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Why RoSPA’s training course will bring out the best in your fleet drivers

Image of Alisdair Suttie
Author: | Updated: 05 Mar 2014 11:57

It’s the Geneva Motor Show this week and you can read all about it in our news section here, but rather than fly out the night before as usual we headed out a few days in advance. The reason? To drive a variety of new Vauxhalls on some great roads between Monaco and Geneva.

That in itself is a great incentive to head out, especially when the cars on offer are the less fleet-friendly VXR8 GTS with nearly 600bhp and the new Insignia VXR SuperSport.

However, there was another reason for us to drive on these unfamiliar roads and that was to put some recently acquired driver training skills into practice.

Improved fuel efficiency, less vehicle downtime and better duty of care are all major benefits to driver training

Benefit

Driver training is big business among fleets in the UK and some of the larger fleets report savings of £1 million or more per year in reduced operating costs compared to previous years when driver training had not been introduced.

There are other major benefits to driver training, such as improved fuel efficiency through better driving, less downtime of vehicles while they are being repaired after a collision, and it helps greatly with the company’s duty of care and ongoing training for its employees.

Many company car drivers will not consider themselves a professional driver and, consequently, probably not the sort of person who should be targeted with driver training. These are exactly the business drivers who will benefit most from further training. Anyone who drives for business, whether they are a delivery driver or the managing director heading to a meeting, can gain from driver training and it should be part of their regular improvement programme.

As someone who covers a much higher than average annual mileage, this writer has always had a nagging feeling that he should look at his driving standards regularly and objectively. The only way to do this is take responsibility, as nobody else will when you are self-employed.

Police roots

My original answer to this was to put myself through the Institute of Advanced Motorists’ (IAM) Skills for Life course. It was very informative, pricked my conscience about a couple of bad habits and introduced some new skills and techniques.

That feeling returned in the middle of last year that my driving could do with a brush up. The only way to objectively find out if this was the case or if I was the sublimely-gifted driver my ego suggested I was involved submitting my driving to the scrutiny of a RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) course.

Like the IAM’s course, RoSPA’s is based on the principles used for police driver training. The difference is, and this is not meant in any way to denigrate the good work of the IAM, that RoSPA’s course is tougher because its final assessment is stricter.

The IAM course is a superb starting point for any driver training scheme you may consider for your business or as an individual who wants to improve their driving and attitude behind the wheel.

It’s also worth taking the IAM course before moving to the RoSPA driver training as the IAM sets a tone and mental approach that will put you in good stead for the more demanding RoSPA exam.

Unless you really are a very good, careful and safe driver, the RoSPA course may be a little overwhelming and there is no point going into it if you feel it is too daunting.

The RoSPA course may be a little overwhelming and there is no point going into it if you feel it is too daunting

Lip service

With the IAM course under my belt and three years passed since I completed it, the RoSPA course held an attraction, coupled to some trepidation. This latter feeling was soon dispelled by the superb tutors who give up their own time to sit with you for around an hour to an hour and a half every week to gently but firmly guide your driving in the right direction.

Unlike some driver training, which can be over-simplified and does little more than command you to follow the Highway Code blindly and without question, RoSPA’s course is based around the police training manual Roadcraft. This applies a higher standard expected of its students and it also needs them to practice what they preach in every situation. It’s no good trying to pass the RoSPA course and only pay the training lip service.

This is why I fervently believe this kind of training is a key way forward for many business drivers. A one day course where company car drivers are reminded to stick to speed limits and obey road signs is all well and dandy, and no doubt ticks a box in an HR spreadsheet, but to have lasting, positive effects driver training has to become part of the way a driver thinks and behaves.

This can only be achieved through longer training periods where the driver is expected to demonstrate their skill and learn new ones right up to the point where they are tested on it. The Gold, Silver and Bronze passes offered by RoSPA introduce a kind of competition to the training, with everyone keen to achieve gold. It has been proven in fleets where there is some competition, this greatly helps promote positive behaviour such as who records the best fuel economy or has the best track record for voiding vehicle damage.

The level of awareness required of your driving as part of the RoSPA course means you cannot help but be a better driver by the time you sit the test. I don’t mean you can show a clean pair of wheels to Lewis Hamilton round Silverstone, but it does mean you will spot potential hazards earlier, deal with them before they become a problem and you will grow to be a more courteous, calmer driver.

All of these benefits are exactly the same sort of techniques taught in many management schools to help businesses grow successfully and securely. When so many of us spend a large part of our working lives driving, even if it’s like my jaunt from Monaco to Geneva, why wouldn’t you want your fleet’s drivers to be the best behind the wheel as they can be?

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