Driver analysis shows the need for benchmarking

14 May 2021

Drivers can do the silliest things – especially when under pressure. Sadly, their managers aren’t exempt from serious lapses of judgment either, as new analysis has revealed.

A senior fleet safety specialist – who is helping to launch a fleet benchmarking tool – recalls with a shudder a time when, not so long ago, road safety was still viewed by many firms and drivers as a luxury they could ill afford.

There was the time a candidate for a sales role in the chemicals industry arrived for a meeting, but only just in time. He explained there were hold-ups on the motorway – so he bypassed them by speeding along the coned-off section.

“He thought he was showing initiative. We took a different view and terminated the interview there and then,” recalls Fleet Safety Management founder Andy Price. Then there was the occasion Price was involved with eyesight screening tests for professional drivers during a safety campaign.

“One (driver) arrived in his car and was going to drive his truck, but admitted he’d forgotten his driving spectacles. The company, quite rightly, stopped him driving”