Driving for Work is IAM RoadSmart’s flagship training course for business drivers. Delivered in the comfort of each instructee’s own car, on public roads, and one-to-one with an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI), the course targets key areas for each participant – analysing their current strengths and weakness to give a tailored experience and maximise improvement.
Here are 10 ways that Driving for Work can help your fleet thrive:
1. IAM RoadSmart makes better drivers
Our primary purpose is to make roads safer. To do this, wherever we can, IAM RoadSmart improves drivers’ existing skills and equips them with new ones – enhancing their capability on the road. Improved safety, efficiency, and confidence are natural consequences of enhanced skills.
Yearly reports consistently find that more than one in four road deaths involves someone who was driving for work at the time of the incident. A lack of training can put drivers, and the public, at risk.
2. Look after your people – physically and mentally
Enhancing your drivers’ skill level has far-reaching consequences for them and your organisation.
Crucially, more skilful, safer drivers are less likely to get into collisions and thus will be given some protection against physical harm.
Equally, drivers who are more confident and capable at the wheel experience less stress and driving anxiety, and find driving more of a pleasure. For people who drive for work, who often spend many hours on the road, the psychological benefits of being happier at the wheel can mean a drastic improvement in wellbeing.
3. Massively boost your fleet’s efficiency
Driving for Work includes a module aimed at increasing drivers’ fuel efficiency. Aggressive or erratic driving can reduce miles per gallon by 15–30% at motorway speeds or 10–40% in stop-and-go traffic*, so investing in training your drivers to drive more efficiently can give enormous returns on investment in the long run. Economic driving is characterised by a smoother driving style – which is safer too.
4. Increase productivity
Increased happiness at the wheel, reduced stress and anxiety and a higher level of competence on the road add up to a driver with much higher morale than a driver who finds work stressful. Help your fleet reap the rewards of a workforce with boosted morale.
5. Cement your safety culture
Training your drivers is a component of a strategy that can give your employees what is perhaps the best protection any organisation can give: a strong safety culture. Safety culture involves fostering an environment that prioritises open communication, respect for concerns about safety, and taking action to fix any issues that arise. There are many other parts to fostering a safety culture, so read more about how to do that here.
6. A training course your drivers will actually look forward to
Feedback from our trainees is overwhelmingly positive, the vast majority reporting that they found the course informative, of significant practical use, and fun. By creating an engaging course, drivers are more motivated to get involved, remember what they’ve learned, and take their new skill set onto the road with them, benefiting themselves and the people around them.
7. Be known as a good, responsible employer
Investing in your people is a great way to show you care about them, and by making yourself known as an excellent employer, you’ll attract the best people to your organisation.
8. Protect your reputation
By ensuring your drivers are as safe as they can be, you’re showing that you take their safety, as well as the safety of the public, very seriously. Investing in raising safety standards demonstrates that your organisation cares about people.
If the worst does happen, and one of your drivers is involved in a colission, being able to show due diligence – that your drivers have been given excellent training – will help protect your reputation.
9. Ensure compliance with the law
Having a fleet safety policy is a legal requirement – approximately one in three fleets in the UK have no policy in place – is yours one of them? By delivering training like Driving for Work, you are making a significant step towards ensuring legal protection for organisation.
10. Reduce costs
Fuel isn’t the only area in which Driving for Work could help you make hefty savings – safer, more skilful drivers who get into fewer collisions save on vehicle repairs, vehicle down time, and opportunity cost.
Driving for Work also encourages a smoother driving style which is kinder to your vehicles – fewer tyre and brake changes and less general wear and tear – all add up to a fleet which costs much less money than one with drivers who haven’t been skilled-up with Driving for Work.
If you want to know more about Driving for work or other ways IAM RoadSmart can help your organisation, get in touch.
*Source: US Department of Energy
