Despite a range of other pressures on modern fleet professionals, new research shows that driver safety remains high on the business agenda.
The independent research from the Corporate Vehicle Observatory (CVO) Barometer shows that many UK companies continue to take driver safety very seriously, take responsibility for driver safety and have actions in place to mitigate driver risk.
The annual fleet barometer supported by Swindon-based vehicle leasing and fleet management company Arval, looked at the state of the market across 16 countries with more than 4,800 interviews conducted with fleet decision makers this year. It shows that 46% of smaller businesses (sub-100 employees) and 63% of larger companies (100+ employees) believe that they share responsibility for safe driving behaviour rather than putting all of the emphasis on the driver. This represents greater corporate ownership of driver behaviour than we see in other European countries.
The barometer also shows that fleet practises are in place to support this ideology – with significantly more than half of companies prohibiting the use of hands-free mobile phones (which isn’t a legal requirement) and more than a third having policy’s in place to restrict unsafe travel (the example below is for driving home after a work party). Around 10% of companies have even introduced driver incentives and rewards to promote safer behaviour on the roads.
The research also shows that 33% of the largest company’s surveyed (100+ employees) have driver training in place; as do 18% of smaller companies surveyed (sub-100 employees).
Percentage of companies that make driver safety training mandatory:
Tracey Scarr, fleet & road safety manager at Arval said: “Getting driver safety wrong can have disastrous consequences; employee injury or death, damage to corporate reputation and harsh financial penalties are all possible implications. That’s why we believe that modern fleet operators take this area so seriously.
“We also know from our own experience that a good fleet safety policy can reduce costs. Reduced accident repair costs, lower fuel volumes used, less unplanned maintenance and a fall in vehicle downtime all make for a strong business case.
“Whilst these results are pleasing the fleet sector can not afford to be complacent and it remains crucially important that we all maintain a clear focus on reducing road risk.”
*Fleet size classification
