Brake, the road safety charity, has published guidance for fleet managers on the financial benefits of managing road risk.

This best practice report has been produced as part of Brake's campaign to help organisations save lives, money and the environment by improving fleet safety.

The guidance includes expert advice delivered at a recent Brake webinar on ‘saving money through fleet risk management'. It demonstrates how identifying and managing the risks of vehicle collisions, as well as engaging with fleet insurers, can help lower operating costs. Both this guidance and the webinar have been kindly sponsored by leading driver performance and fleet management company, GreenRoad.

At-work crashes are estimated to cost more than £2.7 billion a year in the UK alone. Even minor crashes are expensive: the total cost of a fleet vehicle insurance claim can be four to 15 times higher than average direct repair costs. To reduce the costs associated with road crashes, as well as ensuring the safety of their drivers and of other road users, fleet managers must take proactive steps to manage road risk.

The PDF report is available for free to Fleet Safety Forum subscribers, or can be purchased for £5 by non-subscribers. Special offer: the first 25 non-subscribers to request the report will get a copy for FREE. Please email admin@brake.org.uk or call +44 (0)1484 559909 to order.

The Fleet Safety Forum is a low cost, not-for-profit subscription service, run by road safety charity Brake. It supports fleet managers in reducing the human and financial costs associated with road crashes involving at-work drivers. Annual subscription costs just £155 +VAT (discounts available for smaller fleets), and subscribers get access to advice, guidance and other resources to help them improve road safety from within their organisation. Find out more and subscribe online at www.fleetsafetyforum.org.

Roz Cumming, professional engagement manager at Brake, says: "At Brake our first priority is to prevent road death and injury. But we appreciate that particularly in difficult financial times, money is ultimately the driving factor for businesses deciding how to invest limited funds. Happily, as this report demonstrates, investing in fleet safety will help to save lives and money through crash prevention. Even minor collisions can be very expensive for fleets. This report highlights the hidden cost of crashes, and provides practical steps for fleet managers to follow. I'd urge anyone who doesn't already subscribe to sign up to Brake's Fleet Safety Forum to get access to this resource and many others like it."

Andy Cozens, senior consultant at GreenRoad, says: "We partnered with Brake because we recognise the important role it plays in helping the UK's roads become safer.  The report, as well as GreenRoad's experience working with fleets of all sizes, clearly show that improving fleet's safety, and minimizing risk, has a very concrete and immediate effect on business costs and ROI. With safer fleets, GreenRoad customers achieved a positive ROI in as little as a month - cutting fuel costs by up to 14%, reducing crash rates by 50-70%, saving on insurance premiums and increasing driver productivity. It's a winning combination - saving lives, cutting fuel and reducing fleet costs."