The Association for Driving Licence Verification (ADLV) is reporting a surge in online commercial licence checking from fleets following the abolition of the paper driving licence counterpart in July.

Despite a slight reduction in the growth rate of checking immediately prior to the change, the rate of increase for the months of July and August over the prior year, were 38% and 37.3% respectively.

The ADLV forecasts that the total number of checks carried out by members this year will now exceed two million.

The ADLV believes that the scale of the increase in the rate of growth is also a reflection of its campaign to encourage electronic checking as a fundamental best-practice for fleet management.

Malcolm Maycock chairman of the ADLV, said: “Finally, following the abolition of the counterpart, the message has got through that electronic checking is now a best-practice for those fleet managers that are keen to comply with the highest standards.”

In addition, the numbers also reflect the association’s recent ‘road safety’ campaign. This urges fleet managers to increase the frequency of checks from annual to quarterly in order to identify high-risk drivers, such as those with mobile phone convictions.

One ADLV member reports that since the organisation’s launch, the average number of checks per driver per annum is up nearly 30% from 1.1 checks to 1.4 checks per driver. In response to the figures the ADLV is planning to introduce other ‘know your driver’ options, within its checking system, which will ensure even higher standards for ‘entitlement to drive’ checking.

Maycock continued: “As increased checking means that high risk drivers are spotted more quickly, there is a realisation that embracing electronic checking more fully contributes significantly to road safety. So we welcome any upswing in the figures, as this translates directly into the roads being safer for the public.

“Ultimately, with electronic checking facilitating the ever more extensive use of big data, we believe that organisations will be keen to gain a far greater degree of knowledge about exactly who is entitled to be behind the wheel of their vehicles.

“The ADLV will meet this demand with a number of announcements over the coming months.”

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