The Company for driver risk management

OPTING FOR SAFETY

The insurance industry’s research centre at Thatcham suggests that around 400 lives a year could be saved if all vehicles were fitted with Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) but only six out of 38 manufacturers represented in the UK offer it in their entire range, seemingly as a result of lack of customer demand. You can now find out which makes and models are fitted with ESP by logging onto www.thatcham.org

Commenting on the apparent lack of take up, Top Gear magazine editor Paul Horrell said: ”In Britain, as has happened with many safety systems in the past, people have decided that they’d rather pay for air conditioning or a sunroof. They expect a system like this to be standard and included in the cost of the car.”

According to Bosch, 46 per cent of motorists know about Antilock Braking Systems but only nine per cent know what ESP does.

Drive & Survive has recently launched a new Workshop product, which covers the features and benefits of the principal chassis aids currently being offered on the market, including ESP.  The combined classroom and practical Chassis Technology course costs only £145 per head.

To book a place please contact workshop@drivesurvive.co.uk

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NEW SEAT BELT REGULATIONS

New regulations for child seats and the use of seat belts come into force on September 18. From then:

To view the detail of the new regulations please click here.

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INFORMATION ON THE MOVE

New motorway information boards, giving details on predicted journey times, are currently being trialled on the M5 and M6 motorways. “Over 200,000 vehicles a day travel on these routes and will be able to see the new service”, said Minister for Roads, Dr Stephen Ladyman. “We will be actively seeking feedback throughout the trial to assess the response from drivers.”

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ROGUE RENTERS

Those of you who opt for daily rental cars for occasional business users or pool cars should know that the BVRLA now has a blacklist of drivers who regularly thrash and damage hire cars. Member companies can log onto the BVRLA website and check out an individual’s track record, and may refuse to supply a vehicle to somebody with a bad record.

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CALMING THE GRANITE CITY

Aberdeen is the first Scottish city to impose a blanket 20 mph speed limit, affecting 100 streets in the city centre.

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HAPPY CUSTOMER

“I think everyone who gets a company car should have to do this at least once when they join, since it’s good stuff, and everyone who follows this way of driving is making the road safer for everyone.”

Mark Schofield of IBM, following an on-road training session with Drive & Survive trainer Steve Croughan.

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OPTICAL ILLUSION

300 motorists in Wales were subject to a random eye test a few weeks ago, organised jointly by Gwent Police and Gwent Healthcare Trust. Five motorists failed the test, which involved reading number plates placed at 10, 15, 20 and 25 metre distances. It is expected that many other forces will carry out similar exercises over the coming year.

It is absolutely crucial that employees driving for work purposes are persuaded to have regular eye tests and ideally this should be included in any driver policy document.

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MOTORWAY MADNESS

The Highways Agency reckons that 29 per cent of all motorway incidents resulting in injury involve tailgating. Motorways are still the safest roads in the UK but there are still 8,000 drivers killed or seriously injured on the network each year and more than 42 per cent of crashes occur within one kilometre of a junction.

The best tip is to make space and then keep it……even if it means allowing others to fill the generous space you have left in front of you, making you create more.

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GENERATING SAFETY

National Grid has recently started a new driver risk management programme with Drive & Survive.

One of the early candidates for on-road coaching was Vivienne Beechey, based at National Grid’s Solihull office: “I now think about my surroundings more, why warnings are there and I do slow down as a result. I leave gaps and I help make driving safer for others by giving them warnings using my brake lights. It was very interesting and I’m sure everyone will benefit by going on it.”

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BLIND SPOTS

The respected research organisation, MIRA, has revealed that the ‘A Pillars’ on many modern cars are creating potentially dangerous blind spots for drivers. This may go some way to explaining why, in over 20% of all incidents at junctions, a contributory factor was “looked but failed to see”.

The worst offender was the Jeep Cherokee, which produced a blind spot 4.5 metres wide (more than the length of the average car) when viewing objects at a distance of 23 metres.

The thickness of A-pillars should be a serious consideration when it comes to vehicle choice lists for business users.

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MUNCHING MOTORISTS

Motorists who eat and drink at the wheel are twice as likely to crash as those who don’t. Researchers at Brunel University reckon eating and drinking when driving is now more commonplace than using a mobile phone.

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ABERDEEN WORKSHOP

As a result of local demand, we are arranging for one of our popular classroom-based Workshops to take place in Aberdeen on October 12th.

There is full information about these Workshops on our website www.drivesurvive.co.uk under the Products/Hands On Training /Interactive Workshop section.

There are still a few places left at £45.00 per head and to secure your place please email workshops@drivesurvive.co.uk.

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