Road safety is one of the most pressing issues in the UK. It’s particularly important for fleet managers. Accidents involving fleet vehicles can cause a business serious reputational and financial damage. With that in mind, here Walker Movementsv, leaders in supplying used trucks for sale worldwide, are some management tips to ensure the safety of your fleet vehicles and their drivers. 

Start with the data 

These days, most business decisions are based on data and that includes fleet-management decisions. Your most basic level of data is a knowledge of the law and any applicable regulations. Keep in mind, however, that all of these are minimum standards, not aspirational targets. They may also be open to interpretation. 

Your next level of data is knowledge of broad trends. For example, a look at road-safety statistics will give you a good idea of the main causes of road accidents. This can inform your fleet management. 

Your final level of data is data collected from your own fleet. Collecting data about your own vehicles and their drivers is massively easier, faster and more affordable than it used to be. In the old days, you had to rely on drivers remembering to fill in paper forms and just hope that they did it accurately. Now, you can use technology to monitor key statistics effortlessly. 

In particular, you can see where your vehicles are, what routes they are following and how quickly they are getting from A to B. You can also monitor the condition of the vehicle including its fuel consumption. 

Proactively manage your vehicles 

The better you maintain your vehicles, the safer they will be for everyone. As a bonus, you’ll reduce your exposure to repairs and their associated unplanned downtime. In the context of fleet vehicles, maintenance generally comes in two forms. These are garage maintenance and driver maintenance. 

Both types of maintenance need to be realistically scheduled. With garage maintenance, you need to allow for the time needed to get the vehicle to and from the garage as well as for the time needed to do any work. With driver maintenance, you need to allow time for drivers to do the maintenance as well as their other work. 

You also need to ensure that your drivers have the necessary tools, knowledge and, where relevant, support. This in itself can throw up extra safety challenges. For example, most vehicles have to be left unattended at least some of the time. When they are, they are targets for thieves. 

This means that you’re going to have a strategy for protecting anything that has to be left inside a fleet vehicle when it is unattended. One approach is to try to convince thieves that there is nothing in the vehicle worth stealing. Another is to make the vehicle at least seem more effort than it’s worth to target. 

Equip your vehicles with cameras 

The knowledge that cameras are in operation can do a lot to deter unacceptable behaviour. This goes both for your drivers and for other road users. When there are issues, camera footage can provide an indisputable record of what, exactly, happened. This should make it clear where responsibility lies. 

Put your contact details on vehicles 

You may have noticed that an increasing number of fleet vehicles have the business’ contact details clearly displayed on them. This can be very effective in getting drivers to stay on their best behaviour. 

Keep in mind, however, that inviting people to make complaints opens a door to people abusing the invitation. Anyone familiar with customer service knows that certain people will complain simply because they do not get their own way. People can also make genuine mistakes about who is responsible for what, particularly when they are in a hurry. 

That’s why you need robust processes for assessing situations. On-board cameras will often help massively with this. GPS trackers can be useful too. If you can pinpoint exactly where an incident occurred, you may be able to get camera footage from other sources. 

Train your drivers thoroughly 

All fleet drivers will have had some level of safety training when initially learning to drive. Some drivers will have to renew their licences every few years to keep them valid. As with the law, however, passing a test is a minimum standard, not an aspirational target. Providing drivers with additional training and support benefits employers as well as drivers. 

Once you’ve set clear expectations and, where appropriate, explicit requirements, you need to find reasonable ways to enforce them. This may involve using drug and alcohol tests. If it does you need to ensure that these tests are both random and fair. You also need a fair process for dealing with unwelcome results. 

Offer support for your drivers’ mental and physical health 

Driving can take a toll on a driver’s mental and physical health. Support your drivers with this as much as you can. At a minimum provide resources for them to help themselves as much as possible. Ideally, give them some level of financial support to promote their wellbeing. For example, you could offer an (online) gym membership. 

Also, make it clear to drivers that you expect and encourage them to call in sick when needed. It’s far better and safer to have drivers self-report when they are not fit to drive than to receive an accident report or a failed alcohol/drug test. 

Give your drivers enough time to be safe 

Excessive speed and insufficient rest are both major safety hazards. The solution to both is to provide drivers with enough time to drive slowly and take proper rest breaks. Route planning can also help here. For example, sometimes it’s better to take a longer route if it’s quieter and easier to drive. 

Remember parking 

Remember that fleet safety applies even when vehicles are stationary. Make sure your drivers know how to choose safe parking spaces and how to park vehicles as safely as possible. This includes ensuring their own safety. For example, they should think about their route between the vehicle and their end destination and back again. 

Be prepared for accidents 

No matter how many precautions you take, you are almost certainly going to have to deal with accidents. Make sure that you have a robust, fair and compassionate process for assessing them and, where possible, resolving issues and claims related to them.