A road safety charity has called for urgent action to reduce the number of people killed or injured in collisions involving drivers working or travelling on business.
IAM RoadSmart says there is “a worrying lack of progress” in driving down the number of work-related traffic incidents in its latest white paper, “The Role of Business Drivers.”
The number of collisions involving people driving for business has remained static, at one in four of all incidents, over the last decade. In 2009 there were 5,442 serious and fatal crashes in Britain involving an at-work driver; in 2018 the figure had risen to 5,506.
In the paper the charity calls on all groups – the Health and Safety Executive, drivers and their employers, government and police – to do more.
The paper also reveals that nearly half of business leaders polled (49 percent) expect their employees to answer their phone at any time, including while driving for work, and one in six UK employees who drive for work say they had been involved in an incident due to a phone call from a colleague.
“Employers need to do more to drive change across their workforce and to take their responsibilities to keep staff safe, particularly when they’re behind the wheel for business,” said Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart Director of Policy and Research.
