As a result of this alarming statistic Northgate has launched a major new road safety initiative for businesses.

Throughout September, Northgate through Fleet Technique it’s specialist fleet management subsidiary will be offering customers the opportunity for five staff to undergo online driver profiling completely free of charge, at www.northgateonline.co.uk/savefuel. New customers can receive the driver profiling offer by opening an account via the same site.

Normally costing £15 per person, profiling sees drivers answer a series of multiple-choice questions to determine their risk exposure rating when on the road. The questions, which relate to hazard perception, attitude when behind the wheel and their road knowledge, results in employees being given a ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’ risk rating.

Based on the risk rating, a range of safe driving solutions will be offered to employees. These could range from driver training for ‘high’ risk drivers to e-training on a specific aspect of driving such as speed, to frequent communication updates, events and additional advice for drivers rated as ‘medium’ or ‘low’ risk.  These services are all delivered by Fleet Technique (subsidiary of Northgate).

A July survey by Northgate of 506 fleet owners revealed:

• 77% of the businesses surveyed had not used some form of driver training programme in the last 12 months, despite the raft of benefits that accrue from such initiatives.
• Of the companies that had introduced driver training, it was most prevalent in larger businesses - 47% of businesses with more than 250 employees had used driver training compared with only 14% of companies with less than 50 employees.
• Looking ahead over the next 12 months only a quarter of companies (26%) said they planned to introduce driver training.
  

Ross Clarkson, marketing director of Northgate Vehicle Hire, said: “Driver training has a crucial role to play in fleet safety and overall cost reduction. We hope that our new initiative will increase the focus on driver safety and encourage more businesses, not just the larger corporates, to reap the rewards from their investment.

“With the offer of free profiling for up to five drivers the incentive is there for more businesses to audit their employees and put in place targeted solutions for ‘high’ risk drivers.”

Benefits from introducing a quality driver training programme include:

• Reduced insurance premiums due to staff being involved in fewer road crashes
• Fuel consumption improving by around 7% as staff drive more efficiently with reductions in harsh braking and acceleration
• Reduced wear and tear on tyres, brakes and clutches etc
• Productivity improvements due to fewer crashes with fewer missed deliveries/appointments
• Savings in crash administration time
• Improved staff morale
• An improved occupational road risk management culture particularly in the light of the recently introduced Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act
• A better standard of driving and improved public image for the business
  

The survey identified accident reduction as significantly the most important benefit of a driver training programme among companies. That was followed by fuel savings, an improved standard of driving among staff and insurance savings.

British business, it has been estimated in a Government report, is losing up to £2.7 billion a year as a consequence of at-work road traffic accidents.

Costs can be broken down into many areas - some financial others not quantifiable but nevertheless a cost to business and almost certainly hitting bottom line profits. Industry data suggests that average crash repair costs are around £700-£750 per insurance claim, but the Health and Safety Executive has calculated that for every £1 recoverable, between £8 and £36 may be lost to a company in uninsured costs.

Some 850 to 1,100 people are killed, and 90,000 to 118,000 are seriously injured in work-related road accidents each year, according to the Health and Safety Executive - so undertaking regular driver assessments should make sense for most organisations.

Mr Clarkson said: “Financial, legal and moral issues can all be addressed through at-work driving risk management and online driver profiling is the start of that process. Not only that, but companies which put in place a comprehensive risk management strategy inevitably engender a feeling of goodwill among their staff and a notable improvement in overall productivity.”

Northgate’s own driving safety measures were recently acknowledged by RoadSafe, which manages the Government’s ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme. RoadSafe’s aim is to develop and co-ordinate a network of employers and champions to promote good practice in order to catalyse a reduction in deaths and injuries caused by vans and cars used for business purposes. Northgate was recognised for implementing and being committed to strong work-related road safety (WRRS) and risk management measures.