SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill.—Glancing around the classroom at United Parcel Service Inc.'s feeder truck Driver Training School in South Holland, Ill., one sees a poster on the wall that reads: “Excuses are tools used by the incompetent, which cannot be corrected.”

Safety is very much part of the culture at UPS. With more than 100,000 drivers traveling more than 3.3 billion miles a year to move about 7% of the U.S. gross domestic product, it has to be.

Each year, 84 UPS management-level employees are hand-picked by their supervisors within their area or hub to attend this rigorous three-week training program. The program at UPS' South Holland facility is more intense and comprehensive than that for drivers of its signature brown trucks.

It is at this location that these employees learn to drive trucks that haul double trailers and how to train future feeder truck drivers for UPS. Feeder trucks are part of the lifeblood of UPS; they typically haul packages from one hub to another before they are handed off to delivery trucks.

At the forefront of all of this is Tom Brokop, coordinator of UPS' Driver Trainer School. A former police officer and UPS driver, Mr. Brokop preaches the importance of what it means for UPS drivers to be safe on the road.

“It's all about being safe in everything you do with that vehicle and on the road,” Mr. Brokop said. “The mindset has to be about safety.”

So far this year, UPS has invested $26 million on safety training. In 2009, the package-handling company spent $52 million, which they said helped improve their crash rate by more than 44% since 2004.

Training for potential feeder truck driver trainers begins well before they step foot into Mr. Brokop's classroom. They go through a comprehensive screening process that includes interviews with instructors. While most go on to become driver trainers, an average of 5% a year don't make it.

Excuses for why a task wasn't executed or a guideline wasn't followed aren't tolerated by Mr. Brokop and his fellow instructors. At the UPS Driver Training School, being a good driver sometimes isn't good enough—you have to be the best and the safest.

“This training is designed to help prepare people for the next level,” Mr. Brokop said. “We should train people to take the next level because that is what is going to keep this company strong.”

In the classroom, prospective driver trainers go through several modules ranging from making turns and identifying intersections to federal regulations. In the field, they'll have to master a pre- and post-trip checklist that contains more than 1,000 tasks, as well as a 10-point commentary checklist and going through a “drill drive.” They will log 80 hours of classroom and on-the-road training before qualifying to be a certified feeder driver trainer.

“The most important thing we learn here is safety,” said Arturo Martinez, a Los Angeles-based dispatch supervisor and who is training to be a feeder driver instructor. “All the money we (try to) save in operations costs goes out the window with one accident.”

Driving a semi pulling two trailers isn't exactly an easy thing to do, especially when trying to explain what you're doing while you're doing it. One of the hardest parts of UPS' driver training, Mr. Brokop said, is teaching future trainers how to explain what they're doing and why they're doing it.

A drill drive is a good example of this. During a drill drive, truck drivers explain to their instructors each movement they're making and why. This includes rattling off following-distance time, announcing “dirty” vs. “clean” intersections and mirrors—meaning vehicles or pedestrians are visible—picking a target in the “drive scene” to aim for, which helps the driver assess the big picture while driving and allows them to make decisions about traffic situations.

“Aim high and you'll always get by,” Mr. Brokop said recently, as he steered a rig down the sometimes narrow streets of South Holland. “Aim low and you'll never know.”

The idea, he said, is to keep drivers from staring as they drive. If they scan the road and get the big picture, they are less likely to develop tunnel vision and barrel down the road.

Moreover, it allows them to recognize changes in the traffic pattern and conditions around them, which Mr. Brokop said is key to other habits UPS drivers must form, including leaving themselves an out should problems arise on the road, and making sure they see other motorists or pedestrians and that others see the UPS truck.

As he drives along, Mr. Brokop states his following distance from the vehicle in front of him, glances right to left and then left to right while identifying vehicles at intersections or in the lanes next to him. He honks the horn if there is a pedestrian he thinks might be a hazard or a driver he senses may not see him as they enter the roadway.

It's defensive driving at its highest level, which focuses on the hazards UPS drivers face and teaches them how not to become a hazard themselves. Following the UPS training methods, which include drivers always leaving space to escape a hazard and surveying the big picture, helps the effort, Mr. Brokop said.

“People are always going to want to get around the big, slow-moving truck,” Mr. Brokop said as a car zipped around his rig, passing on the left and changing lanes in front of him. “It's important to drive safe and drive smart. It's important to teach our drivers how to avoid becoming a safety hazard themselves.”