Leasedrive Velo Blog

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Given we are now two months into the new decade, I wonder how organisations connected with fleet management are rising to today’s fleet challenges? And, there are quite a few, just ask Toyota!

With talk now of a double-dip recession as the EuroZone totters on the brink of financial uncertainty in the PIGS states, allied to growing unrest among private as well as public sector workers, we could be heading for the biggest civil unrest, certainly on Continental Europe, since 1968.

This week has witnessed large protests in Spain, a general strike in Greece, industrial action at French airports and oil depots, announcement of a sudden two-week production halt at all Fiat plants in Italy and impending BA strike action. The only counter-balance was the cancellation of a strike by Lufthansa pilots.

However, with the Governor of the Bank of England voicing concern over a stalled European economy, prospects for UK plc certainly look worse than they did at the turn of the new decade.

Weighing up the fleet news over the first two months, there is however a greater deal of optimism within our own business sector. Let us hope it does not prove a false dawn.

Whatever the eventual outcome – a slow acceleration out of the recent recession or a gentle slide into the second part of a double-dip recession, the focus within the fleet industry should remain sharply directed at delivering value from the fleet and anticipating the upturn, either this year or next.

Central to achieving both objectives is ensuring proper risk management and that employees have the right skill sets.

In this regard, sight should not be lost of the essential role our very own Institute of Car Fleet Management has to play in this delivery. Biased I may be, as chairman of the not-for-profit organisation, but it remains a fact that the ICFM is the only organisation delivering accredited fleet education and training programmes. Without doubt, the resultant qualifications see employees making a real difference within their organisations.

Organisations don’t work without people and the most successful organisations employ some of the best people, across the board. So the lesson is clear, without properly qualified people, our sector will not make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead.

And, despite the doom and gloom in certain quarters, make no mistake there are, and will be, huge opportunities for growth. Just make sure your people are properly trained to take advantage by maximising the opportunity.

This week is Road Safety Week, the annual initiative organised by Brake, the independent road safety charity. I hope it’s a better week than most, which sees seven deaths and 71 serious injuries recorded each day on our UK roads.

We pat ourselves on the back that road deaths have declined in this country. In 2008, there were 2538 people killed on our roads, the lowest annual figure since records began in 1926. The figure represented a 14% drop over 2007 despite a European road assessment programme report rating 58% of our A-roads as either neutral or poor for safety.

The total number of deaths or serious injuries in 2008 was 28,567, 7% fewer than in 2007. For once, Government targets have been met. Government wanted to reduce the number of deaths or serious injuries on the roads by 40% by 2010, compared to the mid-90s average. Job done, for now, but no room for complacency.

As a country, we lie sixth in the global road safety league with 54 fatalities per million of the population. Malta tops the league, followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway. Given the traffic on our roads, that’s not a bad figure but we want to be top.

Purely from a cold economic perspective, we need the figures to improve further. Preventing a fatal injury in a road accident is estimated to be worth £1.65 million to the UK economy. With around 200 road deaths and serious injuries every week involving someone driving ‘at work’, clearly it makes sense to reduce casualty rates. After all, about a quarter of all vehicle miles driven annually are for work purposes and that excludes commuting to and from work.

If you cycle or walk to work, the dangers are higher. One in 20 road deaths involve cyclists and the latest Department for Transport figures revealed that 820 cyclists were killed or seriously injured in the three months to June, a 19% increase over the same period to June 2008. Motorcycle riders saw a 5% rise indicating a lot more needs to be done to protect two-wheel road users. Meanwhile, driver statistics dropped 4% continuing the downward trend. Even pedestrian deaths and serious injuries dropped by 8%.

As I stated, there is no room for complacency and judging by the erratic and downright dangerous driving of some minor elements on Friday night rush-hours still more emphasis needs to be placed on driver education.

We could even start by dropping the term ‘rush-hour’, which is a misnomer in itself judging by the levels of traffic congestion. None of us wants to reach the next world any sooner than we want.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Good news and bad news in recent weeks.

First, the good news. I understand the Government is starting to get serious about driving standards and that in future it may well be virtually impossible to obtain a full driving licence before the age of 18. Apparently, there is serious talk in the corridors of Whitehall about making the driving test much tougher. Learner drivers would need to gain experience of night driving and motorway driving before entering the test.

I agree on both counts, although great care would need to be taken over allowing supervised learner drivers onto a motorway. Perhaps that could only be done with a trained instructor in the passenger seat and after so many hours behind the wheel. The time surely will have to come when only professionally-trained drivers will be allowed to sit the test and drivers will have had to have completed a minimum number of signed-off hours before being eligible for a full licence – a bit like a light aircraft licence where pilots are required to have flown a minimum 40 hours before qualifying.

Second, the bad news. It would appear that many drivers responsible for the maintenance of their own cars, as many as a third of cash-for-car and private car drivers are failing to have proper safety and routine maintenance work carried out. Apparently, for the former, the temptation lies in opting for a prestige car with a non-maintenance contract over a run-of-the-mill car with full maintenance support. The crunch comes when tyres or brake discs have to be replaced, with an unanticipated hefty hit on the personal wallet.

The findings are worrying on three fronts – for the drivers themselves, other road users who may become involved in the resulting accident and employers for whom those same drivers may be driving while at work. In the absence of a robust and regular driver licence, service and MOT checking system, it’s yet another argument for the return to company cars and the use of rental or pool vehicles for non-company car drivers who are required to drive while on company business.