PRIORITY 3: Vehicles

Ensuring that drivers have the safest vehicles is another important step. This could be done by specifying a minimum Euro NCAP rating (many fleets insist on five stars) and fitting some of the latest safety technology.

Walsh points out that “modern vehicles are inherently safer” and that technology is “developing at a rapid rate”.

“It’s now about crash avoidance rather than crash mitigation,” he says. “But there is a low level of understanding about safety technology.”

A recent study across 10 European countries investigating car users’ acceptance of eSafety technologies (Electronic Stability Control or ESC, speed alert, adaptive headlights, lane support, blind spot monitoring and Autonomous Emergency Braking or AEB) placed Britain last for awareness of four of the six systems.

“Many businesses are still allowing employees to drive company vehicles that are not fitted with these lifesaving eSafety systems,” Walsh says. “Thousands more lives could be saved and injuries avoided.”

Murray points out that it is important to educate drivers. “Companies may not tell drivers what ABS does, for example, and people tend to think it helps you stop when in reality it helps you steer,” he says. “You need to make sure people understand the technology.”

However, there are possible negative side effects that need to be taken into consideration. “Risk Homeostasis theory suggests that people have a desired or target level of risk with which they are comfortable,” Murray explains.

“When external factors, such as adding more safety features to a vehicle, impact on their perceived level of risk, they will adjust their behaviour to maintain their target level of risk.”

This means that drivers may actually take more risks if they know the car is fitted with safety technology and they may rely too heavily on the technology to get them out of trouble.

Hill says: “You can have the safest vehicle known to man, but if you have got someone who is reckless and you put them behind the wheel they are still likely to be involved in an accident.”
Vehicle safety is also about making sure vehicles are regularly serviced and well maintained and that repairs are carried out after an accident.

As well as signing the handbook drivers often have to sign a declaration about vehicle condition when they submit their expenses. Some companies require grey fleet drivers to have a permit to drive. This is only given when they have shown the car’s MOT certificate, business insurance, V5, service book and tax disc along with a driving licence check.

Others get suppliers to perform checks in the vehicle car park on a monthly basis or insist that drivers fill out inspection sheets.

LeasePlan says even if the contract hire provider is responsible for maintenance it does not mean “the employer has washed its hand of its own legal responsibilities”. It suggests procedures need to be in place to ensure employers are alerted if servicing is not carried out regularly.

Vehicles also need to be ‘fit for purpose’. LeasePlan says it could be risky to only provide small, cramped cars to high-mileage drivers whose job requires them to spend much of their time behind the wheel.

It suggests that it may also be worth providing guidance on posture and other ergonomic issues to reduce the chance of drivers developing injuries.

Fitting telematics and/or speed limiters is another way to improve driver safety. Telematics reports can highlight unsafe driver behaviour and help to identify which drivers might need further training.

Some telematics devices give drivers in-vehicle coaching. GreenRoad, for example, gives drivers real-time feedback through an LED display.

Iron Mountain trialled GreenRoad’s system in 30 vehicles last year and reduced its incident costs by £35,000 over the trial period. The company is now rolling it out to the rest of the fleet.

Accident management provider FMG Support has launched a telematics device which assesses whether drivers are low, medium or high risk based on driving behaviour. It refers medium and high risk drivers to an e-learning centre. It anticipates a 10% reduction in the accident rate.

Some companies take it to the next step by installing in-vehicle cameras as a way of monitoring and changing driver behaviour. Kelly Communications reported a 36% reduction in its accident frequency after fitting SmartDrive’s device; the cameras can also record images of the actual incident.

PRIORITY 4: Journeys

Asking whether a journey is necessary is the starting point for managing the journey. A conference call or video-conference could take place instead.

If the journey is necessary drivers need to consider the best mode of transport. A driver’s work schedule may also need reviewing.

Murray says: “Are you expecting employees to do 10 jobs rather than seven and that means they have to cut corners? Is there pressure on them to get there? If the manager is pushing drivers and that’s causing accidents then driver training won’t help.”

Journeys should be scheduled with realistic timetables and ample rest periods. Employers need to take driver fatigue into account when planning journeys, particularly when dealing with late or overnight shifts.

To assist with routing, a company’s telematics or tracking device could be linked to navigation technology or other work scheduling software.

Drivers need educating about in-vehicle distractions, such as sat-navs, mobile phones and music, as well as which roads are statistically safer to drive on, according to Hill.

“Many drivers are uncomfortable driving on a motorway, but statistically it’s the safest place to drive,” he says. “So it’s about getting that message across to drivers.”

It may also be worth reviewing regular routes to see if there are any accident hotspots.

Glasgow City Council discovered a pattern of accidents outside depots. A chartered engineer investigated and concluded that the accidents were caused by drivers not taking care when they exited the depot. This meant that driver education was needed rather than any engineering measures.

Whatever a company decides to do it needs to ensure that it is not “a one-off event”, according to Murray. “You can’t do a bit of driver training or fit telematics and think that that’s the end of it.”