July 23, 2024
Sara Davies
Articles
Saving money is never far from the top of the agenda, particularly during the tough economic climate currently witnessed by the majority of UK businesses.
Fleet driver training may not be automatically associated by most businesses with saving money, however, there are several reasons why it should be, outlined in this article.
What is Fleet Driver Training?
Driver training for your fleet ensures your employees are competent, confident and safe when driving and is especially important if their role requires them to drive on behalf of your business. There are three types of driver training, which are often delivered altogether in the form of a bespoke driver training programme; one to one, classroom training and online training.
1. One to One Driver Training
One to one training often involves one of your employees driving with a driving instructor who is providing focused support and teaching. It is best suited for drivers who are going to be operating a vehicle and need to make sure they are following best practices or who require support following an incident in a vehicle.
2. Classroom Driver Training
This type of training will usually be offered as part of a group session, allowing drivers to benefit from the input of other students as well as the formal teaching material. Classroom driver training can be beneficial if you have a number of employees onboarding, who all need to learn a particular skill set.
3. Online Assessments
Online assessments and training are becoming increasingly popular due to their flexibility. They can fit into the driver’s individual timetable with ease and can be adapted to their specific needs following an initial assessment.
Why is Driver Training Important?
The Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 requires employers to take appropriate steps to safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees, including when they are driving to and from work. Employers have a responsibility to their employees regardless whether they are driving a hire car, their private vehicle or a company car. Fleet driver training is one way of fulfilling this responsibility to employees, satisfying your duty of care requirements as a business and ensuring the whole workforce is trained to the same rigorous standards in their driving practice.
Driver training typically covers a broad span of topics including vehicle safety checks and maintenance, The Highway Code, road rules and speed awareness.
Who Needs Driver Training?
Almost everyone can benefit from driver training. Many drivers who have passed their driving test go many years without reviewing their skills, unaware of any new laws and legislation that could impact them. It’s therefore important that all drivers are given regular checks to ensure their confidence and ability to drive to carry out their work. This might simply be to get from A to B for meetings or to carry out key businesses functions such as delivering goods and services.
How Does Driver Training Save Money?
Driver training is mainly understood with regards to health and safety practices and duty of care. The ways in which it saves businesses money is often overlooked.
So what are the key ways driver training can save your business money?
1. Reduces Vehicle Downtime
Accidents that are unforeseeable are bound to happen on the roads, but avoidable ones can save companies thousands. Driver training can reduce those accidents that are potentially avoidable and the costs and time associated with replacing and repairing vehicles.
Driver training for your fleet can help prepare employees to spot risks they’d otherwise miss while driving, potentially giving them far more warning of an impending collision and the ability to avoid it. Driver training can also teach them how better to react in certain situations such as hazardous weather.
In addition, some repairs needed to vehicles are due to bad driving habits. Harsh acceleration can damage the clutch and gearbox, and violent braking will wear pads, discs and tyres far more quickly. Unplanned downtime due to vehicle problems can include missed deliveries, meetings and appointments, resulting in serious cost implications for your business.
2. Reduces Fuel Consumption
Your staff will also learn the best driving methods to minimise fuel consumption and with each car on the road deploying the same techniques the total cost savings soon add up.
3. Cuts Fleet Repair Cost
Lower rates of incidents, accidents and avoidable repairs result in less money being spent. If at least one unnecessary repair incident per driver was avoided per year, it’s easy to see how this could soon mount up to a substantial cost saving.
Driver training also covers what vehicle safety checks drivers should be carrying out themselves. Giving them a better understanding of vehicle maintenance and what they should be checking can mean that early stage issues are spotted and repaired before they turn into costly, time-consuming problems and breakdowns later down the line.
4. Increases Attendance and Productivity
Fleet driver training decreases employee downtime by creating a workforce who feel confident and capable enough to drive to work (and for work) in all weather conditions.
Driver training teaches your employees how to drive in conditions including snow and ice.
It will give your staff the confidence and driving capability to choose to still come into the office on days they might otherwise have decided to work from home or be absent from work due to a lack of confidence in their skills to handle the road conditions.
5. Reduces Costs of Fines
Driver training helps lower the cost of fines resulting from illegal parking and speeding by helping drivers understand the risks involved in these behaviours, as well as widening their knowledge and understanding of what constitutes illegal driving.
6. Reduces Cost of Fleet Insurance
The cost of renewing your fleet insurance alone will likely drop by enough to cover the cost of the training. Better drivers are safer drivers, which should result in fewer points on licences, fewer accidents and less insurance claims, which all drive down the cost of premiums.
What Are the Other Business Benefits of Driver Training?
There are many benefits to offering driver training to your employees, it can:
- Make them safer and more competent drivers
- Help fulfil risk managment and duty of care responsibilities
- Help them with specific driving concerns
- Teach them new skills and how to drive new vehicles
Driving Training with Wessex Fleet
Wessex Fleet can arrange a fully bespoke fleet driver training programme for your drivers, and courses can include:
- A full fleet / process audit
- Practical assessment
- Online assessment
- Bespoke web assessments targeting vehicles your business uses
- Workshop courses advising best practices
- Fleet driver training in a company vehicle with a trained operative
- Online driver risk profiling
- Full reporting at every level
By working with a range of training providers around the UK, we provide the best course for your business and drivers. Our current offer includes an initial training assessment via an online module, gauging a driver’s current skill and areas for improvement. We then provide each driver with a tailored catalogue of modules that focus on improving weaker areas. Upon completion, a risk score is issued so employers can assess any need for addition training.
What Areas are Drivers Trained in?
Though training can cover other topics, the ones that are most useful for fleet drivers are typically:
- The Highway Code and road rules
- The latest driving rules and regulations
- Speed awareness
- Safe road positioning
- Safe driving habits
- Driving and tiredness
- Adapting to road and weather conditions
- Vehicle safety checks and maintenance
- Use of mobile phones and other devices
- Specific vehicle training, e.g. driving an LCV
If you have specific areas of concern for your drivers not mentioned above, just get in touch
Fleet Driver Training FAQs
How Long Does Driver Training Last?
The length of time training lasts depends on factors including the individual driver’s needs, the level of training, the subject matter and how intensively training is scheduled.
When Should We Offer Drivers Training?
We recommend offering your employees driver training when they first start or are first required to drive a vehicle for work. We advise you check your employees regularly to assess their driving confidence and whether they require additional training quarterly, every six months or annually. Regular driver licence checks can point to employees of concern.
How Much Does Driver Training Cost?
Costs start at just £15 per driver, providing drivers with an initial assessment, follow up modules and a risk score.
Find out more about the benefits of driver training for your business here or call 01722 322 888.
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