Driving change

The principal aim of CLOCS is zero fatalities or serious injuries from construction related vehicle movements and a key part of achieving that aim is understanding the underlying causes for such incidents.

In this latest CLOCS Safety Forum, Mark Cartwright from National Highways and CLOCS Strategic Partner Driving for Better Business delivered a session exploring some of these factors and pointing out that vehicles don’t crash, drivers do, that most vehicles on the road are there for work, and we still have 5 people losing their lives on UK roads every single day.

The 4 key causes are distraction, fatigue, impairment and medical conditions, and increasingly attitude is also being recognised as a factor (though perhaps harder to identify and record), and Mark asked us all to think about driver roadworthiness, not just vehicle roadworthiness.

Are we all doing enough to identify these issues for those driving as part of their role? Do we have drivers who we know are often tired, who are never seen without a coffee or a can of Red Bull, whose cabs are cluttered with phones and other distractions, or who we know are going through a difficult time in their lives? Do we do enough to identify relevant medical conditions and understand the possible impact this may have on their ability to undertake their roles safely?

Mark also talked about Operation Tramline, with unmarked HGVs patrolling our roads to identify and capture instances where these factors are play, sharing images of drivers on phones, without seatbelts, etc.

Mark concluded by briefly touching upon the post-collision aspects of saving lives with many fatalities occurring simply because of poor 999 calls, scenes not being protected and a lack of post-collision first-aid, whether that is CPR, stopping external bleeding or other care that could and should be provided.

A copy of Mark’s presentation can be accessed here.

Additionally, the session was recorded and a link shared with members after the event.

Mark was happy to share his contact details, detailed on the final slide in his presentation.

Looking forward

As discussed, Driving for Better Business have developed a number of fantastic resources that are available to all and completely free of charge and can be accessed here. The Driving Change video can be accessed here and it is certainly worth sharing within your businesses.

And finally…

Our thanks to Mark for giving up his time to share his knowledge and insights with the CLOCS community, and thanks also those who attended sharing their own thoughts and experiences.

The voice of our members is vital to the success of CLOCS so please contact the team if you have any queries, suggestions or concerns about any aspect of CLOCS.