Mixed reaction from fleets over proposal

By John Maslen

Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has stressed that the Department for Transport has at-work drivers firmly in its sights, because up to one-third of fatal accidents involve drivers who are at work at the time.

When RoadSafe spoke to fleet operators, they were generally supportive of the need to tackle crashes, but they are concerned that business should not be singled out for special treatment, as many are already making special efforts to improve their safety records.

Julie Jenner, chairman of ACFO, the fleet operators’ association, argued that while any safety initiative that saved lives deserved praise, this needed to be balanced against what the UK fleet industry had already achieved for road safety.

She said: “We know that many fleet operators have already implemented programmes to cover driver training, and many have re-written policies to include driver safety, journey planning, rest breaks and so on.

“Whilst I accept that ‘at-work’ drivers are more likely to be involved in an incident, this is primarily because they are on the road more, not necessarily because they need more training.

“It stands to reason that if you drive more miles, you are more likely to have an accident. Let’s not keep bashing the at-work driver or fleet operator who are, in the majority of cases, already dealing with these issues.”

Many other fleet managers agree. They argue that the Government needs to recognise the hard work already put in by the fleet industry in the face of increasing legislation, including the arrival of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act in April.

Most companies understand they have a duty of care to their employees and they are taking action, fleets say.

Liz Hollands, car fleet manager at global real estate advisers DTZ, who runs a 500-strong car fleet, with 1,000 cash takers, said she supported Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly’s proposals for changing the way people initially learned to drive.

But she warned against relying solely on the often-quoted statistics which claim that onethird of all road deaths are work-related.

“That means that two-thirds weren’t at work at the time, but still had accidents,” she said.

“Rather than targeting companies and increasing their substantial fleet costs, which will surely affect the final cost of the product/ service they are selling, I would rather the Department put its money into improving standards of driving for the population as a whole. More than that, they need to tackle the attitude of Joe Public on the road. Only when they can create a safe and respectful driving culture will we get fewer accidents.”

However, for every fleet that takes its health and safety seriously, there are many more that either don’t know about the risks involved in work-related transport or don’t care.

Jon York, fleet operations manager for British Gas, who is responsible for about 10,000 vehicles, says companies that have done all they can to make drivers safe have nothing to worry about. He said: “I fully support the proposals as, even though British Gas has trained more than 6,000 engineers over the past three years, not enough companies are following our example.”

British Gas is the UK’s biggest employer of apprentices, which means there are a large number of younger drivers on Mr York’s fleet, the category of driver that is most likely to have an incident.

In the past three years, the fleet has used a rigorous driver training programme to reduce the number of insurance claims by 933 or 14.6%.

All drivers must undergo a five-hour induction, which includes questions on the Highway Code. The Health and Safety Executive’s ‘Driving for Work’ manual is used as a baseline and speed limiters are being fitted to vehicles.

Mr York added: “We all know that nine lives lost every day on the roads is too much and any support the industry can obtain from Government to improve safety on the roads is welcome.”

However, concerns remain throughout the industry that the final proposals will see the business sector swamped with yet more red tape.

Alan Miles, administration and data protection manager at the Royal National Institute for the Blind, who runs a fleet of about 100 vehicles, mirrored the views of many other fleets. He said: “Yet again, the Government is going for the easy option instead of looking at the root cause of the majority of accidents such as young/inexperienced drivers, uninsured drivers and those in untaxed and unserviced vehicles.”

• Is an ‘Investors in Fleet Safety’ standard the road to a safe future? See pages 54-57
• Fleet manager picture courtesy of Fleet News

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