Comment: Surge in road fatalities shows need for fleet safety focus

By Beverley Wise, Webfleet regional director for Bridgestone Mobility Solutions

Is road safety being neglected as businesses concentrate their efforts on keeping a lid on fleet expenditure?

According to the Department for Transport (DfT) nearly 1,700 individuals lost their lives on Britain’s roads last year, marking a significant 9% rise. The seriousness of this uptick for businesses is undeniable, with up to one-third of all road incidents involving someone driving for work purposes.

As cost pressures have mounted, fleets have looked to tighten their purse strings. Research by Webfleet found that 85 per cent had been tasked with cutting fleet spend this year to help safeguard company finances.

Losing sight of road risk amidst this economic malaise, however, can have severe legal and financial repercussions. Indeed, a number of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigations into risk management failings have hit the headlines over recent months.

Negligence can lead to a barrage of lawsuits, including personal injury claims from drivers, passengers or other road users who are involved in accidents caused by the fleet vehicles. If it’s proven that a company’s lack of risk management controls contributed to accidents, the business may face substantial liability, resulting in costly settlements, legal fees, and damage to their reputation.

What’s more, accidents and vehicle damage can incur substantial charges, including repairs, medical expenses and increased insurance premiums. This inevitably puts further strain on the bottom line, particularly at a time when inflation, high energy prices, and supply chain disruptions have caused these costs to soar.

The message to fleets is clear – with cost and safety management having a symbiotic relationship, decisive action to manage fleet-related risk should be a priority.

Work-related road safety should be incorporated into wider health and safety arrangements and be afforded the same degree of scrutiny and enforcement.

As a bare minimum companies should have a ‘driving for work’ policy in place, and because risks can only be effectively managed if they are fully understood, risk assessments, backed by meaningful business intelligence, should be conducted.

Harnessing risk data

To this end, telematics platforms can prove invaluable, empowering fleet managers with dynamic, real-time data to help them adhere to best practice safety standards.

Such solutions allow them to adopt a proactive approach, rather than them being forced to wait for road collisions to occur.

For drivers behind the wheel, performance benchmarks and targets for improvement can be set with real-time feedback, delivered through in-vehicle navigation devices, helping reduce incidents of speeding, harsh braking and aggressive cornering.

With cutting-edge dashcams now incorporating machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI), integrated camera systems can offer further opportunities here.

By analysing images and video data, risky driving behaviours such as distraction, fatigue, and mobile phone usage, can be identified to furnish managers with a deeper understanding of the root causes of driving incidents.

Webfleet Video now offers a fully integrated wireless multi-camera solution that captures side and rear views, providing an additional layer of visibility. Cargo views not only enhance vehicle security but can help to ensure employees load and unload goods safely.

Many drivers remain unaware of the impact their habits in the field can have, but their behaviour can significantly dent business profitability.

The opportunities for cost savings were recently highlighted by food manufacturer Greencore. Webfleet Video has helped the company to curb idling incidents and improve fleet mpg by nearly four per cent.

What’s more, by improving performance behind the wheel and raising safety standards, Wren Kitchens and John Petch Transport have seen average mpg improvements of eight and 10 per cent respectively.

Elsewhere, connected fleet data can underpin robust service, maintenance, and repair (SMR) procedures.

It can support predictive and preventive maintenance, for instance, with vehicle engine fault codes swiftly relayed to fleet managers, ensuring mechanical issues are dealt at the earliest signs of trouble. And integration with leasing providers’ software platforms can even automate this process, easing the burden on managers and drivers alike.

Maintenance planning tools, meanwhile, can enable fleets to optimise service intervals based on accurate odometer readings.

Although risk management strategies inevitably incur costs, the price of not having effective programmes in place can ultimately prove much greater.