Driving for Better Business publishes Truck Driver Toolkit with Transport for West Midlands

Driving for Better Business, a National Highways programme, has released a Truck Driver Toolkit for fleet owners and operators covering issues such as fitness to drive, roadworthiness, abnormal loads, bridge strikes and vehicle security, the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) said.

The CPA said the toolkit was put together with the road safety team at Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and is intended as a best practice resource for fleet owners and operators across the country. The trade body described the guide as free to download.

The toolkit's own website says it was developed in partnership with TfWM and presents the material as free driver information cards for fleet owners. All resources are available in email PDF, print PDF and responsive webpage formats, according to the site.

The case for the toolkit

National Highways sets out the scale of the problem on the toolkit site. It estimates that around 200 incidents involving someone at work cause injury or death on the road every week, and says road incidents are the biggest cause of work-related accidental death.

The site also notes the weight of traffic involved. HGV drivers move 1.59 billion tonnes of haulage a year, which it puts at 89% of UK domestic freight.

National Highways frames the toolkit as part of its Vision Zero goal, under which no one is killed or seriously injured in a traffic collision.

The West Midlands partnership

The toolkit follows a partnership between TfWM and Driving for Better Business announced by the West Midlands Combined Authority on 25 April 2023. That arrangement offered businesses free advice on managing their fleets and vehicles to reduce both costs and the risk of accidents.

According to the combined authority, the Driving for Better Business programme offers online tools and resources that take business owners, company directors and fleet managers through seven steps to better driver management. The 2023 West Midlands resources were accessed through a TfWM "Driving in the West Midlands" web page.

TfWM, which manages the region's 23 busiest routes, known as the Key Route Network, said that between 2017 and 2021 there were 193 killed and seriously injured road casualties involving a goods vehicle in the West Midlands.

Darren Divall, regional road safety manager for TfWM, said at the time: "Far too many road users are killed or injured in collisions involving someone who is at work." He added that road safety was a shared responsibility and everyone had a part to play.

Simon Turner MARRM, campaign manager for Driving for Better Business, said in the same announcement: "Driving for work is as much a part of the health and safety regime as working at height or in confined spaces".

What it covers

The CPA said the new guide covers a wide variety of issues, giving fitness to drive, roadworthiness, abnormal loads, bridge strikes and vehicle security as examples.

The CPA directed members to the Truck Driver Toolkit home page run by Driving for Better Business to obtain the guide, which the toolkit site offers in email PDF, print PDF and responsive webpage formats.