Are your drivers at risk?

A new report by Road Safety Analysis, commissioned by the AA, has found ‘at-work’ drivers are far more likely to engage in risky and dangerous driving behaviour.

The study, which looked at 1.4 million accidents on UK roads between 2008 and 2012, classified ‘at-work’ drivers as working car drivers, commercial drivers, other working drivers and taxi drivers.

It’s not all bad news for fleet-reliant business owners, however. The report found that ‘at-work’ drivers are far less likely to be involved in collisions where speed is a contributory factor.

Unfortunately, some of the report’s other findings make for far more grim reading. According to the study, commercial and working car drivers are more likely to…

• Engage in tailgating
• Drive while fatigued
• Undertake manoeuvre errors
• Drive while distracted

In light of findings like this, it is perhaps unsurprising that one in three company vehicles is involved in an accident every year.

Many of the behaviours listed above have been shown to increase the likelihood of road accidents. Driving while fatigued, for example, increases the risk of an accident by up to six times. Distraction, meanwhile, is cited as the cause of 4% of all accidents on British roads. Then there is tailgating which is estimated to be the cause of one in every eight road traffic accidents.

Needless to say, accidents are bad for business. As well as the potential for injury, or worse, road accidents can lead to hefty repair bills, vehicle downtime and damage to your company reputation.

Fortunately, if you’re a fleet-reliant business owner, there is plenty you can do to reduce dangerous driving and improve fleet safety. The technology exists to monitor driver behaviour and coach safer driving styles, and to alert drivers to unsafe behaviours in near real-time.

If you’d like to find out more around this topic, take a read of our eBook: Four ways GPS fleet tracking can help to prevent accidents.