ROAD safety organisation Brake this week urged fleets to take part in the establishment of a benchmarking system which would allow companies to make comparative assessments of their accident records. The system is one of the key areas to improving fleet safety records being considered by the Driving Standards Agency, which for the last few months has been meeting with road safety and fleet driver training organisations.

Among its aims are the establishment of a common driver training syllabus and trainer accreditation. Brake's recent meeting at the DSA's centre in Cardington, Bedfordshire, marked the first stage of a University of Huddersfield 12-month research project, funded by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, into finding out the best way of recording accident data and using it to reduce incidents.

A spokeswoman for Brake said: 'We want to set up an information exchange between those fleet managers who are tackling the risk management issue and those who need guidance. We will be finding out what information they record, how it's done and what they do with the results. The university will use the information in its work on finding what is best practice for such an issue and pass on its findings to the DETR.'