06 March 2009
Jon Abbott

In-vehicle driver training is universally recognised as the single most effective way to reduce driving incidents. It's a costly option to offer to all work drivers, but it's the best way to discharge your duty of care to employees whose risk profile (following a risk assessment) shows they need additional training, and to other road users who will cross their paths.

In-vehicle driver training is designed to ensure that drivers have greater hazard and risk perception to reduce their vulnerability to accidents, as well as to examine specific areas of driving skill and tackle any areas of concern to the trainer and to the driver.

There are a myriad of courses on offer, and companies often sign in-car driver training agreements without knowing exactly what they want. An in-car driver training course shouldn't actually start in a car. It should start with the employer sitting down and setting objectives for the training. Is it enough simply to reduce accidents among your travelling workforce? Or should you be thinking in a more preventative mode? Have you analysed the company accident history? And, more importantly, analysed why there is that history?

Targeting the most vulnerable drivers (before incidents occur) should be a key objective at the risk-assessment stage. And when incidents do occur, you should analyse them with one eye on how the results can be fed into a driver training programme.

A good training provider should be willing to work with you using this information to tailor a programme to your objectives. 

Good fit

Reputable in-car training providers recommend (where possible) that the courses are carried out on a one-to-one basis. If you can find someone who offers a lower-cost model, with multiple employees in a training car together, for example, you are likely to find the results are not as good. 

The training shouldn't stop there. If sound investment is made against a carefully crafted set of objectives, then the results should be measured and then the findings implemented moving forward. The idea of prevention is often omitted from training programmes.

Typically, an ideal in-vehicle driver training course will comprise some or all of the following elements: 

• licence, eyesight and vehicle checks
• an introduction to safer driving and its benefits to the individual, the employer and society in general
• concentration, observation and hazard anticipation
• the system of vehicle control, including best fuel efficiency
• specific solutions matched to the experience of the company - for example manoeuvring, reversing and parking accidents, which are typically the most commonplace
• the principles of skid avoidance and skid correction
• an assessment of each driver's ability
• individual training for each driver, according to their risk assessment
• a full debriefing at the end of each session to provide guidance and advice, referring back to the individual's risk profile
• a comprehensive printed report for the company, including each individual driver's personal development plan
• a certificate of attendance for each trainee.

Safer driving techniques can have additional benefits for the company: more fuel-efficient driving can help with lowering CO2 emissions, cutting costs and reducing the corporate carbon footprint at the same time.

By considering an end-to-end solution for the safety of staff on the road, companies should be considering prevention as well as reactionary methods.  In-car driver training is key in reducing road risk and saving lives.

Jon Abbott is sales director at Cardinus Fleet Risk Management, which supplies fleet risk solutions to major fleet clients throughout the UK.

Categories:
Road safety, Training, Transport, Article, Training