Employee Spotlight

Why I'm Passionate about Road Safety

Mark Hampson, UK Account Manager & Risk Management Consultant

My chosen career within fleet operations was strongly influenced by my interest in cars and trucks as a youth.  As a professional my interest steered more into areas of safety after witnessing the devastating consequences caused by road accidents. In many cases, the physical, financial and emotional results were often preventable.

I was convinced that a small investment of time and money targeted at the right areas and individuals could make a world of difference.  As a result, I transitioned from managing fleets to working as a risk management consultant.  I began helping companies and drivers to understand the consequences of not taking the right action, and the importance of reducing accidents and increasing driver safety. Working closely with several police forces and safety groups gave me greater insight into fleet safety. I understood that many fleets were aware of the impact that poor driving caused, but did not always know the best actions necessary remedy this problem. I also became aware that many drivers were unaware of the extent of the risks they faced on the road daily.

Road accidents are the number one cause of work related deaths in the UK, a fact that the government has started to try and address with recent duty of care legislation relating to driving for work. This puts an increasing burden on fleet managers to implement effect programs to increase driver safety.  In addition ever increasing fuel and insurance costs make driver behaviour a more important issue than ever.

Historically many companies use reactive methods to identify high risky drivers, i.e. review their accident history and licence endorsements, as well as administering formal skills training. By its very nature a reactive approach is too late to identify high risk drivers since it is likely those preventable accidents may have already occurred. The solution that every fleet manager wants is a proactive method of identifying high risk drivers to stop accidents before they occur.