Van drivers in construction: fifth worst offenders
Licence checking software company names serial points offenders
“Van and truck drivers often suffer from a poor public image and we all have our own horror stories about the on-road behaviour of white van man. However, the figures show that these drivers, who after all are driving professionals and often highly trained, are among the safest on the road.”
Neville Briggs, managing director, CFC Solutions.
YOU MIGHT not be top of the list – that’s reserved for company car drivers in consultancy – but after that it appears van drivers working in the utilities, telecoms and construction sectors are worst when it comes to accumulating points on their driving licences.
But it’s good news for the traditional white van man tradesman – you’re clean!
At least that’s the picture painted by fleet software company CFC Solutions, which has produced this intriguing snapshot of drivers with and without points.
The data was assembled for key industry sectors by analysing the users of its Licence Link licence checking software. The cleanest licence van drivers were identified as those in the transportation sector.
Neville Briggs, managing director at CFC, said: “When it comes to assessing which company car, van and truck drivers are a risk on the road, most employers split them into groups.
“Those with no points are low risk, of course, while those with five or more points represent a much higher risk – they are serial offenders in road safety terms,” said Mr Briggs.
Mr Briggs had this advice for business van managers: “Drivers who fall into higher risk groups may require some kind of remedial action such as additional training. And may also need a much closer eye keeping on them. Their licence should be rechecked perhaps every three months to see if they have been penalised with additional points that could even see them banned.”
Mr Briggs continued to explain that companies had a legal duty of care to ensure that their drivers were safe on the road and had valid licences that were regularly rechecked.
“This is something that employers need to take seriously. Only last week, one of our Licence Link users found that one of their company car drivers actually had a drink driving ban through a standard check that was run using the software,” Mr Briggs added.
Mr Briggs added that it was pleasing to see the transportation sector among the lowest risk drivers.
He said: “Van and truck drivers often suffer from a poor public image and we all have our own horror stories about the on-road behaviour of white van men. However, the figures show that these drivers, who after all are driving professionals and often highly trained, are among the safest on the road.”
CFC said that the figures were partially a reflection of CFC’s user base for Licence Link, but were also an indicative snapshot of which industries had the least and the most to worry about when it came to driver safety.
The bad boys on the road…
Percentage of drivers with five or more points – representing high risk
- 1 Consultancy 8.33%
- 2 Utilities 7.20%
- 3 Telecommunications 6.42%
- 4 Recruitment 3.23%
- 5 Construction 3.06%
…and the good guys
Percentage of low risk drivers with no points
- 1 Financial/insurance 93.69%
- 2 Public sector 90.96%
- 3 Healthcare 88.56%
- 4 Industrial/engineering 87.64%
- 5 Transportation 86.31%
