Weathering the storm
As post-pandemic levels of traffic increase, it’s also important to bear in mind that drivers and managers are also adjusting to significant levels of change on our roads. Colin Paterson, head of marketing at award-winning driver training specialist Drivetech, part of the AA, highlights the key updates managers need to be sharing fleet-wise
Since the pandemic hit, many local authorities have reconfigured their city centres to include more cycle and bus lanes, pedestrianised areas and electric vehicle charging points, while some have also introduced clean air zones.
Drivers are also getting used to recently introduced changes to the Highway Code and navigating an increasingly complex and diverse array of vehicle and fuel types. Drivers need to be at the top of their game in an increasingly changing landscape.
To help managers weather the changes, I have collated a list of the key updates you need to be aware of, and also some of the solutions that may help you in your quest to improve fleet-wide safety standards.
Highway Code changes
Following the introduction of new Highway Code rules, all managers should ensure their drivers are up to speed with the changes. Of particular importance are the changes relating to vulnerable road users, and how we can identify and make the roads safer for them.
The new ‘Hierarchy of Road Users’ places pedestrians at the top, as the most vulnerable, followed by cyclists, car users and finally lorry, truck and bus drivers.
This means drivers must leave a distance of at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists and drivers turning into a road should give way to pedestrians waiting to cross.
City centre reconfigurations
Low traffic neighbourhoods (LTN) were introduced during the pandemic. Designed to encourage travel by bike or foot instead of public transport, road closures were implemented under temporary and emergency traffic orders to create these LTNs. These are areas restricted by barriers such as bollards and planters which allow more space for cyclists and pedestrians.
These controversial measures are argued by their opponents to be displacing traffic elsewhere, although LTN monitoring data does not support this view. However, some routes are now inaccessible to businesses, and alternatives must be sought, adding in the potential of delays and hold-ups for deliveries, for example.
Those that have to make a certain amount of stops to fulfil their work obligations, such as delivery drivers fulfilling ecommerce or hot food orders, are potentially faced with added time pressures as well as the stress of normal driving.
Clean air zones
Many councils across the UK either have introduced, or will shortly bring in, clean air zones (CAZs). Clean air zones are special city areas with strict vehicle emissions laws. Vehicles entering these zones, which run all day in London and Birmingham, will need to pay a daily fee, leaving drivers of non-compliant vehicles tasked with navigating new routes away from the CAZ.
Safety and training for the modern driver
Driver training is an important way for organisations to fulfil their obligations while helping employees to minimise risk when conducing work-related travel. The team at Drivetech works with fleet mangers to evaluate driver needs. As a business, Drivetech is a FORS Associate member – a specialist supplier offering products and services aligned to the requirements of the FORS Standard, which defines the requirements operators must meet to attain and maintain FORS accreditation.
It has become clear to us as a business that there is a role for us to support our clients in an ongoing ‘little and often’ basis in terms of communicating safety practices. Our award-winning nudge-theory initiative, Driver’s Mate, has been recognised as a brand-new means of communicating driver training with professional drivers.
It takes the form of hundreds of 90-second educational videos that drivers can be sent daily to access and play on their mobiles before a shift. All videos are presented by the character ‘Driver’s Mate’, who shares a short story each time with a different safety message on compliance, driver behaviour or cost savings embedded within. People believe in statistics, but they remember stories.
Specifically of benefit to the commercial vehicle driver, the Driver’s Mate tool uses nudge theory, the behavioural economics concept that advocates positive reinforcement to influence decision-making, to indirectly encourage drivers towards better behaviours, taking account of ‘real life’ human tendencies.
The series is designed to support full training modules, providing drivers with bitesize prompts on their moral and legal obligations, within an easy-to-access format. The series is another asset in the fleet manager’s toolkit to increase safety across the workforce. The hundreds of videos in the series mean drivers could be prompted with nudge reminders almost daily.
Planning for the future
Figures from the Health and Safety Executive suggest that almost a quarter of all road traffic accidents involve someone who is driving a commercial vehicle. It’s unquestionable – driving is one of the most dangerous activities we undertake each day.
With a predicted boom in new drivers within the logistics industry, procedures must be implemented now to effectively educate drivers and keep other road users safe. Not only can it improve the driving and awareness of individuals, but it can also expose them to new technologies and help to develop basic vehicle safety assessment skills.
Psychometric testing, driver coaching and team workshops are just some of the ways in which you can address these issues head on and give your employees the knowledge and confidence to drive safely. Improving driver habits can also increase fuel efficiency and lower maintenance costs and downtime – a win-win situation for all in our changing landscape.
