Driving for Work: Mythbusters
52 common misconceptions – and the facts employers and drivers need to know
Myth 50: I’ve driven this route a hundred times – I know it and I’m safe
Route familiarity can create a false sense of security and actually increase risk through complacency.
Drivers who are very familiar with a route may engage less actively with the task of driving – a phenomenon known as ‘highway hypnosis’ – and are more likely to miss unexpected hazards such as parked vehicles, cyclists, roadworks, or changed road conditions.
Research suggests that familiar routes account for a disproportionate number of collisions.
Employers should encourage drivers to maintain consistent attention regardless of how well they know a route, and remind them that conditions, other road users, and hazards are never truly predictable.
Driver takeaway:
Familiarity breeds complacency. The routes where you feel most comfortable are the ones where your attention is most likely to drift.
Drive every route as if conditions could change, because they can and do.
Manager takeaway:
Remind drivers regularly that familiar routes account for a disproportionate share of collisions.
Use incident and near-miss data to identify whether certain routes, however routine, carry elevated risk, and address that risk through route planning, timing changes, or targeted awareness.
