CFC: New government measures could prove unpopular with company drivers
CFC Solutions are warning that new measures unveiled by Transport Minister Philip Hammond yesterday to hand out on the spot fines and points for careless driving could prove unpopular with companies as they see a rapid surge in their car and van drivers with licence points.
The new measures include immediate fines and points for actions such as tailgating, undertaking and “cutting up” other drivers with additional new measures on drink and drug driving, and a wider range of training and retraining options for new drivers and those who have been previously given points or banned.
Neville Briggs, managing director at CFC, said: “These are some good ideas in the new Government proposals. Anything that brings furthered structured driver training into the legal framework is to be generally welcomed.
“We especially like the idea that drivers who have been previously banned will have to undertake compulsory training before they are re-awarded their licence. This may help change the behaviour of a small but troublesome group of drivers.”
However, Briggs said, the idea of on-the-spot fines was likely to prove controversial and probably unpopular.
He explained: “There is some merit to the idea, especially if it can be enforced in a consistent and fair fashion. However, it seems to combine two ideas that have proven very unpopular with voters – on the spot fines and driving fines.”
He explained: “At present, statistics covering company car and van drivers from our Licence Link licence checking software indicates that around one in five have points on their licence. This could rise quite quickly with on-the-spot fines and create something of a risk management headache for fleet managers.
“The question is whether such a policy would change company car and van driver behaviour? Would it make them less likely to tailgate or undertake? It is quite a difficult point to answer.”
CFC’s Licence Link licence checking software is used by fleets to carry out online checking of the licence status and number of licence points on company car and van drivers and will also produce risk summary reports, which automatically group drivers into different levels of risk group, ensuring those with higher numbers of points are checked more often.
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