Member Article

Work-related stress is a worrying cause of road accidents that businesses must address

New research from Lightfoot, the maker of the world’s first technology to reward better company car drivers, has revealed that 12% of drivers are citing stress caused by work as the main reason for accidents, with a further 12% pointing to phone calls made during journeys, and 4% highlighting urgent work emails as the chief cause of their accident.

With a quarter of drivers stating that they have been involved in an accident or collision going from or returning to work, or during a work related journey, the findings show that there’s still a long way to go before work-related causes of road accidents are eradicated, putting a spotlight firmly on employers’ Duty of Care.

Mark Roberts, Founder and CEO of Lightfoot, commented: “Work-related stress resulting in road accidents should be a red flag for all businesses operating company cars and fleet vehicles. Policies need to be in place to reduce unreasonable pressure on drivers as businesses have a Duty of Care to their staff. If they fail in this respect, there could be serious consequences for both employees and businesses.

“Our findings show that, all too often, staff are under pressure to get to a client, customer or meeting in unrealistic time-frames, resulting in stress and over-speeding. Unsurprisingly, that pressure - even when indirect - leads to accidents.

“Addressing this issue is no easy task, but businesses can empower their staff through technology such as Lightfoot that actively encourages and enables smoother, safer driving. Only when businesses actively make a commitment to protecting their staff by making over-speeding or risky driving unacceptable, will drivers feel less pressure.

“Fail to do this and staff are at risk of feeling pressured to drive in a manner that has the potential to put them, their passengers and other motorists on the road at risk. With 1 in 3 road deaths involving a vehicle being driven for work, this is an issue that fleet managers need to take seriously.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lizzie Bailey .