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Fleet Risk Management: Looking After Your Fleet

15 November 2013

We’re constantly being reminded of ways to manage our fleets effectively and keep our drivers safe. 
Standard tasks such as license renewals and regular vehicle servicing are obvious factors to consider, but would you tell your drivers to watch out for cyclists or advise them on what (and what not to) share on social media? Nowadays, you might have to.

We’ve compiled a selection of stories from around the web that highlight the not-so-new but increasingly relevant issues and trends that fleet managers need to keep on top of.

Weather warnings:

More experienced drivers will be used to extreme weather conditions but even they would have found it hard to predict the effects of some of the weather we have experienced in this country over the past few years. To be on the safe side, it is best to prepare for the worst. 

This might include investing in winter tyres for example. Although these are not a legal requirement in the UK, winter tyres certainly make sense for those who regularly drive around remote areas where winter conditions are likely to be worse for longer. Passing this information on to younger or less experienced drivers can be valuable.

Meanwhile, the government has announced that from now until the middle of April, almost 300 staff and more than 130 gritters will be on standby every night to ensure that main roads are salted to help drivers cope with winter conditions. Fleet managers may also want to think about stocking up with de-icing salt for use on private property or where your fleets may be kept overnight . If you’d like any information to pass on to your drivers then this article in ‘‘preparing for driving in winter’ will be of help.

Watching out for cyclists:

“London Cycling Deaths: Five Die In Nine Days”

This frightening headline highlights the real and growing issue that we're facing relating to cyclists on today's roads. With a plea from the Mayor of London himself asking people to: "Please, please, please think about other road users, and think about yourselves and your journeys" - it can’t be stressed enough how important it is to be educating your drivers about road safety so they don't become part of these terrifying statistics.

Keyless theft trend:

“New, in-car technology offer drivers a huge range of benefits, but it’s easy to be blind to the potential risks that come with it.” Fleet News

Car theft is an ongoing issue, but with the new keyless technology you’d be forgiven for thinking you were minimising the risk. However, a new theft trend is seeing a spike in keyless cars being stolen.

The news story below in particular had us talking. A video was uploaded to the car forum 1Addicts, by a user showing how his BMW was stolen in under three minutes. He suspects the thieves used devices that plug into the car's On-Board Diagnostic (ODB) port to program a new keyfob:

“It's cool to have a keyless BMW, until you no longer have a keyless BMW” Zednet

Social media trends: 

Social media use is continuing to increase. While it offers plenty of benefits, it brings certain risks with it as well. For example, the micro-blogging site Twitter offers a new and creative way for criminals to access a driver's whereabouts. With Twitter being a public platform, this information can be incredibly easy to find so it is worth making sure that vehicles - and their keys - are safely locked away…

This article explains how Olympian Rebecca Adlington was targeted earlier this year after she Tweeted she was out for dinner in London – 200miles from her Manchester home.

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