More drivers, riders and pedal cyclists have on average been killed while commuting than when driving for work, according to new AA Drivetech research.
For the period 2009-2014, on average 110 commuting drivers, riders and pedal cyclists lost their lives, compared with 87 while at work. Only in 2012, were more ‘at work’ drivers killed than commuters (87 vs 85).
The research also showed that while there are more collisions during the evening, the percentage of people involved in a crash who identified themselves as commuters, was significantly higher in the morning (22%) compared with 13% during the evening.
David Richards, head of marketing at AA DriveTech, said: “Our research also identified three separate commuting periods with different crash characteristics.
“During the ‘early morning’ commute (4.30am to 7am) drivers tend to crash on bends, rural roads and faster roads. The ‘morning’ commute (7am to 9am) sees more crashes at T-junctions and urban roads while during the ‘evening’ commute (4pm to 6.30pm) crashes in a 30mph zone are most likely.
“The commute is often overlooked by businesses as they tend to focus on supporting their legal duty of care responsibilities for their employees who drive at work.
“This research should be a wake-up call for many organisations as it shows the commute is even more devastating, in terms of people killed, than people who drive for business.”
The research uses new figures and backs up previous studies by AA Drivetech around commuter risk.
Sage & Onion - 01/07/2016 13:12
“This research should be a wake-up call for many organisations as it shows the commute is even more devastating, in terms of people killed, than people who drive for business.” Haven't we had enough scaremongering lately? I don't like the automatic assumption that all these "commuting drivers" were in company vehicles. Lets see the stats for how many of these were in company vehicles and how many were in their own private cars and perhaps never even get near to driving under a fleet safety policy.