With transportation crashes continuing to be the number one cause of on-the-job deaths each year, the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety’s (NETS) has branded this week – Oct. 2-6 – as Drive Safely Work Week.

According to NETS, most of the nearly 6.2 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes that occurred last year were preventable, and many of these incidents involved employees driving for work and even more involved employees who were driving to and from work. On average, people die every 12 minutes in car crashes and every year since 1992 transportation accidents have been the leading cause of on-the-job deaths – 43 percent of those that died from workplace injuries in 2004 were involved in a transportation-related accident.

The effort has won support from the American Society of Safety Engineers, who urged employers to promote safe driving by providing safety information to workers and by setting driver safety policies now and throughout the year.