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I'm not saying our road-safety guys don't do a great job, but the real work is outside this country, says the Insider
There isn't a single statistic to do with fleet driver safety I haven't heard before. I can even remember some of them: 3500 people die every year on Britain's roads; almost a third of those are work-related; a coal miner is less likely to die on the job than my high-mileage drivers.
You can guess the type of business enterprise that kindly thinks to keep me updated of these facts. But all their hard work is having an opposite effect. Over-repetition of fleet safety statistics has sparked a devilish desire in me to put these figures into some sort of global context, giving me facts to spout back.
Globally, 1.2 million people die in road accidents every year. That's almost as many as die of malaria. The World Bank has estimated that by 2030 fatal road accidents in developing countries will have risen by 83%, whereas the toll in countries like ours will have fallen by 28%.
It's good that we're doing so well. Britain has some of the safest roads in Europe, let alone compared to the rest of the world. Maybe then it's time to export some of our road-safety expertise to countries that really need them, thus both saving lives abroad and giving me some breathing space.
“Our highly dedicated fleet training companies should be striking out for foreign shores. When I next get into a Mexican airport taxi, I'd like to see a prominent RoSPA sticker telling me the driver has successfully completed a training scheme, followed by him kindly requesting I wear my seatbelt.” |
The Insider |
In a roundabout way, we'd also be reducing risk for British employees. I remember an AA-sponsored study into dangerous roads a couple of years ago that discovered one of the most deadly roads for Britains was actually in Spain. This stretch of Spanish motorway had claimed more British lives than all but the worst of our roads.
Our highly dedicated fleet training companies should be striking out for foreign shores. When I next get into a Mexican airport taxi, I'd like to see a prominent RoSPA sticker telling me the driver has successfully completed a training scheme, followed by him kindly requesting I wear my seatbelt.
Which would make a nice change from what happens at most airports outside the EU - I pull across a pristine belt feeling like I've just impugned the taxi owner's 250,000 miles of successful belt-free driving.
I'm not saying I want to organisations such as Brake and RoSPA to reduce their pressure (well, maybe just a few PSi), but I do think there's a point where we have to say, look - cars crash. Following the heated arguments of the road-safety lobby to their logical conclusion would see cars banned altogether.
Of course, I'd never say any of this out loud. Being a fleet manager these days is all about towing the health & safety line, if only we knew exactly where that line ran. And of course my drivers have a handbook and all drive new, correctly serviced cars fitted with ABS. It's just that in Britain they'll never be jousting with speeding bus drivers high on amphetamines wrestling a vehicle with roti-thin brake liners. Imagine the reaction if you asked Brake staff to ride that death machine.
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