Interactive Fleet Management has produced a guide advising drivers on how they can reduce the number of small accidents, knocks and scrapes they have in their company vehicles.
Minor accident damage is rarely a ‘minor’ cost, and it can cause fleet managers and finance directors sizeable annual bills plus a huge amount of administration time dealing with insurance companies, vehicle repairers and the driver.
The new guide is part of Interactive Fleet Management’s new “Driver-Link” initiative based around a series of guides specifically aimed at company drivers. In particular it focuses on the reasons why needless accidents occur, such as complacency and inattention.
It also offers tips such as reversing into parking spaces so that you drive out forwards, leaving plenty of space between you and other vehicles, being patient and not trying to squeeze through tight gaps and making sure you park your car in bays that are not so tight that you’re inevitably going to get hit by another car’s door.
The guide also advises never to make assumptions about what other drivers are going to do, taking care when changing lanes and always looking for clues to potential hazards.
“Most information in the fleet sector is aimed at the ‘company’ or fleet manager,” says Jayne Pett (pictured), operations director at Interactive Fleet Management. “There is very little support for the driver, who nowadays has to cope with a growing number of issues such as vehicle checks, controlling their fuel usage, efficient journey planning, minimising vehicle damage, safe loading etc.
“We therefore decided to produce the Driver-Link guides to offer them support, and the first one on winter driving was hugely popular with many drivers approaching us directly for a copy, and fleet managers asking if they could distribute it to their company and grey fleet drivers.”
Copies of the free guide are available from Amanda Hodge by email or telephone 01536 536590.
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