Road safety charity Brake is calling for a new law requiring the Health & Safety Executive to investigate every serious or fatal accident involving someone driving for work.
The charity also wants companies to be forced to report all at-work road crashes in the same way it has to report incidents that happen on-site.
In 2005, 850 people were killed and 6012 seriously injured in crashes involving an at-work driver, which amounts to 16 deaths and 117 serious injuries per week. A quarter of British road deaths come from accidents involving an at-work driver.
“These figures demonstrate how important it is that, firstly, the Government takes corporate responsibility for at-work driving seriously and, secondly all employers take the life-saving steps of educating employees on safe driving and effectively managing their road risk,” said Brake’s head of education Jools Townsend.
Brake has launched what it calls an awareness-raising DVD for company drivers, called Busy Enough to Kill? The DVD is available to companies signing up to the Fleet Safety Forum scheme, or those attending the free FedEx & Brake Road Safety Academy training course. Go to www.brake.org.uk for more.
