattle, Wash. – April 16, 2020 - Zonar, the leader in smart fleet technology, is sharing a list of practical safety tips and comprehensive resources for drivers and operators who cannot self-quarantine at this time. This list, along with compliance and regulatory assistance and advice can be found on Zonar’s COVID-19 Resource page. With an overwhelming amount of information being disseminated by various sources, it can be challenging to decipher what is useful and factual for businesses and drivers. This resource was created to provide trusted information in service to the trucking industry.

Zonar is also providing additional support for businesses, truck drivers and operators via a free weekly webinar hosted by the company's Safety & Compliance team, including on-demand replays and Q&A sessions. The team, led by industry veteran Fred Fakkema, has also committed to providing 1:1 advice for drivers and businesses around compliance and regulations through an easy-to-use form. This is all in addition to Zonar’s 24/7/365 customer success team which is at the ready to handle any customer or product specific inquiries.

“Amidst this global crisis, our workforce has been divided into essential and nonessential labor, with Commercial vehicle drivers becoming some of the most indispensable — and most exposed — people in the US,” says Fred Fakkema, vice president of Safety & Compliance at Zonar. “Now more than ever, we want to proactively help them stay safe and healthy in any way we can by making it easy to find and ask for help and advice and factual information when they need it.”

Compiled with the help of other industry experts and authorities, the following practical tips are meant to be considered in addition to adherence to directions provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and federal and state officials. These tips were crafted with understanding of real-life situations that many drivers cannot avoid or control.

10 Practical Tips for Truck Drivers While on the Road:

1. Restaurants and fast food locations across the country are providing drivers with discounts and other offers. For a list of participating locations and businesses, visit the International Franchise Association.
2. Stay in your vehicles as supplies are loaded and unloaded and when possible, keep your windows up when interacting with another person.
3. Do not touch fuel pumps with your bare hands – they are often the dirtiest areas of a truck stop.
4. When spending the night in a “hot” area, stay in hotel rooms or your sleeper cab, and continue to practice social distancing (a distance of 6 feet).
5. Decrease the number of times you touch “shared” objects with your bare hands such as credit cards, pens, cups, clipboards, handles, ATM pads, etc.
6. Use a face covering (a mask, scarf or bandana) and gloves when interacting with people, along with social distancing. Disinfect these objects as much as possible.
7. When you can, go digital or electronic. Avoid receipts, forms or other physical objects that are passed around without protection.
8. Handwashing with soap is more effective at removing certain kinds of germs but if you need to make your own hand sanitizer, make sure it contains at least 60% alcohol.
9. Comprehensive news and updates can be found on Zonar's COVID-19 Resource page.
   • Because of rapidly changing regulations, Zonar uses only trusted industry and government resources for updates including: CDC, ATA, CVSA, FMCSA, FHWA, SBA.com, APTA, and the CISA.gov.
10. Take advantage of grants and other financial resources if you need assistance:
    • Apply for the Paycheck Protection Program
    • Apply for the Small Business Association’s Disaster Loan Assistance Program
    • Zonar’s grant assistance program with Learn, Design, Apply, Inc will help you find and apply for grants that will best meet your needs at this time

For additional tips, along with frequently updated information and resources during the Covid-19 crisis, please visit Zonar's COVID-19 Resource page.

About Zonar
Founded in 2001, Zonar has pioneered smart fleet management solutions throughout vocational, pupil, mass transit and commercial trucking industries. Zonar’s mission is to enhance the safety, performance and success of our customers by transforming the delivery of innovative insights for commercial fleets around the world. Zonar achieves this by helping fleets of all sizes maximize the use of their assets with solutions dedicated to improving compliance, efficiency, maintenance, ridership visibility, safety and tracking. Cloud-based services with open APIs drive Zonar's smart fleet solutions by making it easy for fleet owners and managers to stay connected to their fleets and drivers and operators to dispatch. Headquartered in Seattle and part of the Continental family, Zonar also has a Technology Development Center in downtown Seattle, a regional office in Cincinnati, and a distribution center outside of Atlanta. For more information about Zonar, go to www.zonarsystems.com