Evaluation of fleet safety interventions.

Darby, Phil; Raeside, Robert

Abstract

Work related road traffic fatalities are the largest cause of work fatalities in the UK. It is estimated that 25% of UK road accidents involve someone driving for work. This risk profile makes fleet safety an important topic for study as it can have a significant impact on the overall road toll, and on worker safety. Although many regulations relate to the operation of large trucks and buses there are fewer special regulations for those driving for work in other contexts. Fleet risk management has traditionally focused on cost control rather than employee and public safety although this has been changing. Studies have shown that changing behaviours in both drivers and the rest of the organisation can make a large improvement in outcomes. This study has unique access to the detailed insurance claims data from a large UK telecoms fleet of approximately 40,000 vehicles since 2001 and information on interventions applied to manage this risk. The interventions have been developed from published work in the field of risk and behaviour management. The data represents a wide range of vehicle types from large trucks and white vans through to personal cars all or some of which could be used for work related journeys, commuting or pleasure. There have been ongoing and significant performance improvements. Interventions have included behind the wheel training, building safety into management performance metrics and risk assessments yet it is unclear as to which intervention shows most or any impact on safety outcomes. Data consistency issues have further obscured the investigation. The merging of this historic quantitative and qualitative information has shown that management strategies and the safety culture are worthy investments

Citation

Darby, P., & Raeside, R. (2010). Evaluation of fleet safety interventions. In Proceedings of the 42nd Universities Transport Study Group conference

• Start Date: Sep 8, 2010
• End Date: Sep 10, 2010
• Publication Date: 2010
• Deposit Date: Mar 16, 2011
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Proceedings of the 42nd Universities Transport Study Group conference
• Keywords: Fleet safety; risk management; driver behaviour; interventions; work related journeys; commuting
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/4230