Committee will set up network

Led by John Lewis, director general of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, the 'Business Champions' will:

• Speak at meetings of trade associations, employer network group, chambers of commerce, fleet seminars and other business events
• Present their 'case study' directly to other companies

Additionally, their work will be supported by a major communications programme including providing access to best practice case studies and other information through a soon-to-be-launched 'Business Champions' website (visit www.roadsafe.com for details).

Mr Lewis said: "Road safety is crucial to every one of us and whether as a pedestrian, cyclist or driver, we all use our roads. But 3,500 people a year die in doing so. This toll is simply not acceptable. It is, after all, equivalent to 10 Boeing 747s crashing each year in the UK alone and there would be a justifiable outcry if that were to happen.

"But road deaths are accepted almost as if they are inevitable; even the very word 'accident' used to describe the incident in which someone died or was injured, smacks of being without foreseeable cause.

Incidents

"But many incidents are caused by people. People who drive recklessly, who speed, who don't look properly, who don't take account of road conditions, who drive without thought for others or who cause incidents for a myriad of other reasons. This has to change and we are determined that the BVRLA should play its part on behalf of its members and their customers and employees."

Members of the steering committee include: Paul Holmes, managing director of AA Risk Management Solutions; Nick Carter, of the Driving Standards Agency; Dr Will Murray, research director of Interactive Driving Systems; Charles Davis, head of driver and fleet solutions, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and an executive member of the Fleet Safety Association; Cliff Cheeseman, of Tesco; David Faithful, solicitor Lyons Davidson; Bill Pownall, motor risk manager, Norwich Union; Chief Inspector Ian Brooks, of the Metropolitan Police; Britta Lang, senior safety group researcher, TRL; Rob Anderson, of Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving; as well as representatives of ACFO (Association of Car Fleet Operators, Freight Transport Association, Highways Agency, Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association and the Road Haulage Association.

BVRLA members manage more than two million vehicles for their customers, each one driven by somebody, who will in the overwhelming majority of cases, use it for work purposes for at least a part of their job.

Mr Lewis added: "We can act to encourage and exhort our members' customers to take hold of the challenge that road safety presents and help to reduce the 1,000 or so deaths, and the 100,000 injuries that occur annually, while people are driving on business.

"Our long-term goal is plainly a significant reduction in the number and severity of incidents. That involves explaining to companies the need for road safety and for considering in greater degree, the welfare of their employees.

"That is the moral side of the argument. But businesses are commercial enterprises and success is often more easily achieved if there is a financial incentive involved, as well.

"In reducing incidents, there is a strong financial incentive. While insurance may cover the costs of repair to the vehicle, Health and Safety Executive research shows that uninsured losses are at least eight times higher. If that's not an incentive, I don't know what is."

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