Guest Article by Emma Stinchcombe

In recent news it was reported that a pedestrian died after a collision with a lorry in Oxfordshire.  He died at the scene. When trawling through daily news, it seems that road accidents occur almost daily. Sadly, road accidents do not seem to be declining.

But perhaps there is a solution. Defensive driving courses are designed for people who drive for work purposes. These workshops can help drivers improve on their observation, journey planning, anticipation and concentration. Understand that these courses are not for ‘new’ drivers, but for those who want to develop business drivers’ on-road risk management ability. Defensive driving courses stress the importance of not only the drivers’ own methods, but they also concentrate on other drivers’ likely road actions. In hindsight, these workshops are a personal exercise for individual drivers who are eager to learn how to drive defensively.

It is well known that there is a higher risk of a collision if drivers are driving for work purposes, than those that drive for non-work purposes. This has led the Health and Safety Executive to develop legislation to ensure that employees have appropriate policies, procedures and training put in place. It is believed that company driver training does implement employees to drive safer.

According to studies by Australian researchers, Sharon Newnam and Barry Watson, driver development implemented by senior staff was essential to the success of drivers using appropriate safety measures. The study also suggested that drivers began reporting their safer driving behaviours when safety-management discussions and interventions were encouraged by senior staff. This study stresses the importance of employers to adopt these driving workshops as they enhance drivers’ on road ability in order to reduce the risk of collisions.

In this current financial climate, employees may be hesitating to invest money into the scheme. However, in the long run these courses will save companies a lot of money. Company driver training will reduce the amount incidents on the road, leading to more savings and better health and well-being for the employees. In these difficult financial times many companies are searching for ways to save money so investing in driver safety is likely to provide long term benefits financially.

Driving workshops make drivers noticeably more confident, productive and responsible. Drivers will be a great ambassador for businesses’ in the driving industry. They also help large and small organisations in many different market sectors achieve substantial reductions in vehicle fleet running costs. Courses can come in the form of one-to-one practical fleet driving coaching, group driver training workshops or online fleet driver training modules. These courses will be relevant fleet drivers but to other businesses that have drivers working for them.

Each driver keeps a risk profile assessment to ensure the course is suitable to each driver’s needs.  Courses also stress the importance of eyesight and vehicle checks.  Though not all about driving, these courses will boast the highest performing drivers. Its aim is to reduce the risk of driving by anticipating dangerous situations and other peoples’ mistakes.

Authorities hope to see a rise in drivers attending these courses in the New Year, decreasing the number of incidents and collisions.

Emma Stinchcombe, Copywriter, writing in behalf of Driving Risk Management.  DRM is a company that specialises in defensive driving courses and company driver training.