BOSSES CAN REDUCE ROAD CRASHES
Bosses can contribute to a serious reduction in UK road crashes while making major corporate savings to their fleet budget, revealed TTCs national training manager.
There is a “huge” financial incentive for companies to initiate fleet management training for their drivers, said Malcolm Jones. Company car and van drivers and people driving as part of their job make up one third of the 3,500 people killed each year on our roads.
This compares to just 350 work related deaths inside the workplace, he told TTCs annual conference held in Telford attended by 50 trainers from across the country.
“Employers are starting to look at the risk they are placing drivers under on the road network. They know that this is the biggest danger area for staff. “Risks inside the factory have been considerably diminished compared to the risk on the road.”
There were major costs involved for companies with large fleets which suffered many “rear end shunts” and minor collisions costing firms hundreds of thousands of pounds in repairs and insurance hikes.
“The majority of crashes are little bumps, tyres scuffed, wing mirrors damaged and insurance does not cover them,” said Mr Jones, whose trainers are currently running courses in Shropshire with proceeds going to the Severn Hospice.
One firm tackled its problem of a high percentage of accidents on the works car park by training its staff. While another trained all their staff to carry out basic car maintenance to cut costs. Companies who trained drivers found between a 25 and 40 per cent reduction in crashes, a 25 per cent reduction in insurance costs, ten per cent fuel savings and maintenance costs cut by five per cent, said Mr Jones.
