Courses and training: Safer Driving at Work

Every week around 20 people in the UK are killed and 220 serious injuries are sustained in collisions involving someone who is driving for work. 

Employers have a legal duty to manage their employees’ risk on the road in the same way as any other Health and Safety issue to protect them and non-employees alike.

• As a business are you fully aware of the laws relating to the health and safety of staff driving for work?

• As an employer are you aware of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act
  
  We've put together a list of helpful links to organisations that specialise in work-related road risk:

• RoSPA - Safer Driving at Work Handbook ( PDF 277kb)

• RoSPA – grey fleet management

• DVSA Safe Driving for Life - professionals

• Brake, the road safety charity, on fatigue and driving whilst tired https://www.brake.org.uk/facts-resources/15-facts/485-driver-tiredness

• The AA on the dangers of driving tired

• Brake, the road safety charity, on work related road safety https://www.brake.org.uk/facts-resources/15-facts/1292-work-related-road-safety

• Driving for Better Business – Ready for the Road After Lockdown

• Highways England - vehicle safety checks

• Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency – download the van drivers daily walkaround checklist ( PDF 284kb)

Well-being

Every week 125 people in the UK take their own lives – and 75% of all UK suicides are male, like the overwhelming majority of van and truck drivers. Highways England and Driving for Better Business have teamed up with CALM to help you get your drivers through tough times with a package called Calm Driver.   Please follow the link here for more information about Calm Driver. 

Mindful Driving

Here are a few ways that you can incorporate some mindfulness and meditation into your journey.

Switch off the radio/CD and experience the silence, try seeing what it’s like to have the sound turned off. It might seem at first as if something is missing, but you’ll quickly learn that the silence gives you an opportunity to fill your awareness with other perceptions, some of which are more enriching. Not listening to advertisements, the news, music, and opinion can leave you quieter, calmer, more focused, and happier than you otherwise would be.

The extra attention that’s freed up because you’re no longer listening to the radio is now available to notice other things. You can notice any tensions in your body, such as a knot of tension in the belly, or your hands gripping the steering well, or a clenched jaw. Notice these experiences, and let your body relax more. Notice how your experience changes and becomes more enjoyable as your muscles let go.

Slow down. Try driving at or just below the speed limit. Most of us tend to want to push the speed limit, driving just a little faster than allowed. Driving just a fraction under the speed limit can take away a lot of tension. Shift over into the slower lane if necessary.

Notice your attitudes. Often we become competitive while driving, and this leads to tension. Make a practice of noticing other vehicles trying to enter the road, and adjust your speed so that you can let them out if it’s safe to do so. Notice if you’re in a hurry. How does this make you feel? How does it feel if you let the pace slacken a little?

Practice being more aware of the other traffic around you. Sometimes we become very focused just on what’s around us, but it can be very fulfilling and much safer to develop an all-round awareness, using our mirrors as well as what we can see in front on us.

Use every traffic light or any other necessary stop to practice a fuller mindfulness of your body. When you’ve stopped, it’s safe to let your awareness more fully connect with your breathing. At those moments you can also notice what’s around you — the sky and the trees, and other people.

As you get into your vehicle, before you switch on the engine, and before you get out of your vehicle, after you’ve switched off the engine, just sit for a moment and take three deep breaths, really letting go on the out breath.

You can also have a look at our article featured in unLTD magazine here ( PDF 2.5mb).