According to research from Masternaut, one in six (16 percent) business drivers feel invincible when driving, claiming that they never consider their safety to be at risk.
As part of a focus on helping fleets improve safety on the road, Masternaut surveyed 2,000 UK employees who drive as part of their job to highlight the progress in road safety education and the work that is still required for further improvement.
Steve Towe, chief commercial officer and UK managing director, said: “Our research shows that a high percentage of business drivers don’t consider their safety to be at risk – despite driving being amongst the most dangerous profession. Research from The Institute of Advanced Motorists’ Drive & Survive shows that 86 percent of fleets have experienced an accident in the past 12 months, so it’s alarming to see so many drivers still not considering their safety when driving.”
The results also showed that 17 percent of business car drivers never think about their personal safety on the road.
In contrast, 15 percent of business drivers said that they feel vulnerable all of the time when they are driving.
Motorways were cited as the most unsafe type of road to drive on with 27 percent of drivers concerned about their safety. This is despite just 3.9 percent of all 2013 UK road accidents taking place on motorways, drivers also felt unsafe on rural roads, with a quarter saying they feel vulnerable.
“Driver training programmes should be one of the critical tools for fleets to ensure that their drivers feel safe when driving and most importantly, avoid causing unnecessary risks to other road users. We, as an industry, are great at articulating fuel savings but we also want to see the debate widen to include safety. We believe we can do so much more” added Towe.
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