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07/02/06 Fleet News - Drivers of all ages are a potential risk
The feature ‘Is this driver your biggest fleet risk?’ (Fleet News, November 23) highlighted concerning statistics about young drivers and provided some sound advice on how companies can reduce associated risks.
As a provider of incident management services, we have similar trends. For example, the data analysis of one customer revealed that a high number of incidents occurred among employees on their graduate scheme.
Upon further investigation, it was revealed that many of these drivers did not have access to a vehicle prior to joining the company due to being away at university or receiving lower salaries.
Once given high-powered cars as part of their recruitment incentive, their inexperience coupled with the engine size resulted in a number of minor but costly – and potentially dangerous – incidents.
So, while age is a useful indicator to help take preventative measures, it can also be a red herring. Experience and attitude are two indicators that extend beyond age groups.
Companies should not be lulled into a false sense of security by believing that older drivers are automatically experienced or have a sensible approach to driving.
Recent statistics from the DSA show 40% of drivers are passing their test after the age of 22 and we have all witnessed enough irresponsible behaviour on the roads to know that it is not age related. Similarly, there will be young people with good road sense and a mature approach to driving.
Therefore, identifying potentially vulnerable groups of drivers is a good start to managing risk.
However, as incident data builds over time, this should also be used to pinpoint where the real problems are, be it stressed executives, over-confident youngsters or complacent middle-aged drivers.
