Fleet Health & Driver Safety no-no’s!

A survey by one of the global leasing companies looked at fleet health & safety and revealed that 81% of drivers multitask while driving. Four thousand drivers were interviewed in 17 countries last year. The good news: a similar survey in 2014 showed even worse results: back then, 84% of drivers admitted to multitasking behind the wheel.
The most common non-driving activities while operating a vehicle are: telephone calls (69% in 2015, 73% in 2014), drinking (36% in 2015, 42% in 2014) and eating (32% in 2015, 37% in 2014). In 2015, 17% of drivers admitted to texting and emailing while driving (20% in 2014), and 8% to using social media (9% in 2014).

As expected younger drivers multitask more than older drivers, especially when it comes to using social media and sending text messages. Phoning is popular in all age categories; 34% of all those surveyed even admit they wouldn’t be able to choose between their car and their smart-phone, if they had to give one up.
The survey also indicated that aggressive behavior in traffic, including verbal aggression, is on the increase.

Seven out of ten drivers (71%) admit to speeding, but that is an average over all markets surveyed. They say the Greeks and Australians speed least (we always knew the Aussies were asleep at the wheel), and it’s said that the Danes and Belgians speed most. We’re not sure we agree with that one though, New Zealand has one of the worst accident rates in the world – but perhaps that’s as much to do with the state of our roads as driver competency?

We all know driver-less car development is on a fast-track now and car accident claims will plummet as a result. That’s not going to happen anytime soon though especially in New Zealand so if you’re interested in fleet health and the safety of your drivers keep your Crash Management VIP Customer card in your company and family car “just in case”. The Crash Team response is here 24/7 to help drivers at the accident scene including salvage, car claims, all logistics and repair co-ordination. Just call 0800 2CRASH, we’ll do the rest. See https://crashmanagement.co.nz/clients/ for more.