Road safety charity Brake is calling on fleet operators to crack down on driver distraction after finding that more than a third of fleets do not monitor the safety risk.

Driver distraction, including mobile phone use, in-vehicle technology, eating and drinking, smoking and grooming, significantly increases the risk of collisions.

The Fleet Safety Survey questioned more than 350 fleets, managing a total of more than 267,000 vehicles. The majority of respondents are from the UK, with responses also coming from fleets based in Asia, North America, mainland Europe, and Australasia.

Ross Moorlock, business development director at Brake, said: “Driving requires the full attention of the driver.

"Distraction at the wheel can have devastating consequences and is a factor in a significant number of crashes.

"Our survey shows many fleet managers are still not doing enough to prevent driver distraction.

"While many are aware of the risks of distraction, this needs to be better reflected in company policy, as well as through the introduction of best practice initiatives, evidenced based interventions, effective driver education and data monitoring.

"I’d recommend that all fleet managers take a look at our survey report and take action now.”

Other key survey findings include:

• Only 71% of respondents have implemented policies aimed at preventing driver distraction at the wheel.
• More than a quarter (26%) of the fleets surveyed don’t run any driver education/ awareness sessions, either face-to-face or online, aimed at the topic of driver distraction.
• Of the fleets surveyed that have driver distraction policies in place, less than a third (32%) include restrictions on the use of hands-free phones, despite the risk of distraction.