Watching and responding to how the fleet is used is critical to ensure systems put in place work and are executed properly with the desired outcomes. Incidents, infringement notices and data analyses are the mainstay of the fleet office.
All authorised drivers involved in a road incident, receive infringement notices or log aggressive or unsafe driving behaviour data are subject to some form of reasonable investigation. A Fleet Safety Committee, Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) and a remedial driver training program are the three effective review systems (see The Driver and Driver Training for more). The aim is to keep drivers operating in a safe manner for their own sake, the safety of the community and to prevent costly premature damage/wear and tear on vehicles.
Establish a Fleet Safety Committee with the primary objective to review all vehicle incidents where company business was being performed or fleet vehicle was being used, to deliberate on whether the incident was able to be avoided. It’s important that nobody is exempt from the rules of fleet vehicle use and misbehaviour is not tolerated. This company standpoint must be in place to ensure the safety others. Defining if the incident was preventable provides an opportunity to correct the driver’s behaviour and ensure potential injuries, deaths, damage and associated costs are avoided. It’s equally important to establish and accept non-preventable circumstances out of the driver’s control and remain fair and balanced in any investigations.
Determining preventable circumstances efficiently establishes the situation in the Review Process. In the right circumstance an infringement points system can be a fair deterrent to avoid dangerous and irresponsible driving behaviour using reasonable set of expectations and criteria to weigh upon the Review based on the seriousness of the offense.
Corrective action can then be undertaken by way of remedial driver training programs –where are often most preferred and constructive – conducted by professional and licensed driver training organisations, unauthorising drivers where necessary, or in worst-case scenarios employment termination. All of this of course, must be recorded.
