Rise in traffic offences 'a wake-up call for fleet managers'
Traffic offences among company car drivers are on the increase, but too few fleet decision-makers are addressing the causes of the incidents, according to a survey by LeasePlan, one of the UK's largest vehicle management companies...
"Fleet decision-makers need to look into all aspects of driving, not just speeding and parking. Cutting down on dangerous driving has a real economic incentive as well as the duty of care motivation"
While driver risk assessments may be a good starting point to improve safety, targeted solutions and continuous measuring and monitoring are essential to ensure fines are avoided, according to the company.
The number of offences spiked at the end of 2006 with the fi nal four months of the year seeing offences such as jumping red lights and yellow box junction violations rise by 85% when compared with the beginning of the year - 1,331 offences versus 720.
Figures
Latest figures from the company, which operates a UK fleet of more than 129,000 vehicles, show that in the first quarter of 2007, the period for which the most recent data is available, fines have followed a similar trend.
The monthly average for traffic offences is rising by 28% on 2006 levels with the increase being attributed to a growing number of speed cameras being installed to monitor yellow box junctions.
The survey, carried out among drivers on the LeasePlan fleet, revealed that the total number of fines received by drivers remained quite constant throughout 2006, finishing just 1% higher than it started - 11,276 in the first four months compared with 11,395 in the final third of the year. However, when broken down into categories, general traffic violations were seen to jump significantly.
Violations
Speeding (4,231 v 4,547) and bus lane violations (494 v 531) also increased by a more modest 7% apiece, with non-payment of the London congestion charge (2,298 v 1,993) and parking fines (3,533 v 2,993) actually falling as the year went on by 15% and 13% respectively.
The data also reveals that overall the total number of fines incurred by company car drivers is down from 42,416 in 2005 to 35,023 last year. But the data underlines the changing nature of the offences being committed with general traffic offences (jumping red lights and yellow box junction violations) on the rise (2005: 2,180 v 2006: 2,874) along with parking misdemeanours (8,879 v 10,175). Speeding and bus lane offences were both down year-on-year along with non-payment of the London congestion charge fines.
David Brennan, managing director of LeasePlan UK, says the figures should act as a wake up call to those who manage company car fleets.
He said: "General traffic offences of this sort have traditionally taken a back seat in company car driver training to more high profile problems such as speeding [down from 18,652 fines in 2005 to 13,861 last year]. This jump in fines will force a re-think of how fleet managers handle their drivers. Fleet managers throughout the UK put a great deal of effort into driver training to ensure their employees are as safe as possible on the roads. Aside from the corporate liability issues, driver fines involve extra administration and time costs for fleets as they deal with the paperwork.
Changing
"What these figures show is that the types of fines company car drivers are incurring are changing all the time - possibly due to stricter policing of the offences rather than a lowering of driving standards - and so fleet decision-makers need to look into all aspects of driving, not just speeding and parking. Cutting down on dangerous driving has a real economic incentive as well as the duty of care motivation.
"Many fleets have undergone a risk assessment followed by some form of driver training, but these measures alone don't necessarily result in safer drivers.
"Traffic offences are still on the rise and too few fleet managers are addressing the causes of these types of incident. Risk assessments are a good start, but to ensure that fleets are safe, fleet operators need processes in place to deliver the right training to the right drivers and also the measures in place to monitor that it's working."
But, said Mr Brennan, it was not always drivers that were the problem with wider factors potentially at work such as drivers being on the road at particularly busy times or on roads that carried a statistically higher risk of driving infringements.
"A broad range of factors need examining if a company is serious about ensuring the safety of its drivers and cutting down the cost of fines," he said. "This is a lot of effort but it can be worth it. The ongoing Michael Eyres case alone should be enough to show the value of being serious about driver safety."