Fleet drivers have more accidents
June 26, 2008
Worrying new statistics reveal that fleet drivers have more accidents, take less care of their vehicles, fail to carry out basic checks and frequently fill up with the wrong fuel. The figures come from the RAC’s latest Vehicle Fault Analysis report.
Elvin Ravenscroft, Tactical Development Manager for RAC, said, "Our research shows that fleet drivers are causing downtime. Add this to the hidden cost of replacement or hire cars, missed appointments, lost business contracts, warranty disputes over vehicle repairs, and the impact to businesses can be significant."
The RAC report claims that if fleet drivers were to carry out routine weekly maintenance checks (eg oil and water levels) and were given driver training, then businesses in the UK could avoid approximately 40,000 vehicle breakdown call-outs per year.
For example, regular checks on tyres by company drivers could have eliminated some of the 100 days’ of business downtime caused by punctures last year.
"Fleet vehicles have become like mobile offices with more and more current-hungry gadgets, such as mobile phones, PCs and navigation systems, and drivers seem to think their cars are bottomless pits of energy," said Mr Ravenscroft.
The RAC suggests that fleet managers should ask drivers to check their vehicles each time they are to use them and to record these checks in a driver log. This, together with three-monthly independent inspections, would improve the general condition of vehicles in the fleet and "demonstrate mitigation in the event that an accident lands a company in court".
Of most concern, the data showed that fleet drivers were twice as likely to be involved in a road traffic accident compared to the average motorist, with the RAC responding to more than 16,000 fleet accidents per year.
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