Fitting all vehicles with trackers/telematics
“The best thing is to have a zero tolerance to speeding within your work-related road risk policy.
“The only way to know exactly how fast your employees drive is by fitting all vehicles with trackers/telematics.
No excuse for confusion on speed limits
- Some cities are setting 20mph limits, which may also be applied outside schools
- A 30mph limit otherwise usually applies to all traffic on all roads with street lighting
- On single carriageway roads the limit is 50mph for vans (under 7.5 tonnes) and minibuses under 12m, but 60mph for cars and car-derived vans and motorhomes under 3.05 tonnes
- On dual carriageways the limit is 60mph for vans and minibuses under 12m, but 70mph for cars and car-derived vans and motorhomes under 3.05 tonnes
- On motorways the limit is 70mph for cars, car-derived vans, light vans, minibuses and motorhomes – lower if towing.
“However, re-education of all vehicle drivers and management is by far the best way forward. They should look to use the services of professional road safety specialists to deliver practical on-the-road and classroom based training sessions to analyse each individual’s risk and implement recommendations for change where necessary.
“There are many providers who can deliver these services such as fleet risk management companies; driver trainers; the police and the safety charity Brake.
If a company car driver is caught by a fixed speed camera or a mobile police camera the registered keeper (normally the company) will receive a form within 14 days setting out the alleged offence and requesting to know who was driving at the time.
Will you be offered speed awareness course?
The form must be returned within 28 days and the driver will then be sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution.
Fast track to being made a passenger
- The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) guideline is prosecution when a driver tops the speed limit by 10 per cent plus 2mph so in a 50mph limit the charge threshold is 57mph with a court summons at 76mph.
- If summonsed to go to court for speeding, usually for exceeding the limit by more than 50% (so 75mph in a 50mph limit) you face disqualification for weeks or months.
- Do not drive to the court – you might not be driving afterwards
Depending upon the speed, that could result in a court appearance or the offer of a fixed penalty fine of £100 and three penalty points.
Drivers who are within certain tolerances could be offered the alternative of attending a speed awareness course – which they pay for – instead of having the penalty points on their licence and the resulting ongoing financial penalty of raised insurance premiums.
Commenting on the number of speeders appearing in court Sarah Sillars, IAM Chief Executive Officer, said: “We can see from these figures that as the UK comes out of recession traffic levels have risen, speeding appears to be becoming more prevalent and regrettably casualties are rising again.
“The government and police forces cannot afford to take their eye off the ball and more visible policing is, in our view, the key way to ensure that people don’t think they can get away with speeding.”
Ignorance of the limit is no excuse
Speed limits can be confusing – for example a five-seater Volkswagen T6 combi van lugging a load of kitchen sinks is restricted to 60mph on a dual carriageway while an outwardly identical Caravelle with cooker, sink and foldaway bed in formal motorhome form is classed as a car and can do 70mph.
A speed limiter must be fitted on vehicles with more than 8 passenger seats, eg buses, minibuses, coaches, stretch limousines. But what about the rest?
Well there is a wealth of modern devices to help keep you within the law and driving safely, even if local authorities are as loathe to splash out on speed limit repeater signs as they are keen to introduce a plethora of new limits.
Many modern cars display the speed limit on their dash and most portable satnav units will not only show your real-time speed against the limit but flash the limit red if you exceed it and some can also be set for the average speed limits through roadworks.
Many will also warn of regular speed camera locations, fixed or mobile, but you also need to keep alert to any potential hazard in the road ahead. You also need to be aware that both marked and unmarked police cars and bikes can have both forward and rearward-facing cameras.
And remember that when your registration is checked, using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) against the electronic database, it will automatically log the class of vehicle – and check if it is insured, taxed, and has a current MoT if appropriate. So one misdemeanour can open a can of worms.
So are you doing everything you can to keep within the law?
- Every company must have a ‘Driving at Work’ policy – check out this link for details. Some cars have an automatic speed limiter such as with the new system introduced by Ford where the vehicle can scan the speed limit sign and activate the smart limiter. Read about it here.
- And for driver-employers there are plenty of options to improve driver safety and reduce insurance premiums in the form of speed limiters and telemetry/tracking, such as the Lightfoot risk management scheme promoted by Allianz commercial insurers. Read about it here.
- Sometimes there is a clash between the ‘spy-in-the-cab’ and ‘fatherly eye’, but it can save money, save jobs and save lives. This is one thing you can check out FAST!
