E-SAFETY CHALLENGE: Safety not a priority for fleets or employees

28 July, 2010

Reliability, price and fuel consumption are more of a priority than safety when fleet managers are considering which vehicles to include on their fleets, according to a survey, commissioned by the E-Safety Challenge.

According to the new study, 70% of fleet operators deemed safety, which was ranked fourth, as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.

However, this level of concern was not reflected in the policy restrictions applied to drivers, with only 15% of company car users stating that there was safety related restrictions in their choice policies. Price, comfort and even colour rated higher.

The survey also revealed that few fleets have advanced safety technology in their cars. Adaptive headlights were the most prominent feature with a fifth of respondents claiming all their business cars had them fitted. At the other end of the scale, emergency braking systems were only present on 3% of fleets.

Fleet managers claimed unavailability was the most inhibiting reason for not fitting e-safety technologies, along with cost concerns and a lack of interest in the systems.

Unavailability was also a concern for business drivers, although a third of respondents also said they were unaware of such systems.

1179 fleet decision makers and 2006 company car drivers were interviewed for the survey that was commissioned to “investigate the acceptance and awareness of e-safety technologies”.

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