By Simon Marsh managing director VisionTrack 

Currently the government estimates road collisions are costing the UK economy in excess of £16.3bn a year and the recent fine of Midland Red highlights the significant steps being taken by the law to address dangerous driving behaviour.

Through our footage I see dangerous driving on the roads every single day. The ridiculous part is that the majority of collisions or incidents are caused by a moment of madness and distracted driver behaviour.

I’ve seen vehicles topple into a bank because the driver is eating a sandwich whilst he drives, making him subsequently lose control of the wheel.

This type of conduct is something that needs to stop. We have frequent incidences of tailgating and jumping red lights.  

What’s the rush? Are we under so much pressure that we can’t pull up for 5 minutes to eat our lunch or wait a couple more minutes in a queue?

We should all be working together to educate drivers on the dangers of irresponsible driving behaviour and utilising the technology available to help prevent incidents in the first place.

•  Fleet News recently reported that Midland Red were fined £2.3m after a failure to act on telematics warnings led to a fatal collision 

Our culture can promote the benefits of multitasking and going a hundred miles per hour to get things completed in a timely manner. This does not work on the road.

Drivers need to rest and concentrate on what they’re doing. We should always be promoting safety over output and targets and I believe that this ethos filters down from the top of the company.

The upside of my job is educating fleets on driver behaviour and putting proactive measures in place to help prevent incidents. The downside is receiving footage where it’s too late. We can’t continue to ignore dangerous processes in any business.

Education is key. I hope that these fines act as a warning to all drivers, fleet managers and supporting businesses to act now – it’s too important not to.