At the 2010 event, Langley's Solicitors of York and Lincoln won the Fleet Safety Award for Small Fleets while Essex County Council won the Fleet Safety Award for Large Fleets.

Langley's Solicitors was the first legal firm to secure Driving for Better Business champion status. It operates six company cars and two pool cars, used for business by more than 150 of its almost 300 employees.

The firm has a first class safety record with few accidents, all of them being very minor. It showed leadership with the implementation of its own, comprehensive, best practice driving for work policy, and the gathering of Langley's road safety expertise resulted in the launch of an outreach programme, helping other businesses improve the safety of their fleets.

Essex County Council runs a fleet of 855 vehicles including cars (580 employees run a vehicle under the authority's lease car scheme), car-derived vans, light commercial vehicles, HGVs, purpose-built vehicles such as mobile libraries, passenger-carrying vehicles, buses, coaches and plant and equipment. In addition, approximately 7,000 employees use their own cars on business.

As well as having launched its own comprehensive Driving Standards Code of Practice, the council works with local businesses, helping them manage their occupational road risk. It offers a number of solutions for policy makers, fleet managers, and directors. These include Driving for Better Business seminars, HGV and PSV operator seminars, business day events for drivers, and workshops on individual work-related road safety topics.

Fleet World editor Steve Moody congratulated both organisations for their commitment to RoadSafe's Driving for Better Business campaign.

Commenting on Essex County Council's safety initiatives, Mr Moody said: 'The council's own data demonstrates the effectiveness of their scheme in reducing accident rates, and this has clear human, financial and operational advantages. Fleet managers who question the potential benefits of such a scheme have only to look at the case study on the Driving for Better Business website to be convinced.'

Of Langley's Solicitors, Mr Moody said: 'Langley's participation in the (Driving for Better Business) campaign is a clear statement of the emphasis it gives to the responsibilities for managing safety. If the legal profession takes work-related road safety seriously, then astute businessmen should. However much people may be prepared to cuff their responsibilities for safety, the law is inexorable. It is worth remembering this.'