BOSSES have been told that rewards rather than punishment were more likely to get drivers with poor accident records to drive more safely. Julian Clarke, company safety adviser at computer company IBM, told delegates at a RoSPA conference: 'One person in my company has had three accidents in two years but he has sold something like £7million of computer equipment. That salesman is keeping us in a job.'

He said he believed that company car drivers were responsible for more accidents than private motorists because of the length of time they spent on the road. 'If they're doing millions of miles a year, you will have accidents. It would be far better to look at the cause of the accidents and address them rather than use the big stick approach.'