Driver Hire: reducing risk through training

By Categories: Commercial NewsPublished On: Monday 20 January 2025

Driver Hire Training – part of Driver Hire Nationwide, the transport and logistics recruitment company – has outlined the advantages for fleet operators of enrolling drivers in risk reduction courses.

The training provider highlights a campaign to persuade National Highways to remove the word ‘accident’ from roadside messaging, led by several well-known bodies including the AA, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, as well as road safety campaign group, Roadpeace.

The campaigners argue that the word ‘accident’ implies that collisions are unavoidable, which in turn obscures accountability for death and injury on the roads: “It was an accident – I couldn’t do anything to avoid it.”

“Statements like this are exactly why effective driver risk management through targeted driver training programmes can be so valuable,” said Driver Hire Training.

“Whatever your business – a supplier of third-party logistics or running your own fleet for deliveries – you want to maximise the time your drivers and your HGVs are on the road. You don’t need to be a mathematician to work out, the more miles driven, the greater the exposure to potential hazards and dangerous conditions.

“Almost one-third of all road deaths occur as a result of commercial driving and 21 per cent of all casualties on UK roads are caused by ‘driving for work’ collisions…

“What the campaign group are saying is, using evidence from industry training bodies, in reality, almost every ‘accident’ doesn’t happen by ‘accident’. In two-thirds of all accidents it’s almost always a person causing the crash and 90 per cent of them are the result of driver error.”

Driver Hire Training highlights some of the most common causes of traffic incidents as identified by the Department or Transport: failing to look properly; failure to judge the other person’s path or speed; being careless, reckless or in a hurry; driving too fast for the conditions; and following a vehicle too closely.

“Speeding was the cause of one in four accidents and half of fatalities on UK roads in 2023. Using a mobile phone whilst driving makes you four times more likely to crash. And then there’s driver fatigue – falling asleep at the wheel.

“The good news is that a programme of driver training will help reduce the risk of your drivers being involved in a collision. That’s just one business benefit. There are plenty more: fewer accidents can help reduce insurance premiums; fewer injuries means less downtime for your drivers and, adopting defensive driving techniques can reduce vehicle wear and tear and improve fuel efficiency by 10-15 per cent.”

There is also evidence that regular driver training can help with driver retention, the firm points out.

David Slack, commercial director at Driver Hire Training, added: “Good professional drivers have two top qualities – they’re predictable and proactive. Our Fleet Training programmes help professional drivers develop those qualities by understanding and reducing risk. This is delivered through one-to-one in-vehicle coaching, driver profiling and group workshops. Our courses focus on individual drivers and their individual risk factors.”

At the outset of the programme usually comes driver profiling, which covers a licence check and then the inputting of incident data. From that, a relative risk profile is produced for full fleet and individual drivers. This highlights behaviours and trends enabling the trainer to recommend necessary actions.

“Industry statistics prove that driver training works,” David Slack continued.

“International delivery giant, FedEx, reduced its accident rates by 50 per cent following a comprehensive driver training initiative. It also worked for Amey, the infrastructure support services provider. Following the introduction of driver training they’ve been crowned ‘Driving for Better Business’ Champions.

“So, whether you’re looking at risk reduction purely through a narrower business lens or the bigger picture of reducing the 1,607 fatalities on UK roads in 2023, then risk management through driver training makes sense.”

www.driverhiretraining.co.uk