The preparation

How do you decide what should be in your safe driving policy? Do some preparation.

• Identify the types of vehicles you use and some of their features.
• Identify how your drivers use vehicles, looking at driving hours, loads carried, etc.
• Identify the level of driver licensing and training
• Analyse your crashes, vehicle accidents, damage, personal injury, near-hit incidents and traffic offences – where and when do these occur, and what are the causes?
• Find out how much accidents and infringements are costing you
• Find out how much you spend on fuel.

To make your policy work, you must involve those who have a direct say about the company's transport policy, eg fleet managers, human resources staff and health and safety managers. To help you decide the priorities and the focus needed in your policy, these people should compile the following information.

Identify how you use vehicles

• What types of vehicles are used?
• Do you own, lease or hire?
• What are they used for?
• How often are checks/services carried out?
• What safety features are there?
• Have extras been fitted? eg CD/cassette players, air-conditioning
• How old are the vehicles?
• What is the annual mileage of each vehicle?

Identify how the drivers use the vehicles

• How long do they spend driving? Open road or urban?
• Do they use cellphones when driving?
• What age are they?
• Do they have valid licences for the vehicles they drive?
• Are they trained? eg driver self-management or defensive driving courses
• Are loads carried? eg display stands, sales materials, suitcases, dangerous goods, and heavy goods
• Are loads secured?
• How often are passengers carried?
• Are safety belts always worn?
• How many tickets are received for speeding or other infringements?
• What about their use of high-hazard routes?

Analyse your crash history

• How many each year?
• What times of the day?
• Where? eg open road, urban areas, intersections
• Causes?
• Who was at fault?
• Did driver behaviour cause the crash or lead to injury? eg drink-driving, speeding, fatigue, not wearing safety belts, failing to give way
• Were driving manoeuvres the cause? If so, driver training may be needed, eg moving into traffic (joining a motorway or pulling out of a side road), keeping the vehicle on the correct side of the road, moving with the traffic flow, passing or being passed, moving through traffic at intersections, crossing main roads, reversing or u-turns.

Determine how much crashes are currently costing you

Analyse:

• insurance excesses and premiums
• repairs, replacement and vehicle maintenance
• lost sales and productivity
• sick leave
• speeding fines (if you pay them on behalf of staff)
• payments to third parties
• hiring casual staff to fill in for injured staff
• replacing staff if driving infringements lead to their dismissal.

The facts

During 2006, there were 11,157 reported crashes resulting in injury or death. The five leading factors were:

• failure to give way or stop (2330)
• a driver not seeing or looking for other road users (2246)
• an inattentive or diverted driver (2141)
• travelling too fast for the conditions (1823)
• an alcohol-affected driver (1611)

Several causes may contribute to the same crashes.

A 2007 survey of people who made ACC claims as a result of work-related road injuries showed that:

• 20 percent of drivers were not wearing seatbelts at the time
• 20 percent of drivers had been convicted of a traffic offence in the 12 months before the crash.

Of those involved in single-vehicle crashes, around half said factors such as stress, fatigue and distraction contributed to the crash. ¹

 

1  Gillian Robb et al (2007) A descriptive study of non-fatal work-related motor vehicle traffic crash injury, ACC, Wellington, p vii.

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Last updated: 28 August 2007