BRAKE URGES FLEET MANAGERS TO ADDRESS FLEET SAFETY IN UN GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY WEEK
20 April 2007 - Brake

The first United Nations Global Road Safety Week is launched today (Monday 23 April) amid calls for international and national leaders to take action to tackle the appalling waste of young lives on roads.

Brake, the UK ’s national road safety charity, is urging fleet managers to ensure everything possible is being done to help prevent the 16 deaths and 116 serious injuries that result from crashes involving at-work drivers every week.[1] These casualties not only devastate families and communities but have a major economic impact. Each UK road death is estimated to cost society £1.4 million[2].

Companies throughout the UK who have been trained by the FedEx & Brake Road Safety Academy will be running awareness raising presentations for their drivers as part of Global Road Safety Week. Companies that are holding presentations include Pickfords, Centrica and SGB. Young drivers are also being reached with the road safety message by community volunteers trained by the academy who will be delivering powerful, interactive presentations to schools and colleges.

To find out more about attending a FREE one day training course through the Academy to help you educate your drivers visit www.brake.org.uk and click on the Academy button or email academy@brake.org.uk

Globally, more than 3,000 people are killed each day on roads. The World Health Organisation estimates that this will double by 2020, making road crashes the third biggest killer worldwide.[3] Global Road Safety Week aims to raise awareness of the scale of road casualties internationally, focusing on the safety of children and young people, and bring road safety to the forefront of the political agenda. Hundreds of initiatives are planned on local, national and international levels. Click here for information and case studies.

A rally marking Global Road Safety Week takes place today (Monday 23 April) in central London, organised by Make Roads Safe (an FIA Foundation campaign), supported by Brake and involving 300 road safety professionals. It will be addressed by speakers including Transport Minister Douglas Alexander, HRH Prince Michael of Kent and Michael Schumacher.

Two other initiatives by Brake to help fleet managers ensure their fleet is safe include:

FREE Benchmarking website

Fleet operators are being urged to sign up for a major project providing free benchmarking services by logging on to www.fleetsafetybenchmarking.net. The project is being launched by the Fleet Safety Forum, a division of road safety charity Brake, in partnership with risk management specialists Interactive Driving Systems. Funded by the Department for Transport, it allows companies to anonymously compare their fleet safety procedures and crash data with that of other companies, to help them identify potentially life-saving improvements.

Crash analysis, risk audits and benchmarking are crucial to effectively managing road risk, helping companies assess their fleet safety processes and policies and identify potential improvements. The project can help fleet managers to:

carry out effective self-audits relating to their fleet safety policies and procedures
anonymously benchmark their company’s crash data and safety standards with other organisations
network with other fleet managers.
Anyone with responsibility for a company fleet of any vehicle type can benefit from the project, as long as they have at least 20 drivers or vehicles that are used for work purposes (whether the vehicles are owned by the company or employees).

Fleet Safety Forum Subscription
The Fleet Safety Forum is an established, invaluable and low-cost service run by the road safety charity Brake. It provides essential, up-to-date information and guidance on an extensive range of fleet safety issues. Andy Jenkins, operations training manager, CEVA Logistics (formally TNT) said, “The Fleet Safety Forum’s resources and workshops are invaluable in helping us improve our approach to occupational road safety. If your organisation is serious about safety you must subscribe to the Fleet Safety Forum.” Benefits of subscription include:

· Monthly Fleet Safety Forum Newsletter

· Information packs on the latest fleet topics with useful resources like posters and flyers

· Heavily discounted invitations to an annual programme of events

· Password protected access to the Fleet Safety Forum’s website

· An information helpline for any fleet related queries you have

· A highly-acclaimed 40-page guide to Managing Road Risk and a fleet directory

The price for an annual subscription depends on the size of your fleet but starts from £105 plus vat, or if you would like to sign up more than one person from £65 plus vat. To find out more visit www.brake.org.uk and click on the Fleet button, or contact Chris Frost on 01484 531 774/ 01484 559909 or cfrost@brake.org.uk

Brake will also mark Global Road safety Week by launching a manifesto for safer roads demanding urgent Government action to tackle the 91 people killed and seriously injured every day on UK roads, of which more than a third (33) is under 25.[4]

Brake’s manifesto calls on the UK Government to:

Create a safer driving culture by making road safety a compulsory part of the national curriculum, and introducing a more structured approach to learning to drive.
Ensure life-saving laws are properly enforced by increasing investment in traffic policing and making it a national policing priority.
Create safer communities and protect children on foot and bicycle by providing ring-fenced funding for 20mph safety zones around schools and homes.
Brake will be sending the manifesto to Tony Blair calling for a Government commitment to taking action.

Click here for more information on Brake’s campaigns.

Jools Townsend, head of education at Brake, the UK’s national road safety charity, said: “Through Brake’s work to support people affected by road crashes we are all too aware of the terrible impact of road death and injury – tearing apart families and communities every day in the UK and across the globe. Accessing our fleet safety benchmarking website, subscribing to the Fleet Safety Forum and raising safety awareness amongst employees through the FedEx & Brake Road Safety Academy are three simple ways that fleet managers can improve the safety of their fleet and help towards reducing costs, improving reputation, and saving lives.”

www.brake.org.uk

More News
  For April 2007
  From Brake
  For Safety
  Driver247.com Home Page