Drivers who speed crash more often than those who do not. Employers should ensure all staff (including all managers) understand that the organisation expects everyone who drives for work to drive safely.

Ensure employees’ schedules can be achieved without speeding; avoid strict arrival times if possible. Ask drivers to stop somewhere safe and ring ahead rather than speed to meet an appointment time.

Ensure that speed limiters are set to the required maximum (56mph for trucks and 62.5mph for buses and coaches) for commercial vehicles and consider fitting variable speed limiters that your staff can set to the appropriate maximum as they enter a particular speed limit.

Educate your employees who drive for work about the dangers of speed and make them aware that your company does not tolerate speeding.

Ensure they know:

• It is the company’s policy for all drivers to always comply with all speed limits.
• Exceeding posted speed limits, and gaining speeding points on your licence is a disciplinary offence.
• The risks of driving too fast on different types of road including, in particular, in towns and on rural roads.
• The importance of keeping a safe distance from other vehicles.
• The benefits of slowing down (less dangerous, less stressful and smoother journey without a significantly later arrival time).

Slower speeds, real benefits

The true costs of crashes are always higher than just the costs of repairs and insurance claims. The benefits to employers of managing work related road safety is many and varied. Promoting sound-driving practices at work typically has a positive impact on private driving – further reducing the chances of employees going absent from work through injury.

Encouraging your employee drivers to drive at slower speeds means:

• More time to foresee danger
• Fewer crashes and lower repair costs
• Fewer missed orders and deliveries.
• Reduced running costs through better driving standards.
• Lower insurance premiums
• Lower stress levels
• Improved fuel consumption
• Reduced wear and tear on tyres, brakes and clutches
• Less time wasted on related administration
• Improved morale and company image

And more importantly…

Fewer deaths and injuries on our roads.

Legal penalties

If one of your company’s vehicles is caught exceeding the legal speed limits:

• A Notice of Intended Prosecution will be sent to your office – as the registered owner of the vehicle
• You will be given 28 days to provide the details of the driver at the time of the offence
• Responsibilities for naming the driver at the time of the offence lies with the registered keeper of the vehicle. Failure to respond can lead to prosecution.

In addition, employers need to be aware of the ‘cost behind the cost’ of fixed penalties – often the financial penalty is just the tip of the iceberg, and the cost to the company involved can be much larger.

Be prepared

• Keep a logbook in all your vehicles to record
• The date and duration of each journey
• The name of the person driving
• The destination Ensure that all drivers maintain the logbook
• Provide all drivers with details of the national speed limits