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Work-related stress cited as main reason for fleet road accidents 

Stress caused by work has been cited by more than one in 10 (12%) fleet drivers as the main reason for having an accident while a further 12% point to phone calls during journeys.

12% of drivers have cited stress caused by work as the main reason for accidents, with a further 12% pointing to phone calls made during journeys,

The research, carried out by Lightfoot, also shows that 4% highlight urgent work emails as the chief cause of their accident, further emphasising the need for employers to rethink their road risk management.

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.”

Lightfoot helps company car drivers to become smoother, safer drivers without tracking them.  It does this through a mix of visual and audible alerts – delivering live engine performance data directly from the engine to Lightfoot’s pocket-sized dashboard display – guiding the driver to a better, safer and more efficient style of driving.  Its users typically see drops in at-fault accidents by up to 40%, reductions in fuel costs by up to 20%, falls in harmful emissions by 20%, and cuts in wear and tear costs by 45%.

Considered revolutionary in the fleet management and telematics worlds, Lightfoot’s disruptive approach to reducing accidents has been adopted by some of the largest players in the market, including Virgin Media, Greencore, and South West Water.

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Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.