Regular communication not enough to improve safety

Peak Performance has cast doubt over recent claims that merely emailing business drivers occasionally with driver safety advice will be enough to change their attitude, to the point where they become more careful, considerate drivers.

Regular communication with business drivers on driver safety topics is an important part of the driver risk management mix but as a solitary intervention it's next to useless, says the online driver training specialist.

The company says persuading any busy employee to read something that is not core to his or her job function is difficult at best and, even if you can find a mechanism to ensure that your advice has been read, you have no way of ensuring that it's been digested or will be acted on when that next crisis situation does arise out there on the road.

E-bulletins, newsletters or intranet briefings which contain driver safety advice are useful devices to maintain focus on the need to remain vigilant behind the wheel but there is no evidence to suggest that they alone are enough to change a driver's behavioural traits, says Peak.

It claims making a lasting impression on drivers can only occur through direct interaction with the driver, using a qualified and professional instructor, whose ability to engage with the driver ensures a positive outcome of lasting behavioural change.

This interaction could be in the form of one-to-one in-vehicle training or a behaviourally orientated, interactive workshop which stimulates dialogue between the parties.

These mechanisms stimulate debate, provoke self-examination of existing attitudes, behaviour and knowledge, and make a lasting impression for the better. This methodology has been proven to be the most effective way to equip drivers with the correct attitude to enable them to make reasoned judgements in situations that threaten their safety.

Peak says there's a place for e-learning, often as a reinforcement tool for core training, but again it should be a component part of a rounded risk management programme that has numerous facets to it.