Majority of motorists in favour of harsher penalties for speeding

A recent survey commissioned by the head of road safety for England’s Police and Crime Commissioners has revealed that the majority of drivers are in favour of harsher penalties for driving offences. The survey found that 80% believe those caught speeding should face higher fines while 85% were in favour of stricter enforcement of traffic laws in general.

While the majority of road users may support a tighter application of the law and such deterrents might work to keep our roads safer, for fleet-reliant business owners, fleet managers and company drivers, traffic violations can cause a major headache.  

Not only could drivers face fines for speeding infringements but such careless driving could also harm your reputation. Then there is the potential for downtime, from a matter of minutes should your driver be pulled over, up to days, weeks or even months if they are summoned to court  and/or subsequently banned.

To help keep your drivers safer and on the road, there are a number of steps you can take to curb their speed.

Educate. All professional drivers should be well aware of the rules of the road. However, it doesn’t hurt to offer a regular reminder. This could be in the form of routine safe driving refresher courses or simply by placing a speed limit sticker in the cab of every vehicle.

Incentivise. A GPS fleet tracking solution can gather data on incidents of speeding among your fleet. This information can then be used to create driver scorecards and league tables to incentivise safer driving and, if necessary, to serve warnings to repeat offenders.

Alert. GPS tracking can also help to curb speeding in near real-time. An audible in-cab alert can be set to trigger whenever speeding, or a number of other unsafe behaviours, occur. This allows drivers to almost immediately correct their driving style.

Take a look at our How to Guide: Safety for more information on how GPS tracking can help to keep your drivers and vehicles safe.