Road safety report launched by Brake’s Global Fleet Champions

A report has been launched by Brake’s Global Fleet Champions urging governments and fleets to make road safety a priority when operating vehicles for work purposes.

Global Fleet Champions is a not-for-profit global campaign to prevent crashes and reduce pollution caused by vehicles used for work purposes.

The report found that about a third of road traffic crashes in high-income nations are estimated to be work-related.

Mary Williams OBE, chief executive of Brake and co-author of the report said: “This vital report is the first international report of its kind uniting voices in proclaiming the urgent need to address deaths and injuries on roads caused by a vehicle being driven for work purposes, which are a significant proportion of casualties on roads.

“Governments and employers need to step up urgently and take action, putting road safety centre stage of business decisions and occupational safety and sustainability reporting.”

The report was released during the third Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, held in Stockholm, Sweden from February 19-20.

The conference heavily focused on the role of the private sector in stopping road casualties and poisonous air from traffic, including through occupational safety and sustainability management.

In support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the report recommends that:

• Governments strengthen legislation relating to organisations operating vehicles and their drivers; and that governments improve data collection regarding work-related crashes and their causes.

• Organisations operating vehicles have policies and procedures to manage road risk that are applied to their own workforce and when procuring road transport services, and that they influence their supply chains to do the same; and for these policies and procedures to include use of safe vehicles and management of driver safety.

As well as road safety, the report also calls on corporations and governments using roads to report on their road ‘footprint’ through safety and sustainability reporting.

Etienne Krug, director at the World Health Organisation said: “I hope this report will play a valuable contribution to strengthen action on work-related road safety. I urge governments and organisations to read it and implement urgent actions to save lives.”

Find out more at globalfleetchampions.org