The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents reports that one in three road accidents are caused by drivers on business journeys. Driving is at the heart of our industry, but many policies we see are inadequate. In today’s litigious world, and with the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act it is essential that you tighten up on these areas of the business.

Remember, if you require people to drive as part of their job, whether they use your vehicle or their own, you are required to make sure they do so responsibly and can be liable for their actions. In reality, with the right advice, it is not difficult to draw up an effective driving policy.

Supposing you are one of the relatively few dealers that does not supply company cars to your employees? Well you still need a driving policy, as you will be requiring some people to drive in the course of their work - demonstration cars, rental cars, test driving, collection and delivery of service cars, the use of employees’ own vehicles. All these areas need to be considered and policies laid down for your staff.

In addition you also need to think of what your employees do when they are driving, and how well they drive. Your employees’ safety is your concern when they are at work, and it is your absolute priority to ensure they know how to behave. Your organisation can be liable for the actions of your staff if they have a serious accident whilst driving on work business, worse still if they were taking a work call on their mobile at the time. So be explicit about what you expect.

Amongst other things, a policy should include Regular checking of driving licenses Safe driving rules Mobile Phone use while driving Accident/incident reporting Drug & alcohol use Rental Car Policy Customer cars Smoking in cars Private use of company cars Loss of Driving License

As in all policies for your staff, tell them clearly what you expect, explain the standards of behaviour you consider acceptable and then communicate it.

One final thought. The way to completely reduce your liability for the actions of your drivers is to put them through periodic advanced driving training. Just because an employee is good at selling a car does not necessarily mean they are in fact a safe driver!