A major new survey by road safety charity IAM RoadSmart has revealed serious gaps in how UK companies manage road risk, with 80% of business fleets admitting they have no formal road safety policy in place for their drivers.
The research, which surveyed 2,010 UK adults, also found that almost half of firms (48%) fail to carry out regular vehicle safety checks, while more than half (53%) do not employ a health and safety officer responsible for managing fleet risk.
The findings come as government figures show that the number of people killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads has plateaued at around 30,000 a year. However, that is still the equivalent of more than 80 serious incidents every day.
The IAM RoadSmart study also highlighted a lack of monitoring and training across UK fleets. Two-thirds (65%) of companies said they do not use telematics or GPS tracking systems, while 39% of professional drivers reported never being offered driver or rider training or assessment by their employer.
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Nicholas Lyes, director of policy and standards at IAM RoadSmart, described the findings as “alarming” given the stagnant progress on road safety.
“While most businesses will take road safety seriously, it’s clear that some need to do significantly more to limit the risk that their drivers pose both to their own safety and that of other road users,” he said.
“Bad business driving not only poses a risk to health and safety but also threatens to inflict reputational harm on businesses and cause repair costs and insurance premiums to soar,” he added.
IAM RoadSmart, which runs a range of advanced driver training and fleet risk management programmes, will host an online workshop for fleet managers on Tuesday 14 October to help businesses improve safety standards and compliance.
