It is an unfortunate fact that if someone has been involved in one road traffic accident, they are more likely to have another in the near future and certain profiles of driver display particular behavioural traits.

Unfashionable though the thinking is, age and gender are relevant. Simon Elstow, training manager at the Institute of Advanced Motoring (IAM) Drive & Survive, says: “Women are much more risk-averse than men, regardless of age group, they tend to stop sooner than men when they are tired and they are also less likely to be involved in a serious crash or to drive aggressively.”

Assessing drivers’ core competencies – attitude, knowledge, hazard recognition skills – is an important part of the jigsaw.

“Companies can capture all data into a management information system to give risk ratings for each driver and from that, they can start to structure intervention,” says research director for Interactive Driving Systems Dr Will Murray.

Low-risk employees may get feedback and computer training; those classed as medium risk may get more feedback and one-to-one or classroom-based assessment, and high-risk drivers may have more detailed one-to-one or in-vehicle assessment.

All these methods allow managers to identify bad habits and to communicate more efficient ways to drive.

“Companies then have an audit trail,” says Lex Autolease’s Chandler, whose company uses AA DriveTech for such courses. But these are not the only factors and the root cause of any accident or incident may have more to do with the schedule drivers are asked to keep than the quality of their driving.

Zurich Insurance UK head of fleet risk Andy Price says risk can be mitigated by reducing high mileage.

Could sales teams make the same number of calls more efficiently with better journey planning? Could engineers make fewer trips if they had larger vans to carry more equipment? Are depots in the best place?

“You would think that having better trained drivers would improve the collision and claim rate, but statistics we see would suggest otherwise,” says Price.

He says the two main success factors are culture and management and often both are overlooked.

“The key thing is around how driver behaviour is managed,” says Murray.

“It has to come from the top, either through proactive fleet managers, safety managers, compliance, HR – a stakeholder group of all the significant management usually makes the difference.”

“You have to make it very clear to people how they are going to be evaluated,” says Elstow.

To inspire engagement, he suggests asking staff: “You might get something out of this, not just for your company but for you and your family. This will hopefully make you safer. Is that worth it?” He says very few people say no.