Road safety initiative drives down accidents

Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions’ as a long-term corporate partner of Brake worked to involve all its key stakeholders in Road Safety Week 2007, to help spread road safety messages to the wider community.

By proactively educating, training and assessing their drivers, Balfour Beatty were able to embed safer driving into the culture of the business. Drivers were made more aware about vulnerable road users and the significant impact bad driving had on the community.

The programme involved supporting Brake’s Road safety campaign by means of a month long roadshow, extending Road Safety Week through mail outs to employees at home and subcontractors and text and email updates were sent out continuously, using different themes each month. Safe driving leaflets addressing mobile phones, stopping distances, speeding and a Highway Code were issued in addition to inviting the local community to take part in the campaign and employees’ children entered a competition to design a picture for the Brake 2008 calendar.

Road safety is a priority

Balfour Beatty identified the reduction of road traffic collisions as one of the top four development areas across the group. This has a direct link to another areas, reducing injuries to employees and members of the public.

Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions’ managing director, Phil Brookes, set a 25% reduction in road traffic collisions in 2007, with year-on-year improvement.

Number of vehicles vs RTCs

Seeing the results

Getting actively involved in Brake’s campaigns has helped to make safe driving a top priority within the business.

Practical training and informing drivers continuously has created a change in attitude to driving in the company, with drivers committed to staying safe and avoiding collisions.

Proactive driver training started in the South West in 2006. Giving every driver in this region, road safety training has resulted in a significant reduction in RTC’s in the South West of England as the graph shows:

Looking ahead

The success of the initiative has led to further plans being made within the business:

• continue with current incentive schemes;
• introduce new employees to the initiative;
• continue to find solutions and to be innovative;
• improve the risk-based model for identifying potential accidents before they occur; and
• act on the feedback provided by company drivers from Road Safety month.

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