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Research has found that UK businesses need to pay close attention to fleet compliance and enforce employee speed limits, as many drivers have a bad habit of speeding for work.
Telematics provider Masternaut surveyed 2,000 drivers, and discovered that close to 50% of Britons who drive for work have admitted to speeding during business travel. Notably, these figures report the number of people who admitted to the offence – realistically, the actual number of offenders could be even higher!
"Speeding is an issue that employers need to put the brakes on,” says Martin Hiscox, CEO and chairman of Masternaut. He added, "there's a serious message about the role of the employer in providing duty of care to their staff and the public at large.”
So why are employees speeding at work, and what can your business do to prevent it?
Speeding for business
Of those surveyed individuals who admitted to breaking speed limits while driving for business, more than half stated that they would be more likely to speed for a work appointment than for a personal meeting or activity.
Needless to say, speeding is bad news. ROSPA state that inappropriate speed can make drivers more likely to crash, and amplifies any other risky driving behaviours such as driving while tired or distracted. Speeding also often leads to more severe injuries to the driver, any passengers and other road users in the case of an accident.
Employees are often under pressure to get to multiple meetings in a day and get a lot done in a short space of time. However, employers owe a Duty of Care to all staff, and need to take driver safety into account when planning work activities. Your responsibility for the welfare of employees and members of the public alike is at stake, so it is essential to address speeding problems in your business fleet as soon as possible - or ideally pre-emptively.
Make sure your employees are sticking to speed limits while driving for business. Measures should always include driver education and support, but some companies choose to also use fleet management technology to gain a fly-on-the-wall view into fleet vehicles. Telematics can help by collecting valuable real time data on driver behaviours, which can then inform future training strategies and road safety initiatives.
Breaking speed limits in company fleet vehicles
Masternaut found that out of the self-confessed speeders, around a quarter agreed that they would be more likely to speed in a company vehicle than in their own vehicle.
This behaviour could put your business fleet at risk. Just because vehicles are provided by the company, doesn’t mean a diminished level of responsibility for any road accidents. Damaged company vans and HGVs will set your business back with maintenance costs, increased insurance premiums and vehicle downtime which will affect your productivity. Luckily, all Enterprise Flex-E-Rent van hire customers benefit from all-inclusive maintenance and repair services, so just in case of any emergency you can rest easy knowing that we’re working to get you back on the road.
Top ten speeding cities
This survey also showed the top 10 cities for speeding offences. Exeter claims the unenviable title of number one speeding city, with 84% of residents admitting to breaking speed limits. Runners up included York in second place with 64.9%, Leeds with 60%, Leicester with 58.9% and Oxford with 58.1%. By contrast, just 23% of drivers in Cardiff owned up to speeding offences.
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