Road Safety minister adds to call for fuel-efficient fleets
Speaking at Brake’s annual Fleet Safety Forum conference this week, road safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick joined Brake’s call for employers to introduce travel plans to save money, lives and the environment through fuel-efficient driving and elimination of unnecessary journeys.
Speaking in the week that road safety charity, Brake published a free campaign pack for managers on travel plans, including guidance for managers and posters for drivers, the Minister said:
“There is a clear link between the outcomes of increases in sustainable travel and safety. Journeys transferred to more sustainable modes have a far lower chance of experiencing crashes. Journeys avoided through the use of teleconferencing for example, remove the potential for death or serious injury through crashes altogether. Where it is necessary to drive, smarter driving techniques can not only help to reduce emissions, but also improve safety.”
Quoting savings made by companies including BAA Heathrow, E:ON and Vodafone, the Minister acknowledged that in difficult times few employers will be telling employees to take things easier, but that: “when employees are pushed to work longer and harder, not surprisingly, these pressures can and do affect their driving behaviour”. The outcome is deaths and increased fuel consumption, he said – both things the government are committed to reducing.
He added: “The Fleet Safety Forum is to be congratulated on bringing together such a large number of delegates clearly demonstrating the growing awareness of businesses that managing their driving activities has an effect on their bottom line. In these economically difficult times this is an important factor which can help persuade some sceptical managers to pay more attention to something that should be part of their health and safety policies anyway.”
The conference heard presentations from Brake’s ‘Fleet Safety Forum’ award-winning companies, such as Wolseley , who spoke about working with partners to deliver best practice in fleet safety, Johnson & Johnson about sustaining fleet safety results internationally, and BT about their Safe Driver of the Year competition. This year’s awards take place on Thursday 25 June and entries must be submitted by Friday 3 April.
Roz Cumming, Fleet Safety Forum manager at Brake, said: “The Government’s support for travel plans, enabling managers to reduce carbon emissions as well as lives, is important. More than half of carbon emissions are from vehicles so employers can directly save the planet by taking urgent actions that also save them money, time, improve staff welfare and prevent deaths.”
The first 100 companies to contact Brake can obtain a FREE copy of its travel plan campaign pack, sponsored by Stagecoach, by calling 01484 559909 or emailing admin@brake.org.uk
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