SC&RA’s New Pilot Car Best Practices Guide Helps Connect Carriers & Pilots

(June 27, 2024) - SC&RA has announced the publication of Best Practices for Qualifying, Selecting & Utilizing Pilot/Escort Vehicle Operator Services. The guide addresses a growing concern over the disconnect between carriers and pilot car services in both the U.S. and Canada. “We started examining this issue and realized that there seems to be a significant lack of common understandings of safety protocols between drivers of both carriers and pilots,” explained SC&RA Vice President, Transportation Chris Smith. “There are questions around communication and law enforcement involvement, and many of these roles and responsibilities aren’t always fleshed out – which then starts to really impact risk-mitigation, legal liabilities, insurance, etc.”

A joint task force between the Pilot Car Committee and the Transportation Group Safety Education and Training Committee came together to identify the elements of a proper pre-trip meeting as well as all the different roles, relationships and responsibilities involved in a trip on any given day. What resulted is the new Best Practices Guide available free to the industry. “Using this Guide, both pilots and carriers will have something they can go to their brokers or underwriters with and say look, we are mitigating our risk, we are dealing with reputable people, we are pursuing these best practices and crafting sophisticated contracts. You might start to see a positive impact on premiums, and more,” Smith said. Louis Juneau, with NOVA Permits & Pilot Cars, was part of the early discussions on the disconnect between carriers and pilots, and as part of the task force at the time, saw the conversation evolve up to the committee level. “At the root of it, it’s about making the industry safer,” he emphasized. To read more about the members who contributed to this effort and the Guide itself, click here. To download the document, click here.