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As the UK experienced the first heavy snowfall of the winter last week, I can't help but be reminded about last winter which was one of the most severe for thirty years.
No-one needs reminding about the unprecedented weather conditions with several weeks of snow and ice in January bringing chaos to our roads. It was a challenging time for fleets, having to deal with stranded drivers, high accident rates and an increased demand for replacement vehicles. It wasn't just fleets counting the cost, in fact the Federation of Small Businesses estimates that the bad weather in January 2010 cost the economy at least £600 million a day.
Winter is always a more dangerous time on our roads but fleets really do need to take extra care of drivers during the winter by providing them with appropriate guidance on when they shouldn't take the risk of driving. There have been spectacular reductions in deaths on our roads in the last two years, with 724 deaths in total (Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM)). However, there is still more to be done. According to the IAM, the annual cost to the economy of all deaths and injuries on Britain's roads is now one percent of GDP - around £13 billion. Damage only accidents cost another £5 billion.
These valuations take into account direct economic costs such as lost output, medical costs and the human costs which reflect pain, grief and suffering. In 2008, the value to the economy of preventing a fatal injury in a road crash was estimated to be £1.68 million. Now you can't put a price on human life but these figures do give an indication of the wider impact that road accidents have.
So it's important that fleets learn from their experiences last winter and put contingency plans in place, clearly communicating to drivers what their policy is about driving in winter conditions and what precautions they expect drivers themselves to take.
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