Fleet managers urged to attend road safety events

Brake, the road safety charity, is helping organisations in the Midlands to tackle dangerous driving through two essential events for fleet managers and health and safety personnel.

On Thursday, September 20, Brake is holding a training course in Birmingham which enables managers and community campaigners to deliver effective and engaging road safety messages for company drivers through the Brake Pledge.

Five days later in the same city, Brake is hosting a Zero Tolerance seminar which will help organisations tackle drink and drug driving.

The Zero Tolerance seminar takes place just two months after West Midlands police released figures which show a year on year increase of 18% in incidents of drink driving in the region.

The event, sponsored by Dtec International, will be led by academics and practitioners and will examine why zero tolerance policies are vital for at-work drivers, and discuss best practice in devising and implementing them.

Seminar attendees will hear from a range of expert speakers including Stephen Collier, managing director of Blue Knight Learning, Roger Singer, director of DDE+ and Jenny Wynn, director of TTC Group.

Topics covered include current best practice in drug and alcohol testing in the workplace, the importance of communicating drink and drug policies and the latest developments in drink drive rehabilitation.

Drink and drug driving will also be one of the issues addressed at the Pledge training course on Thursday, September 20.

In 2010, at least 540 people were killed in the UK in crashes involving an at-work driver. That’s more than ten people every week.

Brake’s Pledge campaign aims to combat this carnage on our roads by appealing to people who drive for work to do so with the utmost care and attention, protecting themselves and other road users.

Ellie Pearson, senior development officer at Brake, said: “These events provide organisations with a key opportunity to hear the latest best practice information as well as network with other organisations and leading academics and practitioners.

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